Post by penguingrrl on Jan 31, 2015 13:36:34 GMT -5
In general anyone who works from home does so as part of an agreement with a current or former employer. And any true WFH job will still required childcare while you're working unless you are doing your work hours after bedtime and the work is not time dependent.
My H works from home. He is in IT. Like PP said child are is a must. I believe it may even be part of his employment contract that he is not the primary care giver. We have our kids in a daycare center because even having the kids in the house with a nanny would be difficult for him to get his work done.
It has huge plusses and a few minuses. Snow days are problem when daycare is closed. When you work from home, you don't get snow days!
I freelance while my DD2 naps. I'll be honest, I can only get away with this because she is a historically EXCELLENT napper (3 hours a day), but her nap schedule is changing right now and it is causing me a lot of stress. I am looking at needing to find childcare soon. Freelancing is also hard work to get off the ground because you have to put in a lot of legwork to source your own clients. It is doable though.
Post by thatgirl2478 on Jan 31, 2015 14:03:11 GMT -5
So there are legitimate customer service jobs you can do from home, but they will require that you have child care.
I used to WFH as a contractor for the company I was working for before we moved. My boss didn't require me to have child care, but she also knew that if I needed to get something done and couldn't during my normal day (due to kid issues) I would log on at night to get it done.
If you have a unique set of skills you can freelance, but you need some skill that's marketable.
I take on very short term projects occasionally - but they a) only take an hour or 2 of work and b) don't pay much.
Ok, I guess "work from home" is not what I really mean.
I guess I am thinking of side projects or things I could work on after my daughter is asleep for the night.
You could try elance.com.
I also do surveys for pinecone & survey savvy, but they have only paid $100 in the past year... You could sign up for market research groups, but again, that's not gonna pay much.
In general anyone who works from home does so as part of an agreement with a current or former employer. And any true WFH job will still required childcare while you're working unless you are doing your work hours after bedtime and the work is not time dependent.
This.
I WFH (with some travel) and have for the better part of 2-3 years. I work for a major retailer that I've been with for 2 stints totaling 7 years. I also have been a contractor and WFH.
I'm on ML now, but have FT childcare lined up. I am considering whether it's reasonable within My job structure to ask for flex hours to see if we could avoid daycare. I'm about 75% sure it wouldn't work bc of the nature of my work (while I have a lot of independent work, I host a lot of calls that I probably would not be able to reliably constrain to a nap time. I'm fairly certain my boss would entertain it but I don't want to go to her without a specific plan that is beneficial for everyone. Could you imagine hosting a VP level call with an epic tantrum in the background? Lol. Although some of the VPs throw their own tantrums
What about reaching out to your previous employer Or looking on job board websites for contractors? Your skill set does lend itself to WFH - but I expect you're going to Need to rely on your network to land something like that. There's a lot of trust involved in that type of position (WFH) and I think you'd be more successful with a position you find via network or possibly an independent contract type role.
There are online tutoring options, too. The most common way to make money with a young child at home is to offer childcare to other people - either an ongoing permanent spot, or a drop-in arrangement with a few people once in a while, or just evening babysitting.
I was going to recommend tutoring since you have teaching experience. That can pay pretty well and be constrained to a few hours a week. However you'd need childcare or be able to do it in the evenings when your Partner can watch the kid.
Post by rubyturpin on Jan 31, 2015 14:39:06 GMT -5
Some testing companies hire certified teachers to score the essay portion of standardized tests, so that could be an option depending on what state your teaching license is in. I have a friend who does that from home. They are 4 hr shifts though, so you would need childcare.
Depending on your writing/editing background, freelancing could be a good option.
I WFH 20 hrs/week and my schedule is completely up to me and I still have childcare for most of it. If you're looking for work that doesn't require childcare your options are going to be extremely limited.
The most common way to make money with a young child at home is to offer childcare to other people - either an ongoing permanent spot, or a drop-in arrangement with a few people once in a while, or just evening babysitting.
Ooh definitely this. A SAH mom friend of ours watched DS1 until DS2 was born and it was a great set-up for both of our families. She brought in some income and we had a DCP that we knew and trusted, and who DS already knew.
I write a blog, have written a book with a traditional publisher, self-published an e-book and have written for a parenting website. For the amount of time I have put in I would have been better off getting a 'real' job as my hourly is abysmal. I have had some childcare during this time but since my second was born two years ago, I've always had at least one kid around while working.
The great stuff: it's been flexible work, I like/love it and it's kept me doing something during this career gap of being a SAHM.
The bad stuff: having a deadline when everyone in your house gets a vomiting bug, pitching stories (I hate this part and stopped pitching about a year in - not for me) and unreliable income.
I contract for my old district. I write district assessments for my subject area for elementary and provide instructional support for new 5th grade teachers in my subject area.
I do most of my work while DD is at MDO (Mother's Day Out), during nap time, and after she goes to bed.
It works because I'm only busy in spurts and, even then, busy is relative. If I was busy enough that I absolutely had to work while she was awake more than just the twice a week that she's at school, I would have to have more childcare. It is VERY hard on the weeks that I have to use all of my nap times and post-bedtimes for work because I never get a break and DD ends up watching too much tv because I'm just exhausted and trying to keep our house running.
We have several friends who tutor - it's a pretty good hourly rate. (I think $20 - $30 an hour, in a fairly LCOL area.) Some who are teachers also offer group tutoring sessions weekly through the school year. They have a standing room reserved at the library and it's $10/child per week with a small group of students.
I also have a friend who does freelance writing. I'm not sure how she gets her assignments, but she's been doing it for years, including when she supported herself as a single mom.
Post by Stingyshark on Jan 31, 2015 15:49:00 GMT -5
I WFH & keep my daughter. It's damn near impossible some days. I do medical billing and other medical office things- most of which is not urgent and can be done during nap time/at night.
It is sometimes very stressful when something does require my immediate attention. I'm in the process of hiring a baby sitter to come over 2x/wk for a few hours so I can focus on just work.
Ditto what page said about freelancing. But if you could break into copy editing for corporate publications or some other steady client, the money can be decent. I've also written reports for some of my clients- they give me the raw data and I make it sound nice.
You'll still need childcare, though, unless your kid is in school.
Post by gibbinator on Jan 31, 2015 19:43:46 GMT -5
If you have some sort of service to offer online, I use elance.com and Odesk.com to find some of my clients.
For home projects to sell, I have friends who sew/knit baby stuff (simple things like bibs, hats, diaper covers, etc), a cousin that paints drift wood with inspirational quotes. There seem to be a lot of sahm's around here that set up home businesses selling cloth diaper products.
My mom did freelance proofreading for a while. We were out of the house by then. That said, her health means that her ability to work for long chunks of time is limited, but she was still able to do it. I don't know how you get into that line of work.
Post by humpforfree on Jan 31, 2015 20:16:40 GMT -5
I work 20 hours/week, with only 4 of those in the office. The rest are all from home, during naps, getting up early (3 or 4 am) to get a few hours in before DS wakes up, and after bedtime. It is pretty stressful and hard.. A lot of days I just don't WANT to work/can't get up the motivation to start. I am pretty lucky that L plays really well on his own so if I need to I can work while he is awake. I do feel guilty ignoring him for hours though. I won't keep working when #2 comes. It would be too much for me. As it is I always feel like I am behind either at home or at work.
Post by redpenmama on Jan 31, 2015 20:38:04 GMT -5
Yes, your writing and editing background could serve you well. Most of the time I see this question, I respond that it's not really feasible. But, writing/editing is a field that has a lot of freelance/consulting potential.
I'm a writer/editor and have worked from home for 6 years, 5 of those years for myself. It began as a telecommuting technical editing job with my employer when I moved out of state. It has evolved into a freelance writing/editing business that I do about 20-30 hours a week when the kids are in school/asleep. I have enough work where this could be a full-time gig: I completed 180 editing projects last year, with a newborn and toddler and a part-time workload. There are a number of web writing opportunities out there, and there are a lot of potential editing opportunities depending on your field of expertise. It does require some legwork to build a client base, but you can definitely find some opportunities on the web to get things rolling and supplement with local clients or field-specific clients over time.
I WFH. I write grants for a non-profit. I am on-site 1 day per week then flex 22 hours the rest of the week. I have been doing this since dd1 was born -- she is 5.5. I have never had my kids in child care other than preschool and now dd1 is in K. I worked full time in the office at this same job pre-kids.