Supplementing our income so I can homeschool

What can I do to supplement our income? I am starting to homeschool and waiting for the curriculum to arrive, but was thinking can we afford for me not to work. The thing is is I live in Oklahoma and NO hits on my resume and/or applications. I dont want to work because I want to undo any damage the school did to my sons eagerness to learn. So I chose to homeschool while I am unemployed. My husbands says we could make it, but I still wonder. Let me know if you all have ANY ideas.

Kat

 

I am in the same position. I need to be home with ds13 during his time of healing from ps. I posted a while back about ideas people had for the limited amount of land we own. I'll take a look and see if I can find and post the link to that thread for you.

Right now, I'm focusing on how to save my family money. There was also a thread not long ago about ways we save money on all sorts of groceries. I look for things at the store that are close to being past the date and make an offer to the manager. I usually get something like 75% off or even more if I take all that they have on the shelf. I also make our own laundry detergent and will soon be making other cleaners.

There are tons and tons of threads on this type of thing on here. They are definitely worth a look. I know I've been inspired and my husband can't believe how much money I have been able to save our family!

 

I have never tried it, but what about Avon or Mary Kay. That would be independent and your own time schedule.

 

I tried AVON and sold but did not make a profit. I don't know enough people to start it up with. I know I have to market etc... but I still do not know how people profit with it. I make cakes (beginning to) and I sew. I made my own wedding dress and costumes, quilts... and so on I just don't know if it would work. I guess some income is better than none.

Brooke! How do you make your own laundry detergent etc.. ? That would help with saving money for sure.

 

Bkatts, why not sell your quilts etc online? Make a web page, and set up an ebay account, that links to the page for MORE of what you sell....
Just a thought but I have noticed people seem to be able to make a living that way?

 

you could see if you could maybe watch 1 or 2 kids ..that will help out some. I run a daycare and it usually not too bad except for the other day..a boy peed on my couch but i took care of that. lol I sell avon. I make about 20.00 cash or so profit per campaign simply because i buy stuff for myself..if i didn't buy anything except new brochures id ad average about 100-150.00 a month doing that....and im just selling to a couple of people..i havent gotten out real good yet.

 

Go to the House and Home section and the first post is homemade cleaning recipes. You will find alot of good ideas there.

 

I keep one child in my home and make about $550 per month. I also have an rv and boat storage lot and I do the paper work and client contacts (which isn't much work at all) from home.

 

If you don't want to deal with the Ebay fees, opening an Etsy store might be another option. There is a huge market for handmade costumes among reenactors, especially if you can keep the prices low.
Also handmade baby items usually sell like hotcakes. Clothing, cloth diapers, cloth toys, blankets, etc.. are all big sellers.

 

I will try selling quilts on ebay/etzy?. I will even try craigslist.. I don't know. I just need to sell it more for what I have in it that's all.

 

if you join Joann's you can get a teacher discount for being a home school teacher!

 

etsy is great. I used to sell cold process soap there until I got too busy. baby items and quilts do well. go to etsy.com and take a look around some of the shops. I notice that retro style aprons, dresses, and other retro style items do well too

 

I do freelance writing from home and it works out great because I can take my laptop with me to work while my daughter is at one of her activities. You can also find other ideas at WAHM dot com or WorkPlaceLikeHome dot com

 

Most likely, in 2-3 weeks' time, we're going to advertise on Craigslist for individuals willing to work with our startup company as independent salespeople (i.e, they'll be independent contractors earning commission) - working from home. We've not done this before, so we're going to be learning. To start out, we were going to advertise across Georgia - but this is only so we learn how to get our feet wet before diving into other states.

I don't feel right about posting details here (because I don't want to undermine the purpose of the forum); however, if you would like to learn a little more, feel free to send me a PM.

 

Where do you freelance or where to start? I LOVE writing. In fact I am writing a book now but it comes to me when it's quiet and well thats never... :lol:

 

#1 - Set up a budget with your husband
#2 - Plan your meals ahead of time and only shop for that
#3 - Even get a seperate debit account so you don't over charge
#4 - Use http://www.freecycle.org to get new clothes and trade stuff locally

Even sometimes I have to go back over that list - I have a debit card thing and that has REALLY helped a lot with keeping us on budget.

 

I work part time at night (10-15 hrs. /week) at a law firm doing their filing, computer stuff, misc. My paycheck basically covers the car payment for our 2nd car - we have one car payment...wish we could go down to 1 car but that's another story...I nearly quit because even though it's only a few hours a week it's still stressful to do along with homeschooling and everything else. My ds is 12 but I don't plan on working during the day for quite awhile.
Jane

 

I hs my son and have worked at home off and on for the last few years most of the jobs have been customer service type jobs over the phone. I have a separate phone line in my bedroom that i use for this. It is hard. There are several websites that i got to for work at home jobs.
workplacelikehome
wahm
ratracerebellion

You just have to research. These jobs on these sites have mostly been researched but some may have not been. If you see something you are interested in just ask questions and the ladies are always helpful.

sorry I can't post the whole url. They are all dot com

 

I luckily have been able to be a SAHM for the past 14 years

I am a very thrifty person and I consider my savings as part of an income. Over 90% of what is in our house is from a thrift store or yard sale. It is really nice stuff too. I went to a yard sale a few weeks ago and bought my oldest dd a TON of abercrombie + hollister clothes for $1 a piece We don't go on any vacations, instead of the movies we rent from redbox. One of the biggest savings has been our grocery bill. Last year I found a website that pretty much taught you the art of couponing. They give you 4 weeks free to try. I really didn't think it was possible but it is, we are a family of 6 and I spend no more than $50 a week at the grocery store, sometimes not even that much. The website is www.grocerygame.com

I spend so much time and energy running after the kids, cleaning, laundry, and HS'ing. I could not imagine trying to do another job on top of it all.

 

If you can write - try Demand Studios. Your earning potential is anywhere from $300-$3000 month depending on how hard you want to work. I can make about $120 with about 6 solid hours of work a day.

It can burn you out but they pay twice a week and so if you need to pay a bill you just log on and get going. You'll have your money in less than a week.

They are sticklers for detail, so you should have some writing experience and you must be able to research things. Before you apply, spend some time on your resume and writing sample - they do read them.