My mind on my money

Ends aren’t quite meeting. Close, but not quite. We could do with about $500 more a month. And while that isn’t terribly a lot, I’m puzzled and stressed about where it’s going to come from. I need to find a way to make some dough. It’s not enough of a differential for me to compromise my intentions and put Noah in daycare and return to fulltime work, so what I’m working with is either the possibility of getting some sort of part time job outside of the home on nights and weekends, or finding a way to rake in some cash from home. Unfortunately my career path doesn’t offer me any easy solutions. While it'd be great for some freelance writing assignments to fall into my lap that probably won’t happen given my lack of connections or up to date experience. The bulk of my work experience has been in admin, customer service and waitressing - which sucks for someone with a Journalism, PR and Advertising degree. So realistically what I'm looking at is probably getting some typing or document formatting I can do from home, or picking up a gig waiting tables twice a week. But again, my up-to-date experience is nil. And customer service jobs barely pay enough to make it worthwhile. Looking at the classifieds for work from home gigs is a joke. Every ad seems like a total hoax. My current daydream is to suddenly became crazy creative and crafty and make a killing selling something on consignment to local gift stores. I know – what am I smoking? Anyway, it has me in a miserable, desperate tizzy.

To make it worse, Mark could easily get some extra work and bring in some cash – he did freelance editing for years. He’s more employable and would definitely bring in more money by the hour. But he already makes all our money and works outside the home – and I don’t think it’s fair to expect him to bring in that extra income. Plus, it might be good for me to get a paycheck, even if it’s measly and for doing something trite and boring. Guh. Every time I think about it though, it makes me ill. I’ve not had a good employed life. I can honestly say that I’ve only held one position that I both enjoyed and was proud of, and during that time I felt completely out of my league. I was only in it for a few months before I was laid off because of a buy-out, so I never got to the point where I felt like I knew what the hell I was doing or that I had enough experience to make me employable in that field. So looking for something new fills me with trepidation. Especially since it will most likely take time away from the only thing I ever felt was really important to me and I was perfectly suited for – motherhood.

In November, after Noah turns two I’d like to enroll him in a part-time preschool program for learning and socialization. I think two year olds need that. And ideally I’d like him to attend 9 am to noon, Monday through Friday. I hope to take him after breakfast and pick him up before lunch and nap, and have it fit perfectly into our weekday routine. At that time I’ll have more time to do work, but of course I’ll also need to make the $120 dollars a week it’ll cost him to attend school so my earning potential is going to have to increase to make that happen.

So, readers- do you have info regarding the perfect money making opportunity for me? Maybe your great aunt wants to pay me to type up her memoirs? Your cousin wants me to help ghost write her book? Your Dad needs someone to handle the customer service email inquiries he’s getting from his small business? Or maybe you know where I can take a cheap sewing class so that I can start hand crafting baby clothes? Perhaps you can suggest a lovely corner from whence I can peddle my wares? I’ll take anything under advisement.