We are a one income family, so when my husbands work hours were cut, we instantly felt it. This left us having to find some creative ways to bring in extra money—fast!
I shared with you last week how we cut over $200 from our monthly budget, but this only put a small dent in what we lost in income. So there was only one other thing left to do: make more money. If you remember from my previous posts, one of my goals was to find a money saving and income earning idea each day throughout the month of May.
I sat down and brainstormed a list of ways I could bring income into our home, besides going out to work. It didn’t take me long to come up with a hefty list of ideas. I narrowed them down to short term and long term ideas, and went to work on the short term ones right away.
Here are a few short term income earning ideas I came up with:
::Sell extra books on half.com/Amazon.com
::Have a Yard Sale
::Use Cash Crate (do one or two free surveys a day, they add up!)
::Use Cashbaq (I earned $20 when switching our phone service from cable to Vonage)
::Sell items on Craigslist
::Sell items on Ebay
Without ever leaving home (well, except to go to the post office!), I was able to bring in over $300 in additional income in May. Happy dance, happy dance! That is no small change folks!
I am so encouraged with the progress we made in May, that I plan to continue on in June. My biggest goal is to go on a $100 per week grocery challenge and to earn as much (or more) in additional income as I have this month. I have a few other irons in the fire and will share them with you once I begin seeing results!
Do you have any other ideas for earning extra income from home? I would love to hear your ideas and success stories! If you more to say than would fit in the comments section and would like to do a guest post on the subject please email me @ titus2teaching@gmail.com with your ideas.
This post is linked to Frugal Friday and Finding Freedom Friday
{ 9 comments }
Wow. I am totally impressed! Nice work!
Brendon´s last blog: Violin lessons. THE LEFT – HAND: PRACTICE
Wow. I am totally impressed! Nice work! I’ve been wondering about Cash Crate. How much are you able to earn?
Andrea @ The Train To Crazy’s last blog post..A decision!
I agree with your suggestion it really make sense. During this economic turbulent period anything that can either cut the expenditure or earn some extra income is a life safety buoy.
Other than selling tangible stuff. Have you ever think about selling your knowledge?
Don’t you know that your knowledge is more valuable than any pre-owned items. Everybody knows about something, care about something even your hobby is a knowledge. You can turn your expertise into an income stream.
A book “Make your knowledge sell” talks more about how to monetize your knowledge and this is a free book. You don’t have to purchase anything to do that.
If you need help email me.
myTanny
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I agree with your conern. During this economic turbulent period anything which can earn some extra income is a life safety buoy.
Baker, Blogger, Ebay Seller ,Floral Designer, Jewelry Designer and Web Designer all these were very good new income earning idea.
Actually, ever your knowledge is valuable. Everybody knows about something, care about something even your hobby is a knowledge. You can turn your expertise into an income.
A book “Make your knowledge sell” tells more about how to monetize your knowledge which is a free book and you don’t have to purchase anything to do that.
It sounds like you are doing great! I hope it keeps working very well for you. The ways I currently help to bring money into our home is by teaching a few violin lessons and Doing wedding flowers and wedding decorating.(I also make and sell ring pillows and petal baskets) Both ways have been fun for me and with the flowers I can involve my kids in it a little and with the teaching I am blessed to teach a large family so all the kids that aren’t having lessons just have fun playing together during the lesson.
Some other ideas I have thought would be fun (just haven’t had time to pursue so far) are: Making artistic wedding invitations, learning Calligraphy better and advertising to address wedding invitations and other elegant correspondence also making place cards for weddings, Growing extra produce in our garden and have a road side stand (along with sewn items and other crafts) or being a part of the farmers market, I also have wanted to open an Etsy shop, Making up gift baskets to sell, altering wedding attire, Making bridal veils to sell (these are really easy and the materials are generally cheap but in stores they can sell for around $100!) and raising bees and selling honey.
Abbi’s last blog post..Flower pressing ~ a fun and frugal hobby
Well, I have an idea too that I hear can bring in some extra money. I haven’t tried it myself, however I know others that have.
If you’re good with baking you can make a bunch of goodies, package them up in a professional way (cellophane wrap and labels with your business name) and take them to your local coffee drive-throughs. Give them a few free samples to try, then hopefully they could buy them from you to sell in their coffee shop.
Just an idea.
Julianne’s last blog post..Saturday Schedule for your kids…
Stephanie, CONGRATULATIONS on your $300!!! Wow, that’s fantastic!!
Lori’s last blog post..Two-Minute Fudge
I have made money doing some sewing for other people. I adjusted some clothing and some chair covers for a woman who wanted to cover all of her antique chairs in matching chair covers for a Thanksgiving dinner. Some chairs were a bit smaller than others. so I adjusted the covers to make those chairs look like they “matched” all of her other chairs. I also hemmed a mumu for her.
You could hem pants, make curtains, etc for those who cannot sew. Some women I know make modest prom dresses or make cropped jackets or boleros to go over strapless storebought dresses. Other women make custom wedding dresses.
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Stephanie says:
Great ideas! I have not ventured into sewing clothing yet, but I do like to do crafts. I have been thinking of getting back into it and putting up an Etsy shop. Just don’t know if I have the time!
Painting and cleaning for other people…it’s not really at home but you can adjust the hours to fit your schedule and usually can bring the kids with you…
Michelle’s last blog post..Life
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Stephanie says:
Yep, those are great ways although I don’t know that anyone would pay me to paint. I can clean though!
When times were tight I babysat part time to help with bills. I had one child MWF all day so that left T,Th for errands and chores. It helped that she was near my other children’s ages and that it was temporary. My aunt started a morning preschool in her house so that she could stay home with her boys when they were little. She cleared her daylight basement and garage and set up a play area in the backyard for the kids. The preschoolers used her empty two car garage to ride their trikes and play ball games when the weather was wet. She set up the basement room into stations of art, building blocks, discovery, reading corner , and make believe play. Since her sons were the same ages as the preschoolers they just joined in.
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Stephanie says:
I had a home daycare for many years, and it eventually morphed into a full fledged Christian school in our church. The problem was it was a lot of work and I simply burnt myself out! I love the preschool age, and it was a great way to make money and still be home with my children. Especially if you can find a schedule like you have. I was going from 6am-6pm everyday! As you can see, I have a tendency to over do things
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