Your Turn

I'm writing this post because my boss made a request and who am I to say NO to the lady with the power? Umm, not risking my job- especially in this economy- so here we go...

Last year when Lawrence was in school and I was at home with Charlotte- things were tight. We were living off student loans, the small wage + tips that Lawrence was bring in, and the little bits of cash that I would get for random jobs (ie: helping out at the B.O. *my work*, helping friends reorganize etc...) it wasn't much, but we were surviving and everything seemed to be fine.

Then Christmas happened. Now between the gifts we bought, the money we spent on gas driving home and back, and the week Lawrence had off work- come January, we literally had no money. It freaked me out. Here I was, a SAHM with a student/part time working husband and a tiny baby that needed me for everything...and no money to pay my rent, buy food...no money for anything. I cried, it sucked and I wanted to go back to September and start working more and saving better and spending less and being smarter...retrospect...kwim?! We needed money and fast. I refused to use our credit cards for things, because they are evil and should die. I didn't want to spend money that we didn't have because then you just end up digging yourself into this huge hole that takes you FOREVER to get out of. Clearly, since I was the one at home, I needed to find a way to make money. No one was really hiring at the time- trust me I looked everywhere- and with the specific hours I needed it was literally impossible to find a job that would cater to me.

So what did I do?

I sold stuff on Kijiji. I went through our house and sold everything that we weren't using, things we didn't need, things that were taking up space. I had people coming to my house almost every day, picking up things that they purchased from me. I was able to pay our rent. I was able to buy groceries, I was able to provide for my family for one month. Then we were out of things to sell and rent was still going to be due and we still needed to eat, so I needed to find more work.

So what did I do?

I thought of things that I was good at, and things that people had hired and paid me for in the past. Cleaning. I'm a good cleaner, a bit neurotic at times, but can you really blame me? So I posted on Kijiji again, offering my cleaning services. Within an hour of posting my ad, I had 5 potential clients and by the end of the second day, I had to remove the ad because I had over 20 people looking for someone to help them clean. So I started cleaning. My dear friends (who I would have been lost without) took Charlotte and I would clean 2 times a week. I made $20/hour. We were doing alright. We could afford another months rent and we continued to eat. But we needed something more...

So what did I do?

I called the Lethbridge Herald and got us a paper route. Is it desirable? No. Did we (Lawrence and I took turns) like it? No. We were making $600 extra a month? Yes. Could we continue to live? Yes. So we did it. From April - July we did papers every morning. I was able to do it because Charlotte would still be sleeping and Lawrence could do it because he didn't have class until 11am. We did it, and it wasn't really all that bad. I wouldn't go back to doing it...but it got us through some hard times. We were able to save a lot of what we made doing papers, as it was supplementing what we were already making.

I also got a childcare job. I started looking after a family out of town 2 days a week. That really helped and since I was able to bring Charlotte along, it worked out perfectly. I worked for this family from February - August, and was able to support my family and still be a SAHM. Almost all the money I made doing this went into savings.

Where are we now?

We are ALL good. I work, Lawrence works, and I still clean every other weekend. We made it through the hard times together, and we are stronger for it. If I thought I was frugal before that, I knew nothing. I am frugal now, because at one point, I had no other choice. We have enough money in savings now so that if this ever happens again, we are covered completely (all bills, rent, groceries etc...) for 3 months. This makes me feel confident. We didn't rack up thousands of dollars in credit card debt- because we knew there were other ways...and I rarely take the easy way out.

So I open this up to you. How do you make extra money on the side? What are ways that you create extra revenue for your family? If you don't, do you plan for this? What would you do if you suddenly needed money fast? I would really like to hear what you have to say...so please comment on this post.

Frugally Yours,
Erin B.