Need creative income ideas

[mamashark]

My husband accepted a teaching job that's only 80% - but it's a job! It's tight, but we can pay the bills and make the budget work on the income.

 

The thing is, he LOVES the school and the coworkers and the situation is so good for him after some not-so-great situations in the past. I know he's going to feel obligated to look for a fulltime position if one came available to provide for our family, but I'd love to think of a way for him to make up that difference on the side so he wouldn't have to! He's very particular about me not working and him providing for us...

 

He'll have one full day off per week. But he'd need to make nearly $1000 a month to make up the difference of a fulltime job and the last part-time job he got paid only about half that for a LOT of time away from family.

 

He could teach music lessons but he'd have to find 10 students to make enough. He makes around $200/month already, doing freelance writing. What other ideas haven't I thought of?

[Rachel]

Can he not find 10 students? That sounds like the perfect way to earn money to me.

 

I would put his music skills to work. What about playing for weddings? Offering music camps on school breaks?

[regentrude]

What skills does he have?

[mamashark]

Can he not find 10 students? That sounds like the perfect way to earn money to me.

 

I would put his music skills to work. What about playing for weddings? Offering music camps on school breaks?

 

He might be able to - but neither of us are great marketers... this is probably the first thing he'll try. He was toying with the idea of offering a homeschool music class too but didn't know how much anyone would be willing to pay because we'd never be able to afford something like that! lol!

 

 

What skills does he have?

 

He's a music teacher, with a masters in educational technology. He's handy with his hands too, and can fix just about anything that breaks in the house.

[mommyoffive]

I would say do the music lessons

Try just mentioning it to all his students at school

 

 

The music class is a great idea too.   Don't know where you are , i think that matters in how much you would pay for that. 

 

 

Play weddings.   Seems like that would make good money

 

Can he tutor other subjects? 

 

could he grade tests online for Pearson?

 

Could he tutor english online? 

 

 

 

[mamashark]

I would say do the music lessons

Try just mentioning it to all his students at school

 

 

The music class is a great idea too.   Don't know where you are , i think that matters in how much you would pay for that. 

 

 

Play weddings.   Seems like that would make good money

 

Can he tutor other subjects? 

 

could he grade tests online for Pearson?

 

Could he tutor english online? 

 

He's not legally allowed to teach lessons to his students at the school... conflict of interest the district says. We're in a rural area where the median income is 35k/year.

 

Thanks for the other ideas! 

[regentrude]

He's a music teacher, with a masters in educational technology. He's handy with his hands too, and can fix just about anything that breaks in the house.

 

Music lessons is, of course, the first thing that comes to mind.

Does he play instruments that lend themselves to paid gigs? Weddings, events, etc?

Ca he use his ed tech degree to do online teaching, or consulting for online education companies? 

 

 

Also: do you have any skills that could generate income?

[mommyoffive]

Could he teach music lessons online?  I swear some people on here said they do it that way.  

 

Are there higher income areas close by?   Ours is a rural area that says the income is that way too.  

 

This is how much we pay for lessons.   

 

We used to pay 8 half hour for a college student to teach piano lessons

I hear an adult teacher charges 10 a half hour to do piano lessons

 

 

 

 

Can he play in a group?  Does that pay money at all? 

[lmrich]

Look into online work. There are several places that are looking for people to teach Chinese kids English or even just talk to someone who wants to improve their English. 

 

Can he sub on his day off? 

 

Maybe next summer he can offer a summer camp for musicians?

He can offer camps on school holidays (if they are on his day off) or you can advertise for daycare on those days. Camp over the Christmas holiday are usually in high demand since there are so few offered. 

 

What are your skills? Maybe you could work on his day off instead?

 

 

[mamashark]

would $30 for a 6 week general music class seem like a reasonable amount to charge?

[mommyoffive]

would $30 for a 6 week general music class seem like a reasonable amount to charge?

 

I think that is really cheap.  

[regentrude]

would $30 for a 6 week general music class seem like a reasonable amount to charge?

 

How much class time per week? An hour? 

How many students in the class?

 

Seems fine if he has a large class that meets for an hour a week. For a small class, that's hardly worth his time and expertise.

[mamashark]

Look into online work. There are several places that are looking for people to teach Chinese kids English or even just talk to someone who wants to improve their English. 

 

Can he sub on his day off? 

 

Maybe next summer he can offer a summer camp for musicians?

He can offer camps on school holidays (if they are on his day off) or you can advertise for daycare on those days. Camp over the Christmas holiday are usually in high demand since there are so few offered. 

 

What are your skills? Maybe you could work on his day off instead?

 

Subbing on his day off would bring in only a max of $400 a month. 

 

I never thought about camp over Christmas holiday, that's an interesting thought.

[mamashark]

How much class time per week? An hour? 

How many students in the class?

 

Seems fine if he has a large class that meets for an hour a week. For a small class, that's hardly worth his time and expertise.

 

I was trying to think of how much I could pay for it, lol. So what would you be willing to pay?

[mommyoffive]

Subbing on his day off would bring in only a max of $400 a month. 

 

I never thought about camp over Christmas holiday, that's an interesting thought.

 

But still do the subbing.  With the subbing and his writing isn't that 700 a month?   Closer and closer to what you need. 

[mommyoffive]

I was trying to think of how much I could pay for it, lol. So what would you be willing to pay?

 

I would pay it in a heartbeat.  But I would also pay a lot more than that. 

[footballmom]

Small group music lessons = more money per hour and more affordable for the students. My friend has her son in group guitar lessons and said she loves it. Her son does better without the individual pressure of one on one and she loves not having to pay the high cost of private lessons.

[mamashark]

Small group music lessons = more money per hour and more affordable for the students. My friend has her son in group guitar lessons and said she loves it. Her son does better without the individual pressure of one on one and she loves not having to pay the high cost of private lessons.

 

Oh I hadn't thought of that! That's great idea!

[MedicMom]

I was trying to think of how much I could pay for it, lol. So what would you be willing to pay?

For a six week class once a week class? Somewhere in the ballpark of $100. I also live somewhere where the median income is around $40K.

 

I also would tell him to get over you not working. It's likely you could find something that would earn around a thousand a month without working too many hours.

Edited July 6, 2017 by MedicMom

[regentrude]

I was trying to think of how much I could pay for it, lol. So what would you be willing to pay?

 

Again, that depends on number of students? Time per week? Rigor of class?

 

Locally (small, rural town),  individual music lessons from a professional teacher start at $30/ hour.

Edited July 6, 2017 by regentrude

[KungFuPanda]

How many small children do you have? If you two ran a preschool music class together, an hour a week at 10/ class could bring in 60-80 per week for an hour's work once it's set up. It seems parents are always willing to spend for their kids. I've been asked to form music and movement classes more than once and I have ZERO music training. I always say "no" but it seems parents of 2-4 year olds aren't tired or broke yet :-/

[mamashark]

How many small children do you have? If you two ran a preschool music class together, an hour a week at 10/ class could bring in 60-80 per week for an hour's work once it's set up. It seems parents are always willing to spend for their kids. I've been asked to form music and movement classes more than once and I have ZERO music training. I always say "no" but it seems parents of 2-4 year olds aren't tired or broke yet :-/

 

I like this idea! Because you're right - parents of the 2-4 year old age range seem to be the most willing to spend money! 

[regentrude]

I also would tell him to get over you not working. It's likely you could find something that would earn around a thousand a month without working too many hours.

 

This.

[zoobie]

Camps are great if the school will let him use their facility and liability/professional insurance. Camp for holiday weeks and random days off and the week right after school gets out were always booked way ahead at my kids' former school,

 

$30/6 sounds too inexpensive, but I'm not in that area. Music teachers who come to your house are highly in demand here. They advertise on homeschool boards, NextDoor and other neighborhood sites.

 

Music minister at a church?

Edited July 6, 2017 by zoobie

[mamashark]

For a six week class once a week class? Somewhere in the ballpark of $100. I also live somewhere where the median income is around $40K.

 

I also would tell him to get over you not working. It's likely you could find something that would earn around a thousand a month without working too many hours.

 

Regarding My working - I did work up to just recently as a freelance writer pulling in several hundred a month (sometimes more, sometime less). It put a lot of stress on me and it didn't do great things for our family. After almost 10 years we agreed that I'd take a year off. The stress relief from taking a break is huge and has been very beneficial for our family. Come next year we can revisit the idea.

 

Like I said, we can make ends meet without the extra income (tight but doable!), I just wanted to find a way to bridge that gap in the total income coming in so that he didn't feel like he had to look for a fulltime job and could stay where he is because it's a good place to stay.

[displace]

Where we live, group music classes are about $100 for 10 weeks, private lessons easily $20+ per week for a half hour.

 

We find music teachers on Facebook. Teachers are in high demand who will come to the house to teach, but I expect he'd charge a slightly higher fee. If he teaches, and starts his own company, there are lots of financial tax benefits to having his own company.

[HSmomof2]

would $30 for a 6 week general music class seem like a reasonable amount to charge?

That's very inexpensive, and I would pay that. Especially when taught by a music teacher. A class like that here would easily be over $100. But piano teachers also typically charge $30 for a 1/2 hour lesson.

[Rachel]

would $30 for a 6 week general music class seem like a reasonable amount to charge?

I don't think that's enough. I would expect to pay $50-$75 for that. Maybe with a slight discount for a second child from the same family.

[Guest]

Delivering newspapers. He'd have to go to bed by 8-9 pm in order to be up early, but it pays $1000/mo around here.

[Lady Marmalade]

Delivering newspapers. He'd have to go to bed by 8-9 pm in order to be up early, but it pays $1000/mo around here.

 

This.  I started a driving route mid-May.  My take-home is around $1000 for the month, and the only thing it affects is my sleep.  I do my route in the wee-hours and am done every day by 6:00 am.

 

You'd be surprised who is actually delivering papers.  The people I work with are all kinds of SAHP, business professionals, retirees looking for a small bit of income to add to their household.  We have a VIP in the community who delivers papers because it's income he can add to his student loans and they're going down quickly with his route income. The only real drawback is that it is literally every day.  If I want sleep I come home after the route and go back to bed for a bit.  On the days I don't want more sleep I get a TON of stuff done.   I actually have decided I really like it.  

 

But, I also like the idea above about the two of you working together to do group music classes!  How rewarding to work as a team to do something that brings in income!  I would consider one hour sessions, $50-$60 for six weeks.  Decide on what your cap on attendance would be, and then you can add sessions if you have more interest.  Six kids for a small group class would be $300-$350, and that's just one session.  If you have a lot of interest you could do 3-4 sessions in one day and that would be exponential income!

[kroe1]

DD17 makes decent money as an online video game broadcaster, but, it took her awhile to build up a fan base. Is there an online version of that for musicians? In other words, is there someplace online where people can go watch musicians play live, ask questions, and pick up tips? I know some friends have said their kids are taking online music classes and voice classes using Skype.

[heartlikealion]

I have a toddler, but I don't think I'd pay for music lessons at this age, personally.

 

He might be able to - but neither of us are great marketers... this is probably the first thing he'll try. He was toying with the idea of offering a homeschool music class too but didn't know how much anyone would be willing to pay because we'd never be able to afford something like that! lol!

 

 

 

He's a music teacher, with a masters in educational technology. He's handy with his hands too, and can fix just about anything that breaks in the house.

 

Does he build things? Maybe he could do orders on the side. Not necessarily an etsy shop, though you could go that way. For example, custom book shelf. I was just posting about these cool book troughs I saw online and how they are too much money. Some people are making their own. I saw the same thing with other book storage. Some people were making the kind that hang on the wall out of repurposed pallets.

[QueenCat]

Delivering newspapers. He'd have to go to bed by 8-9 pm in order to be up early, but it pays $1000/mo around here.

 

For how many hours of work? And feasible for a teacher to do before school and still do well at teaching?

[mommyoffive]

For how many hours of work? And feasible for a teacher to do before school and still do well at teaching?

 

Sure he could.  You would just have to go to bed early.  I think the working hours are usually 3-6am

[heartlikealion]

That's going to vary from location to location. I have worked at two newspapers. One newspaper location actually had their own press and printed papers for other papers. Well, for the Monday-Friday editions we plated the pages in the morning. I didn't come into work til 8 am and they were coming off the press around 10-11am I think. So there's no way anyone was delivering them at 6 am. Another paper I worked for only had a weekly edition.

[QueenCat]

Sure he could.  You would just have to go to bed early.  I think the working hours are usually 3-6am

 

Every day? I'm just thinking that's going to be hard on someone with a teaching job. Often, you are bring home work at night, which you are likely doing after the kids go to bed. That might not be sustainable for very long. Being up at 2:30 to get to work would mean being in bed by 7pm for me.

Edited July 7, 2017 by QueenCat

[Lady Marmalade]

For how many hours of work? And feasible for a teacher to do before school and still do well at teaching?

 

Totally depends on the route (and how much sleep a person needs).  I have to go out of my way to pick up my papers in the morning- it adds about 20 minutes to my route round-trip.  On days it rains I spend an extra 20 minutes putting all my papers in plastic bags.  I deliver 126 papers four days a week, and on Sunday and Thursday (coupon day) I deliver 170-180. 

 

Light days I leave the house and am back home within two hours.  Heavy days takes me a little longer.

 

I wake at 3:25 am, and do nothing before leaving the house.  I wake, dress, use the bathroom and leave.  10 minutes to drive to the distribution center, gather my papers, prep some of my papers, then drive ten more minutes to my neighborhood.  Drive around and deliver, and I'm usually back home by 5:30. 

 

We have routes that are very small- income of just $400 a month to much larger driving routes that bring home $1600 a month.  There are also people who opt to do additional routes in adjoining neighborhoods.   I can see where that is appealing until it rains and I have to roll every single paper up into a plastic bag. 

 

Ask me again if I still enjoy the route in the winter.  ;) 

[Guest]

Maybe start a Kindermusik class or two. https://www.kindermusik.com/

 

Or, start a meth lab in your basement. This is probably more profitable. 😎

Edited July 7, 2017 by Kinsa

[heartlikealion]

Every day? I'm just thinking that's going to be hard on someone with a teaching job. Often, you are bring home work at night, which you are likely doing after the kids go to bed. That might not be sustainable for very long. Being up at 2:30 to get to work would mean being in bed by 7pm for me.

 

I personally couldn't imagine trying to juggle a teaching job and getting up extra early to do a paper route. Unless the rest of the household was quiet I couldn't see how someone would fall asleep at 7pm. I suppose this largely depends on if the person is a morning person or not :laugh:

 

mamashark, don't know if I missed a post or not, but maybe we could help you come up with more ideas for yourself.

Edited July 7, 2017 by heartlikealion

[eternalsummer]

I agree that if you could do something even that brought in 500 a month, or 300, or something, it would be helpful, and probably easier to juggle than someone who already has a job in his profession.  Don't let the perfect ($1000) be the enemy of the good. :)

 

All of that said, as he is a teacher, I bet he *could* get qualified to grade papers for Pearson.

[carrierocha]

What does he write about? I have made a full-time living as a blogger for 8.5 years and I know that in my circle (personal finance) there are always bloggers on the hunt for writers and he could write in his free time on evenings, days off and weekends. 

[eternalsummer]

Can he teach piano?  Would the district mind if he taught an instrument that isn't part of the music program in the schools?

[mommyoffive]

What does he write about? I have made a full-time living as a blogger for 8.5 years and I know that in my circle (personal finance) there are always bloggers on the hunt for writers and he could write in his free time on evenings, days off and weekends. 

 

wow

 

That would be my dream job

[Jenn in FL]

wow

 

That would be my dream job

 

 

Right???

 

Google her screen name.  She was 100% serious....

 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

[eternalsummer]

It's totally normal for women to pick up a little income on the side; egg money, or whatever.  It doesn't have to be a big thing, and it can grow organically for years to become something worthwhile once your kids are more self-sufficient.  What skills do you have?

[mommyoffive]

Right???

 

Google her screen name.  She was 100% serious....

 

:hurray:  :hurray:  :hurray:

 

Oh wow.  i Have read that blog before.  I can't remember where I had heard of it. 

 

Congrats on your success. 

[lewber]

Uber driver? No personal experience but my Uber drivers always have good things to say and you're completely in charge of your hours.

[Lady Marmalade]

In talking about my latest gig of paper delivery, I failed to mention Plasma Donation.  I've posted on threads about it before, so searching plasma donation or donating plasma should bring some up.  If it's in your area, it's something either one or both of you could do and realistically take home 50-70 a week for one hour of sitting in a chair donating plasma (per person).  

 

I stopped doing it because I was having troubles keeping my protein levels high enough, and then I'd freak out when they were checking me in and my blood pressure ended up being too high in the process.  But I paid for a lot of things with that small bit of money! My brother has been doing it for years and that's his fun money unless he needs it for something in the household.  

[readinmom]

He should offer seminars on weekends for technology for teachers.  It is an up and coming boom for some industrious person.  The technology training offered by school sites is very basic.  

 

Also, he could use the music background for the mentioned homeschool class.  I know you mentioned not being strong at marketing, but weekend sessions/seminars focusing on some aspect of music instruction sounds good.  If you develop a series, invite other homeschool musicians/instructors to participate, it could work.

 

And, last of all, because he has a masters, has he looked at online teaching jobs?  My friend worked for Kaplan on the side and saved up enough for down payment on house.  There are a lot of jobs out there if you have the qualifications.