Home with the Kids Blog » Work at Home

Making Time For Fitness While Working at Home

Stephanie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:49:10 +0000

One common complaint for people who work at home is that it’s really easy to get out of shape. You have your refrigerator right there, and it’s way too easy to sit at your desk or on the couch working on your computer for too many hours each day. You have less excuse to leave the house, and too often that leads to not exercising enough.

Obviously, this weight gain can happen as a result of any sedentary job, whether you work at home or away from it. But if you’re at home, you might just have the flexibility to do something about it.

Take a Walk

Taking a daily walk is a simple way to get some basic exercise in. No special equipment needed, and you can work it into your day relatively easily.

I take a walk when my kids are at school, for example. I often help in my son’s class, but take the long way home. It’s a little over a mile is all, but the steep hill on one side makes it a pretty good workout, especially when pushing a stroller.

The trick with taking a walk is minimizing how you let the weather stop you. What are your limits? Will you walk on rainy days, cold days, hot days, snowy days? It’s all too easy to let seasonal weather stop you for a time, and then fail to pick the habit back up later.

Get Basic Home Workout Equipment

Unless you know you’re going to be serious about using it, I don’t suggest spending thousands of dollars on home fitness equipment. I’ll admit that a treadmill desk sounds really appealing, but that’s more than I’m ready to spend right now.

My husband and I did, however, buy a Total Gym 1100. It provides a nice range of workouts.

Find the equipment that you like to use. If you have or have had in the past a gym membership, you probably know what kind of exercises you like to do. Get any equipment you need to make that possible.

Consider Workout Videos

If it makes it more interesting for you, a workout video is a good choice as well. Sometimes that bit of direction helps you to push through.

Consider a Gym Membership

You don’t have to buy equipment for your home if you’d rather get a gym membership. It’s a great excuse to get out of your house; just make sure you’re actually going to use it. Some of us are more likely to use the gym membership while others are more likely to workout at home. Pick the one that will work for you.

Use Workouts as a Break From Working

A workout is a great break from your work day. You don’t have to do a huge workout each time; even 10 minutes will get you going, especially if you do that a few times a day. Multiple fitness breaks are usually easiest with home fitness equipment, of course.

A workout is a nice way to refresh your mind as well as your body. You aren’t so focused on whatever you’ve been working on, and that can be a very good thing. Many people find their focus improves after a break. You may end up more productive. It’s a nice bonus to feeling more fit.

10 Open Source Tools to Help You Work at Home

Stephanie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 15:55:16 +0000

Software expenses can add up fast when you work at home. Fortunately, good software doesn’t always have to cost a lot of money. You can find open source software that costs less than other programs and may also be available free. These are some open source tools you may find useful when you work at home. Most are available for Windows, Mac and Linux systems, but check the download site to be sure.

Office Programs

OpenOffice

OpenOffice is the first open source program I ever tried out. It’s a good replacement for Microsoft Office, in my opinion. I’ve been using it for a few years now with no problems. It can read and write documents from other popular office software. You can even use it to create PDF files. It includes Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw and Base programs.

LibreOffice

I’ve seen some people say they prefer LibreOffice to OpenOffice. I haven’t tried this one myself. Some people have been happier with LibreOffice since OpenOffice was acquired by Oracle. Both work in much the same way, allowing you to create, read and write documents that work with other office software. It includes Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math and Base programs, so that you can do all sorts of document work and data processing.

Blogging & Content Management

WordPress

My blog runs on it, so I can’t forget to mention WordPress as an open source tool for working at home. It’s hugely popular, really flexible and just generally nice to use for blogging. There are other open source blogging platforms out there, but WordPress is the big one, which means you can find all kinds of themes and plugins to make it even better.

Drupal

Drupal isn’t just about blogging; it has a lot of modules you can use to configure your website. I’ve used Drupal, but I’m more comfortable with WordPress personally. Still, there are a number of themes and modules you can add to it to make your site look and run just the way you want it to.

Graphics

Inkscape

Inkscape is for creating vector graphics in SVG format. Their goal is to have abilities similar to Illustrator and similar programs. There are some performance problems reported, but overall people like this one.

GIMP

GIMP is a Photoshop alternative. It’s more for working on photographs and other bitmap images rather than vectors. It’s very powerful and flexible. You can import brushes to make your projects even more interesting.

Audio

Audacity

Audacity is a great tool for recording and editing sound files. It’s a good choice if you want to record a podcast. It can edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files, cut and splice, or change the speed of a recording.

Productivity

FreeMind

FreeMind is great if you like mind mapping. You can use it for a variety of projects, research, brainstorming and so forth. You can use links in the nodes, making it easier to connect to relevant files or websites. You can export your maps to HTML so you can share your projects online easily.

FreeMind does have some weaknesses. It has minimal image support, and really isn’t made for multiple users. HTML links do not work on all computers. That said, it’s still overall a good program.

Task Coach

Task Coach is great if you like having a to do list. You can synchronize it between your computer and iPhone/iPad. The computer versions are free, while there is a small charge for the iOS versions.

You can use Task Coach to track your progress as you go through the different parts of the tasks you set up. It can track how long you take on tasks and the budget you’ve allowed for it.

Security

KeePass

KeePass is a free way to manage your keywords in a secure manner. You probably know how much trouble it is keeping track of your passwords and creating secure ones. You just have to remember your master password. It uses a strong encryption technique to protect your passwords.

One of the great parts is that you can carry it on a USB stick, allowing you to move between computers with your passwords. This is quite handy if you use more than one computer in your work.

Do you have any favorite open source programs you use when working at home?

How Much Do Your Kids Matter When You’re Applying For a Work at Home Job?

Stephanie — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 15:41:47 +0000

The reason most people decide they want to work at home is to be there for their kids. It’s a good reason. You have the potential to be there more for your kids and you might get away without paying for daycare, although that’s not always true for work at home parents. But when you’re applying for a work at home job, how much do your kids matter?

That depends on who you’re thinking about at the moment. The kids, yourself or your potential employers.

The Kids

If you’re going to be home for your kids, but working at the same time, you need to figure out which jobs are going to let you do that. What’s going to work around the things you do with your children during the day?

Are they young enough to take naps or old enough that they go to school? How independently do they play? What kinds of activities do you intend to involve your children in? Are you willing to put them in daycare part time if necessary? Do you have alternatives if you need to work during the day while the kids are around?

These things matter when you’re figuring out what kind of work you want to do from home. There’s nothing wrong with using daycare while working at home if that’s what it takes to earn a living, but for most at home parents, that isn’t the goal or even close to it. Still, unless you can work exclusively at times when your kids don’t usually need you, it’s best to acknowledge the possibility.

You should also consider how you will handle things when the kids get sick. Even if you work when they’re gone or sleeping, that’s going to be an issue at some point. How will you get any work done? Will you need to take some time off?

Yourself

Your needs matter too. One of the hardest parts about working from home for many parents is the lack of interaction with other adults. Being home with your kids is great, but sometimes it’s hard on the brain.

Then you have to consider when you’ll really be able to work at home. It’s great to say that you’ll work nights or early mornings so that you’ll always be able to focus on your kids during the day, but will you really be able to do that? Really? Be honest with yourself.

It’s hard staying up late and giving up evenings with your husband (for moms, giving up evenings with your wife if you’re an at home dad) after the kids have gone to bed, or getting up at dark o’clock to get some work in while everyone else sleeps. Make sure you choose the most workable schedule for you when you commit to working at home.

Your Potential Employers

Honestly, your potential employers usually won’t care in the least about your children. When they hire someone, they want someone who will do a good job working from home, kids or no. When you’re writing a cover letter or going through the interview process, don’t keep emphasizing that you want to be there for your kids. Focus on what you bring to them as an employee, not on the benefits you expect to gain from working at home.

When you work at home, you’re supposed to handle things like your children without problems that will impact the work you do. Certainly the kids will have an impact on your work sometimes; that’s true even when you work outside the home. You’d better know how you’re going to handle such issues.

I don’t mean that you can never mention your children to potential employers. When I interviewed for my medical transcription job, one of the interviewers concerns was that I was about to graduate college. She was wondering if I would leave the job right after graduation and get work outside the home. As I was expecting my first baby at the time, I did then explain that I intended to stay at home for my child.

That was the only mention, however. Caring for my baby was my reason to work at home, and an easy reassurance for my employer that I wouldn’t spend months in training and then vanish.

That’s what you have to think about if you mention your children. Are they the best answer you can give to your employer for the particular question they’re asking? If asked why you want to work at home, for example, do you want to focus on how you want to care for your children or on another reason? There are so many other benefits after all, such as flexibility, the lack of a commute, or better yet, an interest in that particular kind of job. Employers want to hire people who will do the job well after all, not people who just want the benefits. Think about what’s most important to your employer when you’re being interviewed.

What Does It Cost to Find a Legitimate Work at Home Job?

Stephanie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 16:22:45 +0000

If you’ve read much about looking for work at home jobs, you’ve probably often heard that you should never pay for a work at home job. That’s absolutely true, in the sense that you shouldn’t be paying a company to “prove” that you’re serious about applying for a job with them. There are, however, legitimate expenses you may have as you pursue a good home based job.

Work at Home Job Board Memberships

You can find work at home job leads for free, but it’s time consuming and often difficult to tell the scam ads from the legitimate employers. A good job board can be worth the purchase because they filter out the job leads for you, putting them in one place without paid advertising.

I do not mean all paid work at home job boards are worth it. Some never update or are rehashed lists of companies that allow some employees to telecommute, regardless of whether or not they regularly hire people to work at home. Those aren’t worth the price. HomeJobStop has a good reputation.

Paying for these really isn’t so different from buying a newspaper back when that was the big place to find job listings, except HomeJobStop only charges you once.

You can look for listings for free on your own. Check Craigslist, Monster, Job.com, etc. It’s time consuming – that’s why a membership site that seeks out postings for you can be worth it, but you can do it on your own. It’s a matter of how much time you want to spend each day on the search.

Freelance Job Boards

Freelancing is another great way to work from home, and there are a number of sites where you can locate and bid on jobs, such as eLance, Guru and oDesk. Be careful not to set your price to low of course.

Some boards have membership levels you have to pay for monthly, and there’s usually a fee that is a part of your earnings from the jobs you get there. Take a good look around the site before you pay for a membership. Paid members may get to bid on more jobs or have other advantages, so it can be worth considering.

Even if you’d rather have a steady job, freelancing can be worth your time, especially if you need to build up your resume or nothing is panning out for you right away for a longer term job.

Resume and Cover Letter Writing

If you don’t know how to write a stellar resume and cover letter, it can be worth the money to pay someone to create one for you. You’ll still need to edit it to match each job, but you’ll have the core written by someone who knows what they’re doing.

Alternatively, buy a book or ebook on the process and write it yourself. A good resume takes some time and effort to write, but it’s well worth it when you get the job. Don’t just slap one together, especially if you’ve rarely or never written a resume. Do what it takes to get one written that will catch the attention of potential employers.

Education

Sometimes you have to have the right education to get a job, such as if you want to go into medical transcription or if the position requires a certain degree or certification. That costs money, either now or at some time in the past. There’s nothing wrong with paying for the education required to get a job – that’s necessary for many jobs both at home our outside the home.

There can be a problem if the employer says you have to pay them or the exact program they tell you for the job. Sometimes that’s a scam.

That said, some companies such as Arise are legitimate enough, but are more business opportunity than work at home job, and you do have to pay for training. Read my interview with Arise to learn more about how this can work, and be careful if any company is asking you to pay them for training. They must have an excellent opportunity before you consider such a thing.

Overall, this means that yes, you can have expenses associated with your search for a work at home job, and they can be legitimate. Just make sure you know why you’re paying someone and that it really will help you to get a good job. Too many people pay for things to help them work from home, and all that happens is that their money disappears and they’re frustrated. Use caution and things should turn out better.

Should You Ignore the Ads When Looking for a Work at Home Job?

Stephanie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 15:58:06 +0000

If you’re to believe the ads you see on this site, other work at home sites, on search engines when you look for “work at home” and even on television, you’d think work at home jobs were everywhere. You’d probably also think a lot of them sound really shady.

You’d probably be right about a lot of them being shady, although not all ads promote bad opportunities or scams. There are some real gems in there too, just hard to spot under all the garbage. Could it be simpler to just ignore all the ads when you’re looking for a legitimate work at home job?

Personally, I wouldn’t suggest that. I would suggest that you be more careful about what you see in an ad versus what comes from a genuine personal opinion. It’s not always easy to tell the difference, unfortunately.

An Example

Let’s say I’m telling you about Home Job Stop. I recommend it here on this site because I’ve heard many good things about them through the years. I also get paid a commission if you buy a lifetime membership through that link. While I recommend that site because I believe it’s a worthwhile investment for people looking for a work at home job, it’s also an ad because I get paid for it. Do your own research if you need opinions from other people – just be aware that others may also be getting commissions depending on what they recommend.

Nice part is, they don’t have ads on the Home Job Stop site, just work at home job leads.

Now let’s take a look at one of the schools I recommend for medical transcription – the Andrews School. I don’t get a commission or anything else for recommending them. They’re just a good school, and so they’re on my list of good schools for people who want to become a medical transcriptionist. That’s not what I would call an ad because there’s no payment of any kind from them to me. I also mention Career Step, which is an ad, yet also a really good recommendation because I was recommending them even before I knew they had an affiliate program.

Finally, there are AdSense ads and various banner ads around the site. Those are more obvious ads. Some I have control over, some I have very little control over, to the point where I don’t even know which ad you see compared to the ones I see. The ads I control I’m picky about.

Ads Are Everywhere

Sometimes people complain about all the ads on the internet. Certainly some are a pain, such as ones which cover the part of the site you’d like to see, but is that really so different from what you see in the rest of your life? TV, newspaper, magazines… ads are everywhere. It how many media companies earn the bulk of their money, and it’s not always perfectly clear where the line between commentary and advertising lies.

No matter where you see advertising, you should be taking it with a grain of salt. Not all of it is worth your attention. Not necessarily scams, just really difficult to earn money with. Be careful, do your research and you can decide if an advertised opportunity is for you or not.

How to Keep Yourself on Track Through the Holiday Season

Stephanie — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:49:38 +0000

We’re heading into the holiday season, and that means lots of distractions. Shopping to be done, school events for the kids, parties… it’s all pretty hectic and when you work at home, that’s a problem. How can you keep on track with your work while still enjoying the holiday season?

Take Your Work Seriously

The first thing to do is to take your own work seriously. If something wouldn’t have been a distraction if you were working outside the home, should you let it distract you just because you’re working at home? Possibly so, possibly not.

One of the frequently stated advantages to working at home is the flexibility. This is the time of year to take advantage of that, so long as you don’t go overboard with it. Don’t skip work you can’t make up later, especially if it needs to get done. Take care of any obligations to your employer and/or clients. Forgetting them is not professional.

Know When to Say No

Too many people don’t understand that when you work at home, you aren’t always free to do things for them. You might be on the PTA/PTO and get a lot of requests to help out on committees, or you might have family or friends asking you to run favors. Just like the rest of the year, you need to know when to say no because you have to work.

This certainly doesn’t mean you say no to everything. If you can spare the time and want to get involved, do so. Just don’t do it at the expense of your work.

Rethink Your Schedule

Sometimes the schedule you usually keep won’t cut it during the holiday season. You may need to make more time for fun, shopping and so forth. Those work hours while the kids are at school, for example, may be better spent shopping for presents. Not every day, of course, but odds are you wouldn’t want to do all your shopping after the kids are in bed. Sometimes you have to make time during the day.

You may have to decide to stay up later or get up earlier so that you can handle daytime extras better. Pick whichever works best for you. I’m no early bird, so I stay up later if I can’t get things done during the day. That’s hard if I’m tired out from running errands or doing other things throughout the day, but it can be necessary.

That said, I love online shopping. No worry about store hours, I just do it when I feel like it. It doesn’t always replace shopping in person, but it’s a pretty good option most of the time.

This can be a great time to write out the things you need to get done each day even if you don’t normally do so. With a lot of extra things you need to do, sometimes you need just a little extra help in making sure you actually get it done. Writing it out may be just the boost you need.

Hire Help if Appropriate

Depending on the kind of work you do from home, you may be able to hire someone to help you get it all done. This is a great time to try hiring a virtual assistant for your business. It may add a little stress as you locate and train the right one, but it can be worth the effort.

Remember to Have Fun

Lots of people get far too stressed out about making the holiday season just perfect for their families. Don’t worry so much about perfect, just try to keep it fun.

Get out with your family and do something special, such as looking at holiday displays. Make a special treat together. Find something that fits into your schedule and make it special. It doesn’t have to be grand or expensive, just fun.

Are Microtask Sites Such as Minute Workers or Amazon’s Mechanical Turk Worth the Time?

Stephanie — Tue, 04 Oct 2011 14:29:50 +0000

Performing quick and simple tasks to earn money is one way people earn money from home. Sites such as Minute Workers and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk connect people who want quick jobs done cheaply with people willing to do the work. Most of the jobs are quite simple, and you get a bit of pay for doing them. The question to consider is whether these are legitimate sites and whether the work is worth doing.

Amazon’s Mechanical Turk is quite obviously legitimate. I don’t believe Amazon would mess around with their solid reputation. It has been available for several years.

The only problem with Mechanical Turk is the potential for extremely low pay. At the time I went to the jobs page, there were tasks, known as Hits, ranging from $0.01 to $0.70. That’s not a lot, especially since many hits were $0.10 or less. Even assuming you could complete 3 of these acceptably per minute for an hour, that’s $1.80 an hour for the penny jobs. You really have to be careful to choose jobs that pay enough to be worth your time, and that may not be easy.

Minute Workers is similar, although it’s nice to see them have a minimum of $0.10 per task stated on the home page. Even for something which can be done quickly that’s not a lot, but it’s certainly an improvement on $0.01.

You can see people post about their earnings on the forum, which is encouraging. You also get a penny per post you make on the forum, so participation is strongly encouraged. I also like that they share why payment was denied in a subforum for that purpose.

That said, it’s still not a lot of money earned by most people over the course of a month. You can cash out as low as $2.00. On the forum when I was there, one person had cashed out $91, which is unusually high from what the comments on the thread said. If that’s for a full month, that isn’t a lot of money for those of us in the United States. Better in some other countries with lower costs of living, of course.

You should also beware of the side effects of any tasks you take on. Having you sign up for a mailing list is not too uncommon a task with some of these sites, which can become annoying. Some people want you to download files, which I saw in the forums some people had troubles with, and I’m always cautious about the chance for malware. On any of these sites you should pay attention and make sure the tasks you do aren’t going to give you problems down the line. Most especially, if the task is to sign up for something that will cost you money if you don’t cancel in time, make sure you get that cancellation in.

What this means overall is that you really have to think carefully before joining a microtask site, no matter how regularly they pay. Not only do you have to do the work for any tasks you do, you have to submit proof that it has been done, and hope that the employer will rate you well so that you keep a good rating and continue to qualify for work. For me, the low earnings simply wouldn’t be worth the time. I’d rather take my chance on working on something of my own that may earn me nothing or may earn me far more over time. It’s iffy at times, but it’s mine.

6 Work at Home Lessons While Halloween Costume Shopping

Stephanie — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 15:26:20 +0000

I took Saturday as a family day. Had some fun watching my son’s soccer game (his team won), then took the kids out shopping for their Halloween costumes. We wanted to get out before the selection was down too far. The older two didn’t want anything I could make myself this year, so I only get to be creative with my youngest’s costume.

Watching the kids shop, though, was kind of like watching someone trying to decide how they’re going to work at home.

1. You don’t always want what you think you want.

My oldest was positive that she would be Cleopatra for Halloween this year. She’d been saying so for months. Instead, she fell utterly in love with a Snow Princess costume. My son was sure he wanted to be Spiderman, but the costume he picked was Optimum Prime.

You can be sure that you know what kind of work you want to do at home, but just as sure as my kids changed their minds about their Halloween costumes, a little research may change your mind. Keep an open mind as you consider your options.

2. Shop around.

We didn’t just hit the costume shop nearest us for costumes. We started there so that we’d know their prices, but then checked out a few other places. Good thing too, as that saved us $10 on my son’s costume.

A part of finding work you can do from home is looking for the right job or business opportunity. Don’t assume there’s one thing that will work for you. You might find a similar option has better pay, better benefits, a better chance to earn money, or will just be more fun for you. You also improve on your chances of avoiding scams if you shop around a little and get to know what’s more likely to be a legitimate offer.

3. Make sure it’s a good fit.

When my daughter chose her Snow Princess costume, she first grabbed the one right in the front of the rack. She paid no attention to size. It was only when I pointed out another costume that didn’t come in her size that she looked and realized that she had grabbed too small a size. Fortunately, her size was also available.

That work at home job or business you’ve been considering also may not be the perfect fit right off the rack. Make sure you know as much as you can about what you’re getting into so that you don’t have to start your search all over again unless really necessary. Job hunting is tedious, and business hopping is a great way to avoid success if you overdo it.

Of course, sometimes a switch is necessary. What looks good on paper or online isn’t always for you once you get going. Don’t be afraid to try that opportunity on and give it a really good go.

4. Use your imagination.

My oldest is quite imaginative. I usually get comments about that from her teachers, not always in a perfectly positive light. Her Snow Princess costume already has her imagination going. I’ll leave it at that.

Imagination is a great advantage to many of us who work at home. It can help you to think of ways to work at home that others may not have considered. It can help to improve your business or your job performance.

Overdoing it isn’t necessarily a good thing, and you can’t let your imagination take over so much that you never get any real work done. Dreaming of success won’t get you nearly as far as working hard toward success.

5. Make your own.

I get to make at least one of my children’s costumes most years. This year it’s only the costume for my youngest. We bought some silk leaves at Micheal’s, and I’ll be attaching them to a brown hooded top my youngest loves to wear to make her a woodland fairy costume. We got some fake berries and acorns to go along with the leaves. It should be really cute.

When it comes to working at home, remember that you don’t always have to go for the opportunities that are right on the shelf. Don’t stick with the lists of companies that hire people to work at home if you think you can find work elsewhere, or consider freelancing. Don’t assume that the only way to have a home business is to join an opportunity and do it all the way you’re told. Make the work your own. You can improve upon what’s available to you and make a much more interesting home business this way.

6. Decide if you need your own disguise.

Some parents dress up for Halloween, others skip it. What are you going to do?

Online privacy can be a big deal. It’s not so hard if you have a work at home job – your employer needs legitimate information from you for tax reasons, but they shouldn’t be spreading that information all over anyhow.

It’s more difficult if you have a home business online. You have to decide how much personal information you will share.

Some people use a pen name and have private registration on all their websites. Some are fine with a P.O. Box to keep their home address private. Some aren’t at all concerned about using their own names online.

You have to decide what’s right for you. There are a lot of odd people out there and a lot of really nice ones. You have to decide how much you want to maintain your privacy while building a good business. Some find it difficult to deal with a pen name while others wouldn’t go without one. What works for you depends on you and the goals you have for your business.

Where Are the Legitimate Envelope Stuffing Jobs?

Stephanie — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:37:18 +0000

For one reason or another, envelope stuffing is one of those jobs that a lot of people look for when they want to work at home. Usually, they become quite discouraged by the lack of such jobs available. Aren’t there any legitimate envelope stuffing jobs out there?

Sorry to say, not really, at least not when you see them advertised. The usual “envelope stuffing job” you see out there is a scam. You put up ads around town, in the newspaper or online, then mail people instructions on how to do the same for a fee. It’s not a legitimate job and it can get you into trouble. Just take a look at this article on the FTC’s website about a promoter of an envelope stuffing opportunity and the legal trouble he got himself into.

Why Are Envelope Stuffing Opportunities Always Scams?

The reason why these opportunities are always scams is because machines stuff envelopes faster and cheaper than humans can. It’s simply not cost effective for businesses to regularly hire people to stuff envelopes for them.

If you think about it, the claim that you can make a few dollars per envelope stuffed doesn’t even make sense in terms of legitimate advertising. Just think about it. Does it really make sense for a business to pay $3 or so per envelope stuffed? Not even if you include postage for a standard letter. A machine can do it for far cheaper, and the business can probably get bulk rates on their mailings.

Don’t Believe the Testimonials

Just because an opportunity has testimonials from people who say they’ve earned good money through the opportunity doesn’t mean they have. Testimonials are easy to fake. They’re just words. Anyone willing to promote an envelope stuffing scam isn’t going to stress about the laws against using false testimonials.

Aren’t There Any Legitimate Ways to Stuff Envelopes for Pay at Home?

Once in a long while, you can find a business willing to hire an individual to do their mailings for them. The pay rate is naturally far less than what you see in an envelope stuffing scam.

If you want to earn money mailing out advertisements for other businesses, you’ll probably have to make your own opportunity. Contact small, local businesses and see if they’d like help in that area. You might find something. It won’t be as easy as the scams like to make it sound, as that’s a lot of work to just find someone to hire you, but it may not be impossible. Just don’t call it envelope stuffing when it’s really about helping a business advertise.

Make the Most of Back to School When You Work at Home

Stephanie — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:31:15 +0000

It’s back to school time. My two older kids have been back for a couple of days and I’m still getting used to the routine. In fact, I’m working on a new one, adding in more specific fitness time and fun time for my youngest. Of course, I also want more work time. These hours with fewer kids are something any work at home parent should take advantage of.

Start the Day Well

I’m lucky. My school is walking distance, as in takes less time to walk there than to load the kids, drive there, find a parking space and unload the kids. Like most schools, the first few days are the worst for drop off, with cars parking almost up to my house. Of course we walk.

This is a great time to make sure that my day gets off to a good start. I’m up, out and about. Perfect time to take a longer walk, so I go around the school block, which is about 1.3 miles, almost entirely on a hill. Downhill is pretty easy, but that uphill is on the steep side. Not San Francisco steep, but respectable enough.

I’m alternating this with walking my toddler to the playground. It’s a longer walk total, but with the playground time I get a good break between sections. She loves the time there, as she’s well aware that there’s a playground at the school, and she’s not allowed to use it. Giving her time to play outside while the day isn’t too hot helps tire her a little too.

This is a great way to get the day going if you want to be sure to include exercise in your daily routine. It’s nice to get it done before the day gets hot or you get too involved in work and suddenly realize you forgot to exercise again.

If the weather isn’t right, you can simply play with any kids you still have at home. Give them some attention before you get busy with work.

Plan Your Day

One of the things I do early each day is a bit of marketing work. It may be link building or other very basic marketing activities. Nothing too intense at this point, because I have a toddler who demands attention at random intervals, so I want these times to be work which I can leave and come back to easily.

As my littlest one naps while her siblings are at school, that’s perfect serious work time. Time to work on video marketing, article writing, anything which requires focus and/or quiet.

After the kids get back from school, it’s back to less focused work for me, if I do much at all. There’s homework to be dealt with most days, plus talking about their day, things like that. Things aren’t always terribly productive later in the day for me, up until the kids are in bed, at which point I may choose to work again on things that require more focus, assuming I have the energy.

Your own schedule may well vary from mine. You could get up before the rest of your family because you’re more productive in the early mornings, a thought which makes me (a night owl) shudder. If it works for you, make the most of it.

If all your kids are in school, you probably have a good number of solid work hours, and you should really take advantage of them. Get away from distractions as best you can and get some work done.

I suggest you have at least enough of a schedule to ensure that you do all the things you need to get done every day. If you have a home business, be sure you include some marketing activities every day, for example. If you have a work at home job, see how much you can get done with the kids out of the way.

A to do list or a written out schedule may help. Think about what you need to get done each day and write it down. If you like schedules, estimate the time you’ll need for each and what time you will work on it. Do something so that you’re accountable to yourself at the very least.

Don’t Overdo Activities

Some kids love to be signed up for all sorts of activities, and back to school is a big time to hear about activities to sign up for, clubs to join and so forth. If you have to take your child to a lot of activities, you may be eating into your own work hours or your child’s homework or relaxation time, both important.

Same goes for you, of course. Don’t give yourself more work than you can handle. Work hard, yes. Overwork, no. We all need time to rest and clear our heads.