Sunday, June 20, 2010

Work at Home ideas

If you're like me you're always looking for ways to make money from home. One day I realized that I 'was' making money at home. How you may ask? (you did ask, right? *S*) By doing the job that I would pay someone else to do.

Let me try to give an example. Our car needed a bath terribly. We live in the country in the middle of an orchard. The wind is either blowing or the tractors are spraying or harvesting. Our car sits outside under an overhang from the barn so it's always dusty.

My first choice used to be a run through the car wash. I did this for years. The fee is $6.00. We even paid a monthly fee ($30.00) at one time so I could run it through anytime I went to town. But, my budget doesn't allow for this luxury now. So, the way I figure it is if  "I" wash my car then I save $6.00. It's as if I am paying myself to wash the car since this was a normal expense previously.


It took me less than 30 minutes which means I paid myself $6.00 for a half an hour worth of work.

How many jobs or duties do you pay someone else that you could do yourself? This could include food items in your budget, too. Do you pay someone to bake your bread (when you purchase it from the grocery store)? Do you pay someone to make your clothes? or sew your children's clothes? Do you pay someone to cut your children or husband's hair? or bake your children's birthday cakes?

If you are currently paying $3.00 or more for a loaf of bread and can make it for 1/3 the price then isn't that the same thing as earning $2.00 for baking your own bread?

I make as much as I can from scratch but I'm always watching for new things to try. I think my next project will be finding a good recipe to replace Cream of Mushroom & Cream of Chicken soup.  I did try making Cream of Chicken soup years ago but haven't since. I wish there was a way to freeze it because I'd like to have it handy when I try a new recipe rather than make it on the spot.


Happy Homemaking!

Georgene

9 comments:

  1. Hi Georgene - you are so right that doing things for ourselves instead of paying to have them done is a way to "make" money - or at least make the money we do have last a lot longer!

    I remember reading on a blog or 2 about freezing homemade cream soups but I've never done it. I will be on the lookout and see if I can remember which ones and will let you know if I find them again.
    That canned cream soup - esp. the name brand one - is silly expensive anymore.

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  2. This weekend I did a little bit of canning and some dehydrating to put up a batch of tomatoes. I just had a small box, those added up though and I'll do more when mine start to ripen. It isn't as bad as folks may think. I just got busy in the morning and was done by 9:30 and the canner pot went for about 40 minutes after that.

    I make a lot of gifts by hand--that saves $ every time there's a gift giving occasion. Also our family keeps what I made and its nice when I get to visit anyone to see what they've accumulated over the years that I made.

    Other ways we 'work at home' is doing our own maintenance and repairs on the house and cars. We haven't hired anyone to do anything in many years. With the exception of our grown kids who help us because we help them.. Win/win.

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  3. Georgene, I know that tammysrecipes.com has a recipe for cream of chicken soup. She has a great site.

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  4. What an excellent post!!! i hadn't thought about all of the things i pay someone else to do that i could do myself. i have started making our bread again after an absence of a few years. i'm sure if i sat down and made a list i could come up with several things that i could do instead of paying someone else. Thanks for the thought provoking piece.

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  5. This may seem too simplistic but since I'm evidently a hoarder.....certainly of art and craft supplies I have purposed in my heart to only buy what is absolutely necessary for me to get a project done. Every time I go out into the garage I find something that I am SO grateful for having gotten when I was working. I found fabric dye and have been painting and selling them at the Farmers Market. I had to find a source for t-shirts and when I did, they were/are a great price. When I sell a few, I buy a few and bank the rest of the money. I'm trying not to get too ahead of myself. Then I saw a really cool idea for bags and I can put my tubs (oh yes TUBS) of fabric that I've gotten over the years to good use. Since I'm establishing a little bit of a clientle with my shirts, they are more likely to look at other things I've put my art on. I'm just using what I've got to create finances. So it's like I've got a money tree outside but it's in my house and garage. AND in my brain. Praise God for all my ideas.

    See George....my packratedness has come into full bloom!

    Kath

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  6. Kath.. you are so funny! Frankly, I am doing the same thing. I have 2 long, HUGE tubs of fabric I haven't been able to part with for the past 3 moves. I just hate throwing it away. Well, I have a housewarming party I'm going to and need a gift. Funds are tight so I pulled out the fabric, washed it and will try my hand at some quilted potholders.

    See.. I have some packratedness in me, too! :-)

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  7. Wow I just realized I could be paying someone else a $100 to cut my kids and husbands hair every six weeks and every meal I make at home instead of buying saves us potentially, $20-$40 dollars, what a great way of thinking, It makes it so much better to know the things we put extra effort into save us so much. I had heard that it was always more profitable to save money than to earn it..
    God Bless you for sharing.
    Nell

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  8. Excellent ideas . I would like to share my experience here . I'm doing reseller business for the past two years . For reseller business, technical skills are not required. It is very easy and secure paid method business in online. I got the reseller account from the site Goresellers.com . By using this account, i sold online storage service, domains ,etc. and earn $150 per month.

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