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It’s all about Women’s Money Week this fantastic first week of March. I’m going to be writing a series of posts, one for each day of this week, and all in honor of the 2nd annual Women’s Money Week! Are you excited? You should be! I’ll be sharing all kind of great information on amazing topics like increasing income; finding time/increasing productivity; family and money; happiness, hobbies, and money; and future planning and financial planning.
Let’s get this party started…….
If you don’t know my story by now, let me explain why I started this blog. We needed money. Guess there isn’t much back story to that, huh? Well, honestly, we went from a two-income family of three, to a one-income home family of four. Mama had to figure out how to bring more income into the happy home, to keep it happy, as we all know too well! Sure, saving money is always helpful, but we also wanted to INCREASE our income.
Here’s the top five ways I increased my income, after having a second child, and deciding to stay home to raise my kids, on Long Island…….
- Earning Points to redeem for cash
- Started a Direct Sales/Network Marketing business
- Began writing a blog
- Began writing for other blogs, and publications
- Started getting paid for shopping online
Earning Points to redeem for cash
If you’re a reader of my blog, you know I’m a big fan of taking at least 20 minutes each day to devote to earning points on various websites. Most of the time is spent on one specific site, it’s called Swagbucks. The points I earn through the site use to be redeemed for gift cards, but now…..oh, sweetness for sure, you can redeem the points for PayPal cash. Will it make me a millionaire? No, but 20 passive minutes a day, while I’m doing other stuff on the computer, or watching TV with the kids, or with my husband, I’m earning points that can be used to turned into cash…….why not do it? It just means more in our monthly income!
Started a Direct Sales/Network Marketing business
It took me a couple of tries to figure out which network marketing company I preferred. When I was younger, before kids, I loved selling Tupperware. However, after having kids, doing parties where I had to lug all those things around, just didn’t appeal to me anymore. Though I made good money, I decided to find another one to devote my energy to. I chose Arbonne. Big mistake on my part, because the products turned out to not be pure, safe, and beneficial. However, I did do well financially. At the end of the day, though, I had to walk away from it, and find something more in line with my core values, and beliefs. A friend introduced me to Isagenix, and it just made sense. It fit my new healthier lifestyle, my desire to lose weight, and become healthier and stop relying on tons of pain meds, and all of that nonsense. It brings in solid money, and as the business grows, so does my weekly Monday paychecks to my pre-paid debit card!
Began writing a blog
When I had my second child, and decided to stay home to raise the kids, I had to figure out how to make one income stretch for a new family of four. It wasn’t easy, and it seemed that the only answer to saving money was to clip coupons for 40 hours per week, so I could extreme grocery shop. No thanks. I was home with the kids, I wasn’t giving up 40 hours a week to clip coupons, look for sales, and shop! Besides, my husband did the grocery shopping and saved us a lot with his system of shopping. So I researched, and slowly figured out how to save money in other ways. Then people would ask how I did what I did, and suggested I start a blog to show off my skills. I looked into it, figured why not, and started writing the blog you are reading right now. And slowly, advertisers showed interest, brands started to request to pay me to write for them on my blog, and it became a decent income for us. Every dollar coming in was just increasing our income!
Began writing for other blogs, and publications
As November Sunflower’s popularity grew, other blogs asked me to write for them, and I also wrote for an online news company called Examiner. Both brought in extra income, but of course, as my own blog took more time, and the kids got bigger, and required more of my time, I had to stop writing as much for other people, and started bringing on fellow writers to write for me here on my blog. The extra income was great while I had it, but the time it took away from the kids, and my blog, and network marketing business, it just wasn’t right for me.
Started getting paid to shop
My entire blog is all about strategic shopping, and how I pretty much do all our shopping online for free, or for minimal cash. When I shop, I make sure I’m getting paid to shop. I use cash rebate sites, and credit cards, that earn me money every time I shop. The best part is the residual income I make from referring people to my favorite cash rebate sites, and they shop, and I earn money when they shop. It’s awesome to get surprise payments throughout the year, just adding to our income!
Anyone can find ways to increase their income, without it being a full-time, all consuming pain in the royal icing! You just have to find what you love, and figure out how to get paid for doing it, and above all, sharing it with others!
