Working in the Home?

Child care.
Most other work at home jobs are hard to do with kids underfoot, plus they are few and far between.
Or you could work evenings and/or weekends while the hubby's at home to watch the kids. I've known a few moms who did this, at Starbucks and Target. And now's a good time to look because many stores are hiring extra help for the holidays!

Think realistically here...... if you can get paid to stay home and be with your children, don't you think everyone would do that?

Work is just that WORK. Working from home is WORK. Those of us who do work from home do so without children around. We run our company, I have to be 100% spot on and if I screw up on something, even simple, it could cost our family and our company thousands of dollars.

Many companies who do allow working from home also require that child care be in order for the children, why?? because you are working for the company, not being paid to be with your children. NO company wants a representative talkin gon the phone with children or pets making noise in the background.

SO. think outside the box.. babysit, get a job at night so hubby can watch children, work retail for the holiday season, sell what you make on Ebay or Craigslist....

You'll probably get hit up by the MLM recruiters on here and if you choose that route, do so carefully. You must be willing to put in a lot of time, money, be a very pushy salesperson, recruit people and host parties. If that is your thing, Go for it.

Good luck.

If your husband had his hours cut then work around his schedule. There are a mess of part time jobs that allow you to block out hours you can't work.

That way your husband has the kids, you have the kids, no childcare needed but more money coming in.

Babysit in your home.

It is extremely hard to work at home. Even if you have a sick child screaming for you to sit and rock them you may have a dead line that cannot be pushed back. Who will you choose? Your child? Then you will be unreliable and not be allowed to have any more of that companies business. If you are busy and talking on the phone to a client who is at work and you can't hear them because your little ones are trying to get your attention, how professional do you think they will see you?

Working at home is not what a lot of people imagine it to be. The only way it really works is for the kids to go to day care and mom has the house to herself so she can do her job.

My sister has a home business. She sews clothes and sells them on Etsy. She made a mistake a couple of weeks ago when she was babysitting her grand kids and packed a tee that was not the right one.

The mom she sold it too doesn't want to pay shipping and handling to mail it back then have to pay the additional cost of having it mailed to her again, I mean who would? So my sister has to pay for her own mistake.

She had to pay $10 to ship the wrong tee shirt back to her house then pay $10 again to ship the right tee to the mom. She would save $10 if she just let the mom keep the wrong tee but it's part of another set. What if she lets her child wear it before sending it back too?

She is out $20 for a simple mistake that would not have been made had she not been watching her grand kids. It was Fall Break and they wanted to come stay with her while they were out of school.

She barely breaks even with her costs and time and she sells tons of stuff. She is mailing some garment or accessory every other day if not every day, and barely breaks even. She has enough to make a furniture payment and a very very low car payment, it's like $95 per month.

She works her hiney off from sun up to sun down too. She works every day, even Saturdays and Sundays after her church meetings. She does an occasional craft show too, they are often all weekend and her hubby has to go with her to help her set up and tear down, and watch the booth if she needs to go to the bathroom. Again, she is busy with her business nearly 24/7/365. There are no vacations, days off, time for herself or her family. They are an older couple in their 50's and they don't do much together. He goes to school full time and is working on his engineering masters. They don't need the money but she is driven to provide an income for herself so she is not dependent on him for extra money.

Another mom I know was working at home and was expecting her pay check on payday. She had to go pay her bills since her electricity was behind. They were going to shut it off the next day if she didn't pay it by 5pm the day before. She "knew" she was going to get paid, she had been getting paid on time for several months. They didn't pay her that payday, her check bounced, they turned off her utilities, she got called in to child welfare, and nearly lost her kids because she was doing a work at home job that had been dependable. The owners left the country and took all the money with them. She never got paid for her work.

It is extremely scary to do work for someone you don't know. They may or may not pay you. It is so much safer to go to work at any place that will hire you and pay you for sure.

If your family income in not over $57,300 with a family of 4 children and 2 adults then you do qualify for child care assistance. If you only have 3 children then your top income would have to be under $49, 968.

If your income is less than these totals it might be that you would pay pennies on the dollar for costs for child care.

I had a family in my center that had 3 children and the parents both had good jobs. They each made over $15 per hour and they had a co-pay of just a couple hundred dollars per month for total child care.

The state of Kansas will even pay your child care if your income is low enough and you are a full time student. The money is there is you qualify in your income amount.

So if you are truly having financial troubles and you can't make it then you need to go to work so your family will not suffer for your desire to be a SAHM. As noble a calling as it is to stay home with the kids they need food on the table and heat in the air this winter. They need a mom who will sacrifice her desires and go find an income so they won't have to do without.

Here's the link with the family sizes and income requirements.

http://www.dcf.ks.gov/services/ees/Pages/Child_Care/Child...

Here's their link to some other services they offer to families who need a helping hand for a while.

http://www.he.k-state.edu/fnp/Food%20Assistance/Food_Assi...

You have 4 children. Unless you send them to daycare or with a relative I'm thinking there is no way you will be able to work from home. A lot of jobs that I know of are customer service. You will need a quiet workspace in order to take in bound phone calls. I just don't see it doable with having your kids. The other option is MLM's but that comes with having to sell go to peeps houses for the parties. Still very time consuming. I think babysitting is about your only option.

I agree that you can't work with children underfoot. Background noise is a problem for things like customer service. You didn't say if you have any skills such as medical transcription - but if you did, I imagine you would know if there's a market for that. I also don't know what your husband's skills are. A lot of people moonlight doing yard work or snow plowing or house cleaning, but that does take some time to develop a clientele. Some of those things are dependent on weather conditions too - some years the snow plow people make a fortune, and sometimes they get burned if there's no snow.

I also agree that "work from home" is work. I disagree that MLM (multilevel marketing, or direct sales) is necessarily something that involves parties. There are also ways to evaluate MLM companies to figure out if it's right for you or affordable to get started: What is the initial investment? Do you need to stock a lot of inventory (such as jewelry or baskets or children's toys)? Is the product something that can be sold to virtually anyone, or is it a niche market (for example, make-up is only sold to adult women and then only those who wear make-up)? Is it something that people need even in a slower economy? Is there a business guarantee by the company? Are commissions paid fairly and regularly? Is there free training and support, or are you on your own? Do you have to prey upon family and friends, or is there a broader market and a way to reach those people? Can you only sell to people in your immediate area, or is there a system to have a broader business? What if your geographic area is saturated with salespeople? Is the company a member of the Direct Selling Association, which assures you of their business ethics and the fact that they've been evaluated and invited in to the DSA? And so on.

Direct Sales is like any other business/industry - it can be done well, or it can be done poorly. There's a lot to say for eliminating the middleman (the distribution company, the supermarket with its big overhead, the gift shop with its staff salaries and insurance to pay). There are also HUGE tax advantages in having a home-based business. We write of 1/4 of our expenses (mortgage, utilities, repairs, health insurance, etc.) and all of our office supplies and more. I also got free training and access to a nationwide system of support and education, so I didn't have to start from scratch and try to invent something myself to learn how to do this.

I can help you with more of those factors to evaluate. It's still work, please understand that. But there are businesses you can do effectively even if you live in a rural area, a depressed area, and so on.

Good luck whatever you and your husband decide!

I'm the breadwinner in the house for the time being, and we want someone at home with the kids. So if my hours were cut I'd find a second job to make up for those hours.

A., I work from home but I had to prove myself as a reliable employee first. I worked in the office for 6 years before I was offered work-from home.
There are several ladies in my neighborhood with "at home" jobs. Many run preschools from home. They charge around $70 a month per child, for 2 days a week/2 hours a day of preschool. Some also do child care in the home, hair cuts/salon in the home, and some make and sell jewelry, headbands, crafts, etc.

If you've already got a house full of kids, in-home child care might be a natural fit. There is always a need for trustworthy child care. Find out what the rules are where you live.

I don't know anything about your interests or qualifications, but if you can do it, tutoring is a nice way to bring in some money. Clients are often willing to come to you for help in math, reading, writing, or test prep. You would need to do it when your husband is home, though, to manage the kids - clients do not appreciate disruptions. If you have a background in music, music lessons are also a possibility.

If you're handy with baking, there's money to be made making and decorating cakes, cupcakes, or cake pops, and this type of work can be done with the kids around. I have a friend who started doing this as a hobby. She now brings in $30 and up per cake and handles 3 or 4 orders per week, more during the holidays. This works best if you have a community network of some sort to tap into. She gets her work primarily through her church and her kids' schools.

A temporary possibility - Christmas shopping season is nearly upon us, and a lot of retail businesses, shippers, restaurants, etc. hire extra help around this time. Either you or your husband could pick up part time work for the season. It does mean night and weekends, but it puts money in the bank and food on the table, and you can block hours so that one adult is always at home with the kids, thus avoiding the need to pay for child care.

I hope things work out for you, A..

Convergy's is a company that hires people to work from home. They are always hiring. You must have a quiet workspace-no kids, pets, tv, radio, nothing. The pay depends on the area but its usually around $9 or so. Convergys is a company that takes calls for their clients, directv, Harry and David and Guthy Renker are the one I worked for They hire all across the country and you even train from home. Last project we even had a guy from Canada. Go to Convergys.com for their requirements. Good luck