In Need of Supplement Income

Great suggestions below! This is a great time of year to get seasonal work. And, if you're good, they might keep you on after the holidays. I always thought working at Bath & Body Works would be fun:)

Just get a part time job opposite hours of your husband's schedule if you don't want the expense of putting your own child/ren in childcare. I've known a few moms who have done this, one worked at Starbucks on the weekend, the other worked at Target evenings and weekends. It's a good time of year to apply for retail jobs with the holidays coming up!
Working at home usually requires having an established, specific skill and connections in a particular field, and if you have young children you'll need to hire a sitter or put them in daycare. No one is going to pay you for being at home with your kids (unless you do a home daycare.)

You already know, or should know, that no one will pay you to stay home. Those of us who work from home have earned that privilege from employers or by running our own company. It takes a lot of self discipline, motivation and balance to be able to work from home. IF someone works from home, child care is also involved because you can't do both efficiently.

That said... what are you good at? What do you like to do? Why do you "have" to stay home to work? The holiday season is approaching us and places around here are already hiring seasonal help. I know it is retail but it is a job. Could you work retail at night and weekends and have hubby care for the children so you are not out any child care expenses? Work while the children are in school.

Just this week I saw signs for regular employees NOT TEMP, at home Depot, Lowes, Target, my grocery store, and the retail center near my house with boutiques.

Other options are babysitting, before and after school care. Sell old stuff on EBay or have a garage sale. Are you crafty? Make your special crafts and sell them on EBay or Etsy. If you are good a sewing, do alterations and sewing for people.

What are your qualifications? If you were a past instructor you may be able to tutor students. Are you qualified to substitute teach? Substitute in a day care or Mother's Day out program.

Sign up with a temp agency and get part time work from that avenue. There are temp locations that specialize in all sorts of qualifications from executives, office administration, food service, and hard labor jobs.

Be leery of all the get rich quick schemes you see online. If it were true, everyone would be doing it and everyone would be filthy rich.

Best of luck to you and I hope you find something.

I drive a school bus. The pay is great for a part time job, at least where I am it is. Drivers can bring their kids with them on runs. We have all the same days off as the students. It does require special licencing, but most company's have paid training that includes that. Call your local school district for more info if you think you would be interested. And if the size of the bus is intimidating, don't let it be. My bus is easier to drive than my car.

A friend works at a day school for church. Maybe you could work in a place like that but from home. They constantly need things laminated, cut out, painted etc. Just a thought.

Do you sew? You can make good money doing that for people!
Work from home jobs can be sketchy...check out hiremymom.com
Beware MLM businesses.
Stores are gearing up for the holidays and MANY are hiring PT sakes associates.
If your husband is home in the evenings, why not look for a PT job with evening only hours?

I was a SAHM for 12 years and always supplemented my husbands income. I worked part time in a grocery store a few evenings a week (and got discounts on our groceries). I worked in the child care at a gym (I was allowed to bring my kids with me and I got free membership). I babysat and did before and after school child care in my home (my kids enjoyed having extra playmates). I also sell my kids clothes and toys when they grow out of them and sell any household items we are no longer using.

D.,

You didn't say what skills you have. So it's hard to point you in the "right" direction.

Do you work as well? If so - what do you do and what are your hours?

Working from home?? Sorry - you're WORKING. I'm not going to pay you to take care of your kids. You will need to set your expectations.

For instant cash?? Look around your house and get rid of the stuff you aren't using - haven't touched - can't wear - outgrown - haven't played with in six months - have a garage sale or sell it on ebay, craigslist or if you have a facebook account? there is a facebook "yardsale" for your area.

Make sure your husband's resume is up to snuff and get it out there so he can get a full time job again. He might be able to pick up shifts at Radio Shack or some other place as well.

If you don't work - consider opening a day care center in your home. There are a few mom's on here who operate day cares in their home. They might be able to help you navigate the codes, etc for being a legitimate day care.

Go to Craigslist.org and see what is out there under "telecommuting". If you have to pay for something - it's a scam.

If you can't do that - then consider working at your local grocery store as a cashier or a bagger in the evenings or while the kids are at school.

Look around. There are MANY ways to generate income. You just have to want to EARN it and not expect people to hand it to you.

Good luck!

I agree with the suggestions of applying for a "seasonal" position. I just applied to Kmart last week and got hired (I was desperate and have been applying for everything the last five months; been a stay-at-home mom for 20 years; husband abandoned me and my children). Told them I would prefer only daytime hours and they were fine with that because the high-schoolers need/want the evening hours. Of course on my first day they told me the store is closing in December but at least it's getting me some experience and hopefully I'll be able to move on to something else a little easier.

And I feel you pain about the bills still coming in - I don't think it's fair!! They should be cut back or even stopped to coincide with our income situations!! lol!! (Trust me, we still need to have a little humor!)

Good luck!!!

There are already good suggestions here for jobs but please note the very strong statements that you have to WORK - you cannot do a job while watching your kids and running a vacuum. So you are either going to work while the children are at school, or while they are asleep.

One of the things people really overlook is how to get buy with less. That means really going through your closets, storage areas, china cabinets and attic for things you are storing, rarely use, don't need, and can sell. Find reputable antique dealers or resale shops. Put ads on Craigslist. Have a massive garage sale and advertise it on line (and get your neighbors to join in because you will get much more traffic for a multi-family sale). Sell your kids' outgrown clothes in resale shops instead of handing them around to friends. Same thing with toys and books.

Call your phone company and see how to cut back on services/benefits you aren't using. Same thing with the cable company. Paying for endless movie and premium channels, for example, when you can watch plenty of stuff "on demand" for free, even renting one movie a month at $5.99 makes much more sense than paying an extra $50 a month or more for things no one can possibly watch enough. Let your kids learn that they don't need 50 channels either.

Look at your budget for expensive "necessities" that just aren't - meals out, take out, gasoline for extra trips when you could really plan errands efficiently, convenience foods instead of cooking from scratch (get the whole family involved and cook on the weekend for the week to come - Rachael Ray has a lot of recipes for that), buy on special but only when you will use things up in a month), stop buying paper towels when a washable cloth will do, use cloth napkins instead of paper, stop sodas and drink water, etc. Get on a budget plan with the electric and oil companies so you know what those expenses will be. Reevaluate birthday parties (don't go to every single one at $25 per present, don't invite 25 kids to your party at an expensive venue even if that's the custom in your area). Reevaluate holiday gifts - make things from scratch instead of being ruled by the commercialism. Make simple Halloween costumes instead of buying them - get books from the library for great ideas and unique, fun costumes.

See if you or your husband can join a BNI or Chamber of Commerce to make great contacts and network for opportunities. BNIs let in one person in each industry, and members refer to each other. If you want to start your own business, look into costs and training. I'm in an industry where it costs $25 to start your business, and there's a one-year guarantee. Don't do something with high start up costs or monthly minimums. Be sure you are not doing something where you constantly have to find new customers - you can't' make money on one-time purchases or services. You need something where people want to buy regularly.

See what services can be bartered - if your husband needs resume help, see if there's someone well-regarded in that field who will trade for other services such as house cleaning or child care or yard work. Obviously people in business need income too, but if they are doing reasonably well and have expenses they want to cut, you may be able to fill that need yourself.

If your children are in elementary school you can watch kids after school in your own home. They could get off the same bus stop.

One night a friend needed a sitter on a Saturday night. I helped her out.
They were out for 5 hrs. She would have paid the sitter 55 dollars.
If there is a family that would like to do a once a month date night--You could leave the kids home with your husband and make 50 or 60 dollars.

Sell household items !

The only real suppl income I found while staying at home....was watching
other people's kids for money. Do you have anyone in your neighborhood that needs daycare? Maybe they are already taking their
kids to daycare but you could offer a cheaper solution in your home.
Sometimes parents like this as it is lose to their home in their
neighborhood, they know you etc.
Also, I have sold items on Craigslist, had garage sales, made jewelry
(bracelets, earrings etc.) & sold at the nearby auction.
Make crafts & sell at craft fairs. Warning, you don't make much so don't
invest much in the craft & sell them cheap.
Have garage sales. Sell your big ticket items. Sell everything in your
house you don't want/need/use. Advertise in local paper & hold it either
on a Fri or Sat & open early. You can even just stay open from 7-noon.
Sell your jewelry you make on Etsy.
Sell all of your old nice jewelry you don't wear on Craigslist but always
meet in a public parking lot...never your home & preferable while your
kids are in school. Always tell someone where you are going & what
time so they can check back in with you.

for the heck of it, go to nickelsresearch.. and sign up... when they have a group coming up, they ll email you... you won't always get chosen to sit on a panel, but at times you may and sometimes the groups pay really well.. a couple of hundred here and there definitely helps out..

D.-
Hubs and I use swagbucks. If you have a smartphone and an unlimited data plan, you can earn roughly $30-$45 a month, by doing nothing more than streaming videos. We turn the phone to silent, and run the video app at night, and accumulate our daily allotment of up to 50 swagbucks (you can earn more by doing activities, but we aren't that invested in the process). We accumulate swagbucks and use them for amazon gift cards, but you could use them for supermarket, drugstore or paypal giftcards. It won't make you rich, but hey, every little bit helps.

you can sign up yourself, or if you sign up through me at www.swagbucks.com/refer/ConwayQueen I get a small referral bonus.

Good luck,
F. B.

Apple hires customer service reps to work from home, so does JetBlue, but you have to live in certain areas. Check out their websites