Ever since making the decision to become a stay-at-home mom, I’ve tried various ways to make a little extra income from home. I’ve sold items on Ebay. I’ve consigned our clothing and I was a home-based Director for a direct selling company.
I recently quit my latest home-based business because I realized that I was not spending as much time with my children as I’d hoped. Initially, my husband and I were quite concerned about the effect my decision to quit would have on our budget. While I am still earning some income from home, it is about one-half what it was when I was involved in direct sales.
For the last three months my hands would shake as I opened our monthly bank statement. “Hmmmm…nothing has changed”. Maybe we will start to notice the difference next month, I thought. Two more months passed. We are dead-even financially. How could that be? I wondered.
I started to think about all of the business expenses involved with my former career. I traveled to and from parties twice per week. I bought my team members small gifts as sales incentives. I spent countless hours on the phone making long distance calls. I stopped for coffee when I traveled. I ate more fast-food while I was “on the go” and I used childcare more often.
Now, I am a writer and graphic artist. My only expense is my computer (which I would have purchased anyway) an internet connection and an occasional babysitter when I have a deadline to meet. I make one-half the income, yet I have virtually no expenses.
Earlier this year, I sold items on Ebay for some extra “fun-money”. I was so excited to get nearly $200 in my PayPal account. However, I failed to factor in my time (spent packaging, cleaning and preparing the items). I also failed to factor in the cost of numerous trips to the post office.
A few months ago, I sold some of my children’s clothing at a local consignment store. I made $104 with one trip to the store and about an hours worth of work. Once again, while the $200 looked better on paper, my actual earnings were probably a wash.
Have you thought about having a garage sale this summer? I had one last summer and earned $250. Frankly, had used the countless hours I spent tagging, displaying and preparing my items, I could have easily earned that amount (or more) by donating the items to charity for a tax-deduction and focusing the saved time on the upkeep of my home.
Have you taken the time to consider what your money-making ventures are actually costing you? I strongly encourage you to jot down your expenses. Take it from me, you may be surprised at how much you are actually earning (or NOT earning) for that matter.