by Tricia
A while ago I asked you if you had any questions for me. I received the following question from Da big D:
“Can you go into more of what you and your husband are doing to make more money? Ever thought of selling junk on Ebay? What about part time jobs? I was so in debt once that I worked the night shift (more money w/ night diff) and took a part time job @ best buy (which then got me into computers) and changed my career path. I was wondering if you were doing anything like that or thinking of it?”
In 2006, I was working one full-time job and two part-time jobs. Shortly after starting this blog (in February 2006), I was near a breaking point with all of the work I was doing. The money was nice, but I missed my family. I did keep the part-time jobs for a while but I ended up quitting them. My husband actually picked up one of them (that’s his temporary job) and then the other job I quit fully in January of this year (more on that here).
With my main job, I make a very decent income for the area that I live in. I am very pleased with it although sometimes I do wish I was paid more. But, for what I do it’s good money. The only way I could probably beat my current income is to go into business for myself and I cannot do that at this time.
This blog is also a source of income, although it’s not something I can rely on for a constant amount each month. Lately, though, it has been a lifesaver because my husband’s temporary job hasn’t had much work for him. We can technically live off of my income so anything above and beyond that can go towards our debt and/or savings.
My husband also has a blog that he is working on. He currently does not have it monetized but it sounds like he is considering it right now. Even if it brought in a few dollars a month it is better than nothing. Once my son goes to school full-time next year, he has discussed possibly getting a job that he can work while my son is working.
I was going to try selling some of our things on eBay but I haven’t gotten around to it. I did do some research and found out that a couple things that we have would sell at a decent price. However, many things we have wouldn’t. I think instead of eBay we will have a huge garage sale this summer and use the proceeds to go towards our debt. I’ve already begun gathering things that I would like to get rid of (lots of odds and ends).
One thing I do is keep an eye out at the Work At Home Moms Forum. Sometimes from there I can pick up a few things that I can do to make a few dollars. If you decide to watch the site, please be careful of scams.
Here are a few articles that I wrote previously that may be of interest to some of you:
Eight Ideas to Make a Few Extra Bucks
The Ways I Make Money With My Blog
Ultimately it’s none of my business, but since you said you were open to questions, I remain confused. Why doesn’t your husband work (any job! even pizza delivery brings in decent money!) most hours that you are not working (so you can trade off childcare)? And do you mean you are now down to just 1 full-time job?
I found the most helpful way to get out of debt was to have us go crazy (for the short-term!) with work. Though it’s tough, I promise that it’s easier to suffer in the short-term to pay off the debt quickly and clean up the mess you’ve made over so many previous years. It’s not exactly easy to pay off the debt over an extended period of time, so why not increase the intensity and do it faster? Then you can get on faster to living debt free, having a savings account, saving for retirement and your child’s college, taking vacations with cash, etc.
Just a thought!
One of my friends paid off her debt by doing phone sex, lol. You could always try that.
I could never do it, but one never knows.
danielle – that’s an idea, but I’m not sure I am up to that! LOL.
Kristina – Yes, we are only down to 1 full-time job, and that is mine. My husband only has his temporary job right now. He was able to work 6 hours a few weeks ago but now he doesn’t have anything. He has been told he has more projects he can do, but he hasn’t been given them yet to get going on them. He does have something different lined up for a few weeks in summer.
Last year was a great year with the intensity. We both were working a full-time job and I had my part time jobs. Being able to pay $1,000 at a time felt so nice. This year, well, it’s a bit different.
danielle – living in a rural area does put a damper on things. My husband has already worked delivering/making pizzas and he’s worked at the local grocery store. The only place that seems to always be hiring is Burger King and he really wants to avoid fast food. He could get a job in the next town, but then there are commuting costs and the wear on our only car to consider.
We have briefly discussed possibly moving, but that’s not something I would like to do. I’ll talk more about that this week.
Tricia,
Thanks for your answer, and sorry for prying. This is obviously an issue for you to handle as you wish in your marriage, and I imagine it can be a struggle. I hope your husband will find the inspiration to, for the short-term, go out and do any paid work he can find that is moral and legal. Even lowly minimum wage labor will bring in over $1000 a month to make your debt disappear so much faster. I know people who have earned reasonable extra funds through lawn mowing, childcare, house cleaning, retail, being a waiter, pizza delivery, etc, etc. And many of these jobs can be flexible.
I only give this obvious advice because I know that getting out of debt slowly can be depressing and can cause people to lose hope. (Although hopefully this blog keeps it hopeful and exciting!) It’s so much more invigorating and hopeful to go see the debt go away relatively quickly and to see more of your income each month going to debt reduction rather than interest payments. Again, you already know this, but I hope my musings are a tiny bit helpful.
I think she really means, like why isn’t he doing anything at all? Like, just take the first thing he can get. It is better to take a low paying job in the mean time, than to have none at all.
I think maybe because you live in a rural area, this might be hard. For those of us in more populous areas, there are plenty of places to “get any job” at, but in areas where there is one exit for two towns- might be hard.
I’ve been debating taking on some part time jobs like you did but I’m thinking that might just burn me out. I guess I’ll have to figure out what the best way to make a little extra cash is.
I love basically smack dab between Lansing, Flint and Detroit. Back in November of 2006 my husband lost his position, and I can say that after beating the streets, newspapers, the Michigan Talant Bank, job fairs and door to door applications he FINALLY FOUND something just last week. Just two days ago we got our first paycheck.
Yes, there are all kinds of jobs out there. One must consider that MANY MANY places are turning down potential employees due to over-qualifications. Yes we heard that many times.
I’m sure there will be questions as to how we managed 5 months of unemployment (without unemployment benifits). We took a very costly loan out on our income tax through H&R Block. We carefully budgeted our finances through Quicken (thanks Tricia for making it easier). We made one large eBay sale of our recreational vehicle. We cleaned up our yard and sold scrap to our local Recycling Yard.
Two of our credit cards were late and we had to return our vehicle lease in the process so now we have to deal with the downfall.
I’m not trying to flame, please don’t think so, but I am certain that with how much Tricia and her family are intent on “Blogging Away Debt” that her husband is indeed searching for a position that would benifit their family.
Mandi
Sorry, the line that follows:
“I love basically smack dab between Lansing, Flint and Detroit.”
was supposed to be:
“I live basically smack dab between Lansing, Flint and Detroit.”
My father has taken jobs temporarily before that he was overqualified for- he just left out the parts which made him appear overqualified.
I am debt free, but I have been where a lot of you are now- paying off debt. I did it without any kind of advice from anyone or anything. In reality, there are only two things you can do about it- increase your income or decrease your expenses. If you can do both (which I did), then all the better. The best thing you can do to increase your income is to get a second job. It wore me out too, but I invested in some caffeine. Good luck.
It is a lot easier to say “get any old job” but it can be hard. My fiance has dealt with this for the past 2-3 years and has finally gone back to school. He has applied for menial jobs left and right and no one hires him because of being “over qualified”. If he were to not list the things that made him over qualified – well then he wouldn’t have a resume. He’s applied at many temp agencies and he has gotten jobs – temp ones not long term which is the downer. He has gotten referrals and other work from those temp jobs – but again it’s only temporary. He’s applied at Manpower and Manpower Professional. He was told at regular manpower that he was too over qualified and that they wouldn’t find a decent job for him (even though he said he’d do anything) so they sent him to manpower professional. At manpower professional they told him he didn’t have enough schooling! So he’s stuck in the middle, over qualified for the “menial” jobs and under qualified for the “professional” jobs.
Things will get better Tricia! It’s not life if it isn’t without a few bumps in the road that’s for sure! Try to keep your head up, tell your husband too, because there is light at the end of the tunnel.