Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Posts: 1651

My wife is a full time homemaker. She would like to find a way to make some extra money but does not have the preset schedule for any kind of part time or full time job.

She would like to do some kind of work at home but I know that a lot of these are scams.

Does anyone know of any program that would allow for 10-20 hours of work per week and allow her to make a little extra.

Thanks

T

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Registered: May 2000
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 8017

Please don't take this as an afront, but unless your wife has a skill you haven't mentioned I don't think there are too many employers that will pay her at home. Which means to me, that she needs to be self-employed.

One of the best paying things I can think of is baby-sitting, or pre-school, or whatever they call it now-a-days. Get 10 parents to drop off their kids to her, and let her entertain them. That should be decent money.

Alternatively, she may have this idea of something she has always wanted to do, that would make her rich. Support her in that. There is nothing wrong with doing nothing, and making it big.

-John

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Posts: 1651

She's not trying to make it rich, she would like to bring in an extra $100 or so per week. Many years ago she did typing at home. Various notes were mailed to her and she typed them up. We have a friend who does something similar. Notes are emailed to her, she types them up and returns them. Another one prints and mails flyers.

Nothing stunning but it gives a chance to earn pocket money. She has strong typing and other secretarial skills but is simply looking for that real "Earn $100,000 per year in just a few hours per week working in your own home". We realize that is crap but there are some known businesses.

Neither of our friends "home work" companies are hiring right now.

Kids is the thing she is trying to escape so that option probably will not work.

T

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Registered: May 2000
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 8017

LOL, OK, got it...

I just did think of one while reading your response. Apparently folks make money by typing up (and all that involves) resumes. She's not close to a school, is she?

-John

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Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 164

I will echo John here. I think he gave some good advice on becoming an in-home daycare provider.

Unless there is some skill that your wife has, that she could cut a deal with a company on, there is really very little legitimate at home work out there.

I've also known moms who started pet sitting services or housecleaning deals where they could take the kids along.

As a former operations supervisor and a manager, I have received many requests for at home work. (So did every other supervisor.) The only people that I ever saw get athome, unscheduled, and unsupervised deals were those who were so valuable to us, that we had to agree to that or they'd leave and go elsewhere. Keep in mind these were people who were top performers and had proven themselves invaluable to the company.

I can certainly understand your wife wanting to stay home with the kids. I think that is great and a good deal for the children.

Perhaps you could give us more details on her work experience and skills so we could come up with more suggestions. What about approaching her last employer and coming up with a plan?

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Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 164

Tony, looks like your last post posted before I sent mine! So you did answer some of my questions. I'm not sure what the market is for at home word processing these days. Perhaps a job in a transcription field, legal or medical, although that does take training.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: The Pancake Circus
Posts: 6447

There are no work at home businesses that are legit.

However, she can work at home and make money, but she has to think entrepreneurial, rather than employee. For example, I am a skilled writer. (Although you'd never know that reading my posts here.) I've made several hundred dollars a month, sometimes a lot more, writing for magazines. But, I'm pretty good, not anybody can break in that easily.

I also am a good cook, and for a short time started a personal chef business.

If your wife has excellent secretarial skills, she needs to explore areas where she can utilize them. Go to various small business around the area and offer in-home, part time services, emphasizing any extra skills she may have, such as bookkeeping. If she is excellent at organizing, she can consider organizing small offices, or even people's private homes.

Perhaps she can do some shopping and errand running for older people or working mothers in the neighborhood. Make some flyers and see what kind of bites you get.

While childcare might seem like a good way for a mom to make money, there are a ton of regulations about caring for other children - and with so many other kids in the house, yours get shortchanged. That defeats the purpose of being a stay-at-home mom.

She needs to sit down, evaluate her strengths, think how they can help others, both in companies and privately, come up with a plan and market herself. And, be sure to check on regulations regarding whatever she decided to do. The small business association can help.

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Registered: Feb 2001
Location: PA, US
Posts: 685

quote:

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Originally posted by justapixel
There are no work at home businesses that are legit.

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Registered: May 2000
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 8017

Too true, Avalon...

I know if my suit was cut just right I would look like James Bond's brother

-John

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Registered: Aug 2002
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 164

Ann, that was such an excellent post.

You really hit the nail on the head with -
"However, she can work at home and make money, but she has to think entrepreneurial, rather than employee."

That is what I was trying to say in my roundabout way, LOL, that's why you're a writer.

I had to smile when I read the original post. Looking at it from the employer's point of view, when an employee or potential employee, asks for a situation that involves no commuting, no wardrobe, no daycare, no office hassles, no set hours, I wanted to say, LOL yeah you and everyone else here at the company. Who wouldn't want that set up?

A person really needs to be offering a special service or skill to get that deal.

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: Morgan Hill, CA
Posts: 1651

To the various posters here. There was never any intention of finding a job at home for an external employee. We were simply looking for one of those typing/resumes/invoice jobs that I know two people who have. Neither of them worked for the company before taking these jobs, that are, as mentioned, intended only to earn a little extra money.


Maybe I am over sensitive but I found this kind of insulting, I am not that much of an idiot.

"I had to smile when I read the original post. Looking at it from the employer's point of view, when an employee or potential employee, asks for a situation that involves no commuting, no wardrobe, no daycare, no office hassles, no set hours, I wanted to say, LOL yeah you and everyone else here at the company. Who wouldn't want that set up? "

I do not think anything in my original or follow up posts implied that she was trying to get a regular job that could be worked at home.

T

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Registered: Dec 2001
Location: San Francisco, CA
Posts: 783

I can't recommend any companies, but when I was younger, and my mother at various times, has done transcribing (typing). Converting lots of paper documents into electronic for is a common need and is something companies like to pay someone by the hour, outside the company to do, rather than hiring full time employees just to copy papers.

Typing doesn't require any special skill other than being able to type quickly and is legitimate work. Guys, she isn't as for a career here, or a job with healthcare benefits and sick days -- just some misc work.

I agree that you'll find a lot more if you think entrepreneurial though. But people inferring that someone wanting to do a few hours of consulting/contract work is equivalent to a fully benefited, full time employee asking to work at home, are off the mark imo. They're not even remotely the same situation.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: East Kingston, NH USA
Posts: 4281

tonyoci,

Is the restriction that she has to be at home, or that she wants to set her own schedule? If the latter and not the former, she should check out narms.com. My wife uses this a lot for making extra money. There are jobs there that involve going into stores and setting up displays, or doing audits (making sure things are set up as they should be), or mystery shopping.

Most jobs have fairly broad range of time that you can do them in, so you can set your own schedule. And you choose the jobs you want to do, so it's very flexible.

Hope that helps.

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Registered: Sep 2001
Location: The Pancake Circus
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quote:

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Originally posted by tonyoci

Maybe I am over sensitive but I found this kind of insulting, I am not that much of an idiot.

---

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Columbia, Maryland
Posts: 2540

quote:

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Originally posted by tonyoci
Notes are emailed to her, she types them up and returns them.

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What am I missing here? Does she do formatting of the documents?

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Registered: Jun 2000
Location: Tulsa, OK
Posts: 1576

Just this morning, I stopped to buy gas and noticed someone had taped up a holder with a bunch of "Make $$$ in your spare time/work at home.com" business cards, on the side of the gasoline pump away from the store.

I did my civic duty and threw them all in the trash.

By the way, we have two kids that go to my kid's elementary school who arrive at our house 1/2 hour before school, so their mom can get to work on time. She pays us $20 per week just for taking them to school with our kids.

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Registered: Aug 2000
Location: Nashua, NH
Posts: 7476

Almost all of the "work at home" schemes require you to pay something upfront - and then what you get is worthless. Some good advice in earlier replies here.

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Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Dover, NH
Posts: 1654

quote:

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Originally posted by justapixel
There are no work at home businesses that are legit.

---

quote:

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Originally posted by chloejackson
I had to smile when I read the original post. Looking at it from the employer's point of view, when an employee or potential employee, asks for a situation that involves no commuting, no wardrobe, no daycare, no office hassles, no set hours, I wanted to say, LOL yeah you and everyone else here at the company. Who wouldn't want that set up?

---

There certainly are businesses that offer employees the option to work at home that are legit. I have been working for 3 years for a software/web development consulting company based in NY. We do not have our own office space, but one of our clients gives us an area in their building in NY where my boss and our admin assistant works at least part of the week. The rest of us (4 developers) are scattered in Illinois, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Montreal, Canada. I have only met some of my coworkers once in 3 years. I saw my boss and my Canadian co-worker recently at the wedding of our boss though, so I have met them twice now.

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Registered: May 2000
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 8017

quote:

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Originally posted by Sinuralan
I can't recommend any companies, but when I was younger, and my mother at various times, has done transcribing (typing). Converting lots of paper documents into electronic for is a common need and is something companies like to pay someone by the hour, outside the company to do, rather than hiring full time employees just to copy papers.

Typing doesn't require any special skill other than being able to type quickly and is legitimate work. Guys, she isn't as for a career here, or a job with healthcare benefits and sick days -- just some misc work.

I agree that you'll find a lot more if you think entrepreneurial though. But people inferring that someone wanting to do a few hours of consulting/contract work is equivalent to a fully benefited, full time employee asking to work at home, are off the mark imo. They're not even remotely the same situation.

---

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Registered: Jan 2002
Location: Berkeley CA
Posts: 3825

quote:

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Originally posted by Sinuralan
Typing doesn't require any special skill other than being able to type quickly and is legitimate work.

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