Earn some money!!

Legacy_user

I have a baby daughter and am trying to find ways of combining work with caring for her. I don’ t need to earn a lot – about £100 per week would do, but I must be able to fit it around her to avoid childcare costs.

I have reduced bills, mortgage etc as much as possible. I get a small amount of child tax credit, but my partner earns too much to get anything more (though not enough for me not to work at all!).

Has anyone any suggestions???

Fran

Mary -

I would suggest you visit your local Citizens Advice Bureau with yours and partner's income details. They will be able to check whether you are getting all the benefits that you may be entitled to. Is your partner receiving Working Tax Credit for example? Also have you received all possible benefit to do with your baby? C.A.B. will also be able to do a Tax Credit calculation to make sure that the amount you are receiving is correct. If you get work you could apply for the childcare element of Child Tax Credit (the only problem with this is that there may be a time delay between applying and receiving it).

System

Thanks for reply Fran. I may try CAB, but I am pretty sure we get what little we are entitiled to. Partner earns too much for Working Tax Credit, and until (and unless!) I have 3 children we won't be entitled to the child care element.
However, you're right I should check this out with someone who understands the system properly.

Basically I don't want to go back to work full-time in order to pay extortionate rates for childcare when I'd rather look after the littlun myself!!

Fran

Mary -

I would be surprised if you are not entitled to Working Tax Credit as the upper limit is quite high (a few thousand per year) - I would check it -

Have a look at this website for Tax Credit info:-
Citizens Advice Website

Also - Tax Credits Online

kaznelson

Hi, Have you ever thought of delivery catalogues (IKEA) or publications (Yellow Pages) ?

Ive seen a few of these adverts recently in my local press and seems a nice little side line.

And you and the little one could enjoy the fresh air!! (if you delivery locally)

aliasojo

Small word of warning, I too was looking for a way to make extra cash a couple of years ago and I signed up to deliver the Yellow Pages.

The directories are so heavy, you can only carry a few at a time which means you have to keep getting back in your car to drive fairly short distances. I took my young daughter along with me too but I quickly realised that was a bad idea. She either had to stay strapped in her car seat for ages or she had to be constantly strapped in and out every 10 minutes. Quite a few houses I had to go to had long driveways/steep steps/mad dogs and it wasn't much fun with her in tow. She quickly became tired and scared of the dogs so I ended up taking her home, getting a babysitter and going back out.

Although the extra cash was welcome, it was very long, tiring, hard work and maybe more suitable for someone without a child to consider?

Plumpud_3

Having delivered the Yellow Pages 2 years ago, I can vouch for what the person above said. By the time I took out my petrol expenses, I earned less than £2.00 an hour!!! I did enjoy the work, I was fortunate that the weather was quite good. Yellow Pages come out once a year - in our area at the end of March. You only have a short time to deliver them in. The distribution is actually handled by the same company that dishes out the Phone Book and Thompson Directory. Once they have your phone number they never stop phoning you, offering more work.

I don't think Ikea deliver catalogues anymore, as it is now on-line. We did have a Christmas booklet from them, but I think that came with the free paper.

You could try appyling to be a co-ordinator for Yellow Pages. When I did my delivering, I had quite a chat to my co-ordinator. They have a lot to do over the 3 weeks that the books are actually going out, but the get paid so much a week through the year to oversee an area. I think he told me £50+. During the rest of the year, they just go out and deliver the odd Yellow Pages if someone contacts Yellow Pages to say they haven't got a copy.

The website that covers it is http://www.ddc.co.uk/

Of course there are cleaning jobs, but they pay poorly, usually the national minimum wage. Evening jobs such as pub work or restaurants, so your partner could look after your child. This doesn't work if your partner works shifts, long or irregular hours, or has to go on business trips. Again these usually only pay the national minimum wage and you usually only get the minimum amount of leave.

My best friend actually got a job with Asda, working evenings. Supermarkets are generally quite good employers. Asda is particularly flexible. If she can't work one of her shifts, she just has to find someone to swap with, and she's never had a problem finding someone to swap. She enjoys working for them so much, that when she moved 35 miles, she swapped stores. With supermarkets you also get the staff discount after a short period too. I've known people who have worked for Sainsburys and Waitrose who have really enjoyed it. My Sister-in-law worked for Tesco and hated it, but that might just be the local store (or her!).

You could onsider working in a childrens nursery, as you would be able to take your child with you (most nurseries let you as they are desperate for staff). My Sister-in-law is the manager of a local nursery. They will take you without qualifications, but again the pay and leave is poor.

Have you considered the most obvious - becoming a Childminder? Ask your Health Visitor for more details. Most areas are desperately short of Childminders because alot of them gave up when they came under Ofsted (instead of the local Social Services), about 3 years ago. It can be quite flexible as you are self-employed, but the pay can be variable. A good tip is to get a list of Childminders in your area, phone them up as a prospective client and find out how much they charge and what facilities they offer. It is quite good if you like other peoples' kids, not so good if you don't ;D

I hope you find something, but don't end up stuffing envelopes or packing screws. Very soul destroying.

Of course you could set up a business selling items on eBay. Might be worth considering.

System

I would love to have the details how to do this. I paid £40 for an information pack to do this and then a further £33 to access the web site addresses but they were all american companies any help would be appreciated Thanks Amanda

Travelqueen

I was going to suggest the same as the person above - childminding. You can do this in your own home also if you get registered by the council. Think you have to do a GNVQ but you can study for this at home. You can also continue once your child is old enough to go to school, and even become an 'after school minder' for you local primary for eg. covering the time-period between the end of school and the end of work. I know that, as above, most locations are desperately short of registered child minders, and some parents have to travel miles to find one. However, it makes more financial sense to set up as an independent than work for someone else as they pay peanuts since generally the people in these positions have the qualifications but little experience, once they do they set up on their own and employ other people and so on.

Hope you find something anyway, and if I think of anything else I'll pass it on!

TQ

System

Saw Waitrose mentioned earlier and thought I would add my twopeneth.

Yes they are a good employer and part of the Johnlewis partnership.

Staff discount in Waitrose 12% and Johnlewis 12% then 25% at JL after 3 yrs service (but not electrical and some others)

Annual bonus related to profit, over the last 10 years has ranged between 8%and 24% of total earnings

Quite a few people sign up for a few hours per week and top up with extra hours as and when it fits in with their lifestyle.

Of course this is no help if no Waitrose nearby !

KK

Have you thought of Phoenix Cards - they are beautiful cards that people sell from home (a bit like Avon or Virgin Vie products where you have a party and sell your products). I know several people who sell them and run rather nice little businesses. They take their cards along to playgroups and fetes and fayres and then hand out catalogues to everyone they know. They are excellent prices and quality. There is actually a homeworking forum for ideas if you are interested. They also sell wrapping paper, invites and thank you cards. And it would be as flexible as you would like it to be. Good luck