I just don't know what to do with myself

[naughtynoonoo]

I have already posted on another thread re. salaray for secretarial work, but am not really sure whether I want to do this or not. I have made a list:

Secretarial work - London Big bucks, but long commute 1.5 hours each way
Secretarial work - Kent - on door step but crap money
Train to be a teachers assistant
Become a child minder
Work in a pre-school
Become a virgin-vie consultant
Continue as I am as a stay at home mum

I feel I should be doing something as DD is in year 1 and dd is in pre-school for 4 sessions.

Have any of you been in the same situation and haven't had a clue what to do - what have you done. I only want something part time - but what???

hhhhm my ds2 started school in Sept and I'm starting to think I need a job - It's hard to find something part-time to fit in with school though

i'm with you nnn. Haven't a baldy clue.And dd is now 11 so i guess i get the prize for malingering mum

I deefo do not want to do child care or party plan stuff. Am thinking of office type work

I can't go on forever, cleaning the house, coffee with the girls, bluewater - or could I ?????? I'll probably be where you are Cremo in a couple of years!

i keep making business plans- 6 to date
half applying for jobs and then some crisis arises- like dd being sick or dh working abroad for 2 weeks. then i convince myself that being at home is where i should be and do DIY and plant vegetables. Also my parents rely on me quite a lot as they are getting on a a bit.
This has been going round in circles for years.
i may be poor but i am happy.

Message withdrawn

thats the thing, trying to get employers to agree to what you want. Children would be my main priority. I have an interview lined up for Friday and am already thinking of excuses, not good is it, but part of me is thinking go for it, i have nothing to loose apart for the £20ish train ticket. I signed up with one local agency and they sent me for 1 part time job, really wanted it and didn't get it. So I think I should change my attitude. What about working in the school office, should I just drop off a copy of my cv to them?

Think I replied to your other post?

I don't really know what to do either!!!

I did become an Usborne Organiser last year and just do it when and as I want, no pressure which is what I like

But I don't do an awful lot

Well, what do you like? What are your talents? Are you artistic? Organised? Sporty? What skills/specialities did you have before you got PG? Becoming a freelance Something is the best way of getting flexibility in your hours: if you need to take a training course then take whatever crappy part time job that pays best to earn the momey for your training.

Possible examples: make up artist, book keeper for small businesses, childminder, dogwalker, gardener, osteopath (thouh I think the training for this is quite long) travelling chef (ie you cook for people's dinner parties) counsellor (I'm not knocking any of you but this is an unregulated industry so anyone, pretty much, can set up a practice and charge clients) clairvoyant or tarot reader (see previous set of brackets)...

I think you should all set up interesting web sites and sell them for over £1m, forget all these low paid option. Follow the examples of parents at home who have done things like set up the White Company or a chain of coffee shops or friednsreunited etc. Might as well find something really well paid but short hours if you can.

I am in the same boat naughtynoonoo.

I can't decide between setting up my own business doing what I did before I had ds.

• points - I was very good at it, would love to work for myself and could fit it around school hours etc.

• points - Would anyone actually want my services bearing in mind I would have been out of the workplace for a fair few years. Would also mean that we would only have 2 children whereas ideally I would like 3.

Or Train to be a Montessori teacher.

• points - Always been very interested in this. Fits around school hours etc.

• points - Will I feel that my life revolves around children a bit too much.

Naughtynoonoo - Could you not temp for a bit to help you decide whether you want to commit to the secretarial work?

xenia - that would be fab, would have no idea how to go about it though! My BIL is good and has tried setting up several websites with my husband. It is just trying to think of ideas and whats not already been done and what would sell. Its taking a risk though as putting money in to it initially and it potentially falling apart!

I need a new job though, mine is crap and low paid but hours suit me 2 days a week whilst my MIl and Mother look after dd ond day each.

No, you don't need to put any money in at all. That's what led to all the dot com collapses because they hired premises and expensive staff. You have to think of a cleverer way like the boy at university with my daughter who thought of the millions pixels web site and made a fortune - anyone could buy one square for their business on his site and he sold a milliion of them. I'm sure something like that is more fun for the average IS claimant than going to 20 interviews on 3 buses to try to get a job at Macdonalds or whatever. I suppose you need some lateral thinking and ability to accept risk and be prepared to fail a lot first and just get on with things when you do.

I am starting open university course so that once child care is no longer an issue I will be qualified in something, also considering doing voluntary work placements once I have an idea what direction I want to go, so I can also gain practical experience.

By the way, other postert, Xenia hasn't got a fucking clue. Whoops, I mean, she's being rhetorical or provocative or something. Yes, it's not difficult these days to set up a website and it doesn't even cost very much, if anything other than your time/broadband bill. Actually amking money out of having a website depends on having an identifiable, desirable product or service, having the time/space/motivation to produce and send to the paying punters the whateveritis and finally, having some way of making your website flogging lovely loo roll holders or personal toenail tattoos stand out from all the others and/or entice people who didn't know they wanted your whatever till they heard of it.

Just because it's hard doesn't mean some don't do well like the boy at university selling pixels or FriendsReunited or whatever. Assuming failure and not trying things is one attitude. Having a go and failing and trying again and again is usually how most people succeed at most things.

Xenia, you silly bitch, are you genuinely incapable of understanding that the reason website successes get into the papers is that they are very rare? Creating an internet service and selling it for millions depends on blind luck far more than it does on hard work: the same goes for any business start-up. No matter how hard some people try, they won't automatically become millionaires: all these stories about entreprenuerial SAHMs who've made fortunes only mention at the bottom of the page that these women usually are very well-connected (Daddy's got a title, hubby works for COnde Nast, best friends with Camilla Parker Bowles or something) or have managed to secure a fat bank loan on the home they were lucky enough to have bought before the property boom. Around 50% of small businesses go bust within a coule of years of starting.
This is not to say that it's not worth starting up a business for yourself if you have a good idea and/or a useful, popular skill that people are always going to want to pay for. You can probably make a reasonable living as a self-employed hairdresser/minicab driver/plumber once you get established, as long as you have access to affordable childcare. But the reason people are poor isn't always that they won't work, it's that any number of factors can stop any individual's hard work netting them much of a reward.

Madamez - that's a bit harsh... I think Xenia's just trying to say it's a good idea to think outside the box sometimes (says she, with an ordinary Monday - Friday, 9am - 5pm job). But I'd love to think of something that would make me tons of money and fairly quickly/cheaply - why not?! I know of a few people who make shed loads on e-bay, buying beads in bulk and then selling them in smaller quantities at a large profit - good for them! There has to be other stuff like this that there's a market for.

The boy who sold the pixels is a genius - fantastic idea.

The thing to bear in mind for any business start up is that, in general, it is incredibly hard work at least for the first few years (the short hours only come as a fruit of major success, that is if you are after more than pocket money income). And most business start ups consume a lot of money to get going. So unless naughtynoonoo has incredible drive and access to cash it's probably not the best idea as something to do for four sessions a week! I think that if you only have a short time space for working then you need to look at a short commute (it's very stressful otherwise, esp if you have a child related crisis when you are at work). Also I think that it's better to think in the longer term, because otherwise you may struggle to find anything that feels worth it initially. Otherwise what about receptionist type work - there are always lots of part time jobs going in GPs surgeries/hospitals etc (although they don't pay well). You may find going to a careers office worth while as well - might give you some completely new ideas

The easiest extra money I make is writing stuff. You don't need any qualifications or capital for that but you do need to be very persistent work hard and keep at it until you find some sort of niche whether it's a regular column in Ice Cream monthly or whatever. If that boy can think up the pixels idea any mother at home can think up something similarly innovative.

What about setting yourself up as a private detective agency specialising in one particular area? I've always thought that woudl be fun. You can do your research on the law at home from your PC. Needing a car will rule out many single mothers though. My grand mother who was widowed when my mother was a tiny baby used to lend money, tiny bits of it to poor neighbours so they could buy clothes, I think in the 1920s and then she and my mother used to have to knock at doors to recover the debts bit by bit and the people inside would hide or send their children out to say no adults were at home.

Dottydot, if I'm harsh with Xenia it's because she and I are both posting on another thread regarding work and parenthood. She suggests that all mothers should be forced to pick up litter (with baby in a sling) in order to receive benefits.
Mind you, Xenia, I'm intrigued as to what sort of titles you write for. Prolebashers' Weekly?

private detective agency????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol, sorry that made me laugh, couldn't imagine any of us would have thought of that one!!!

It would be huge fun. You could be paid to track down who was having affairs. You could wear dark glasses and hang out outside hotels. You get paid quite a high rate per hour. Or I would quite like to specialise in corporate fraud investigations. There's a lot of stuff on line now too like birth certs, land registry, house details, 192.com, companies house.