Sunday, April 5, 2009

I need ideas PLEASE!!!!

When we brought Eliana home, Chris and I made the decision that I was going to stay home with her......and I love EVERY minute of it!! The only problem is that we really need extra money. I know that thousands of people are in this exact same position. We are trying to pay off doctor's bills and the rest of her adoption. I am trying to sell things on ebay.....and we are going to do a garage sale in a few weeks.

But, I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for making money from home?!! I have internet access and a computer.....so I could do data entry or book keeping. I just don't know how to find those kind of jobs. I am willing to do WHATEVER!! If you know of anything, please let me know. I would appreciate it SO MUCH!!!

Love you all,
Lindsey

32 comments:

Kathy said...

Have you thought about starting an in-home daycare?

There would be some start-up costs (licensing, etc) but it would allow you to stay home, earn extra money and give Elianna playmates.

You could choose the hours you are "open" and how many children you feel comfortable caring for.

A lot of parents would rather have their children in an in-home setting as it provides more one-on-one care.

Good luck with your decision.

Emma said...

Hi, I don't know you - I just arrived on you blog from another one. Congrats on your beautiful girl. My kids' babysitter adopted her son who is now nearly 5. SHe wanted to stay home with him so she started "day care" in her home. Since she only watches my infant daughter during the day and one or two others at random times, she doesn't have to register or get a certificate. I was comfortable sending my kids to her because I knew she had a criminal background check as part of her adoption. I am a teacher and I HAVE to work (money, health insurance) so the arrangement works out great for both of us. Have you though about watching another child along with your daughter? Teachers make great clients because you get regular breaks. good luck

Danielle said...

I used to go to Fellowship until I moved back home so I have saw you in front of the church before you brought her home.If you wanted to do bookkeeping and stuff you could search on craigslist because I know that have a lot of those things. I never post on there because you have to be careful but you can inquire about stuff like that. I would suggest creating a separate email just to protect yourself in case any weirdos try to contact you but if you initiate contact--you are usually safe! :) Have a great day and good luck!

Kelsey Lantz said...

so if I ever get this photography business off the ground you could help me do all my bookkeeping stuff and organizing...cause I'm really bad at all that ;) Praying for you dear and wish I had a solution for you..I'm asking the same question right now

Cheri said...

Lindsey, Your church is a great place to network about bookkeeping and data entry jobs. We own preschools, and I wouldn't suggest an in-home daycare. You could watch a couple of kiddos but an in-home daycare is very hard when you have a little one. A daycare just reaks havvoc on your home. If you have questions regarding licensing questions and stuff, you can email me privately. You may have the gift to run a tight-ship and to run an in-home daycare, you must be that person. I pray God guides you to the right job for you. Cheri

Angie said...

Hello. I have been following your blog for quite some time. I am just now starting a business with Melaleuca. YOu may want to look into it. Check out my website...
http://www.themomteam.com/angie8976

Tracey said...

Have you checked Craigs List? I see data entry like stuff on there alot.

Unknown said...

Hey Lindsey! AHH I MISS YOU ALL SOOOO MUCH! okay so the other day I was with my friend (Mary Caroline Curtis) and her mom was saying she needed another person the help her with her market America stuff or else she would have to quit. It's a pretty easy job...you sell different things for Market America, get payed about $300 a week when you firts start, and as you start to find more people and sell more stuff, the amount increases...i just texted her and her mom said a bunch of people do it part time, it hardly takes up any time, and you can still easily do it while being a stay at home mom...sooo, when i saw your post just now, that's just the first thing i thought of...feel free to email her at tuckerandlaura@aol.com if you have any questions, comments, etc...she knows i told you about this and she really needs another partner...don't feel obligated to its just an option.

Love you!
Grace Mayernick

PS You can always call us too for more info or we can give your her phone number.

Unknown said...

Did you see that the Riggs are looking for someone to do advertising sales/maintenance for their serious.life magazine? You may want to look into that. We, too, have a Guatemalan princess, Eliana and she is 3 1/2 - what a gift from the Lord!
She is surrounded by 5 brothers (3 bio and 2 Ethiopian) - God is so good!

Melissa said...

I'll be watching to see if you get any good suggestions since we're in the same boat! When we adopted our daughter last year, we chose to have me stay at home (and it's great and well worth it), but much harder financially! Good luck!

Kimberly said...

Check out adoptmore.com. You can earn money while spreading awareness about adoption. It would be perfect for you. You have a ton of contacts and can do it all from through blog, web, twitter, facebook, email, etc. ADOPT MORE was just launched over a week ago!

The McBs said...

I have a friend who does medical transcribing from home while the kids are napping and a couple of hours at night. she likes it and makes ok money. you have to take a class though.

I know that for me, the idea of babysitting other kids was too overwhelming and took away my time and energy for my own kiddos. Just a thought.

Anonymous said...

Being able to be a stay at home mom is such a blessing in today's economy. I sell Gold Canyon Candles. Awesome product that sells themselves. If you or anybody else is interested, feel free to email me at goldcanyoncandles_4u@yahoo.com

Take care,
Lucy

JamieV said...

Hi! I've been reading you blog for over a year now. I actually work from home booking vacations for people. I'm not sure if my company is hiring but you could always apply if you're interested. No experience necessary either. If you want to email me I would be happy to give you more detailed information about it. It's good pay and easy to do from home. My name is Jamie and my email is jkv03@yahoo.com. Good Luck!

Unknown said...

I sent you a Facebook message about this. :)
thanks...take care k2 sister! :)

ejw

Boni Williamson said...

Lindsey,

I have been reading your blog for a while now. I do not stay at home with my girls, however, ran across some stay at home data entry jobs on Monster the other day.

I am not sure how lucrative these are, but are worth looking in to. Hope this helps.

Boni

Sara said...

Hi - I work for Arbonne and am able to stay home, work my own hours and help our family's income at the same time.
It's been an incredible experience. I'd love to share it with you - saradrinkard@yahoo.com
We are waiting to bring our son home from India so I understand the financial strains!

Kristen said...

Hi Lindsey, long time reader here. :) My suggestion is different than the other comments i've read, so i'm not sure if this would work for you.

I have a 3 1/2 year old and a 1 1/2 year old, and last year after my youngest was done nursing, i took a job just 2 nights a week working an a casual italian restaurant a few blocks from our house. That way, i'm able to be home with the kids all day, and as soon as my husband gets home at 5-ish, i take off for the restaurant!

Like i said, it's only 2 nights a week and the tips are great - i bring home an average of $150 cash per night, and that doesn't even include my hourly pay. I generally work until 10pm, which is hard b/c i miss putting the kids to bed, but it's also a bit of a break for me! I get to socialize, meet people and feel good about contributing financially to our family. Plus my husband gets some special time with the kids. :)

Just something to think about for you! You seem to be very personable and i bet you'd be great working in a restaurant and making that cash. :) Also, be aware of any online type jobs. There's LOTS of scams going around right now. (Not saying that anyone who's commented here is a scam though!!!)

Kristen said...

Hee hee, just wanted to clarify that my youngest is 1 1/2 NOT 11 1/2! I added an extra 1 in there...believe me, i was not nursing an 11 year old, ha ha!

B said...

Hey Lindsey -

I work from home (luckily) and I'm a single mom... I am actually a journalist/editor that covers technology. But, I was looking for additional part-time work and stumbled across a company called Convergys... they set you up for at home call center work. It is a legitimate company, and I found them through searcing on google (under news) for news stories about working from home. Here is teh link, plus links to two recent stories on Convergys:
http://www.convergysworkathome.com/index.php

http://www.wtol.com/Global/story.asp?S=10101871

http://www.scnow.com/scp/news/local/grand_strand/article/work_from_home_but_beware_of_scams/40966/

I had originally looked for an airline (I wrote about them several years ago, that came onto the scene and actually built its entire call center/reservations dept. by using at-home workers. That airline is Jet Blue. Here's an old article about them:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/13/eveningnews/main593026.shtml
I don't know the status of them now, but you might look into them as well. Good luck!
I have not landed a part-time at home gig, but haven't really applied. What I used to do for extra money (freelance in my field) is really tight right now because of the economy, so I've just tighted the budget as best I can and am doing alright with my one full-time job.
Cheers,
Beth
Mom to Griffin, 6 (bio) and Izzie (almost 2!), adopted from Guatemala

Mary Ann said...

With 5 kids ( 2 adoptions) I am always looking for extra money!!! Just wanted to say praying for you and hope to hear you have good news soon! I say someone say something about in home daycare. But if you only watch a few on your home then you do not have to be licensed. You could watch 2 kids and that would be great money and give Elaina someone to play with.

Violet said...

Hi, I don't know much about making money at home but, I do know their are lots of ways to cut costs. I'm learning about some of them myself even though I'm single, and live with my parents, lol. My friend has 4 children and uses cloth diapers so she needs certain detergents that won't ruin the diapers. The scent free/die free detergents that you buy are really expensive so, she started making her own detergent. She said in 1 year, doing laundry for a family of 6, she only spend about $20 on detergent by making it herself. I am going to try this as well. I have all the ingredients, I will let you know what I think if you want! It seem pretty simply. Anyway, their are lots of nifty ways that aren't super hard to live a bit more "frugally".

THe idea of an in home day care is good too, or even just "nanny" one child, in your home or in the childs home, rather than run an entire day care. Often families are LOOKING for a stay at home mom that has a child close to the same age as their to care for their child so they have a play mate.

Kelsey said...

The FRAer. I don't know much about bookkeepign or anything like that. I'm just a kid. But you could always hold an art class or something every other Thursday. It's kinda like the day care idea, only not as long or anything. -K

mom2joelito said...

I was at a mom2mom sale (I live in Michigan and I don't know if they have these in other places) Mom2Mom sales are like a giant garage sale. Moms pay a small fee to have a table, and sell things that their children have grown out of) They have these at churches and schools. They run from March to November, and slow down a little in the summer. These are really popular around Detroit. There was a mom who was selling cds, religious, birthday, holiday....That she personalized with your child's name. I ended up buying two of them. My four year old son loves listening to them. He loves it that they are singing to him. I'm not sure of the cost of the software you need to do this, and if you have events where you live that would make it worthwhile, but it is a popular item around here. Just an idea!

Laura said...

I sold Squeaky Shoes for a while. It didn't work well for me because of where I live and that I didn't do it online, but it might work for you. I bought them from a place called China Direct.

Paul and DeeDee said...

A friend of mine who is really into fitness runs a boot camp for women at our church at 5:30 every morning and they pay like 50 dollars a month.... you have great fashion sense maybe you could offer wardrobe consultations or be a personal shopper for people on a budget.....I could totally use someone like that!

Holli said...

Lindsey,
My sister-in-law writes posts for a parenting blog and gets paid by the post. I'm not sure how to get started doing that, but that would be one thing to research.

Ashton said...

Just an idea- Most companies want people to keep up with everything and you can do it as a part time job- My Aunt does it and it works great for her- Hope this is some help-
To raise money for our adoption we started to print Carolina Girl t-shirts and it has done amazing too- since you don't live in Carolina you could come up with something cute- I know you are really creative.
(carolinagirlapparel.com)

Mama Bear said...

What a lot of great idea's. I might have to check some out too. If you find some that really seem to work well, please share.

Mami Sue said...

Lindsey, have you heard of tastefully simple? if not go to tastefullysimple.com and check it out. i don't sell it but have a good friend that does. she does a party for me at least once a year--i just had one last week and sold over $500.00 worth--very fun--very good and very easy! good luck

Lance and Heather said...

Check out 1154 Lill...it is this really neat store in Chicago and Kansas City (I think they have one in Boston too) where you can make your own purse. I've done it twice and i LOVE it. Anyway, they have Lill reps in different cities where the don't have stores. You are so cute, creative and good with fun styles and colors...I think this could be right up your ally. You could always email them with your story.

Good luck,
heather

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