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The following is a guest post. The opinions are those of the author.
Making ends meet when you are at home looking after your kids can be tough. But there are some ways to increase your earning potential that you can fit in alongside your mothering duties. Just read on to find out what they are.
Ebay
A very popular way of earning some additional income that can fit nicely alongside looking after the kids is selling things on eBay. Although most folks confine themselves to selling used and preloved items from their own collections to make a little extra cash.
However, this is not the only route to generating a side income. Another way to do this is to buy items in thrift stores. Obviously, check first that they are in good condition, sellable, and post-able and then resell them on eBay for a profit.
The thrift store makes a sale, you get a bargain, and you also have a fun trip for you and the kids to do in the day. You can even teach them how to do it, and maybe they will get the vintage shopping bug?
Of course, you don’t have to sell second-hand items on eBay. In fact, there are many people making a good living selling brand new items. But first, you have to decide what it is you are going to sell.
You can do this by looking at social media to see what is trending at the moment. Or perhaps it might be better to sell things that you already have some knowledge about? Like craft materials for a particular hobby you enjoy.
Then you need to source your products. Remember that buying wholesale works out cheaper by the unit so your profit margin will be larger. But you will need to work out how many you have to sell to make your money back and assess whether this is a viable option.
Surveys
If all of that sounds like a lot of work to juggle, with you already full plate, then maybe doing online surveys is a better choice to consider?
It works like this, the companies that have surveys on offer are doing market research for other companies. They need your honest opinions on things to give feedback to these companies on how well their product is being received and the like.
Therefore the companies pay the survey company to create and manage questions and get people to answer them. Which means that the survey company then passes some of their money on to you, in exchange for doing the survey. It’s easy really!
But how does it work out in practice? Well, you can do most of the surveys on your smart device, which makes it super simple to earn some extra cash when you have a little time to kill. Like when you are waiting for your little one after a playdate, or when you are in front of the TV in the evening.
Before you commit to this though, you should be aware there are a lot of different companies out there such as Swagbucks. Also, not all companies pay cash, some pay in things like Amazon vouchers, so it’s best to be clear on this before you sign up.
Freelance sites
Another great way to earn some cash while not taking away from your other priorities like parenting is to register and apply for work through some the freelance sites like Fiverr. These sites are designed to allow you to pick and chose small freelance jobs according to your skill set and time level.
OK, so it might be hard to eke a full time living out of site like this, although some folks do claim to do it. But for topping up that bank account when the thing gets a bit low, it’s perfect.
Of course, you do have to have a marketable skill, before you can set yourself up as a freelance provider. Things like graphic design, illustration, copywriting, and coding is especially in demand.
Website testing
Lastly, a less well-known way of getting some cash earned when you have the kids to look after is to sign up to do some website testing.
This is where you agree to be recorded via audio, or video, as well as with the actions you take on the site. It’s purpose it to see how people actually use certain companies websites in real life and whether they can be improved to be more user-friendly.
You are also often asked to narrate what you are doing and how you feel about it for these tests, so it helps if you aren’t shy about giving your opinions.
Maybe some of these will work well for folks, but freelancing is not a hobby or something to “top off a bank account” with- it’s a full time job for many of us. Please don’t encourage people to treat it like a hobby. It’s not. It’s long hours and hard work to eke out a living in a very competitive field, and it’s frankly insulting to see it treated so lightly.
I’m a full time freelancer. Some people do it part time as well.