Dear Darlene,

I want to ask you a question and I hope you can offer some advice/counsel. I’ve been enjoying your website, and appreciate your love for being a stay-at-home mom in these days when many women are going to work to simply “escape” being at home.

I was a stay-at-home mom until October when I took a full-time job to help pay for the Christian school tuition of our youngest 3 children. I did try homeschooling, but for many reasons it wasn’t a good fit for our family. Our children have a FANTASTIC Christian school, which is 30 minutes from our home, and also 30 minutes from the office where I now work. I LOVED BEING AT HOME, but admittedly wasn’t the greatest homemaker (and I’m still not) but trying. I LONG to be back at home, and especially fear for this summer when my boy/girl twins (will be 13 in May) will be home for several weeks by themselves. I do not want this, and neither does my husband, but with our oldest son in college and the next one going in two years, plus Christian school tuition, it’s very difficult. My husband has been doing the food shopping for us as he has a GIFT for matching coupons with store ads and saving 20% – 40% every shopping trip. We also have a great amount of stocked-up items so we don’t run out to the store unnecessarily.

My question is, can you offer advice on ways I could earn money at home so I can still be involved in the kids’ school, their sports, volunteering (local hospital and at church), visiting our aging parents, etc? I cannot tell you how my heart aches to be back home and I want to give homemaking another try! I think I can do a better job now, and appreciate so much more what I USED to have! I just don’t want to get involved in the “work-at-home scams” out there. I have secretarial skills, and I’m currently an Administrative Assistant (before our kids were born, I was an Executive Secretary). My husband said if I could figure out a way to bring in $10,000 a year, I could quit my job. I’ve been praying about this for months. However, if my working allows the kids to have THEIR need for their school met, then I will do it.

I hope you can offer some advice for this grieving Mom/Wife. I miss my kids, I literally HATE being gone from the house 11 hours a day, and I want to be able to meet the needs of EVERYONE in the family, including my husband, and not be semi-comatose by 7pm every night.

Thank you so much for any loving help you can give!

Sincerely,

Love Being at Home

“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.” ~ James 1:5

Dear Love Being at Home,

You’ve come to the right person, because I have found several creative ways to earn money from home over the past 17 years. If I wanted to, I could definitely make a good wage from home, but since I started online ministry I stepped back from a few things so I could write.

I’ll offer you a list of things that you could do, however, some of these things might take a little studying on your part. If you want to work from home, you’ll have train yourself as you would any other job so that you are qualified to do so.

I have studied several books on each of these subjects: Photoshop, page layout, web design, grammar and punctuation, and bookkeeping. Each one of them were for the purpose of developing my skills and preparing myself for work at home jobs. In our world of modern technology there are endless opportunities at your fingertips. Preparing for any one of these jobs would require minimal training. However, while you are building your clientele, you may have to supplement your income by combining a few of these jobs.

Before you decide on anything, I urge you to take it to prayer. If you lay your desire at His feet God will equip you in ways you could never imagine and He will lead you each step of the way. For example, I struggled through school with dyslexia and ADHD, failed grade 12 English and didn’t finish reading a book until I was about 30-years-old. I would have never dreamed in a million years that I’d be a writer, but God had other plans and to my surprise I’m not just a writer, I’m a New York Times best-selling author. He is the potter, just be the clay.

With that said, here are some of the jobs that will either keep you busy at home or make your life flexible enough to work around your kid’s schedules:

1. Blog Design – I used to own a little web design company, and there wasn’t a day that went by when I wasn’t approached for work. I’d charge $90.00/job and could easily get one done in an eight hour day. Designing blogs is fairly easy, entire websites take more experience, but the pay is better.
2. Blogging – If you build a blog, over time you can collect advertising revenue, but it takes time to grow and time to keep up. 
3. Proof Reading – There are so many self publishing authors out there today looking for proof readers. 
4. Typing – Again this is an asset for self-published authors. There are still A LOT of people who have their books handwritten or want to transcribe their journals.
5. Baby Sitting – Not my favorite–shhhh… don’t tell anyone! 
6. Pet Sitting – One could either pet sit full time days or go to a persons house around lunch time to let the dog out and feed it. Take in a few pets and you have increase your income.
7. Shopping for the Elderly – There are a lot of seniors today who need someone to look in on them and pick up groceries. 
8. Digital Elements – If you are at all creative, learn Photoshop and sell digital scrapbooking kits online. 
9. Book Cover Design – I did this for about five years before giving it up to write full time. I studied page layout, Photoshop and Adobe InDesign prior to stepping into it. There are a lot of authors that are looking for eBook cover designs. *This would also require some artistic ability. 
10. Real Estate Assistant – I worked in Real Estate offices for about five years before staying at home with my kids. During that time I noticed that many of the top agents hire assistants. I think that this one would be perfect for you because of your background. The top agents need help with every area of running a small business from bookkeeping to typing brochures. Re/Max is a good place to find top agents. Maybe drop off a few resumes?
11. Book Keeping for Small Companies – A few years ago I met a woman who was going into this business on her own. About a year later, my husband hired her to do his books. The pay is good and small companies normally can’t afford a full-time book keeper. Offering to work 16 hours/month for each company is an asset for both of you. Take on a few and you have a nice part-time job.
12. Income Tax Preparation – With the right program and a short course on the subject, you could be very busy during income tax season. 
13. Page Layout – Advertise yourself to do page layout including resumes, book interior, pamphlets, etc. This would also require some study. 
14. Housekeeping/Home Organization – This isn’t a work-at-home job, but I know that it allows you to have a flexible schedule, pays fairly well and you can supplement part-time income by working one day/week or two half days. Aside from cleaning, home organization is something that few people offer, and I know that a lot of working women would appreciate having someone come in and do it for them. 
15. Short Videos – I haven’t seriously tried this, but if I had a lot of time on my hands I would. Learn to create videos for small businesses, authors (book trailers), and bloggers. 
16. Computer Apps – Learn how to make computer apps and start selling them. They are in high demand right now and few people know how to make them. Again these are an asset to small businesses, authors, and bloggers. 

You are loved by an almighty God,

Darlene

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