Last year my DH quit his job to return to school. We had a good chunk of money saved and have done alright since then. Now, we are coming to the end of our savings and I'm FREAKING OUT So, I have a child in school and 2 kids home with me during the day. What are some ideas (without promoting your own business!!) that I could do to earn some cash??

I've thought of babysitting and selling crap on eBay...what else ya got?

I could never do babysitting - I don't have enough patience with my own kids! I think that any intelligence I have would be totally depleted if I babysat full time.

Anyway, a home business wouldn't be bad - you could schedule "classes/parties" around your own schedule and make pretty good money in a short amount of time. With mine I make 50% of whatever I sell and it is a "consumable product" so I get reorder a lot!
Check into them, find what feels like a good fit to you. If you have questions about any in particular I am sure that someone on here would have an opinion .

Jess, you are so creative and so Martha like, I would suggest you maybe sell birthday and party cakes!! They would be a sure hit. Start with friends and then hopefully through them get referrals. YOu will be so busy you would have wished you never asked!!!

__________________
*************************************
Watch my siggy for CONTEST details! Click on the links to see how you can win with Mommysavers!

Find a Deal/Post a Deal and Win! SANTA's HELPERS

Post, Post, Post!November/December Post the Most

Selling Avon, Mary Kay, Usborne books, Discovery Toys. I know someone who started a business in her basement selling other people things on Ebay.

Hmmm....What kind of skills do you have? What did you do before having kids? Any special education? It might help to know that.

LOL! Yup, I guess that that would be helpful!

Before kids, I was an insurance billing representative (talked to company's who had the insurance and talked them thru understanding their bill), I have a degree in multimedia technology (designing business logo's, brochures, marketing, etc), I'm a pretty talented photographer. (I'm hired to shoot a wedding this summer, but that does me no good now! LOL!) I've also worked as a billing rep and troubleshooter for an internet provider. I've got customer service skills like crazy...

I posted a work wanted post on a local yahoo! message board (for the photos and logos thing). Hopefully something will come of that.

Wow, you have a lot of talents to tap into. You mention photography. You probably have a lot of friends with kids... can you photograph them? That would be something you could do anytime of the year.

Can your dh do anything to bring in extra money too?

www.liveops.com

I hear they are hiring.

__________________
"I've been rich and I've been poor but independently wealthy is where it is at."

Do yu have a local YMCA or Rec Center ours always puts a little info in the handouts about teaching your skills to others. I know it wouldn't be immediate money but with your many talents you could do 1 or 2 classes. Also I know thhe biggest reason I didn't like to get the girls pictures taken was making the appt., taking them down there, they aren't in their comfort zone. If you know one mom I would offer to take some pictures on the chance that she will share with friends the pictures, prices, how easy etc.
I know my next door neighbor also started looking about this time for someone to take H. S. Graduation pictures. They are outrageous here to have pictures taken! Do you know any H.S. kids? Same idea give the first parents a great deal.
I also work for the S.D. and they are always looking for subs for all postions from teacher, bus driver, custodian, para, etc. Do you have a fairly large S.D.?
One last thought when dh worked for the shipyards layoffs were very common and what I did was go back to the bank where I had worked before kids. They knew I was a good employee and they put me on an on call status and I would work the shifts I could for them and they always gave me ample time and first shot. Can you do something like that with one of your old employers?
Good luck

__________________
Karen

We are in a very similar situation. My dh is also a student. When funds got really tight we had to seriously think about whether I should get some part time work or he should try and do something in addition to his studies. We ended up doing a little of both. I baby-sit one child 3 days a week (one day is in exchange for free piano lessons for the kids). And my dh does tutoring, marking, and research assistant type jobs at school so he is still doing things that will look good on his resume later. The other thing that has really helped us is scholarships. We could not keep our heads above water financially without scholarships. Encourage him to talk to the finance department / the graduate coordinator or whoever it is that would know how he could apply for more funding. There are often many scholarships available on an as needs basis and it sound like you would be eligible financially. If his marks are really good, you may be eligible for a lot more.

__________________