Extra income?

Hello Ladies,

I've been thinking to find an extra work and get some extra income. As some of you may know I only look after 2 kids and looking to get the 3rd one. I can't take more kids as I live in a 2 bed apartment. Now my question is, do you do extra work beside your day home or have a small business on the side to get some extra cash?

I thought about becoming Avon re presenter but I don't know anyone here. I'm good with computers so I though about getting typing jobs or become a virtual assistance but they are asking me to pay! so that I can get work from them? Pay them to work for them...? Something isn't right:) So that's a no no.

Any advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Cocoon

I've thought about getting a part time job where I work Sundays, but i'm not sure how many places would hire someone for only one shift a week. I'd love to get a job at Scholar's Choice for their discount!

I here ya having a back up income gives peace of mind - do you need it to be from home or do you have a spouse where to could work an evening or weekend?

I have friends who sell Avon, Scentsy, epicure , Pampered chef and so forth?

Cocoon, I would personally look into a job, like Avon, where you don't have to go out and about and have parties. The one problem I find with Epicure, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, Discovery Toys, etc. is that you have to have their products and store them, and go to parties on either your evenings and weekends. I was looking into these jobs before I opened my home daycare and dance school.

From personal experience, I have a dance school that I run and teach 3 evenings and Saturdays each week; you don't want too much time taken away from you. You want to have a life too!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do Cocoon!

Something like Usborne books or Discovery Toys would still have you working with families with children which might give you more connections. For some they like this idea and others are looking for something that is adult oriented so it gets them away from the kids and toys environment in the evenings which is where avon or pampered chef come in. There are also craft oriented businesses such as stampnup, creative memories which seem to be very big around here.

If typing is something you are good at then you could make good money by posting notes around the local colleges and universities. Many will pay to have their essays and reports typed especially at this time of year because they are too busy moving on to writing the next one due.

If you look on kijiji for your area under jobs there are often things listed there. My son picked up a book keeping job (he is studying accounting). It is only for a couple times a month to enter receipts and produce monthly statements but it still gives him extra money. That lady then put him in contact with friends and he now does it for 3 different people. That would be something you could do in the afternoons during naptime too so not taking up your evenings as much.

If you have a small apartment could you add an extra infant as they need less space for play.

Thank you all for your responses.

Inspired by Reggio, I actually prefer to work from home. Hubby is working long hours already and he did worked in the evenings for couple of months until I step in and said enough. He was coming home very very tired. He could barely eat his food and off to bed.

Play and Learn, I was thinking Avon but I really don't know anybody here except 3 ladies(my clients). And I don't think I can sell anything as I don't like rejections:)
I wish I could dance :)

Playfelt, I looked for typing jobs on the internet but all I can see agencies advertising typing jobs and I need to pay them to be on their books. Which I'm not going to. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post notes in universities here but I will find out.

Does your son have to go to the office to pick up all the receipts? How does he enter all the data on a system? He probably has remote access to the system.

I already advertised for the third child and got responses. I mentioned this on my post "dilemma" but we haven't sign the contract yet. My apartment has only 2 bedrooms and sleeping arrangement will be very difficult as I can't put 2 kids in one bedroom as one of them sleeps only 40 to 60 mins max. and the other one sleeps 2 hours. I have a den which I'm thinking of turning into a bedroom. Den is not seperate from our living area it is just like another corner of our apartment so it's not really a separete area but I'm thinking to put a curtain to make it like a room.

I prefer to do something online or on the computer. Or teaching. I'm good with maths but I can only teach up to a high school level. But who wants to send their kids to learn simple maths anyway :)

Thank you again for all your suggestions.
Cocoon

I don't really sell Avon, but I email the brochures to my daughters and some friends and take a few orders. You have to sell a lot of Avon to make a profit. I make about $1 a month, teehee. You have to be able to go out to knock on doors to find customers unless you have a lot of friends and family and co-workers who place orders with you regularly, but that's just my experience and I wanted to tell you honestly.

For a couple of years I made greeting cards and someone I knew took them to her place of business and sold them for me and I made some extra cash that way. Do you have a hobby and make anything that you could take into a consignment store or sell on kijiji? Just an idea.

The other ladies gave wonderful advice and ideas. Is there a college or university near you and could you advertise there to type papers for the students?

For the bookeeping by son goes to their house an afternoon or evening and does the work there. They have the program on their computer he just has to do the inputting and compiling the reports which the person then prints. This form then goes to their accountant. What he is really doing is what we do for our book keeping is to record what we spend etc.

For the maths there will be kids in elementary needing a tutor. There are some agencies that coordinate as in match up people needing a tutor and those available.

For the typing there will be bulletin boards all over campus. Just look for any board that has student's ads on it for books for sales, rooms for rent, and put ads up there for typing. Most buildings are open to the public so you can pretty well go wherever you want on campus.

You could try a site like www.contractxchange.com
You have to have a VOIP phone line and pretty fast high spped internet and a decent PC and you have to pay for your own training but it does work.

I spend about 2 years working contracts (DE and ACT) and made good money. It depends. It has to be something that you are willing to do, to invest in and also be aware that these businesses fluctuate. You are basically like a call centre agent for these companies. There can be times of the year where you make good money and times of the year where things might slow down. It is also a little hard to do if you only have evenings and weekends.

It does work and it is legit but I wouldn't do it as DEPENDENT income. That's why I started a daycare to make sure I have a more steady income

If you have teaching experience, you could offer to tutor some people on the evenings and weekends. You could check at the Sylvan Learning centre, find out what qualifications you would need to work with them. Or you could do it privately, and find clients the same way we do with daycare.
I don't have ANY idea how much money that makes, but I would think it's okay.

Momof4, I wish I can make things but I'm no use at all.:(

Playfelt, there is one school near me but that is a high school and I don't want to teach them as I have to study first to be able to teach them:) I will look around my neighbourhood to see if there are elementary schools.
I'm preparing an ad. to put in campus boards. See what happens.

Spixie33, I think I have seen this web site before and If I'm not wrong I need to pay for few stuff? And what is VOIP phone line? I only have a land line.

mom-in-alberta, I don't have teaching qualifications but I used teach maths(voluntary) in a supplementary school. I'm not sure if families would be OK. paying for someone who is not a teacher. Especially, there are qualified teachers looking for extra work.

Thank you all for your inputs.
Cocoon

Parents would pay you to tutor of you charge less than those who are actually teachers. We hired a university student (our friend's daughter) to tutor our son in math and she had no qualifications. We paid her $20/hour. I used to tutor ESL students (I am an ESL teacher, but I started tutoring before i had finished my degree) and it was good except that I had to go all over the place to do it. Also, I would not want them coming to my home, especially while there are children there because of safety concerns. Meeting in a public place is what I did for most of my clients, but the ones who were children, I taught in their homes with their parents home.

Same as Momof4 - I do sell Avon and have about a 10 customer regular base each order and sometimes it's 20+ but you don't make THAT much money once you factor in gas - having to drop off the products to each home (sometimes). Most of my orders are from companies or groups I meet once a week so its easier but if they dont have the $$ ready that day then you have to drive out to their place to collect. At times I had to put out of pocket until I received their payment. I also package everything nicely....Xmas, Vday, Easter etc. I go with the themes...it makes it 'fun'. AND what some people don't know is that you have to buy your own cataloges.
Anyways.....I continue it because I really do like it but it's not making me much CASH :laugh:
My biggest order was aprox $500 and in my pocket was aprox $150.....then I had to spend all evening sorting, writing out receipts, packaging and then arranging deliveries for the next week! So if you really NEED extra money and don't have a lot of time to dediacate to it I wouldn't suggest it. ***IMO*** but I would say it's worth a try and for only $10 to sign up.....why not?

I agree Mammamia, it's a challenge but one other thingI remembered was when I had somebody place a large order once with clothing and jewellery and then return it all saying she didn't want it after all. So you have to pay to ship it back to Montreal from Ontario and it was a royal pain.

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Originally Posted by Momof4

I agree Mammamia, it's a challenge but one other thingI remembered was when I had somebody place a large order once with clothing and jewellery and then return it all saying she didn't want it after all. So you have to pay to ship it back to Montreal from Ontario and it was a royal pain.

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Not sure if you're aware but Avon & Canada post made a deal with eachother to cut cost when we return items! In your avon account, type in canada post in the search area and read about it! Makes it much easier as I've had a few returns too!

Hi Spixie33,
How much does the VOIP cost monthly? Also, are you required to log on for a specific time? how long do your contracts last?

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Originally Posted by Connect

Hi Spixie33,
How much does the VOIP cost monthly? Also, are you required to log on for a specific time? how long do your contracts last?

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We went with a VOIP company called Comwave and it was about $20 a month. we got rid of our other Bell phone line a few years ago anyways so it was much cheaper. The $20 was unlimited calls for us.

Some contracts require you to work a minimum of Xx amount of hours per week i.e 10 hours per week. Some other contracts don't care if you only work 10 hours a month. However you do pay a network fee to use the network and resources through contractxchange which is around $20-$30 a month I believe so it would be in your best interest to make enough money to cover that and more. I think all the info is on their website.

I haven't worked any contracts for over 2 years so my memory is a little rusty on specifics now :o:p:D

Also...when you get a contract with a company they usually stay continuous. However if you are not performing well they can drop your contract any time and would send you an email advising you that they are dropping you

Wow what a great thread. Thanks everyone for all these extra income pointers :)

VOIP is offered by cogeco in my area and vonage. Vonage is great $19.99 a month unlimited North America incoming and outgoing. No such thing as long distance charges. voicemail, caller display, call waiting and many more features included in the price. No hidden charges obviously hst added to the price but Ive been with vinage for 6 years now and they are fantastic. Anyone interested let me know as with a referal you get a free month :D You can pay $29.99 a month and get unlimited international land line calls to most of Europe too if thats something anyones interested......sorr y to go off topic a little bit but thought it was relevant

We tired Vonage and HATED it! Maybe it depends on where you live. Our line was very unclear...we could hardly be heard by people we were calling. Then we had to fight with them to get our money back because they started our free trial month from the day we spoke to them on the phone, not the day we recieved the equipment and could actually start using the service. Never again for me!

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Originally Posted by bright sparks

VOIP is offered by cogeco in my area and vonage. Vonage is great $19.99 a month unlimited North America incoming and outgoing. No such thing as long distance charges. voicemail, caller display, call waiting and many more features included in the price. No hidden charges obviously hst added to the price but Ive been with vinage for 6 years now and they are fantastic. Anyone interested let me know as with a referal you get a free month :D You can pay $29.99 a month and get unlimited international land line calls to most of Europe too if thats something anyones interested......sorr y to go off topic a little bit but thought it was relevant

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Sorry to hear that kangaroomama. I have refered many people and have never heard bad things so perhaps it is the area, but I shouldn't think that would matter being VOIP.

I started doing Passion Parties as of June!! It is SOOOOO much fun! But you do have to go out of the house to do parties. From what I understand it is a higher commission then most of the other home party businesses. With it you make of it what you want. depending on your needs!
I have a super awesome upline to help me! Let me know if you want any more info!

Ok, now I have to ask you, what is Passion Parties? Sounds naughty!

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Originally Posted by Momof4

Ok, now I have to ask you, what is Passion Parties? Sounds naughty!

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Yup ~ googled it and that's exactly correct ;)

You could offer house cleaning services, and have your available days mapped out :) If you love to cook, sell some baked goods at your Saturday morning farmers market or something.

If your not too tired by the end of the day!!!!! I couldnt imagine having another job on top of this one, but I guess I have 6 a day plus my own two. :) How about running an add for some light house keeping, you could do it on a more convenient schedule probly and most house cleaners make pretty good money, I had a friend just close her daycare to start up a cleaning business, and she loves it, it alot of work though. :) just a thought. not sure if I would do anything like avon, or selling anything like that, I sold arbonne for years and didnt make much extra money, spent alot though!!!!! :)

Thed advantage of a part time job is the chance to get out of the house and mix with tall people who can carry on conversations. It's great when you can find something like selling a product that allows for that. Joining a choir or book club is great for getting out to but the extra money to support our other habits like crafting works even better and is fullfilling too.