Ideas for making money from home.

[AssistanceRequired]

Just that really. Am beginning to exhaust my stock of stuff I can sell from round the house so wondered what other people did to bring in a few extra pounds?

[Chchchchanging]

Um is there a reason you can't get a regular job, be it days evenings nights etc? Working from home will limit you to pyramid schemes ironing or similar

[AssistanceRequired]

Full time SAHM. Can't afford external childcare. DH works very long hours. No family that I could ask to babysit regularly.

[LMGTFY]

Not massively helpful chchch! If assistance was likely to be drawn into rubbish schemes they wouldn't be posting here!

Do you have any particular skills? Many people freelance or do their job from home (eg beauty/hair), some people can make stuff. Some people car boot to ebay or vice versa.

[wannabestressfree]

Childminder?

[Chchchchanging]

I fully understand but the reason I posted was many people often assume a job has very structured hours and not suitable, whereas evenings on zero hours etc gives a little more flex but often overlooked?

[minesapintofwine]

I do online surveys. Have done for years and has been quite lucrative. I've cashed in loads of vouchers and a fair bit of cash from it.

You do have to put effort in (but I do it in front of the telly), and can seem like ages to reach the threshold but perseverance pays off.

Money Saving Expert has the top 20. Personally I like valued opinions and ipsos for vouchers. I like populuslive for cash but can take a little while to reach the £50 threshold (sites like mysurvey have much lower payout thresholds eg £3).

The best ones I've done was an online 'task' when I had to post about 3 opinions on a forum over the course of a week, took about 10 min in total and got £30.

Also did a mock driving test last year (I failed!) for £50 vouchers.

I'm currently looking at other ways to earn as the survey sites are quiet (but a few are near threshold and then it's cha-ching).

I'm a sahm now but even when working full time I always did things like this, EBay, mystery shopping as it was nice to earn a sideline plus I enjoy it!

Hth

[ethelb]

Oh ffs changing. I run a retail business from home that has allowed me to leave my job.

[AssistanceRequired]

Thanks for the supportive messages. I'm going to look into the surveys and quite like the sound of mystery shopping. I'm also really into the idea of setting up some kind of retail business but not sure what would work well? I'm quite 'crafty' - would like to find out more about how to make it profitable.

In a past life I have teaching experience so could look to use these skills from home, tutoring etc but can't really bear the thought of all the effort and interaction after a day looking after my own kids. I'd love to find something that just helped to make ends meet that I could do on my own! I don't mind the idea of going to the odd car boot/market type thing. But do people actually manage to make regular money from these types of things?

[minesapintofwine]

It's difficult I think you would have to be Extremely dedicated. For me it's pin money, though has helped me get out of a few scrapes, I couldn't rely on it as a regular income at all. It would be very risky to do so.

However, with the right motivation, determination, business sense etc I'm sure you could have a chance at success.

Good luck with it

[QuiteQuietly]

I work from home and am the only earner. It's definitely not pin money and not a pyramid envelope stuffing scheme either. What did you do pre-children? Are your DC at school or are you planning to fit things in around naps and once they are in bed? I started flogging our own excess stuff in nap times, then gradually moved into a niche connected with my pre-children job. But I have friends who provide secretarial support from home (audio-typing etc.), proof-reading, arts/crafts preparation, pre-school admin, event organising, translation, concierge-type services (letting plumbers in, sending parcels) etc. etc. I have in the past used people who sort out corporate christmas cards (ordering, signing, labelling and posting) - we had to send her an address list at Easter. There is plenty out there, particularly in an economic climate where companies don't want to commit to employing staff.

Good luck.

[AssistanceRequired]

That's all the stuff I'm interested in hearing about - I'd really like to do proof reading but how do you find the work? I don't need to be the main earner but would like to establish a steady stream of maybe a couple of hundred pounds a month. I have two children at home with me so needs to fit into naps, down-time, evenings, weekends.

[twistletonsmythe]

There are genuine jobs. Try Leapforce, Lionbridge, Firstsource and Sensee.

Proof reading - unless you are established it really isn't that easy or lucrative.

[throwingpebbles]

If you are crafty I have a few friends who make stuff for friends and family etc and just sell through Facebook etc eg they knit or crochet or make dresses or one who makes beautiful dolls houses etc

[Oodear]

Things like yellow pages delivery can be done with kids in tow. Pram can be very useful!

[GoodToesNotSoGoodToes]

It's a bit grim, what about an adult phone line?

[QuiteQuietly]

I think proof-reading is doable if you have a speciality (like background in law/medicine) otherwise it is a field full of bogus courses. My friend used to be a medical secretary and got into textbook proof reading that way.

With a background in teaching, if you don't fancy tutoring, then I would personally look at some sort of support niche in that field. Our old pre-school used to pay someone to prepare crafts. Eg they would send out a list of forthcoming topics and this lady would prepare 2 crafts a week x 35 children. So she would come up with doable ideas, assemble materials, pre-cut some bits leaving other bits for scissor practise and prepare instructions. It would all turn up on Friday for the following week. I doubt she was raking it in, but I would imagine it was useful extra and fit in with family life. Or sell craft/handwriting kits on etsy/ebay/facebook, or other resources for home educators. Topic-related wordsearches/puzzles/quizzes. Local or nature treasure hunts. Something where being a former teacher will lend you credibility and give you an edge. And the chances are you have had to prepare something similar in your previous life. MN is full of people looking for help with various school things - sell a solution.

[Chchchchanging]

Ok so fr your position with littlies in tow and the income you want do you live in anything but rural area?
Here a few friends do courrier deliveries for next, dpd and my Hermes, they get a drop off once a day and have to deliver within 8 hours and get £xx per parcel, it's upto then to do their routes so one does a walking route and then a car route. It's not mega bucks but pays for a nice holiday each year
Hth, I don't know why I got such grief for my last post!
I wasn't saying you can't make high income from home- but it's a lot lore challenging if you're restricted by kids being around speaking from experience!