Any stay at home mums out there who can help me or give me some advice?
I am 2 and a half months prgenant and am over the moon at my exciting news. However, I am already starting to get concerned with regards to money. I would like to be able to stay at home with my child in those first few years before he/she is old enough to go to school. However, both my partner & I are on low incomes & when I am on maternity leave, our income will be even lower. Can any stay at home mums tell me what they do to earn a good income whilst being able to stay at home with their child? Or give me some advice on any solution to this problem. When my child is old enough for school I will go back to work in the hours that he/she will be in school. However, when he/she is too young for school we will not be able to afford the child care for me to go back to work part time, plus I would like to spend that time with my child. I have looked in to evening work but can anyone suggest something that would allow me to work from home? I'm sure someone out there knows of something.
Answers:
Hi F,
I've had a lot of experience over the past 3 years with this subject. I went through litereally 50+ different companies on the interent trying to make money while I was in college. There's sooo much crap out there and companies that promise you the world but deliver nothing but hype, it takes a while to seperate the crap from the genuine money making opportunities.
Now after sooo many disapointments I'm using a crowd called Ultimate Wealth Package and it's now making me money (finally!) online.
Anyway, basically you sign up with them and then once your logged in you just fill in as many forms as you like in their members section and you get paid for each one. I get checks from them every 2 weeks each averaging around $250-$350. You could make more but I just use the site as an extra income stream aswell as my full time job so I only work on it for around an hour each night.
You do have to be prepared to spend a little money though if you want to do anything online like this but it´s already been worth it for me.
Here`s the link you can get them at anyway -> www.datatry.com
Hope this helps!
Goodluck,
William
Ps: I forgot to tell you that they now have a 60 day money back guarantee or something like that (they didn't have one of these when I joined) so if you don't like it you can get a full refund. I know you won't look back though! :)
i tried working from home but could not find any jobs like that. i had my baby then i left my job as i wanted to raise my baby myself and not have someone else raising her. i am a single parent and the only way i could do it was to go on benefits, it wasnt the best solution but i had no choice.
i am now back at work but have only just gone back as she is 7 years old. good luck hunni
I became a nanny so I could take my son to work with me. That way he had a playmate and I didn't have to pay for daycare.
I've been looking for years and I havent found anything yet. Good luck xx
Cant give you advice on how to MAKE the money but I can tell you how to save it and stretch it. First of all dont buy yourself CDs movies, sodas, coffee, clothes you dont need etc,. Buy only the things you need. You have to get your priorities in order a bit. Check your local dept of human services and see if you qualify for any of their programs such as food stamps. No shame it taking help if you need it.
well im a poor mother of 4 and have been a stay at home mom ever since i had my 1st but i am also married so i dont know your situation fully but my best advice is to look into your community resorces for example wic and things like that.
Yes cash will be tight but think of the rewards that you will get from your child can you not get an evening job after you have had the baby and then your partner can take over (the supermarkets all ways need evening staff)
You can babysit for other young children in your home. That's what my mom did so she could stay with us. It was great because mom could get some extra money and we had someone to play with. Or you might try something else. Do you have any crafting skills like sewing or knitting? Being a knitter, I know that hand knitted items made of nice yarn can go for an insane amount of money, You can make them whenever you like and then sell them at a craft show. Or you can get orders from your friends to make things. You also might try starting an ebay business, I know that this works really well for some people.
well for a start you will be able to claim child tax credit/working families tax credit (can't remember what it's called) plus you should get maternity benefits. contact your benefits office to find out exactly what you can claim, You could sell bits and bobs on ebay, unwanted things you might otherwise throw away. good luck with the baby!
1) Supplement your income--have you or your husband take second jobs until the baby born. It may sound crazy, but you're going to need the money. Put as much as you need to survive WITHOUT an income for 3 months.
2) Who makes more money: you or your husband? If it's you, you may want to think about heading to work and leaving your husband with your child.
3) Cut costs as much as you can--breast feed, cut out the cable, etc. We're talking the very essentials. Can you move to a smaller place? Do you have two cars that you need?
4) About not affording child care--look around and ask people. Some places provide child care for low income families, and other places are just plain cheap. We found a day care for our son for $2/kid/hour.
5) Get everything together NOW. Get the crib from Once Upon a Child (softly used kid's stuff). Look around. Sell what you can.
6) Re: job while you're taking care of your child. You can't open a day care because you'll need special licensing. Don't go for the internet business. Ask an organization like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers if you could assist them technically from home. If you don't have a computer from home, try tutoring.
Hi Sweetie. I had the same problem and what I did was started my own business and sold stuff on E-bay. You can easily make a 100.00 a week selling without much effort and you do it from home.You can start by selling things you have around the house first like clothes or maternity clothes. Good Luck this is what worked for me it's not alot of money but enough to be able to stay home and make a few adjustments else where. I am not sorry I made the sacrifice to stay home it is the Best decisions I ever made.
I'm a stay at home mom and have been home with my children for 8 years. It is the most rewarding thing a mother can experience. As far as finances.we are not rich by any means. My husband only makes around 30,000/ year and we survive. We are not on welfare or anything either. I have sometimes made money on the side by selling stuff on ebay. I clean our church once a week and am paid for that. I babysit occasionally for friends and relatives. And I use any of the money I make for leisure. My husband makes enough to provide and make all of our payments and usually there isn't much left afterwards so we have had to be frugal in order to have extra stuff. But if you cut coupons for grocery shopping, and buy less expensive brands of things, and learn how to be crafty it really helps. And when you are at home you have much more time than working mom's to be able to hit yard sales, and clip coupons, and go through shopping ad's to see what's on sale. Buy things on sale and stock up. It saves TONS! You can do it! There are lots of websites for mom's who stay home that give all kinds of money saving tips. Just do a search on google for stay at home mom's and homemakers and you'll be sure to find awesome helpful ideas. If you can make a strict budget with your husbands income and he makes enough to provide for everything then go for it! You won't regret it. And there's lots of mom groups out there for support and play dates if you go stir crazy being in the house! Good luck!
I have 5 sons (4 are now adults) and I stayed home with all of them until they were at least 4. Well, not entirely true. Worked a few NIGHTS a week when twins (second to last in birth order) were three. My husband and I learned to do without. We were very young & we even made up what our grocery bill would be with taxes before we went to the store. For extra money I babysat others children (yes, it was a madhouse) and I had a weekend office cleaning job. I currently stay at home while my 10 year old is in school along with my new 11 & 9 yr. old step children. I sell on ebay. I was made to be an at home mom. I WANT to be home taking care of the house, the kids, the dogs, and my husband. Being a good mom & wife is important to me. I like things a bit more old fashion. We are not as bad off financially as when I was younger, but still buying for 9 kids (my new husband also has 2 adult children) at Christmas isn't easy. We don't drive new cars ( no car payments) nor do we use credit cards. I don't own a cell phone. Can you believe it? I can afford it but why spend the money , so that I can constantly be interuppted no matter where I am? It's all about choices & budgets. We start saving our spare change right after Christmas every year. When it's time to go holiday shopping we normally have $600-700 'already in the kitty'. Kids grow up too fast & they need us at EVERY age-not just as babies. Do what you can to stay home if you want. It'll be worth it in the long run.
I was a stay at home mum. As a single mum, I just couldn't work because however much I could earn it was never enough to cover child care. Things have changed a lot since those days and it is now easier to find and afford childcare. However, I am so glad that I stayed home with my two children as I know my kids were better off for it. I lived on benefits and was always flat broke. I took in washing and ironing to make extra money. I did cleaning jobs and even a pools round but never earned very much and was always struggling for money. When my youngest started full time school I was asked to go and work in a local playgroup and did so. I then did a Diploma in Playgroup Practice and ended up running this playgroup for 7 years. The pay was low and it was never enough to get off benefits, but I was better off by about £15 per week. I learned so moch on the diploma course about childcare that it made me a better mum to my two girls and I then wished I had learned all these things before I ever had kids. Some of the girls on the course had very small kids and there was free childcare available at the college for them. If you start on a course like this now, not only will it give you a chance of employment (maybe at the nursery where your own kids go) but it will also benefit any children you have as you will be a more confident parent. If I had gone into this sort of work when my children were much younger, I would have been working at the nursery that my kids attended instead of slogging as a cleaner while they were in nursery and spending most nights ironing other peoples' clothes while the kids were in bed.
No one has mentioned the cost of day care. If you are making a low wage, the cost for you to keep your child in daycare may be more than you make. If you have someone you know to care for your child then that won't be a problem. I have two children and onw on the way and i do stay at home. My husband is a painter (houses, not art) so his work comes and goes with the economy and the weather. We make do the best we can, it's never easy. I would love to have my hair and nails done at a nice salon, and i wuold love to go to the movies instead of renting them, but i would not trade being home with my kids for anything.
Good luck to you and congratulations.
hiya, my friend did ironing at home for a local company. it doesn't pay a massive amount but it was enough to top up their wages. when the baby is born you will be able to claim child tax allowance and working tax allowance if the income is low enough (UK).also you can apply for a mternity which is upto 500 pounds, you can apply for thisabout a month before the baby is due (i think) their are lots of things out there to help families on a low income.
all the work that she did was cash in hand so therefor did not affect any maternity or tax credit payments. good luck to you and congratulations on the pregnancy :-)
there are two links below to tell you all you need to know about claiming tax credits and the grant.
Hi there! I too am a stay at hom mommy of two precious lil boys & our third little bundle of joy is due in april. Yes we are also on a strict budget.we my not get out much..but we put our childrens needs ahead of our own! I agree with the others when they say cut your costs..my husband cut out his morning routine for Dunkins and bought a travel coffee cup and took it from home instead..we also work off of one car..because I don't need a car of my own that much and if I do I just drop him off at work!
~Other ways to make a little extra mommy money..EBAY! I've been doing it for about 4 or 5 years now and have made enough to give my kids a great christmas every year and then extra every week.
~Also check out Craigslist.com.they have them all over the united states..and it's an easy quick way to sell some things you may not need anymore!
~I also started selling AVON from home..I mean you dont make a ton of money unless you invest a lot of time & effort into it..which us new moms don't have much of.but you can earn a lot of free products for your little one or just pocket the extra $$ every two weeks!
**GOOD LUCK & GOD BLESS!**
I stayed at home while I was having babies( 3 of them 2 yrs. apart). However when the finances got tighter than they usually were I would babysit. There is good money in it!
The best thing to do is when you visit your midwife she will give you a pregnancy book and everything you need to know is in the back of the book. It will explain dates you need to claim from, forms you will and can receive and telephone numbers you can call.Its full of useful information. Every family receives different amounts due to your yearly income and how much you and your partner earn. It's best not to get confused by everyone telling you what they get as every family is different.
Congrats xx
its amazing how you adapt when the finances get cut. I left my full time job 3 years ago this December and have never looked back, i dont have new clothes and we rarely go out but this is the sacrifice we made so i could be a stay at home mum. I asked family members if there was anything i could do for them when my husband was off during weekends and i soon found i had a regular pile of ironing and a cleaning job to do, it didnt pay well only £45 every other weekend but it meant we could treat our son and have a little "pocket money"! dont worry, you and your partner will adapt and you will be very happy. good luck xx
You have everything you need now right, except baby things. Save what you would normally spend and spend it on baby. Baby does not need much, parents usually shop for themselves. Just learn to cut back, you will be doing yourself and your darling baby a favour. I wish you all the very best, spend as much time as you can with your little one as you cannot regain those years, just be frugal and you will be a success as a parent. Good luck!
Offer to babysit kids in your home. If you don't want to get certified and everything by the state. try to find really good friends and neighbors who will pay you without having to report it.
have you considered child minding?
its agreat way to stay home with your child and it will give them aswell as your self the oppotunity to make new friends.( obviously as they get older)
Hope these job websites can help you.
http://www.usejob.com
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com
http://www.craigslist.org
My Sister had a similar problem to yours. She became a child minder. She had to go through the local council and have an Enhanced Disclosure done.
She looks after small children during the day and some older kids after school.
Whatever you decide, good luck, i think it is great that you want to be a stay-home mum until baby goes to school.
Well you can always get on wick. wick is coupons for food. like baby formula. and dairy products like cheese, milk, eggs, bread and stuff like that. All you have yo do is call your health care, and you can be put on wick depending on the income in your house. Also you can always babysit other peoples kids and get paid for that, baby sitting kids kind of gives you an idea of what its going to be like being a mother to.
Try childminding or something like that, also get intouch with tax credits if you are in the UK as they could bump up your income
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Answers:
Hi F,
I've had a lot of experience over the past 3 years with this subject. I went through litereally 50+ different companies on the interent trying to make money while I was in college. There's sooo much crap out there and companies that promise you the world but deliver nothing but hype, it takes a while to seperate the crap from the genuine money making opportunities.
Now after sooo many disapointments I'm using a crowd called Ultimate Wealth Package and it's now making me money (finally!) online.
Anyway, basically you sign up with them and then once your logged in you just fill in as many forms as you like in their members section and you get paid for each one. I get checks from them every 2 weeks each averaging around $250-$350. You could make more but I just use the site as an extra income stream aswell as my full time job so I only work on it for around an hour each night.
You do have to be prepared to spend a little money though if you want to do anything online like this but it´s already been worth it for me.
Here`s the link you can get them at anyway -> www.datatry.com
Hope this helps!
Goodluck,
William
Ps: I forgot to tell you that they now have a 60 day money back guarantee or something like that (they didn't have one of these when I joined) so if you don't like it you can get a full refund. I know you won't look back though! :)
i tried working from home but could not find any jobs like that. i had my baby then i left my job as i wanted to raise my baby myself and not have someone else raising her. i am a single parent and the only way i could do it was to go on benefits, it wasnt the best solution but i had no choice.
i am now back at work but have only just gone back as she is 7 years old. good luck hunni
I became a nanny so I could take my son to work with me. That way he had a playmate and I didn't have to pay for daycare.
I've been looking for years and I havent found anything yet. Good luck xx
Cant give you advice on how to MAKE the money but I can tell you how to save it and stretch it. First of all dont buy yourself CDs movies, sodas, coffee, clothes you dont need etc,. Buy only the things you need. You have to get your priorities in order a bit. Check your local dept of human services and see if you qualify for any of their programs such as food stamps. No shame it taking help if you need it.
well im a poor mother of 4 and have been a stay at home mom ever since i had my 1st but i am also married so i dont know your situation fully but my best advice is to look into your community resorces for example wic and things like that.
Yes cash will be tight but think of the rewards that you will get from your child can you not get an evening job after you have had the baby and then your partner can take over (the supermarkets all ways need evening staff)
You can babysit for other young children in your home. That's what my mom did so she could stay with us. It was great because mom could get some extra money and we had someone to play with. Or you might try something else. Do you have any crafting skills like sewing or knitting? Being a knitter, I know that hand knitted items made of nice yarn can go for an insane amount of money, You can make them whenever you like and then sell them at a craft show. Or you can get orders from your friends to make things. You also might try starting an ebay business, I know that this works really well for some people.
well for a start you will be able to claim child tax credit/working families tax credit (can't remember what it's called) plus you should get maternity benefits. contact your benefits office to find out exactly what you can claim, You could sell bits and bobs on ebay, unwanted things you might otherwise throw away. good luck with the baby!
1) Supplement your income--have you or your husband take second jobs until the baby born. It may sound crazy, but you're going to need the money. Put as much as you need to survive WITHOUT an income for 3 months.
2) Who makes more money: you or your husband? If it's you, you may want to think about heading to work and leaving your husband with your child.
3) Cut costs as much as you can--breast feed, cut out the cable, etc. We're talking the very essentials. Can you move to a smaller place? Do you have two cars that you need?
4) About not affording child care--look around and ask people. Some places provide child care for low income families, and other places are just plain cheap. We found a day care for our son for $2/kid/hour.
5) Get everything together NOW. Get the crib from Once Upon a Child (softly used kid's stuff). Look around. Sell what you can.
6) Re: job while you're taking care of your child. You can't open a day care because you'll need special licensing. Don't go for the internet business. Ask an organization like Jenny Craig or Weight Watchers if you could assist them technically from home. If you don't have a computer from home, try tutoring.
Hi Sweetie. I had the same problem and what I did was started my own business and sold stuff on E-bay. You can easily make a 100.00 a week selling without much effort and you do it from home.You can start by selling things you have around the house first like clothes or maternity clothes. Good Luck this is what worked for me it's not alot of money but enough to be able to stay home and make a few adjustments else where. I am not sorry I made the sacrifice to stay home it is the Best decisions I ever made.
I'm a stay at home mom and have been home with my children for 8 years. It is the most rewarding thing a mother can experience. As far as finances.we are not rich by any means. My husband only makes around 30,000/ year and we survive. We are not on welfare or anything either. I have sometimes made money on the side by selling stuff on ebay. I clean our church once a week and am paid for that. I babysit occasionally for friends and relatives. And I use any of the money I make for leisure. My husband makes enough to provide and make all of our payments and usually there isn't much left afterwards so we have had to be frugal in order to have extra stuff. But if you cut coupons for grocery shopping, and buy less expensive brands of things, and learn how to be crafty it really helps. And when you are at home you have much more time than working mom's to be able to hit yard sales, and clip coupons, and go through shopping ad's to see what's on sale. Buy things on sale and stock up. It saves TONS! You can do it! There are lots of websites for mom's who stay home that give all kinds of money saving tips. Just do a search on google for stay at home mom's and homemakers and you'll be sure to find awesome helpful ideas. If you can make a strict budget with your husbands income and he makes enough to provide for everything then go for it! You won't regret it. And there's lots of mom groups out there for support and play dates if you go stir crazy being in the house! Good luck!
I have 5 sons (4 are now adults) and I stayed home with all of them until they were at least 4. Well, not entirely true. Worked a few NIGHTS a week when twins (second to last in birth order) were three. My husband and I learned to do without. We were very young & we even made up what our grocery bill would be with taxes before we went to the store. For extra money I babysat others children (yes, it was a madhouse) and I had a weekend office cleaning job. I currently stay at home while my 10 year old is in school along with my new 11 & 9 yr. old step children. I sell on ebay. I was made to be an at home mom. I WANT to be home taking care of the house, the kids, the dogs, and my husband. Being a good mom & wife is important to me. I like things a bit more old fashion. We are not as bad off financially as when I was younger, but still buying for 9 kids (my new husband also has 2 adult children) at Christmas isn't easy. We don't drive new cars ( no car payments) nor do we use credit cards. I don't own a cell phone. Can you believe it? I can afford it but why spend the money , so that I can constantly be interuppted no matter where I am? It's all about choices & budgets. We start saving our spare change right after Christmas every year. When it's time to go holiday shopping we normally have $600-700 'already in the kitty'. Kids grow up too fast & they need us at EVERY age-not just as babies. Do what you can to stay home if you want. It'll be worth it in the long run.
I was a stay at home mum. As a single mum, I just couldn't work because however much I could earn it was never enough to cover child care. Things have changed a lot since those days and it is now easier to find and afford childcare. However, I am so glad that I stayed home with my two children as I know my kids were better off for it. I lived on benefits and was always flat broke. I took in washing and ironing to make extra money. I did cleaning jobs and even a pools round but never earned very much and was always struggling for money. When my youngest started full time school I was asked to go and work in a local playgroup and did so. I then did a Diploma in Playgroup Practice and ended up running this playgroup for 7 years. The pay was low and it was never enough to get off benefits, but I was better off by about £15 per week. I learned so moch on the diploma course about childcare that it made me a better mum to my two girls and I then wished I had learned all these things before I ever had kids. Some of the girls on the course had very small kids and there was free childcare available at the college for them. If you start on a course like this now, not only will it give you a chance of employment (maybe at the nursery where your own kids go) but it will also benefit any children you have as you will be a more confident parent. If I had gone into this sort of work when my children were much younger, I would have been working at the nursery that my kids attended instead of slogging as a cleaner while they were in nursery and spending most nights ironing other peoples' clothes while the kids were in bed.
No one has mentioned the cost of day care. If you are making a low wage, the cost for you to keep your child in daycare may be more than you make. If you have someone you know to care for your child then that won't be a problem. I have two children and onw on the way and i do stay at home. My husband is a painter (houses, not art) so his work comes and goes with the economy and the weather. We make do the best we can, it's never easy. I would love to have my hair and nails done at a nice salon, and i wuold love to go to the movies instead of renting them, but i would not trade being home with my kids for anything.
Good luck to you and congratulations.
hiya, my friend did ironing at home for a local company. it doesn't pay a massive amount but it was enough to top up their wages. when the baby is born you will be able to claim child tax allowance and working tax allowance if the income is low enough (UK).also you can apply for a mternity which is upto 500 pounds, you can apply for thisabout a month before the baby is due (i think) their are lots of things out there to help families on a low income.
all the work that she did was cash in hand so therefor did not affect any maternity or tax credit payments. good luck to you and congratulations on the pregnancy :-)
there are two links below to tell you all you need to know about claiming tax credits and the grant.
Hi there! I too am a stay at hom mommy of two precious lil boys & our third little bundle of joy is due in april. Yes we are also on a strict budget.we my not get out much..but we put our childrens needs ahead of our own! I agree with the others when they say cut your costs..my husband cut out his morning routine for Dunkins and bought a travel coffee cup and took it from home instead..we also work off of one car..because I don't need a car of my own that much and if I do I just drop him off at work!
~Other ways to make a little extra mommy money..EBAY! I've been doing it for about 4 or 5 years now and have made enough to give my kids a great christmas every year and then extra every week.
~Also check out Craigslist.com.they have them all over the united states..and it's an easy quick way to sell some things you may not need anymore!
~I also started selling AVON from home..I mean you dont make a ton of money unless you invest a lot of time & effort into it..which us new moms don't have much of.but you can earn a lot of free products for your little one or just pocket the extra $$ every two weeks!
**GOOD LUCK & GOD BLESS!**
I stayed at home while I was having babies( 3 of them 2 yrs. apart). However when the finances got tighter than they usually were I would babysit. There is good money in it!
The best thing to do is when you visit your midwife she will give you a pregnancy book and everything you need to know is in the back of the book. It will explain dates you need to claim from, forms you will and can receive and telephone numbers you can call.Its full of useful information. Every family receives different amounts due to your yearly income and how much you and your partner earn. It's best not to get confused by everyone telling you what they get as every family is different.
Congrats xx
its amazing how you adapt when the finances get cut. I left my full time job 3 years ago this December and have never looked back, i dont have new clothes and we rarely go out but this is the sacrifice we made so i could be a stay at home mum. I asked family members if there was anything i could do for them when my husband was off during weekends and i soon found i had a regular pile of ironing and a cleaning job to do, it didnt pay well only £45 every other weekend but it meant we could treat our son and have a little "pocket money"! dont worry, you and your partner will adapt and you will be very happy. good luck xx
You have everything you need now right, except baby things. Save what you would normally spend and spend it on baby. Baby does not need much, parents usually shop for themselves. Just learn to cut back, you will be doing yourself and your darling baby a favour. I wish you all the very best, spend as much time as you can with your little one as you cannot regain those years, just be frugal and you will be a success as a parent. Good luck!
Offer to babysit kids in your home. If you don't want to get certified and everything by the state. try to find really good friends and neighbors who will pay you without having to report it.
have you considered child minding?
its agreat way to stay home with your child and it will give them aswell as your self the oppotunity to make new friends.( obviously as they get older)
Hope these job websites can help you.
http://www.usejob.com
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com
http://www.craigslist.org
My Sister had a similar problem to yours. She became a child minder. She had to go through the local council and have an Enhanced Disclosure done.
She looks after small children during the day and some older kids after school.
Whatever you decide, good luck, i think it is great that you want to be a stay-home mum until baby goes to school.
Well you can always get on wick. wick is coupons for food. like baby formula. and dairy products like cheese, milk, eggs, bread and stuff like that. All you have yo do is call your health care, and you can be put on wick depending on the income in your house. Also you can always babysit other peoples kids and get paid for that, baby sitting kids kind of gives you an idea of what its going to be like being a mother to.
Try childminding or something like that, also get intouch with tax credits if you are in the UK as they could bump up your income
The answers post by the user, for information only, UKQnA.com does not guarantee the right.