We’re just about into August now, the last full month of summer vacation before the young ones head back to school. Feel free to take a moment and breathe a sigh of relief.
All done? Okay, good. Now down to business.
There are many people out there who do the stay at home parent thing, while their partner works. And that’s fine, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you are a stay at home parent, with the kids shortly going back to school, suddenly you’ve got a lot more free time on your hands.
So, what should you do?
Kicking up your feet and relaxing is a good start. You’ve certainly earned a reprieve after having a house full of people all day, every day, all summer long. But anyone who spends most of their time at home can tell you, it gets old in a hurry. So why not use some of that free time to start up a little home business of your own and bring in some extra money? Kids are expensive after all. Constantly need new clothes, new school supplies, they may be nearing college/university age and anyone who has gone can tell you that that is mind-numbingly expensive. A little extra income can only be a good thing. So while you’ve got a month until they’re out of your hair, why not look ahead to your future and see if maybe there’s something you can do to make the financial burden of having children a little lighter?
There are lots of ways you can go about this. The only one who can decide what path to follow is you. Are you the arts and crafts type? Good with a paintbrush and easel, yarn and needle, or a sewing machine? Think your work is good enough to sell? Well then maybe you should! Put together some examples of your work and do commissions through Etsy, a site made exactly for this purpose. From there, you can determine which of your designs are the best, and hit other sites like eBay. You can even use the money you make from 1000aweekforlife to fund all the materials you need. It makes for a nice little bit of synergy, that results in making you a nice bit of extra cash.
Handy with a set of tools? Home renovation businesses are becoming ever more popular these days. If you’ve got the equipment and the experience, this is a great way to bring in some serious coin. And as before, 1000aweekforlife can help fund any additional equipment or training you may need, while still turning a profit in the process.
While you’re at it, take a look around your house. Depending on the age of your children, you may have accumulated years worth of random stuff. Some of it will have sentimental value and should absolutely be kept. But I’m willing to bet there’s quite a lot that isn’t doing much more than taking up space. Get the whole family together and figure out what should be kept and what needs to go, and then sell it off. There are tons of ways to go about this. Yard sales are popular (and a great way to spend a weekend for those looking to buy). We mentioned eBay earlier, which is a great resource. Sites like Craigslist and Kijiji (now eBay Classifieds) offer another method of unloading valuable yet unwanted clutter for a profit. You may even have some items in your home that a private buyer/seller will pay quite a bit of money for, if you shop around to them a little. And the best part? Once you’re finished, you’ll end up with more room in your home to boot!
With your children off at school all day, you’ll never have a better opportunity than now to go into business for yourself and start bringing in lots of personal independent earnings. Well, at least until they move out anyway.
