Earnign money now I can't go back to work!

[mishw]

I've just found out that I'm not going to be able to afford to go back to work at the end of my mat leave - salary doesn't cover nursery fees for 2 children.

I really want to use my brain again and earn a little extra money, I've looked at various 'party' ideas, can someone please give me some advice on what they have done and the pros and cons of this type of work.

By the way DD1 is 3 and DD2 is 4m

Thanks

see if you can get working familes tax credit to help with nursery costs

or ask your employer if you can work part time? even if you you are not gaining financially you will benefit from being using your brain

Apparently my husband earns too much for the tax creddits to help with childcare costs.

I was working 3 days a week and looking to go back to that - I expected to be in effect working for nothing, and that was fine, howver looking at the figures, it would actually cost me money to go to work and we can't afford that!

Thanks for replying though - I will double check with tax credits as it may well change for 2 children.

Well if you look on it as your husband is paying half the child care costs as they are his children and that you may well prefer to work and it may help you sustain a career to age 65 and it can be more fun than at home (I worked at a loss once and am so glad I did) and you may get promotion in due course then go back. We used one childcarer here at home which was much cheaper than 3 sets of nursery fees by the way when we had three children under 4.

Yes sometimes you have to go back for the long term - if you'll be sending them to state school you won't be paying for childcare forever - and then you'll have been back in the system for several years and may be earning more, got promoted etc.

what skills do you have? could you transfer your skills and get an evening/weekend job that would enable your dh to take care of the children and would still mean you'd be able to get out to work?

alternatively you could look into the party idea perhaps? usbourne/chocaholics/whoever else it is that runs parties these days?

I am an Usborne Organiser

I mainly sell leading up to Christmas

But have got into a few schools lately so am going to do some sponsored reads (Not much work, no books needed but good money!)

Good side is, 1. you can make some money and work it around the children

1. Your children always have a great selection of books!

1. The ordering is so easy to do

1. can get bonuses and promotion

1. It is really cheap to start up

1. you dont have to put things through peoples doors or collect

7 can get free books and half price books

The down sides

I can't really think of many (honestly!!)

1. I suppose there are some events you can do and you come away having not sold many books which can be disheartening. But then other events make up for it

1. I find it hard to get people to have events at their home

1. sometimes you can get your order and there are some books missing, but they are very quick to send more if this happens so it is not a problem (then again I have been sent many extra books by mistake that I keep lol)

I have an advert in the jobs section titled "work from home selling childrens books"

Feel free to take a look

At the end of the day what you put into it is what you get out of it

Hope that helps

would a childminder be an option? Or nanny share?

sorry, I went on a bit then

The good thing is with the sponsored reads. All you have to do is, after getting a school/Nursery interested, is take along the sponsor form and letter to the parents for the school to photo copy and give out

money gets collected, the school order books off you, you get the commission

It really is that simple. You could come away with £100 commission for ordering some books and giving a few forms out!!

I will shut up now lol

Thanks Xenia and Scatterbrain - I agree with what you're saying to a point - the thing is we can't afford for me to go to work if its costing us money. Although the government thinks DH earns too much, believe me he doesn't and the kind of job I was doing there wasn't any chance of promotion.

Unfortunately a nanny is no cheaper than nusrery for 2 children and I'm not too keen on many of the childminders I have met in my area (I know there are good ones out there - just bad experiences have put me off!)

I am looking into retraining so I guess I will have to concentrate on that.

Sorry if I'm sounding difficult - I don't mean too, just having a pretty shitty day. Thanks for replying and offering the advice.

Hi Mishw

I will be in your situation when/if we have 2 kids. We're factoring it all into when we TTC baby no 2 as I have in my mind that when we have 2 kids (or more) it wont be financially possible for me to do the job I do.

Anniebear - like the idea of selling books, there's lots of people doing Avon, Virgin Vie, Tupperware in my area but not any childrens books sellers!

Lucy

Hi Mishw,

I sympathise with your situation, - it's very tricky with 2 little ones!

Party plan can work to give you some extra money each month (or even be a complete career change if you want it enough!) - and like anniebear says you get out what you out in , so you do need to have clear goals for yourself and be clear what you need to do to earn x amount(if that's what you need)

ie to earn £400 profit each mont I need to be doing x amount of parties , or x amount of sales ) Your sponsor into any party plan company should help you work this out and give you the support to help you achieve it, but you will need to be comitted to doign it for yourself as it;s all too easy to give up at the first hurdle.

for me , it took 6 months to a year to get regular bookings and build up a good customer base.

If the business is also network marketing (or MLM) then you also have the option to build, support and motivate a team and you can earn (potentially very good!) bonusses on their sales, which makes it seem more like a 'business' .

First and foremost, find one with products you are passionate about and speak to the person who is recruiting you to make sure that you can work together . Personally i think that your relationship with your sponsor can make all the difference in teh early days.

I do Mini-IQ, so am happy to fill in detail on this if you want. Yes, I earn good money some months and less in others - but that is mainly because I choose to have a quiet month (or can't quite be motivated to drum up some business!)

hope this helps, Linda

Have you thought about trying Avon. You can start off as a representative and then become a SAles leade, building your own team at your own pace.

If you want any more information please feel free to email me on [email protected]

I'm in a very similar situation. I've had to go back for 3 months but when my contract ends in March I'll be unemployed (I afford the childcare by using the vouchers I saved by stopping DS1's care while I was off work). I've been looking into jobseekers and reckon that'll work out around £240 per month. Apparently I'm 'entitled' to it but they won't be able to make me take a job that doesn't break even on the childcare - if a job did come up I'd be very happy so I would consider myself a genuine 'seeker' rather than just taking the easy ride as it were. The stupid thing is that even if I were to get a decent job (I'm an OT - health professional in NHS) it probably wouldn't give me as much of an income as the benefit once I'd taken out care and travel!

Might be worth you finding out about extra tax credits and vouchers?

Lucy

do feel free to take a look in the jobs section

My advert is entitled "work from home selling childrens books"

there is loads and loads of info on

I do Phoenix cards - haven'tbeen doing it very long but its quite an 'easy' sell. The product is cheap and something everyone needs (greetings cards, paper, note cards etc). Very low start up costs (c.£45). You can do as little or as much as you want - friends/family/parties/playgroups. People love the product. CAT me if you want to find out a bit more.

Thanks everyone - I was having a really bad day yesterday. I may well look into the mini IQ idea as they're one of the ones I was looking at.

I joined Mamatoto (www.mamatoto.co.uk) - TBH I looked at all the party plan ideas and chose them as they seemed to offer the best rates of commission (mainly 20% but 27% on books) and seemed to have the broadest product range (they do stuff like TP climbing frames and trampolines too). Also they don't restrict where you sell - so you can even sell on E-bay or just refer people to the website if you are busy with the kids at certain times of the year!
Please use my code KF1ZZ140 if you do buy anything, this gives you free postage and packaging on your first order, but also give it if you enquire about becoming an agent - Thanks

Hi
I am a mum of three 7 yr old and twins 19months - I cannot afford to work as the child care is to much. I would end up more in debt than already am!

So i tried a few party plan things and then found one that I love and get to kit my kids out with clothes! I take the babies with me when i do day parties!

i sell french childrens clothes 6m to 14 yrs - kids always need clothes as they grow all year round!! So selling isn't hard!

You get the bags/invites/order books FREE and at the end of the season the clothes are yours!

let me know if you want to know more. Good luck.
[email protected]

Im just about to become part of a business delivery and collecting cataloges you earn in the region of £400 a month if you stick to the basic hours but is potential to earn a lot more if can recruit further people great thing is if you have young children who will sit in the buggy you can take them along while doing your deliveries if anyone is interested please email [email protected]
There is a small outlay charge to begin with.

thats [email protected]

Well you could childmind, you could apply to local legal firms to see if they need evening typing work, you could work in the evenings when the other half is home, you could do evening lecturing if you are expert at a subject. I am assuming there is another half to mind the kids in the evening. You could start selling things on ebay, do dress alternations, write short stories. Enough??

I do Chocolate parties. This fits in really well as there are no targets and you run your own business. I sell via Chocolate Parties, events, fayres, brochure sales etc.

There are not that many people around doing this so I find there is not a saturation and as it's chocolate there is a wider market.

I hope you find something you are interested in. If you would like anymore info let me know

Kay

I have found a combination works for me. I couldn't afford child care so had to give up my job, but I now have a great time with party plan for Mini Iq combined with a bit of childminding. My 2 year old loves having the minded kids to play with and we go to lots of toddler groups and events selling the IQ books so we get out and about meeting people.

Meant to say if you want any info about Mini IQ business opportunity feel free to email me [email protected]