Going to College Later in Life

Now that I’m nearing my forties, and, of course, my friends are doing the same, I am watching some of my lifelong (or close to) friends contemplate the idea of going back to school to further their education. One of my best friends whom I’ve known for nearly 23 years decided, as a young girl fresh out of high school, to get married and start a family. She’d always wanted to do the motherhood thing, and it came naturally to her. She ended up divorcing her husband when her daughter was young and began waitressing in order to support her … Continue reading →

Taking Classes Can Keep You Fresh

One way that you can continue to improve both your job and your hire-ability (not a word but should be!) skills is to continue to learn. Learning opportunities exist through a variety of means: online classes, workshops or seminars and in person coursework and gatherings that allow you to listen to teachers or speakers and take something away from the program that you didn’t have before you attended. I am a self-proclaimed lifelong learner. For as long as I can remember I’ve loved attending classes and listening to speakers who are talking about subject matters that interest me. A while … Continue reading →

Networking for Jobs

Networking is typically thought of as something that a business person does in order to promote his or her business. You know the drill: attend meetings, hand out business cards and talk to everyone that you meet about your company and what it is that you are trying to sell. One thing many people do not think about is the fact that networking can be applied to job hunting as well. Not only is networking great for finding new clients, but if you are on the hunt for an entirely new career, networking might be for you. How, you ask? … Continue reading →

Careers in Event Planning Going Strong

I spend a lot of time perusing message boards and forums dedicated to work at home mothers and women in business because, of course, I fall into this category and I like to see what others are doing. Many posts on these boards are from women who know that they want to work from home or that they want to start their own company but are unsure of what they want to do. My first piece of advice is this: Like what you do, because you are going to be doing it a lot in the beginning. One business idea … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: Are High Gas Prices Affecting Your Work Life?

I just finished reading an article on CNN saying that there’s a bigger drive (pun intended :-P) now more than ever from employees to be able to work from home, or at least telecommute part of the week. I’ll confess right now: I work from home, so I don’t use much gas, and my husband works at an office only a mile or so from our home, so he doesn’t use much gas in his “commute” either (I say “commute” because really, a mile shouldn’t qualify as a commute.) So on this subject, I am going to rely entirely upon … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: Choosing Between Internet Explorer and Firefox

This is ongoing series where I ask a question a week to my readers. To see the post where this all started, check this out. A while back, I did a quick series focused on Firefox, the Internet browser. I talked about Firefox because it’s a more secure browser, and using it will help keep your computer clean, thus making your life as a stay-at-home worker easier and less stressful. There are companies who hire workers from home who have started requiring their employees to use Firefox instead of IE, because it keeps the computer clean and better protected from … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: Making Minimum Wage

This is ongoing series where I ask a question a week to my readers. To see the post where this all started, check this out. I have been a part of some of the largest WAHM (work-at-home mom) forums on the ‘net for a long time, and I have seen companies come onto the forums and ask for workers. “We pay $0.25 to do (whatever), it can be done at any time, day or night, and you can do as much as you want to. With the pay rate of $0.25 per item, you should make about $3.00 an hour. … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: Any Budding Novelists Out There?

This is ongoing series where I ask a question a week to my readers. To see the post where this all started, check this out. As a freelance writer, I have found that I almost always have one or two stories in the back of my mind, screaming to come out. 😉 I finished a short story (memoir-type story on my great-grandmother) a month or so ago, and submitted it to a magazine in hopes of having it published. I am waiting, not so patiently, for a response. Print work, such as magazines and newspapers, generally pay a lot more … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: My Readers’ Blogs

This is ongoing series where I ask a question a week to my readers so I can get to know them better. To see the post where this all started, check this out. I blog for a living, which is kind of a fun thing to say, and even better, it’s true! 😛 My main income comes from blogging here at Families, and I supplement that income through various odd jobs for various companies. I am a freelancer in every sense of the word. I have a lot of fun working as a freelancer, and of course one of the … Continue reading →

A Question A Week: Cellphones vs Landlines

This is ongoing series where I ask a question a week to my readers. To see the post where this all started, check this out. My question this week is about communication: How many of my readers have opted to skip having a landline, and just have a cell phone and high-speed Internet? This is actually what I have going; since my husband and I moved into our home almost five years ago, we’ve only had a cell phone, no landline. At the time of the move-in, because we were very poor, we only had one cell phone, and no … Continue reading →