How This SAHM Supplements The Family Income

1 - I can do better 2 - Jury's out 3 - Pretty darn good 4 - Splendiferous 5 - Awesometastic by 7 people | Log in to rate

Ranked #274 in Work At Home, #48,477 overall

Where My Frugal Journey Began

That's my baby girl. Eight years ago, when she was born, by choice I went from making my living creating art and jewelry to staying home full time. Making do on one income can be challenging, but the hardest part for my independent spirit was going from making my own money to making none.

So I've paid attention to different ways they say you can make money online, and tried quite a few.  One thing I learned fast was that there are a lot of ways online to spend a lot of time trying to earn pennies, and sometimes those sites will pay you, and sometimes they won't.  The more I learn, the more I refine what I do, and the less likely I am to waste much time trying to earn pennies when I could be earning dollars.

I've learned to "make" money by saving money, too. Living frugally, but still having what we want and living well, has become a passion. All the better if these frugal ways are healthier for our families, too.

I like to share the paths I find that work for me, and I hope you find information you can use here. 

Making Money Online 

every little bit helps

My daughter is homeschooled, and now has two little brothers under the age of four, so any extra income I make has to come from things I can do in a few moments here, a few minutes there, and walk away from at any time for as long as I need.

Online surveys tend to be 10 minutes to a half hour, and will usually sit waiting patiently if I have to leave suddenly, so they're one of the main ways I've supplemented our income. After years at this, I have finely tweaked the list of sites I work with to include only those that pay reasonably for my time, and have never given me a problem with giving the pay I'm due. I've made as much as $75 for an hour long interactive market research session and as little as nothing (something I no longer do).

Here is the lens I wrote sharing my best companies, including the sites that pay my kids.

featured lens Online Surveys That Pay

Here are my best free online surveys that pay in cash, amazon gift certificates, and more. Taking surveys is an excellent way to make a little extra money. It doesn't require any additional outlay of cash when you already own or have access to...

Earning Money By Writing Online 

Writing online is another way to make money on your own time, with just your mind and your computer. One of my main sites to write online is gather.com. I've been a member since 2006 and have made some dear friends enjoying myself doing the same things I used to do for free hanging out on message boards: reading, chatting, posting.

What we post there earns points based on the views it gets. Unfortunately for our global friends, only U.S. members can redeem their points. The points can be cashed out for cash through paypal or gift cards to a variety of well-known merchants.

It works well to cross promote my Squidoo lenses, too.

Gather holds a lot of contests and gives products away for reviews, which is another thing I love about the place. I've been able to get some great books and items free for agreeing to review them, and then turned around and made money off the review, as well, from its views on Gather. I've won some of their points giveaways, and my most recent win was a Goodnights Kit with gift cards and some other nice prizes in it.

My other main place to earn money writing is Squidoo. I've been a member here since 2006, also, and had some early success before I knew enough to appreciate it. I'm working my tail off now and kicking myself for not appreciating those early days more. SquidU, Angel Blessings, lensrank 1000 lenses, what were those? The site and community have grown a lot since then, as have I. I've published over 50 lenses now, and am enjoying the learning process and the earning potential.

If you're new to Squidoo, I doubt I can sing its praises and show you its potential as well as Janet21 did on her page, so check that out at her earning a monthly income lens linked below. You can find great guides on everything else you need to know about Squidoo linked in my Squidoo Newbie Survival Guide

featured lens Squidoo Newbie Survival Guide

Getting started on Squidoo can seem overwhelming. Most of us felt at least a little out of our depth when we first started out. While there's no magic wand for instant success, there are many experienced and helpful Squids who've walked this road bef...

featured lens Are you a Stay at Home Mom (or Dad) Interested in Earning a Monthly Income?

Okay, I am sure you are all thinking, "What's the catch?" Don't worry, there isn't one. I promise. I am a stay at home mom and I will show you how Squidoo is helping me earn a monthly income while still being home to take care of my children. What i...

Free Products For Word of Mouth Marketing 

As I mentioned in the earn money by writing online section, Gather.com is one place I've received free products in return for giving my review of that product. Of course the company hopes the word of mouth on their product will be positive, but there's no penalty for being honest if you hate it or it doesn't work for you. I've given one of those types of reviews and I still get products to review through Gather.

All you have to do to have the same opportunity as I do is be a member, and when they have a call for reviewers, do whatever they ask to be considered. Usually this is to comment beneath the article, and they'll then draw names out of a hat and send you an email through Gather if you're chosen. There are three key places to find out about new giveaways and review opportunities on Gather: the Today on Gather group, the Gather Giveaways group, and the Parenting group operated by DK Publishing.

I also belong to BzzAgent, which gives free and discounted products in return for you talking to others about those products. I usually turn down the campaigns that the item is discounted, not free, as the ones I've been offered weren't anything my family would have bought anyway so it wasn't a good deal for me. There's no penalty for this, you just don't join that campaign. When you talk to others about the products, BzzAgent asks that you file a report on that conversation, which they will review and then reward you with MyPoints. Talking about that product online is perfectly okay! In fact, BzzAgent even has an official group on Gather. I've done several of my product conversations on Gather, earning points not only from BzzAgent for the filing of the BzzReport, but from Gather for the views my article gets, as well.

Again, of course the company hopes the word of mouth on their product will be positive, but there are no penalties if you, or the people you talk to, hate it or it doesn't work as expected. That's valuable information to them, too. I've filed negative feedback reports, and again, I'm still a member and still get campaigns.

MyPoints is a paid-to site that gives you five points for each email ad you click, points for each mini-survey you take through the site, and reward points for shopping through their portal. It takes around 1500 points for a $10 gift card to major retailers (varying slightly depending on retailer), or 3750 points for a $25 amazon gift certificate. I was a member before BzzAgent partnered with them for the rewards, and earned a gift card now and then doing the emails and mini-surveys. Since BzzAgent has partnered with them, my points have added up quite a bit faster. BzzAgent tends to award around 50 points for reports, and a few points for taking short surveys (that determine what campaigns you get, wrap up feedback on campaigns that just finished, and things like this). If you don't want to mess with the paid-to MyPoints stuff, you can just do your activity through bzzagent and ignore the rest.

My favorite BzzAgent campaign was the Scrubbing Bubbles Shower Cleaner. I was completely wowed by that thing and had a lot of fun bzzing about it. My favorite product I've gotten for a campaign was my SoniCare toothbrush. My most recent campaign was the Glade Fragrance Collection, which included a nice scented soy candle.

Get Paid To Search 

I do a lot of research for my various writing activities and homeschooling my daughter, so sites that reward you for using their search have really paid off for me. I install their browser search bar plug in so it's an easy drop down click to use whichever one I want, and if I don't get good results with it, just click the same search over to another. It's not a get rich quick scheme but it earns me an amazon gift card now and then for searches I'd be doing anyway.

featured lens Search and Win

Searching for information online is something we all do.  But did you know you could win gift cards and other prizes by using certain search sites? Search sites earn revenue by having sponsored links and ads. You've probably already notice...

And Even Get Paid to Play Games Online 

I love gaming. All the better if I can get rewarded for playing. There are a lot of sites that claim to pay players of their games, but often they want money charged in the account for a tournament, are kind of a spammy, scammy site, take forever to reach a payout level, or other things that make a frugal person looking to actually earn money think twice about spending time there. I have found some good sites that aren't like that, though. Check them out at the page below if you're interested.

featured lens Get Paid To Play Games Online

How I get paid to play games online in my free time. And, as a homeschooling mom who works at home, I don't have a lot of free time.  The sites I use and recommend have to be fast to do and easy to walk away from if I need.  I also do...

Instant Wins and Sweepstakes 

Sweepstakes and instant win games take only seconds at a time if you use an auto-form-filling program, and I've had some success with those. I've won a cruise for two, and tons of little items like beauty products and iTunes. My favorite win was a large activity center for infants and toddlers that my boys wore out before they were through. A $90 value, and not anything we would have splurged on, but it was cool. Boy, did they love it.
featured lens Sweepstakes and Instant Wins

Sweepstakes and instant win games can be fun to play, and exciting to win. Hundreds of well known companies offer legitimate chances at cash and prizes throughout the year. In our current internet age, many companies allow online entry, and with inte...

Frugal Living 

Frugal living is all about looking at your wants and needs, and finding less expensive ways to do them. Sometimes it's an attitude adjustment, sometimes it's thinking outside the box to figure out how to meet the same needs in ways that fit our budget. Bit by bit we've applied this in different areas of our life. What I've learned about how to homeschool frugally and how to sew my own soft baby carriers you'll find in the lenses below:

featured lens Free And Frugal Homeschooling

What if I told you there are ways to provide your homeschooled child an excellent education on a shoestring budget? It's true. Many families have discovered the secrets to homeschooling frugally. Here's how I did it: I bought two excellent...

featured lens Frugal Babywearing

Wearing our babies has probably been with us as long as we have had been able to craft ways to hold them to our bodies. Indigenous cultures all over the world have created methods to do this, from cradleboards to baskets to the earliest forms of the...

My Favorite Frugal Blog 

Frugal VillageAnne

Frugal VillageAnne's Homemade series has taught me a lot about making the foods my family loves without the extra chemicals and preservatives we find in storebought foods, so they're both frugal and more healthy. Her handmade gifts articles are full of terrific ideas and how-tos, and I love that every time I read her articles I learn more about taking better care of my family and saving money.

Here are a few of her recent articles if you'd like to check out her blog:

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by wolftyrs

I'm a homeschooler, an at-home mom, and a life-long gamer. I love seeking out new games, sites, and paths, and sharing them. (more)

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