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Financial Success Series: Make Some Money

 

Welcome to the Money Making Week of our Financial Success Series! We all want to make money right? Well, here are a few things to try from the comfort of your own home! Woot!

Let me give you a little back story to this whole Financial Success Series and why this post is very near and dear to my heart. I am a stay-at-home momma, but I never thought I would be a stay-at-home momma. Before getting pregnant, I was finishing up my Masters of Art in Art Therapy and interning at this incredible company with incredible people. When my hubby and I decided to try for a kiddo, my vision was always to go back to work after having him. When I found out I was pregnant, a lot of women around me who had just had babies decided to make the change to be a stay-at-home mom. This left me feeling like maybe I didn’t know what I would want after this little boy was born. I talked to hubby about the possibility of staying home, and he assured me he was all for it! Great! We have a plan!

So, I graduated, and soon came the sweetest little angel. Life was a bit crazy with my newborn, but after I received a call from my internship site that they wanted me, I decided to take it. I would start off part time and work my way to full time over the next month. I am a working girl. I love to have a purpose, and while working in my field, I felt like my own woman. Baby boy had other plans for me, though. Sleeping through the night was not something he would happily do for awhile. In fact, we found out a few months after I took on my full time schedule that little boy had acid reflux. This was the reason he was not only waking up at night but screaming and crying for hours. Lack of sleep, a full schedule, mommy duties, and an emotionally-exhausting career choice had left me empty.

I found myself praying for clarity and answers. “Well, what do I do now? My plan is not working. Or maybe I am not working. I guess I need to try harder,” I thought. Weeks continued to go by, clients became increasingly harder to work with, and my ability to support them dwindled. While volunteering at church one day, we were discussing God’s design for women. We discussed how women were created to nurture and love. The more in depth the pastor spoke about Eve and her character, the more my eyes filled up with tears. The pressure to be a provider was weighing on me. I began to feel an incredible sense of longing to be the nurturing woman God had created me to be.

Don’t get me wrong. You can still be an incredible working mom that fulfills her nurturing needs, but in my life situation, I wasn’t able to fulfill mine. I decided it was time to quit…for now. Maybe I would go back to counseling or maybe I could try something else. I wasn’t even sure we could afford it, but I needed to try for my kid. My husband was so supportive. We prayed about it, and we both felt God moving me in a different direction.

Little did we know that, financially, this decision would take us into a whole new season of our lives. A season of trusting the Lord that he would fill that financial void we needed to live on. And month after month He provided. This is a great story and all, but God also lead me to continue working from home. This provided me with the purpose I needed, and a little bit of money to continue to fill that financial void.

It’s important for me to tell you this story because there are going to be seasons in life that you are not ready for financially. There are going to be times that you don’t plan on, and times that you may not even understand. Money will be tight, and you will be asked to trust in God. These times will try your faith, hope, and patience, but they will also develop your connection with God. God doesn’t just ask us to step back, necessarily, either. Sometimes, He asks us to participate while we are trusting in Him to provide.

Well, if you find yourself in one of these times, there are a few things you can do to create a little extra income. Here is a list of ways to work from home and receive a little something extra. I stress a little because many of these options won’t get you rich right away, but if you put time, energy, and research into them you can make a big difference in that financial gap you are left with.  As my father-in-law puts it, “At least it’s something.  Every little bit helps.”

 

A Few Ways to Earn Money From Home

~Take some surveys! This is probably the easiest route to take because you are just required to set up a few accounts and take some surveys that apply to your lifestyle. Some of these sites actually pay you to play games, watch videos, write reviews, or search the internet using their search engine. Keep in mind that many of these sites track points and reward you with gift cards once you reach a certain amount. This is the first step I took. At the time, I wasn’t receiving many survey options that fit within the company’s needs, but there are some newer sites out there now that I am finding are worth the work! My advice? Look into these, create a specific email address for your survey sites (so any spam doesn’t fill up your regular inbox), and try them out to see if you receive enough to make some money!

~Pick from a list of micro tasks to complete that fit your skills at Amazon Mechanical Turk. There are tons of different skills that companies are looking for including editing, reviewing websites, reviewing web data, design work, taking surveys and more. What I have found so far is that the tasks are super easy, but the easier the task, the more time it seems to take, and the less pay the tasker seems to get. Some of the more difficult and time intensive tasks pay out nicely, though! This is also a great place to try out your hand at various tasks and even promote yourself to various companies if you have a specialty.

~Resell things online through Ebay, Amazon, Craigslist, Facebook, and more! This was a job I came across right after I became a stay-at-home mommy that worked well for me and is currently working for a few friends of mine! Buy items for cheap at places like Goodwill, The Salvation Army, local garage sales, from other online sellers, or from stores that you receive coupons for. Next, sell them online to customers for more than you bought it for to receive a profit. Garage sales are great places to get excellent quality items for cheap that can be resold online for much more! Or just clean out your closet and sell some of those items you haven’t used in awhile that are still in great condition.  Join a few Facebook selling groups and sell those items  It takes a bit of research to know what to buy and what to sell your items at for a profit, but if you put in the effort, you can make a fairly sizable income each month! Most make from $200 a month to thousands depending on how in-depth you want your store to be.

~Test websites for some extra moolah. There are a few sites that allow you to try out newer websites and provide feedback on your experience. These sites pay anywhere from $5 to $20 a test. That’s a date night for 10 to 20 minutes of your time. Check out the sites below to see if you qualify!  I tend to do this in my spare time.  Every once in awhile I will qualify for a few tests at a time!  Don’t depend on this for a full time income, but if you are good at it, companies tend to throw more websites your way.  Try it out!

~Write! If you have something to say, create a blog or work as a freelance writer for other publications. There are tons of bloggers looking for writers to fill in for them and to add a new voice to their blog. There are also many publications and websites looking for writers to write about various topics. Do your research, and see who has openings! If you decide to start your own blog, research how you plan to make money before you begin. If you want to write about products and services, you will be lead into affiliate marketing, which has been lucrative for many bloggers. If you don’t mind adding some adds to your page, ads can create an income driven by how many views/clicks your site gets daily. Do you want to sell a product, service, or ecourse? Put it up on your blog and work on building your mailing list for readers that love your work!

~Sell your own products. Are you artsy fartsy? Make a product (think crocheted blankets, vintage signs, clothing, flower arrangements, painting, etc.), and sell it on Ebay, Facebook, Etsy, or even your own blog. I have considered this route a few times because I can’t seem to go a day without creating something.  A word of caution, if you want to make this a business, are you willing to give up some of the fun of creating for business purposes? This has been my only drawback. I love to create, but I’m not sure I would I would be as passionate about creating if I needed to do it for an income.  But maybe this is the route for you!

~Take care of someone’s kiddos or tutor them. Care.com has a really good program where you can sign up to be a nanny, date night babysitter, tutor, or even dog walker. Okay, this isn’t work from home, necessarily, but you may be able to take your child along to work with you. Two birds, one stone! I have found that a few mommies like the idea of their little one having a friend to hang out with during the day. If this doesn’t work for you, maybe tutoring when hubby gets home from work or once a week date night sitting work for your schedule. Try one of these options out. You may find that you love it, and the work hours fit in well with your family’s schedule.

~Use those computer skills! Some sites are looking for online travel agents, data entry workers, online receptionists, virtual assistants, and more. Check out these websites to find out if any of your skills match up with what companies are looking for!

 

There are so many options out there for stay-at-home moms to make a little extra income. This is such an important post for me because I want to help support you in any way that I can. Even if you already have a job that you are happy with, maybe working with one of these options will allow you some extra money to pay off that debt! Hey, there’s a grand idea!  Remember, Dave Ramsey’s plan is to get that Emergency Fund of $1000 as soon as you can!  There have been way too many close calls in our finances lately that have helped me see how important an Emergency fund is at the beginning!

So try some of these ideas out, and let me know what you think in the comments below!  If you have already tried some of these options, have tips, or have any other ideas about how to make money from home, let us know below!

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4 Comments

  • Reply Vibes Life Us

    Thank you for sharing!! There are some great tips!! I’m currently on maternity leave so seriously going to look at some of these…

    Keeley http://www.vibeslifeus.com

    January 26, 2018 at 1:06 pm
    • Reply Ashley Guntle

      Thank you, Keeley! These tips definitely lessen the pressure! Good luck on maternity leave and congrats on baby!

      February 12, 2018 at 6:42 pm
  • Reply Rae

    What a tough decision you had to work through. Thank you for sharing. I love your list of ways to make more income. I will definitely be checking out the list for testing websites. Sounds fun!

    Rae | Mindful Rambles

    January 26, 2018 at 1:10 pm
    • Reply Ashley Guntle

      Awesome, Rae! Hey, making money is always fun 🙂

      February 12, 2018 at 6:41 pm

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