Waste Time and Earn $$$ Saturday, Mar 31 2007

If you are at all like me, you probably find yourself procrastinating a lot, playing games and such. Well, I have figured out a way to make procrastination and time wasting pay! Keep reading for more details.

My pet weakness is playing stupid games like Cake Mania and Dropheads when I get a chance. But now that can actually earn me some money, so I don´t feel quite as guilty. You can earn by fooling around on your computer, too.

The way you get paid to play is by writing reviews on the software you are working with. For example, if you have been playing a little too much Fish Tycoon, you can now write a 200 word review and get paid. There are several places to submit your reviews:

Constant Content: You can submit your reviews here and set your own price. When an interested content buyer purchases, you receive 65% of the purchase price. I recommend setting to “Use” rights only so you can resell as often as you wish, this lets you earn repeatedly on the same review.

Epinions: Write a review for Epinions and get a share of their income. There are details on the website, but if you join up right now they have a special going on where you write 10 reviews and get $10. Payment is monthly.

Software Judge: This is a site that lets you review software, but it has to be software that they have on their site. They pay between $1-50, but so far I have only earned $1 for my reviews, although supposedly the average is around $10. It´s worth a try anyway, since you are going to be playing! They pay out at $200 through Western Union, which at a buck a pop is going to take forever, but if you make the $50 per review, you can do it in just 2 days!

Your Own Site: Why not build your own site and post reviews of the products you have tested, along with an affiliate link to buy the game or software on Amazon?

I find that the best way to do these reviews without wasting a lot of money is to download the free trial versions and play them for the allotted time (usually 60 min.). This also keeps you from spending all day running around little mazes and baking virtual cakes!

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Leaving the Housework . . . or Not! Sunday, Mar 25 2007

 As a work at home mom, it is really hard to find the time to keep up with all of the housework, give attention to my son and get all my assignments in under the deadline! I’m sure most of you have the same problem.  

Everyone says that you should leave the housework and focus on your work and the kids, but I personally have found that this is not very good advice. You can only leave the dishes for so long before you have nothing left to eat off of! And with a toddler who still likes to crawl around on the floors, I still find myself sweeping and mopping three or four times a day! 

There are a few things you can do to lessen the workload. First, enlist your husband if possible. He can be taught to fold and put away clothes and other similar tasks, if willing. And if you don’t have a husband, or he is completely and utterly immune to the honey-do list, you might want to consider hiring someone. 

It sounds rather extravagant, hiring someone to come in and clean your house, but if you figure out what your time is worth and how much it costs to hire a maid for an hour or two every few days, you might be surprised. Of course, if it turns out that your hourly wage is around $3 and a maid costs $10, then by all means, do your own housework, but if not, then you should consider it a wise investment. 

Apart from hiring help, you might find that a to do list is helpful. I usually do one up on my computer the night before for the next day, so I don’t forget anything in the rush of the morning. Dividing your list into three parts is a very useful technique. One section is for work-related things, one for necessary chores, and one for chores you would like to get done. Here is an example of my daily to do list: 

Work:
-write reviews
-write articles
-update blogs
-look for work and writing guidelines
-forum posting

Necessary:
-wash clothes
-wash dishes
-sweep and mop house
-shopping

Hopeful:
-dust for cobwebs
-clean tub
-wash bedspread

This helps you not feel like such a loser if you don´t manage to get absolutely everything done, because each section is separated. If you manage to get everything in one area done, you are doing great! 

If you have any other tips on keeping your housework manageable, please let me know. The best tips will be published on this blog so we can all benefit from them!

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Weird Ways to Earn Cash Friday, Mar 23 2007

Sick of the same old business ideas popping up all over the web? While, I am trying to cover both old and new ideas, so I have been surfing around and discovered some very interesting blogs on some very interesting ways to earn money! Some are online ideas, others are offline, but all are unusual and fascinating. Why not check them out and see what you think?

Uncommon Business Blog is an interesting blog on weird ways to earn a living. Who knows, you might actually find an idea that you can work with here!

Niche Geek offers this great article on earning money by writing in some very unique areas. If you enjoy writing and would like to pick up some extra cash, this is the perfect article for you. Check out some of their other information while you are at it!

Paid Opportunities has a great article here on earning money by simply accepting packages! There are a few other interesting business articles as well. Check it out and find out how you can be getting paid to get free stuff, who wouldn’t want that?!

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Online Payment Options Thursday, Mar 22 2007

Online Payment Options

If you are working online at all, whether through paid posting sites like Mylot.com or for paid to click sites like Treasure Trooper, or actual online jobs, you will need to get paid somehow. There are several different options these days for receiving your money and many of them are aimed at US citizens, but some are available internationally as well.

PayPal has become the industry standard for payment. If you get a small writing job or try to sell anything online, chances are, people will want to pay you via PayPal. While this site has many redeeming factors, it has one major pitfall . . . it is not international. For people living in one of just a handful of countries, full accounts with bank access is available. A few more countries are offered specialized accounts, with checks only, no bank accounts, and a large number are “send only” which means although they can accept money through PayPal, they can only use it online.

While PayPal boasts that it serves over 130 countries, it really only offers full service to a few, so make sure you are on that list before accepting a job that pays only through PayPal.

Now, if you are in one of those countries, you are fine. You can accept US dollars or your own local currency into your account and sending and receiving money is as simple as the click of a mouse. PayPal is accepted at many large retailers online and if you want cash in hand, they will send it to your bank. You can also upgrade your personal account to business and receive many merchant options like an easy to use shopping cart to put on your site. They charge higher fees for this, though.

e-Gold is another emerging payment site. Its cash is actually backed up with real gold. The site is a bit confusing for the average user, but many people still like to use it. E-Gold has the advantage of being fully international, you can withdraw your money anywhere in the world. However, you need to find people and sites that are willing to pay this way. E-gold is widely accepted around the world.

Moneybookers is another well-known payment system online, but it is still not as widely used as PayPal and E-gold. It is an international service, offering withdrawals to bank accounts or a credit card.

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Take A Minute for Yourself Wednesday, Mar 21 2007

As a work-at-home mom, you can get awfully busy and forget to look after yourself. While it´s fine to go on like this for a while, it really isn´t a good idea to continue without a bit of relaxation time at least once a week. Now, keeping in mind that you are on a very limited time schedule, here are a few ways to pamper yourself in less than ten minutes!

- Have a cup of tea. Get yourself a pack of gourmet flavored teas and make yourself a cup. Lock yourself in the bathroom if you have to, with a good book and sip your tea. Just those few minutes with a hot drink can make you feel worlds better!

- Pamper your skin. Do a quick at home facial. First, clean your skin with an oatmeal scrub, just a handful of quick oats and a dash of warm water will do. Rub this over your face for a minute and it will absorb excess oil and get rid of dry skin. Now, rejuvenate your skin by spreading warmed, mashed avocado or banana over your skin. Leave it for five minutes and rinse off. If you have time, you can do an egg white mask to tighten the skin, just lightly whisk an egg white and apply it to the face, leave for about 15 minutes for the best effect. If you don´t have time for that, just dab a bit of egg white under and around your eyes to help keep wrinkles at bay.

- Give yourself a foot massage. Use oil (olive oil is great!) that has been heated slightly in the microwave. Rub it into your feet and up to your ankles. Take a good five minutes per foot. Work the oil right into the skin and cuticles. When you finish, put on a pair of cotton socks and let your feet luxuriate in their newfound moisture!

- Fix your back. Do you have problems with a sore back from sitting at the computer too long each day? A quick fix is to lie face up on the floor. Don´t get a pillow or anything, just lie there for five minutes, flat as a board. When you get up, you will feel much better, since your posture was automatically corrected.

- Treat your wrists. If you type or do small, repeated tasks all day long, your wrists could be suffering. To ease the muscle tension, try massaging them with warm oil and do regular exercises, rotating your wrists and moving them up and down. This helps loosen the muscles and also works to increase blood flow.

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Sell Homemade Cloth Diapers Wednesday, Mar 21 2007

Ok, here´s a new business idea for you WHAMs out there! If you can design (or find a great pattern) and make your own cloth diapers, you can sell them. This is the perfect job for a mom with small children because you can test your product out before selling!

There are a lot of diaper patterns out there that you can use as is or adapt a bit to create your own design. If you are good at designing, you could always open up a regular disposible diaper to use as a pattern. It is a good idea to make removable inserts out of an absorbant cloth that will allow you to dry the two pieces separately, since dry time can be extra long with cloth diapers.

You will also need to choose a fabric or two. Something nice and absorbent for the inside, and something very cute for the outside. You could even offer several different designs. Or for that matter, expand your line to include plastic pants and other diapering accessories!

Starting up your new business shouldn´t be too difficult. You can offer your products online, on eBay or in your own special webstore. Offline, advertise your products anywhere that moms might see including supermarket bulletin boards, the local paper, daycares, etc.

Check out the Diaper Junglefor more information and free patterns.

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Start Your Own Seamstress Biz Monday, Mar 19 2007

If you are at all handy with the sewing machine, you can start up your own business sewing for other people. It is a skill that seems to have fallen by the wayside in the last few years, so if you can do it, you can earn.

There are two basic ways to go about this. If you are a stunningly great sewer, then you might as well take advantage of your skills! You can make custom-fit wedding and graduation dresses and tailored suits. However, if your skills lean more towards the high school home ec style, you might want to keep things simple.

Obviously, if you do custom tailoring work, you can earn a lot more than if you don´t. Even if your skills don´t quite make the mark, you might consider enrolling in a sewing course that will teach you to make your own patterns, etc. The amount you can earn is limited only by your imagination. Some wedding gowns go for thousands of dollars and since you will be fitting it, you can charge that much if you have the skill.

Extra can be charged for doing little details like hand-sewing pearls or embroidering designs on the clothing that you make. You can always suggest this to the client as an option.

To get started in custom tailoring, you will need to do up a couple of samples. Offer to do a dress or a suit for free for a friend, as long as they pay the materials. Take photos and get testimonies. Now you can put ads up online and in the local paper to get clients. If business is slow, consider doing some clothing up for placement in a consignment shop.

 Now, if you aren´t exactly an expert in the area of sewing, you can still earn, although it certainly won´t be thousands per project! You can offer your services as a basic seamstress. That means you will be doing simples stuff like hemming skirts and pants and taking in clothing. It is certainly not the most exciting position in the world, but it brings in steady money. After all, how often will you need a wedding dress? And how often do you need to take up a new pair of pants?

 See? It is more cost effective to go with simple sewing, because you will get repeat cusomers! That means less marketing for the same amount of cash. You might want to print up some business cards and drop them in the bag with the finished order when you return the clothing to its owner.

Even if you are doing very simple work, there is no reason you can´t move up in the world! Try taking a class, or challenge yourself to design a dress for your daughter or an outfit for your son. You can also make things to put into a consignment shop at this level.

Being a seamstress can be a good job, especially once you have built up a client base!

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Earn By Writing Short Articles Saturday, Mar 17 2007

Can you write an article that is 400-600 words long? If you have a good grasp of English grammar and at least one interest, you could be earning extra money online by writing short, informative articles.

The website Constant Content is looking for writers to submit articles on any topic. The way it works is, you submit an article or two and within a day or so the editors on the site will either approve or deny your writing. The majority of articles are accepted, as long as they don´t contain links.

You set your own prices on Constant Content and the site takes a cut when you sell an article. In the end, you get 65% of the sale price, which is usually between $10-30. You also get to set your usage licenses. If you want someone to be able to buy the article outright, you can do that, or you can allow as many people as possible to pay a low price and use your article.

To start off with, it is usually a good idea to do cheaper articles and see how well your topics sell. A good way to check out what topics are popular is to go to the Recently Sold Content area. There, you can see all the recently sold articles, their prices and topics. You can also check the Requested Content area to find out what editors are looking for.

Payment is by PayPal or check and as mentioned before, your cut is 65%. Considering that a short article doesn´t take more than 15-30 minutes to write, you can certainly earn a bit of extra cash this way!

Why not go ahead and sign up for your own account at Constant Content today? They also have an affiliate and a referral program so you can earn extra money by bringing in new authors. So apart from being a good site to showcase your writing work, Constant Contentoffers other methods of earning as well.

If you want to learn more about online writing, please check out my other blog Online Freelance.

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Nutritious Meals in Minutes Friday, Mar 16 2007

When you are busy working on your at home business, it is easy to lose track of time. Or perhaps you are struggling to finish a project before the deadline and just don´t have time to prepare a great big meal!

There are several ways to get around this problem.

1. You could order take out! Pizza is very popular with the kids, but not as nutritious as a homemade meal.

2. You could do a fast casserole that cooks while you work. An easy one is to put cooked spagetti in a casserole dish, top with cooked hamburger meat and onions, pour a can of mushroom soup (mixed with a can of water) over the whole thing and top with cheese. Bake for 20-30 min. at 350º.

3. Plan ahead and the next time you have time, make a double recipe of whatever you are doing up for supper. Freeze half for a really fast dinner next time you don´t have time to cook.

4. Make a hot pasta salad, just take hot pasta, add a couple tablespoons of mayonaise, toss and add whatever fresh veggies you happen to have in the fridge, along with some cheese cubes. This is yummy and healthy!

5. Make a massive salad with anything you have leftover in the fridge. Layer all the leftovers on a bed of lettuce, drizzle with salad dressing and serve with nacho chips around the edges! Kids love this.

6. Have breakfast for supper. Do up a fast breakfast bagel with fried eggs, a slice of ham, tomatoes and some cream cheese.  Pancakes are another good option.

 For more great ideas, check out my other blog:The Last Minute Cook

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Chatting for Cents Friday, Mar 16 2007

Are you constantly posting on message boards? They can be a great way to meet up with other moms online, but you can really waste a lot of time, too! So, I have found the perfect option.

Writing on message boards that pay for each and every post is the perfect way to connect without feeling like you are completely wasting your time! These forums pay you to keep their websites full of fresh, new content. Although they certainly won´t make you rich, if you are going to be online and posting, you might as well earn some money at it.

Here is a good site for the average chatterbox:
MyLot - this site pays around 3 cents a post averaged out. The community is really great as well, and very responsive.

 I will be posting others as I find them, please feel free to let me know of any.

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