I've just been faced with the reality that I might end up a single parent, but still want to stay home with baby. It's very important to me. Obviously I need to make money somehow. Somehow that will make me more than the meer $1.50/hr I get for babysitting. How do you guys do it?
you should be getting way more for babysitting, at least min wage. Here in TN, where the cost of living is really low, I was making $5-10/hr twenty years ago for babysitting! And in-home daycare usually costs lots more than that. It was the cost of daycare for my first baby that was the deciding factor in me not returning to work outside the home when she was born. You might want to look into getting a childcare license, so you can watch more than four kids at a time in your home (it all depends on your state laws and licensing requirements). I have friends who are WAHM, most of them have dotcoms selling homemade items. One sells custom clothes and waldorf dolls, one sells soaps, things like that. I have one friend who has a website selling cloth diapers and such that other WAHMs make. What are you good at?
If you have a crafting hobby, maybe you could start selling some really great handmade items! "In your spare time" ....Which is hard to come by when your a mama! babysittung is a good idea! I agree the wages for what you fo is not always fair. I think for 1 child the going rate at a daycare center is around $150 a week. So if you take in two extra little ones or more! You may make decent money!
1.50$ is really, really low for babysitting. It's ridicoulusly low. When I was a teenager I got like 5$ an hour.
well, I don't have my own home. I live with my grandparents, so I take care of them, too. but i don't get paid. plus I just don't think I could take care of more than four kids at a time, PLUS my little 2 1/2 month old baby. I babysit my little 9 year old brother for my mom. she's living in government housing and she just can't afford to pay me any more than 1.50. Even if I wanted her to pay me more, she has a friend who is a stay at home mom who would just do it for free, but my mom's letting me do it and paying me so that I get a little income. I have a sewing machine and I realy like to sew, but I haven't made anything so far. I'm about to make my own diapers and diaper covers here as soon as I get my sewing machine back from the shop. It's been sitting there for a week, but I haven't been able to go get it because I don't have a car or my license, yet. I get that back in December if I can afford it. so I have to depend on other people to take me to get things done, and most of the time no one can. but I'm going to call my friend's mom today after she gets off work and see if she can take me to go pick up my machine. So you see, this is really hard because I have a lot of things to work around. I think I want to make and sell online, diapers and diaper covers and other things when I figure out how. but with a little baby I don't see how people do it! but I will try. What I'm good at is child-care, but I just don't think I can do that right now, what with my grandparents needing me and my little baby not being old enough yet for me to take care of her plus other kids. my little brother's no problem since he's 9, but I have a cousin who I could be working for (I used to). she has a 5 yr old and a baby, but I just can't (believe me, I tried one day, had to call in some back up) . so now, what do you think, knowing the particulars?
I also have a crazy amount of baby clothes that I'm getting from my friend's sister, who has a year and a half old girl, who I'll probably continue to get clothes from, which is cool because i don't have to pay for them, and then I can probably sell them all when Abryn grows out of them, all profit!! I mean there's so much clothing that her baby never went through half of it and Abryn probably won't either, especially since Abryn wears even less clothing than her baby! i guess that will change when it gets colder, though.
I have a friend who's been a work at home agent for awhile now. I just started the application process today. You can find more info here: http://www.workplacelikehome.com/forum/f12-general.html
I think what I'd do in that case is check and see if your grandparents qualify for government funded in home care, and if they do, either get someone else to take care of them or see if there's some way the government would pay you to do it. If your watching your nephew interferes with making money, and you really need the money, tell your mom you just can't do it anymore for what she's paying you. Since she has someone else willing to do it, you don't have to feel guilty about it (really, you shouldn't feel guilty about it anyway, but I know how family obligations often make us feel that way). Then you can watch someone else's baby during work hours for at least min wage, or spend the extra time on making diapers if that's what you really want to do.
well these are all good ideas, but another reason my mom likes me to sit my brother is that he gets to spend more time with his grandparents, which also looks really good to the judge whos in charge of my parents' divorce/custody case. well, so far taking care of my grandparents only goes so far as cleaning the house for them and making sure things get done while theyre sick, which has been happening a lot lately. they're still able to function properly, for the most part. I don't know if they'd qualify for government help, since they have one, maybe two acres of land, a nice big house that now probably would go for at least $130,000, a new car and new truck, but they ARE retired military. so i don't know. my grandma has emphezima, which is now starting to really kick her ass, which worries me because what the disease does is slowly fill up your lungs with air pockets until you basically just suffocate I guess. she's having a hard time going places because her breathing gets so shallow and sometimes she stays in bed and just sleeps all day long, something very unusual for her since she just loves being a morning person. my grandpa just got diagnosed with Hepatitis A (I think, I don't know which letter). so maybe I'll look and try to find something for them, but it's just not all that bad right now. and I just COULD NOT watch another baby, plus my own. i've tried it and i just can't do it, but that's besides the point. I just got my sewing machine back, yay! I think I'm gonna try making some diapers and things and see how that works and then maybe if I like it I'll make a bunch to sell. Once i get some more time I'll use my grandpa's digital camera to take pictures of all the baby clothes and other things I can sell and put them up online somewhere. How do I do that? where's a good place to put up like a list of your stuff and some pictures?
I don't blame you for not wanting to do baby care for money. I used to do child care, but refused to do baby care, while I had babies of my own. My babies needed ME, only me. An older child, if quiet and well behaved would be an ideal solution. One summer when Sunshine was 3 and Moon was almost 1 I watched a nine year old girl, and she was actually more help to me than if she hadn't been there. It was like I was getting a mother's helper and getting paid to have her. She was a quiet, bookish child, and loved my kids, and it was a really good situation. Unfortunately, her parents made her a latchkey child when school started. I felt bad for her. But, you can always specifiy WHO you will watch and the ages, IF you wanted to do some part time day care. I wouldn't suggest full time day care with an infant. The child's MOM'S day is eight hours, that will make your day about 10 or more (since I have found that most of the people I used to do DAY care for would milk every minute I was there, do all their errands while I was there, and make my day as long as possible. Part time might work, but only if YOU want to do it. I have to tell you. Starting your own business is VERY frustrating. There is overhead, getting clients, advertising, (VERY EXPENSIVE) and often months with no business. Even succesful home businesses take at least ONE year to even break even. I've had a LC business for almost 13 years, and it is still sometimes difficult, because every month is different, and there are still months that I am in the red. Doing something alread established is more likely to bring in money right away. You might not have a year to wait for the break even time. I wish I had more advice.
I am with the WorkAtHomeAgent group, and while it is sometimes frustrating with the whole "upsell" business, it is good money if you can devote the time to it. If Abryn is quiet, or sleeps well while not in your arms, you can definitely do well with it.
Seeing what Maggie wrote also reminded me of an ideal solution to this situation a friend of mine found. Several years ago, my friend was in the same boat as you, and ended up landing a job with an already established and reputable daycare in her town. Part of her employment arrangement was a deal on putting her baby girl into the daycare - so she managed to spend her time with her own daughter AT her dayjob, while watching other kids and getting paid decent money. Of course, it's a touchy situation and could be very difficult to land, but it might be worth it to check out... Good luck!
well, I don't know if I want to start a BUSINESS. i just want to sell my stuff...speaking of which, I need to jump off here and upload some photos I forgot about. oh yeah I've heard of this before. this sounds like a really good deal, if I can do it. I'll have to look around at all the daycares around town. my little brother is off to Florida maybe for the whole school year to stay with his dad, so I wouldn't have to worry about staying home to watch him. thanks for reminding me!
I'm sorry but now is a time for you to thnk about you andf what you need to do to get yoru life together. You could take care of everyone and never get yourself anywhere. How about living withsomeone who you can be their live in house cleaner for room and board. Or a nanny. Sounds like you are stuck. Although getting childcare a part itme job may be a good thing for a change of pace.
I make a *little* bit of money by going to "thrift" stores, snapping up things that I know are popular, and selling them on Ebay for a profit. It's not enough to make a living from (but then again I don't list much... all my stock is piling up in my garage instead ), but if you do a few different things like the diapers thing you mentioned it might bring in a modest (ie small) wage.
well I'd like to stay with my grandparents. their house and one and a half acres of land is getting to be too much for them to take care of, and they're thinking about selling it if they don't have any better option. my grandparents built this house and my mom grew up here and so did I for about half of my life and I want to really try to keep it in the family. I'm the only one who even cares to take the initiative to help my grandparents out and take care of the house and my grandma said she will give it to me if I prove responsible. so just for that reason I will probably have to get a daycare job. does anyone know of any other jobs that you can go to WITH your baby?
