Welcome back! If you’re just finding this series about how to make staying home with your kids a possibility, be sure to check out the rest of the posts in the series here: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
Now find ways to make that income from home.
To finally close the gap between what you make and what you spend every month, it will probably be necessary to find a way to make some extra income. I used to look at people who work from home as some elite group who were just lucky. There was no way I could never find a job that actually paid enough to replace my full-time income. I truly thought that.
The thing is, if you are truly dedicated to staying home with your kids, there are probably ways you make the additional money you’ll need to make your goal financially possible. Even if it isn’t possible today, with enough hard work and dedication, staying home with your kids will one day be possible. You need to actually believe that and not accept anything less.
Babysitting / Pet Sitting
Can you babysit a neighbor’s kid for some extra money? Do you have a friend who is struggling to afford daycare? If you charge slightly less, you can create a win-win situation for everyone.
What about pets? We travel a lot for my husband’s job and always take our dog with us. It costs so much to pay the pet fee and nightly fee for her that we’re considering hiring a pet sitter sometimes just to cut costs. If you’re reasonably priced, you’d be surprised how many people will request your services.
A great place to advertise for child, pet, or even elderly caretaking is care.com.
Do freelance Virtual Assistant work. I’m always looking for someone to do random excel spreadsheet projects for me and there are tons of Facebook groups with professional VAs and some just starting out. Ask to join these groups, be honest about your skills and turnaround time, and you might be asked to complete projects for a blogger or other entrepreneur if it’s a good match.
Ebates
This isn’t really a way to earn extra money so much as a way to get some of the money back that you already spend. Ebates has tons of online retailers (including Amazon!) that if you order through Ebates, you earn a percentage of your purchase as cash back. I’m up to about $70 this month alone. That’s insane!
We travel a lot for my husband’s job and book hotel rooms through Ebates. We earn TONS of money this way. So much so, that we’re actually going to try to use only Ebates cash back money for Christmas purchases this year. If you don’t have Ebates and ever purchase things online, you’re probably throwing money away.
Uber
What about Uber? My husband has actually driven for Uber a couple of times and loved it! A couple of his friends are drivers as well and everyone says the same thing – they meet the coolest people! We live near a college town, so there are lots of families from other countries visiting who need rides around town. They always have cool stories and you get a worldly view – while getting paid for it. Win-win.
Lyft is another option just like Uber. We haven’t personally used it and it seems like they’re almost getting forced out by Uber drivers, but it’s still a viable option if there is a need for Lyft drivers in your area.
Turo
Turo is an app that lets you rent out your car for the day or even the month. While I’ve never personally used it, I have heard great things about it.
Rev
I transcribed for Rev a few times and made a few extra bucks. I know it’s a full-time income for some people, but I just couldn’t make the time for it with a new little one. If you think you can, absolutely do it!
Domainite
If writing is more your thing, consider writing for Domainite. I wrote 3 jobs for them and got paid quickly. I was always bombarded with e-mails because there was never a shortage of work, but they’re picky with what they’re looking for and I only made $15 per job.
It took me a couple of hours per assignment. You submit your work, wait for someone to review it, and then you have only a few hours to make the corrections and send them back. I’ve heard mixed things about them, but since I was always paid on time, I can’t complain.
User Testing
User Testing is amazing! I’ve actually used them as a service since I’ve become a blogger. If you match the description of consumer they’re looking for, you’ll answer a few quick questions, and then record your own voice as you click around on the site they’re showing you. They want you to keep talking and explain what you’re thinking every step of the way. The goal here is to see how user-friendly a site is in the eyes of a potential consumer. The client can then use that info to gain insight into what needs to be changed to make their site more user-friendly.
Blogging
Another option which isn’t a short term solution but can be a real blessing in a few months – start a blog of your own. There are WAY too many details for me to cover here, but believe me when I tell you that in just a couple of years, your blog could be making more than your current income and your spouse’s combined.
Obviously, I’m a blogger. You’re reading this post on my blog right now (even if you found it on Pinterest, you’re actually on a blog. A lot of people don’t realize that.) What you might not realize is that I actually make an income from my blog. Mine has almost replaced what I made at my full-time job in just a year. I took a lot of time off for post-partum depression. If I hadn’t done that, I can honestly say my income would have surpassed what I made working full-time in the oil & gas industry. This is the class I took that taught me how to do this – I owe 100% of my blogging success to this course.
If blogging isn’t for you – I completely understand. It’s a full-time job in and of itself. It’s hard work. It won’t pay you overnight and you probably need immediate income to make this work. Just keep your mind open to the idea of creating a blog one day. I truly don’t understand why everyone doesn’t have a blog. If you are REALLY passionate about something, like simple living, parenting, frugal living… If there’s something you just can’t shut up about, you CAN and probably SHOULD be a blogger.
I’m getting off on a tangent now, but if you think you might be interested in starting your own blog, check out my posts about how to start a blog and then what it takes to be a successful blogger.
Surveys and Extra Pennies
While you’ll probably only make enough for some extra spending money, there are lots of companies out there that will pay you for completing surveys.
Swagbucks is one I have personally used and love them. You can also purchase things through the Swagbucks site to earn Swagbucks that you can trade in on gift cards.
I’m not going to go into detail about the survey option here because I feel like it’s more time consuming than it is financially beneficial for your family.
My point is that there are ways to make it work. You just have to want it bad enough and push as hard as you can to see if you can make staying home with your kids a viable option for your family.
The final answer is to work opposite shifts from your spouse. We actually know a few families that somehow make this work. We could never do it because we love to go out as a family and travel together, and working completely opposite schedules would really put a damper on that, but if your main goal is to keep your kids out of daycare (although I think there’s absolutely nothing wrong with daycare) and with one parent full-time, this could be a great option for you.
Additional Resources
The best resource I’ve found for work-from-home opportunities is on this amazing blog – Real Ways to Earn Money Online. I’ve subscribed to her mailing list for years and am blown away by how many opportunities she finds. Her blog inspired me to find ways to make enough money to stay home with my babies. Plus, she’s an Elite Blog Academy alum, so I feel like we’re family even though we’ve never met :-).
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Is your goal to be a stay-at-home-parent? What have you done to try to make it financially possible for your family? Let me know in the comments.
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