Work at Home + Ideas to Earn Extra Cash

Kim · **Work at Home + Ideas to Earn Extra Cash**

Please post ALL ideas you have that could help moms make a little extra cash at home. What do you do? Do you have any friends that make money while staying at home? What do they do?

NOTE: Please don't mention specific opportunities, just general ideas. We want to keep this thread spam-free.

Kim · 10-29-2007, 11:07 AM

Run a drop-in daycare service. Cater to other SAHMs you might meet who are looking for temporary care while they run errands, go on appointments, etc.

Sarah M. · 10-29-2007, 11:08 AM

Transcription work
Direct Sales
eBay

momof2boys · 10-29-2007, 11:24 AM

Dog sitting if your willing to have in your home!

stxmom · 10-29-2007, 11:34 AM

My neighbor always wraps gifts for other people during the holidays, she puts an ad in our local paper and puts up flyers everywhere. She usually has so much work that she has to turn people away.

LeeMP22 · 10-29-2007, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stxmom

My neighbor always wraps gifts for other people during the holidays, she puts an ad in our local paper and puts up flyers everywhere. She usually has so much work that she has to turn people away.

that's a great idea! Could you give me some idea of what she charges? I wouldn't even know where to begin! Thanks!

melsb · 10-29-2007, 11:56 AM

I'm looking at craft shows / farmer's market -- I have one next month. We'll see how it goes!

AyeOhKay · 10-29-2007, 12:02 PM

Tutoring

Baking - holiday candies, especially

Cake decorating

Typing/resume service

Quilting

Cookie2 · 10-29-2007, 12:15 PM

I currently work as an at-home teleservices operator / agent.

I have been a sales representative for those catalog / party operations. Last year I didn't make many profit from that venture but the operating expenses really helped lower my taxes on my teleservices job income.

I did qualify to operate an in-home daycare (6 kids) but I couldn't imagine living with the MASSIVE inconvenience. I have a girlfriend who has done this casually for one family at a time. That same girlfriend is now working a part-time office job (about 15-20 hrs per week) where she only has to go to the office once a week to talk to the manager and pick-up more work or use their equipment. The rest of the time she works from home either on paperwork (or some other task) or on the computer. One of the things she does is maintain their website.

DD's best friend has a mom and dad who work from home as mortgage brokers. My adult DD works mostly from home as a mortgage broker.

We used to have a tax accountant that worked from home. She had an office for a little while then went to work-at-home because she needed to be in her client offices most of the time anyway.

My brother-in-law works from home. He is a marketing representative for animal care products. One of my husband's best friends is a hi-tech sales representative for a very specialized kind of electronics equipment. He works from home.

My best friend and her husband recently went into early retirement from their hi-tech employer and now work from home offering their own marketing consulting business - offering marketing services and education classes.

When we first moved to this house, I started to work for a local weekly newspaper. The company for which I worked got bought out by a large corporation who killed the newspaper. A few co-workers, including me, started up a new weekly newspaper. We operated out of my home for a while then moved to an office space. I eventually withdrew from the operation and last I heard the editor / publisher is operating the newspaper out of his own home.

One girlfriend takes in sewing project (hemming / repairs) from dry cleaners. Another girlfriend invested in a commercial embroidery machine and now provides custom embroidery services. I know women who earn extra money by making wedding and first-communion veils at home.

One girlfriend is a hairdresser and works out of the salon in her home. Another friend is a massage therapist who will sometimes take clients in her home but mostly travels to their home.

A very good friend works from home as a fine artist. He does commisioned art work. On the side he teaches at the college level and takes in commercial art jobs. We have another friend who is a graphic artist. And another friend is a professional photographer. He works mostly on weekends.

We have acquaintences who have turned their house into a B&B. They obviously work at home.

A neighbor / friend designs silk scarves and other prints. She ends up working lots of weekends because she goes to craft fairs, etc. Another neighbor / friend paints birdhouse gourds. She used to sell at weekend craft fairs but mostly sells through a small ad in the back of birding magazines now.

We know a lot of people who work-at-home. Interestingly, the more we DON'T go to an office, the more people we know who work-at-home.

What does working at home usually entail?

1) Most of the time working at home means NOT being an employee. Usually you're an independant agent or a small business owner.

2) When you are an employee, you're working from home because your employer has a very flexible work schedule. Usually, these kinds of jobs start out as office jobs and get transitioned to work-at-home jobs as the employer gets to know you better. I did this when I had a hi-tech job.

3) Working from home almost always requires some kind of selling. If nothing else, you have to sell your services to new 'customers'.

4) Working from home almost always requires some kind of travel away from home. The only 'job' I know where I don't have to go anywhere or sell my services to a customer to get more work is my teleservices job. For instance, my husband doesn't have an office at his employer's location so technically he works from home. The problem is he is never AT home because his job is to travel to different customer sites to help them out.

5) Working from home takes some kind of skill (website design, etc) or financial investment (embroidery machine) or, frequently, BOTH.

6) Working at home still requires WORK. I find many SAHMs are surprised to learn that working from home DOES NOT mean you will be able to pay attention to your kids 24/7. Working takes time if you're doing the job correctly. Every hour I am spending on the job is an hour that I can't spend paying attention to my family. Yes, I frequently save time by not commuting, but I do have to carve out my work time from somewhere.

daymom03 · 10-29-2007, 01:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cookie2

I currently work as an at-home teleservices operator / agent.

I have been a sales representative for those catalog / party operations. Last year I didn't make many profit from that venture but the operating expenses really helped lower my taxes on my teleservices job income.

I did qualify to operate an in-home daycare (6 kids) but I couldn't imagine living with the MASSIVE inconvenience. I have a girlfriend who has done this casually for one family at a time. That same girlfriend is now working a part-time office job (about 15-20 hrs per week) where she only has to go to the office once a week to talk to the manager and pick-up more work or use their equipment. The rest of the time she works from home either on paperwork (or some other task) or on the computer. One of the things she does is maintain their website.

DD's best friend has a mom and dad who work from home as mortgage brokers. My adult DD works mostly from home as a mortgage broker.

We used to have a tax accountant that worked from home. She had an office for a little while then went to work-at-home because she needed to be in her client offices most of the time anyway.

My brother-in-law works from home. He is a marketing representative for animal care products. One of my husband's best friends is a hi-tech sales representative for a very specialized kind of electronics equipment. He works from home.

My best friend and her husband recently went into early retirement from their hi-tech employer and now work from home offering their own marketing consulting business - offering marketing services and education classes.

When we first moved to this house, I started to work for a local weekly newspaper. The company for which I worked got bought out by a large corporation who killed the newspaper. A few co-workers, including me, started up a new weekly newspaper. We operated out of my home for a while then moved to an office space. I eventually withdrew from the operation and last I heard the editor / publisher is operating the newspaper out of his own home.

One girlfriend takes in sewing project (hemming / repairs) from dry cleaners. Another girlfriend invested in a commercial embroidery machine and now provides custom embroidery services. I know women who earn extra money by making wedding and first-communion veils at home.

One girlfriend is a hairdresser and works out of the salon in her home. Another friend is a massage therapist who will sometimes take clients in her home but mostly travels to their home.

A very good friend works from home as a fine artist. He does commisioned art work. On the side he teaches at the college level and takes in commercial art jobs. We have another friend who is a graphic artist. And another friend is a professional photographer. He works mostly on weekends.

We have acquaintences who have turned their house into a B&B. They obviously work at home.

A neighbor / friend designs silk scarves and other prints. She ends up working lots of weekends because she goes to craft fairs, etc. Another neighbor / friend paints birdhouse gourds. She used to sell at weekend craft fairs but mostly sells through a small ad in the back of birding magazines now.

We know a lot of people who work-at-home. Interestingly, the more we DON'T go to an office, the more people we know who work-at-home.

What does working at home usually entail?

1) Most of the time working at home means NOT being an employee. Usually you're an independant agent or a small business owner.

2) When you are an employee, you're working from home because your employer has a very flexible work schedule. Usually, these kinds of jobs start out as office jobs and get transitioned to work-at-home jobs as the employer gets to know you better. I did this when I had a hi-tech job.

3) Working from home almost always requires some kind of selling. If nothing else, you have to sell your services to new 'customers'.

4) Working from home almost always requires some kind of travel away from home. The only 'job' I know where I don't have to go anywhere or sell my services to a customer to get more work is my teleservices job. For instance, my husband doesn't have an office at his employer's location so technically he works from home. The problem is he is never AT home because his job is to travel to different customer sites to help them out.

5) Working from home takes some kind of skill (website design, etc) or financial investment (embroidery machine) or, frequently, BOTH.

6) Working at home still requires WORK. I find many SAHMs are surprised to learn that working from home DOES NOT mean you will be able to pay attention to your kids 24/7. Working takes time if you're doing the job correctly. Every hour I am spending on the job is an hour that I can't spend paying attention to my family. Yes, I frequently save time by not commuting, but I do have to carve out my work time from somewhere.

Cookie2 - don't you have any other ideas?

Just kidding...this list is great.