Ideas to stay at home?

[Cherished]

The tears have been flowing today as the reality is sinking in that I may have to go back to work Both dh and I would prefer me to stay at home but after another look at the budget today we are still 'in front' but that is very quickly changing and soon we will be going backwards FAST so we need more money.

I had thought about returning to my old job but my boss drove me nuts most days and even if I do go back I don't think I can make 'enough' money only working on teh days that dh can care for bub at home.

What I need is a work from home job that really does make money, not some scam or something that requires so much work that you end up working for $5/hr

I have thought about maybe starting a family day care but I have never been in the child care industry or even baby sat for anyone. I do love kids though... maybe I could go and check out a real day care for a day and see if I could hack it.

Has anyone else done family day care and can tell me some of the pros and cons I may not have thought of. Or has anyone got any other great ideas?

[hj1981]

Pro's - you can be with kids all day!

Con's - your with kids all day every day!

Sorry not much of a help am i?!

But can i ask if you do start up a family day care business can you move near me and can you be flexible and have occassional care? hehehehehe

[Mum2SweetCs]

yes i think that was one of the major cons i had and the fact that i wont be paying that much attention to DD when im with her with the other kids, I dont think i can handle that.

How about start selling stuff on ebay or online? are you good at making anything? crafty? what was your profession before bub? can you do freelance work?

[helle]

when you find something, let me know to, eh?

[Joeve]

Hey lovely girl - sorry you might have to go back to work its a reality for so many mums hey. I have no idea, other than one of my firends got a job recently doing nightfill for about 5 hours a night - its good because she gets to be home with bub during the day. Just throwing it out there!

[Indadhanu]

I'm in the process of starting FDC, and the pro's are working from home, and being able to make your own hours and be with your children.

The cons are:
- your home is your work
- you can't just chuck a sickie or mental health day, because people depend on you, and without you who would look after their kids?
- you have to work longer hours than you would at an away from home job to earn similar money, and technically you dont' earn much because it can cost so much to start and run
- the red tape and paperwork
- you can't go have a break if you need it, because theres no one to cover you
- set up can be tricky, your home has to follow fairly strict safety checks, you get random visits once a month and you have to be compliant
- holidays have to be planned pretty far in advance and you have to make sure you put some money aside for possible sick days, your holidays, and also your tax and super

PM me if you want more info. I haven't started yet, but am going through the startup stuff, just waiting on the perfect house and will hopefully be up and running by April

[Danielle_NZ]

Perhaps once you've decided on what you'd really like to do you could send personalized letters to the companies that you could service to introduce yourself and offer your services. Especially the doctors etc. That's how I found my daycare job a few years back, had a few interviews from them and a couple of job offers, hadn't even worked in the industry before.

[peanutter]

any joy, cherished?

DH is in a similar boat ...

at the moment our best solution is to figure out a way that I can increase my income enough to cover the gap ................

[Phteven]

Did the virtual PA thing pan out?
SIL had her own business as a personal PA for a while for a few clients. It didn't work out but I think that was mainly because she didn't have the contacts to make it happen. If you have enough people in your network who would use it it could be a great WAH earner.

[Cranky Kitten]

The typing idea has a couple of spin-off ideas as well - you could offer proof-reading/editing services for things like CVs, general administration or event planning. Hell I know when I was planning my wedding the idea of having someone else to ring up and compare pricing, hassle service providers and so on was pretty attractive.

If childcare is in short supply in your area and FDC isn't an option maybe go the other way and see about becoming a nanny in someone else's home?

All the best and hope you find something that works for you.

[Astrid]

Did the virtual PA thing pan out?
SIL had her own business as a personal PA for a while for a few clients. It didn't work out but I think that was mainly because she didn't have the contacts to make it happen. If you have enough people in your network who would use it it could be a great WAH earner.

Yes, networks are so important. I had my own bookkeeping business back in Melbourne and it was a struggle to find clients. If I was previously connected with an accounting firm it would have been easy, but I had to find one willing to add me to their list, it was a real tough slog and took many months just to get one client.

[Cherished]

Hi girls, funny that this thread should be back up again as I do have an update but it was only all confirmed on Friday! Yes the PA thign has worked out it's a bit more than that now though and is really an event managment role. It's fantastic as dh can help out too as he knows all about the workshops we will be coordinating and he knows the product well too. I'm so excited about it and there are a dozen events to plan and market between now and when I was supposed to go back to work (August) so by then I will have a really good idea as to whether it's working out or not.

I did apply for a few medical jobs to type letters etc which I feel I was more than qualified for however I never heard back from them. All has worked out though and I couldn't be more happy!

[peanutter]

mega wooooot for cherished!

DH is still looking ... and looking ... and looking ...

[peanutter]

is it still going well, cherished?

[Cherished]

Hello my lovely, how sweet are you for thinking of me Funny you should post in this thread as only yesterday I was thinking of posting a WOOHOO about it! DH and I saw my boss yesterday and I almost told him I wasn't coming back as dh and I decided not even 2 weeks ago that I would tell my boss that I'm not returning to work!!! But my boss caught me by surprise with his question so I wasn't prepared with how I was going to word everything. We are seeing him next week to chat and I will be telling him then. So to answer your question the work from home is going GREAT. I will at least be making the same money I was at my old job and I'd say even way more than that. Thank you universe! I'm so super happy to be able to stay at home with DS I can't even tell you

[beckoes]

thats awesome!!!congratulations!!!