How do you make it work? (x-post /r/ mommit)

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ref7

New member
MY LO is currently a little over two and a half and we are planning more in the near future. While this is going on, I've slowly realized that I still despise dropping LO off with someone else every morning, going to a job I hate, then going just to have him call me Miss (Teacher's Name). I hate it.

Yesterday I left my job due to policies that directly discriminate against those that have children. If the office got a call for you, you were forced to leave, lost pay for the rest of the day, and earned a "point" that got you halfway to being fired. My son is two. Boo-boos and fevers are going to happen. They crossed the line when they demanded access to my medical records when I was out for two days for suspected appendicitis. It wasn't; however, they still don't want me working yet because they haven't figured out what it actually is.

Point is, I'm out of work and I never (well, as long as there are little ones sub-kindergarten age) want to go back. After looking over the numbers, it looks like there was only about $100-150 of my weekly takehome that wasn't going directly to daycare. We were making it well enough, but certainly not by enough to have $400-$650/monthly just disappear.

So, I guess my question is this.... Those of you that are SAHP, is there anything you do on the side between cleaning up the house and managing your own LO(s) that I should be looking into before we take the plunge into deciding that I should stay at home? We've looked at all of the emotional, developmental (for LO), and financial impacts, as well as what the new division of responsibilities around the house would look like and it would be perfect for us, if we could simply fill in that $400-650/month gap.
I would just like to note that I do have a spotless background check. Absolutely the only thing that the government has me on file for is a speeding ticket 6+ years ago and a name change when we got married; however, there are zero, that's right zero other children in the area, so if your recommendation is babysitting, I am totally open to extra little ones running around during the day, but do not have the slightest idea how to attract their parents, as there are not any local.

Thank you so much for any recommendations!

Please note, this will be x-posted to a few other subs I have in mind and I will gladly take recommendations from any of you regarding other subs that may have good resources for this.
 
@ref7 I have a friend that provides daycare for another child in addition to hers. That is an option. I am going to look into doing this myself.
 
@ref7 I do backup daycare for my friends that need it when their regular daycare is closed. It's only like one day a month but it's a few extra dollars I use for groceries. I've struggled finding anything to make money as I'm not creative enough to make anything and I don't really care to watch other kids full time. I was looking to find something part time in an office or whatever, but am 15 weeks pregnant with #2 and it wouldn't be worth it working part time, paying for daycare part time for two, etc. I would love to find something that I could do during nap time and after she goes to bed. I tried doing the whole Amazon mTurk thing and was only making a dollar or two an hour. I think after baby #2 gets here I am going to try to find another kid close to my daughters age to watch a couple days a week just to give her something to do.
 
@solarxpvp The whole key to mturk is the browser extensions! I make like $15 a day for an hour or two of work but I'm easily distracted too so I could be doing better. If you would like to PM me I can send you a list of browser extensions and help you get it all set up to work efficiently. :)
 
Edit: thank all of you for your awesome suggestions. We already work at a very minimal level of "luxuries" just because i was born dirt poor and its a way of life, to where having Netflix alone is a luxury. Your extra income options have been phenomenal, though. I am definitely discussing options with DH now.
 
@ref7 I recently became a SAHM and I've started doing tasks on Amazon's Mturk to make some money. It's slow going, especially at first, and the hits don't always pay much. But you can make okay money, especially after you do a lot of tasks, since better ones will open. And it's nice because you can do it completely on your own schedule. It won't fill the amount you were saying, but it would at least bring in some money.
 
@iamlookingforanswers I replied to a couple other people in this thread, but I'll reply to you too. :) The real money in mturk is found using browser extensions and doing surveys. Using the hitscraper extension you can sort by amount, I only do surveys over a dollar, or I sort by terms like "fast" "quick" ect. /r/mturk is a big help, or you can pm me and I can help. I only make like $15 a day but it's over an hour or two of work so it's not too bad, and I'm easily distractable too so I could be making more.
 
@ref7 Look into rebate apps. It's a fairly small amount of money but using a few apps can add up. I only buy the stuff I'd normally buy at the grocery store and it's basically an effortless $500 or so a year. This year I plan to save everything from the rebate apps and use it for Christmas & birthday shopping.

Ibotta, SavingStar, Checkout51, Shrink, Shopmium, Snap, MobiSave...there may be a few others. I primarily use Ibotta, SavingStar & Checkout51. Ibotta has a lot of rebates for things like carrots, broccoli, bananas, milk, eggs, pork chops & yogurt. Some weeks I pull in $20-30 just from that app alone if they have good offers. Also they have rebates on wine & beer which is helpful when you're a parent.

If you shop at Walmart there's apparently a Walmart app that will automatically price-match whatever you buy when you scan your receipt into it and credit you the difference for anything lower. A lot of people like that a lot but I can't speak for it myself.
 
@amydoodles Thanks! I'll definitely have to check into some of those.

For anyone else reading, the Walmart savings catcher us awesome. Literally just log in, scan the qr code, and get money back. I have like $30 waiting with zero effort and not even going to Walmart most of the time.

Apparently there's some way to give your phone number at checkout and have it just automatically go, but I haven't gotten that to happen yet.
 
@ref7 We were in a very similar scenario. I cut cable, lowered our cell plans, cancelled the home phone and went on a VOIP phone.

It made a bit of difference, but when we started wanting more than to scrape the bottom of the barrel every month, I took a part time weekends job. I handle reception work at a car dealership Saturday/Sunday when my husband can take care of the kids.

If going back to work isn't really something you want even part time, maybe consider taking a kid into your home for daycare or after school care.
 
@ref7 Before I quit my FT job cut cable, checked to make sure we had the best cable and insurance plans. The biggie was refinancing the mortgage. We got an extra 100-150 a month that way. Now that I'm home I look for lots of ways to stretch our money. It's just kind of a mind set of mine. I started with couponing, then bank and credit card bonuses, now I sell on Amazon and Ebay.
 
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