Well, I don't necessarily have an on-line job for a 2nd income, but I do have two additional part-time jobs outside of the home to bring in money-totalling about 32 hours/week. I work nights and weekends, so I'm home w/ the kids during the day. It is certainly difficult, especially regarding time w/ my spouse-but we don't really have any other options for making enough money at this time. But...I would love to find the right business online, so then I wouldn't have to work evenings out of the house!

Some local charities pay folks to make calls from your home regarding pickups of donated goods. All you have to do is call and tell folks there is going to be a truck in the neighborhood and if they would have anything to donate. Then you do a follow up call the night before to remind all the folks that said yes. Also check Craig's List for part time work. One that interested me is a rental car defueler. You take rental cars that are going to be sold or auctioned and remove the gas from the tanks. Some of the companies will let you work on your schedule as long as you have the cars completed by a certain date. Also stores like Wal-Mart, Sears, Target, etc. have positions that are evening or night jobs assembling furniture, bikes, gas grills and the like.

I think the main thing is to keep an open mind as to the type of job. It doesn't always have to be something that you actually do from your home. I really haven’t found any viable jobs where you actually work from home that doesn’t involve some investment, school or class that requires upfront money. Some people swear by eBay, but that can be a great deal of work for a relative small margin per item. But you never know, that’s why I say keep an open mind.

Mike Stilwell
Daddyshome, Inc.
DC Metro Dads

I post something like this to every mom discussion about income and mostly get the same response of "I could never do that!" I suspect more people could teach than think they can teach, but perhaps I'm just an optimistic homeschooler.

If you have at least a BA, go get a job with Kaplan or Princeton Review and learn to tutor the SAT. They'll pay you about $20/hr with regular raises so you can learn the ropes and bust out freelance and earn more like $75/hr, which is what I charge in the northeastern NJ -- granted, your mileage may vary depending on location. Just 40 miles south of here, the rate is more like $30/hr, in NYC and the feudal lands of Connecticut, it's over $100/hr. You can start out with Huntington, like I did, at $11/hr, but that, uhhh, sucked for the year I did it.

During the busy fall season, I clear a grand a month working just weekends, but the demand seems to be there for after-school hours as well, which I can't do. Granted, I drive a lot, but tutoring beats the hell out of mindless retail or other weekend work.

Thanks to the lethal storm of NCLB and increasingly distracted parents, tutoring is definitely a growth industry.

That Homeschooling Dad
Homeschool Hut

Im intrested in doing something like that how would you get started

The only thing that has worked for me is selling personal items online.  Craigslist!

I have a bunch of musical instruments and some furniture left, so I hope there aren't too many more road bumps in the future.

Since losing my job in the economy, I have restarted college.  And while that takes a lot of time, I've been able to tap into some subsidized student loans for a little bit of extra income on top of school expenses.

I was laid off as well and have also decided to go back to college. I've been able to get some financial aid and scholorship money that has helped out alot. I have some graphic art background and have been selling my artwork or screen printed shirts and stuff like that on ebay for extra income. As well as stuff I pick out at wallmart, like since I'm from Cali things like Charger or Raider Onesies or Angels, Dodgers Padres baby apperal. I'm guessing werever your from youll always find sports stuff for cheap in stores and you can always sell that stuff for a little bit more to fans outside the area who have a harder time finding thir teams memorobilia.

For a while I was selling used books through Amazon Marketplace.

I would pickup used books in reasonable condition at garage and rummage sales, post them, and ship them out when someone ordered them.

I started doing it because I really wanted to still have my own income stream coming in, no matter how small, that was my contribution to the household's finances, and that was MINE.

With not enough space at home to hold a lot of inventory, and rising postal rates here in Canada, I decided to stop listing this year because it was getting to be too much of a hassle, although I still have my inventory boxed away.

I never made a lot of money -- less than a thousand a year -- but I like to go to sales anyway, and I liked the fact that once I posted up the books for sale, there wasn't much else I had to do, apart from renew the listings periodically, and ship orders once they came in.

I think it can be a decent little business for somebody who has a good eye for what sells -- I found softcover, non-fiction offered the best combination of lesser weight for shipping and better resale price, stay away from fiction, it's worthless! -- enough room (and patience from their spouse) to hold a couple of thousand volumes worth of inventory at any one time, and the willingness to devote perhaps 20 hrs per month to buying, listing and shipping.

I hope to get back to it whenever we move to a bigger place, with room to accommodate expanded inventory. As it is, our house is too small for more than a couple hundred, and even then, it was an irritant.

Cheers,
Michael

Sorry, I just checked this thread and saw your interest.  I must not be subsribed.

Go sign up at WyzAnt.com.  I'm getting more business through them than anywhere else right now.  I suspect it's the lower rates clients pay there compared to the other services I work for.

Since I mostly do SAT prep, it really helped that I re-took the SAT last May and scored pretty high.  If you peruse wyzant, you'll see plenty of other subjects in need of tutors, from piano to calculus to Mandarin.

Tutor.com is an easy way to start if you want to only work online from home, but the pay is only in the low teens per hour.  Great company, though.  I also contract through Studypoint.com, which has offices nationwide.

--Tom

I deliver court papers to defendants at their homes and businesses and attorney offices.  Court papers include supoenas, summons and complaints, repossesion of vehicles, evictions, foreclosures......

I work as an independent contractor with a legal company in southern California. I hooked up with a good legal company who let me choose my territory.  I serve papers in the early morning, middle of the day and late at night.  I get paid per serve - $15.00 for regular serve plus $5.00 for every person listed on the document and $25.00 for a rush serve.  I've earned between $500 to $1500 @ month working part-time.

I know a process server who takes his kid with him.

In California, you do need a license and bond.  No test required.  Just fill out a form.  Start up cost is about $400 to $500.

Process serving is one of the businesses that is doing well in today's economy.

Good luck finding work.

to serve felons???? doesn't that sound kind of crazy---  I think my wife would kill me.

I'm out here in Colorado and the average rate is about $100-110/day. You need a BS/BA and in some cases you have to take a class or two, but they'll still pay you while you take it, just not as much.

You sort of get to set your own schedule, most have a call in line or email and you're really only gone the same time as your kids.  Many places will let you teach in your child's school so you can really score doing it that way. You just take them with you and bring them home, no problems.  

We all remember how obnoxious we were to the subs when we were in school, but we also remember the one really cool sub we had too, mine was named Mr. Wilson.  The advantage we have as sahds is that we can obviously handle kids otherwise we wouldn't be home with them.  My school district was totally cool with sahd being my last "job reference" and with my degree(s), I got phone calls right away.  If I have things to do here, I just pass on the job and hope for another one tomorrow, but usually I take them. If you do go this route, expect a background check, and I'd recommend taking every job you get at least starting out.  If you are too picky, the phone quits ringing pretty quickly, or so I'm told.

It's not near as bad as you think it'll be either. Some days are downright fun!  Math and science backgrounds are highly desireable most places so if you have one, you'll usually get more calls.  Good luck finding what you're looking for and don't be afraid to move on to the next thing if it doesn't turn out to be what you thought it would be, whatever it is.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read.

J.D.,

Your information about a process server is incorrect.   I don’t serve papers to felons.  I serve papers to defendants (people accused of wrong doing) in legal cases.   The documents I deliver to a defendant is an order to appear in court.   Accepting the documents is not an admission of guilt. 

Defendants can include:

A business -

That has not paid their lease or mortgage on time

Being sued by another business or individual. 

A person -

Involved or a witness in a car accident.

Ordered to appear in court for a small claims case.

Who is a witness in a case. 

Who has failed to pay the rent or vehicle (car, motorcycle, RV….) payments on time.

Who has failed to pay their mortgage. 

Who is ordered to present evidence in a case.  

Involved in a custody case. 

etc.......

I estimate that 90% of the people who I serve know I’m coming and are very cooperative.    

I serve people at their home and place of work.  Therefore taking a child(ren) to a business is safe. 

With the proper training and right company this profession is safe enough to take your kid(s) with you. 

If you are even moderately handy, I recommend doing what I am doing. I am a modified handy man (Handy Andy). I do anything from organizing to cleanups, yard work and minor repairs. if a job is bigger or requires extra skill, i call a local handy man who I'm friendly with (and have worked with at my own house) and we tackle it together. It is flexible and enjoyable and you are helping people too. I started at $20/hour but will go up once bigger customer base is there. Also don't need to worry if you're not super handy, I'm probably about a 6 or 7 on a scale of one to ten. Its a bit slow now but I have been posting my "Handy Andy" flyer at convenience stores and libraries. Also am dropping flyers in people's mailboxes and calling old contacts and will put ad in paper soon (which worked well before). Good luck to you!

Andy M.

PS Stay away from the home based businesses; they are farces!

Bob Noonan, a Chicago at-home dad, had a successful handy man business.  "Let Bob Do It" was his motto.

yes it seems like it'll be good. people are so happy to have help and my rate is very reasonable. Also have contacted old folks groups. do you work at all?Andy M.

Hogan-- thanks for clearing up that concern, and my presumption of guilt.  I've only had one experience with serving papers..... to a bum tenant and it was not a pleasurable experience.   Guess I just need to reset my expectations- 

You're welcome.  

Process Servers (recognized as Officers of the Courts) have gotten a bad rap.  We're just the messengers.  If we don't deliver the legal papers to defendants, the courts get back logged and cases don't get resolved.   Plantiffs, however, do appreciate our work.

Not all defendants are innocent either.  I've met a lot of shady people.  Some have lied to me and told me they aren't the person I'm looking for.  In which case I ask them to show me their I.D.  When they refuse, I know it's them and tell them they've been served.

I'm serving a lot of eviction notices (residential and business) due to the state of the economy.    It is not a pleasurable experience but somebody has to do it.   Might as well be me.  I have to feed my family too! 

Andy, 

Serving the elderly is a great idea.  

Yes, I'm working.   Three of the replies in this "Income" post is about my part-time work as a process server. I enjoy the challenge of finding people who don't want to be found.   I'm also on the road a lot and enjoy driving, being outside and meeting interesting people.  I serve people of all income levels.  From bum tenants that J.D mentioned to people who live in gated, private, exclusive areas of Orange County, California like Newport Beach, Laguna Beach, Irvine, Corona Del Mar.... ......  

I am interested in becoming a process sever could any one help guide as where to find information on getting started in my area.

I have been looking online trying to find some work i can do at home while watching the kids. Looks like everything i have found is a scam so far though. I might have to settle for some kind of night job somewhere, which will be hard on my wife. But i guess its good bonding time for her with just the kids too. I am not offically there yet anyway, still have to get the twins born first. If only daycare wasnt an extra 400 a month per baby.

What do you think of the idea of posting an ad as a tutor or counselor? Not sure what kind of pay you can get that way.

Not sure if this is a track worth pursuing, but didn't you mention earlier that you work full-time now?  What sort of job do you have?  In my experience, it's been the most successful for my friends and I when we've found part-time or at-home jobs that use our already existing job skills...

I'm an odd case, but I make my living as a full-time musician (mainly as a pianist and composer).  When I was a SAHD last year, I wrote some music on commission (from home, while the baby was asleep), and did a few piano-playing gigs here and there when I knew my wife would be free to watch our daughter.  I know that's not a typical case, but if you can find a way to do what you're already doing, just less of it, and in a more family-friendly way, I always think that's ideal.