Is this a silly idea

[Cottoneyed12]

Currently a SAHM to two, 6 & 1 year old. Stopped working 2 years ago but had a full time job, degree etc. I've enjoyed being at home but I'm becoming quite restless and miss earning some of my own income although we share money I would like my own.

I've thought about returning to work and decided to wait until youngest started preschool and then try to get school hours or perhaps starting something for myself.

Today I considered an ironing service but when I told OH he seemed unenthusiastic about it. Thought I'd made next to no income and would need to work lots of hours for little pay. Said it's an unoriginal idea and did I really want to spend my life ironing.

But I think I could do it but not sure if the pay would be any good. There's also quite a large company locally who currently offer 24h service £12 for 20 items which seems very competitive.

I'm thinking it's something I could start relatively quickly, cheaply but still offer a professional service and perhaps grow it into more in the future.

Also thought about offering cleaning services and ironing perhaps as part of that.

Also thought about various other things but have decided against them for various reasons. Ultimately I want to have time with my children, earn a bit extra income without stressing myself out too much. Any advice?

If you like (or don't mind) ironing, then why not?
You won't make much, but if you make £20 a day, then that's £100 a week more than you had before, without any real outlay (unless you need to upgrade your iron?) and presumably only a little advertising.

You need to think about how you transport things, or, if you are asking people to drop and collect from you. You need to think about how you will keep other people's clothes away from your little ones.

Realistically with a 1 year old you only have the times when they’re asleep to work. How many hours would that be and how much could you iron in that time? Remember you’d also need to allow time to deliver/collect or to deal with customers collecting from you.

Let’s say the baby sleep from 7pm in the evenings. How late would you work? 10pm? Would you get up early in the morning to work before DC wake? Does baby nap?

You could do a trial week with your friends and family letting you do their ironing (for free or a small fee) and see how much you really get done and whether it is making you any money.

Are you married? Do you have good savings or financial assets?

If not, seeking employment in a job similar to your previous roles would be a much better plan, to reduce your financial dependence.

Do you live in the sort of area where people are likely to pay for an ironing service? I'm guessing that only highly paid families where both partners work full time would pay for someone else to do their ironing. People on average and low incomes and people who don't work outside the home full time are unlikely to pay for someone else to do their ironing for them. Are there enough potential customers who are not already being catered for by the existing company?

Would you collect and deliver or expect your customers to drop off and collect? How would you advertise? What will that cost? If you do cleaning, where will the children be while you are doing it?

Try it.....what have you got to lose? Apart from a fiver for some leaflets to be printed.

Go for it!

It won’t cost you anything to start, presuming you have a good iron and ironing board etc, just marketing costs if you want leaflets (there is of course free marketing) etc.

If you don’t try you’ll never know, and if if doesn’t work it won’t matter as it hasn’t cost you anything to start it.

Have a go at it, see how it goes!

Go for it

I work part time in the afternoons each day and enjoy my job although it can be tiring (I work in a school). I have two children, 9 and 12. My husbands job takes him abroad some times, for instance this sunday he will travel abroad and be back late Friday then fly's off again on sunday for another week. My husband is really good around the house when here and even cooks up meals for me to keep in the freezer. I'm 46 and just find it really tiring, I'm shouting at my kids a lot, don't have a lot of energy. When hubby is here he works from home but inbetween we are usually laid out on the sofa moaning how tired we are. My husband has looked at other jobs but are a massive pay reduction, ie sell up and move into a smaller house.

I wanted to see what advice and thoughts anyone think of being a stay at home mum even though the kids are out at school?

I had a friend that did this alongside raising her three kids. She called it 'Iron Maiden' and it was brilliant for her.

Best of luck!