I’ve been missing in action for a while now. I’ve been stressed beyond imagination and trying to keep my life together enough to get by. I really should have been writing all this time, since these trials and tribulations are actually the things that I need to get off my chest. I’ve mentioned before how tight money gets at my home, and how I’ve been trying anything to make more.
I already work a full time job outside of the home, my husband does too, but our expenses and debt continue to climb even when we budget and try to make sure we live within our means. I wonder sometimes if it’s just me, and other times I figure that it has to get this way for everyone at some point or another. Life just has a funny way of doing that to people.
I’ve started to reach out to the search box on the lovely internets and find my niche of money making goodness in the world. Some ventures have been more lucrative than others and some have brought me nothing but grief so far.
Starting your own business.
Here we go. My biggest and most stressful venture so far. Starting my own business at home to hopefully make a long-term change from full-time work outside the home mom to work at home mom. I’ve invested several hundred dollars so far, gotten my doing business as license and tax papers, and started its website. I’ve rebuilt the website twice now, trying to be cost effective I’ve done almost all of the work and research myself. It’s hard. I knew it would be hard, but even then, I still don’t think I had any idea of what I was getting myself in to.
I’ve converted my dining room into an “office”. My dining room table is my work area, I have a sewing machine in there and all kinds of ribbon and stock for making my bows and dresses. I’ve tried to dabble in etsy.com and eBay. So far I’ve made about 100 dollars in sales and I’m facing my first state sales tax remittance.
I hope to be turning a real profit within two years. We will see how that goes.
Making money online.
This is something I’ve done for a very long time now. It’s never been particularly rewarding in the way of fundage, but I’ve made some money, so it counts. Mostly I earn enough to get free books or other used items for free. It’s enough to curb my “need to spend” at least temporarily. Here are a list of the sites that I actively use (I’ve tried a ton) to hopefully help someone else out that may be interested. Disclaimer: These are referral links. Referrals help you earn more, you don’t have to sign up under me, but I appreciate anyone who does (and you will someday appreciate anyone who would be kind enough to sign up under you).
- ChaCha! – Referral email : kkittensmom(at)yahoo.com – Depending on job, earn .10 – .20 cents answering questions or .02 for transcribing them. I’m not terribly active since my daughter was born, but I’ve earned over $50.
- InboxDollars – Earn money for reading paid advertiser emails, doing offers, and surveys. Cash out at $30 – I only do emails so it takes me a while, but I still cashed out my first check last week and I’m already back to $8. Sign up for a $5 dollar bonus.
- Swagbucks – This has become very popular lately! You don’t really earn money, but points. Earn them for doing offers, searching the internet, and daily activities. Even watching videos! Earn a $5 Amazon gift card with as little as 450 points (I’ve gotten 5 of these already, it helped pay for Christmas last year).
- Points2Shop – I really enjoy this one. Again you earn points (or cash on their sister site cashle), by doing offers, surveys, and playing games/contests. 1 point = 1 cent. You can save your points and spend them on anything from amazon.com! Which is just amazing. I’ve gotten three free books from amazon using this site. They have an amazingly active community and lots of people are earning a ton of free stuff! Offering 250 points to new sign ups.
Utilize your Smartphone.
If you have an iPhone, like to travel, and have a little spare time every now and again, you should check out the FieldAgent app. Clients add jobs to the service and Agents (you) can accept the jobs and earn money for completing the tasks. I really hate to give this one away, as in my area the fewer agents there are, the more jobs there are to complete for yourself (yeah, I’m a little greedy). However, it does require travel, some require purchases, and the app can be flaky.
The best part is, after your jobs are cleared, there is no minimum pay out. Have it sent to your Paypal as soon as you earn it. It takes usually about 24 hours to hit your paypal account. I’ve been using this app on a regular basis for about two weeks now and have already made over $100. Most jobs pay an average of $4. Disclaimer: I earn nothing for referring you to FieldAgent. They have no referral incentives. I’m simply sharing this as I believe this is an amazing opportunity to make a little extra cash if you’re lucky enough to have some jobs in your area.
Trying to make it all work.
Now I come to the really hard part (not going into making my husband spend less), keeping track, staying legal, and not getting lost. You can have too much to do and not enough time or patience to do it. If you’re really looking at earning a little extra cash with little to no investment, it can be done. If you’re looking for a handout, you’re just not gonna find it. Especially not here.
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So tell me, what do you do to earn a little extra money? Do you have any great sites you’d like to share? Have you had any experience with any of the sites that I’ve mentioned. What are your favorite ways to make and save money?
