Money Saving Mom®

Guest post from Miranda of WAHadventures.com

Many women who are seeking ways to make extra money online are looking for typing based home jobs. Most commonly searched are data entry positions. However, legit data entry jobs are few and far between. Even so, the genuine companies often have a timely waiting list.

As a work at home blogger who has been sharing money-earning advice with women for over 4 years, I suggest turning to transcription.

Transcription is an excellent way to make money in your spare time and many have been successful creating online careers with full-time incomes as professional transcriptionists. These three companies do not require you to have previous experience or schooling to start working as a transcriber.

QuickTate

QuickTate is one of the most commonly known legitimate online transcription companies. They hire even the inexperienced to transcribe short audio files into text.

Although the work doesn’t pay much — $1 for every 400 words — it is a great place to make some extra pocket money.

QuickTate has been around for many years and has a long-standing history of always paying their transcriptionists on time. Keep in mind, QuickTate is best utilized as an extra income site rather than a way to make an income. Workload can be spotty with plenty of files to transcribe one week to nothing at all the next.

TranscribeMe

TranscribeMe offers a great way to get your foot in the door as a transcriptionist. They offer short audio files to be transcribed at a rate of $14 per audio hour — with potential to earn up to $20 per audio hour.

Notice it is per audio hour — meaning your speed and efficiency will determine your overall hourly rate. This pay is well below the standard for a professional, experienced, transcriptionist; however, it is a great way to become qualified for higher paying transcription careers.

Again, TranscribeMe is not reliable as work is not always available.

Tigerfish Transcription

Tigerfish is another transcription company that is known for hiring people without experience.

The pay at Tigerfish is a bit ambiguous but others have posted online they were able to manage as much as $15 per hour, or $60 per audio hour.

While this information is likely coming from someone with experience and speed – it is a nice indicator that Tigerfish may pay slightly better than the other two companies mentioned above.

What You Should Know About Becoming a Virtual Transcriptionist.

Most every online transcription company worth working for will require you to pass an entrance exam.

If you do not have formal experience as a transcriptionist, they will be looking for the skills needed to complete the job. It is important to have a typing speed of at least 60 words per minute, with 100% accuracy. Being a successful transcriber means you must be fluent in English with a detailed knowledge of correct grammar and punctuation.

Additionally, having exceptional listening skills is required. Transcription generally requires no distractions in order to excel. Listening to the audio files and typing what you hear verbatim requires all of your attention and focus.

Miranda Grimm — The creator of WAHadventures.com — has many passions in life, including the Lord, her family, and blogging! Miranda is living out her dream, working from home to be with her children while actually making money doing something she loves!

Guest post by Anita of Traveling Along

2013 was a rough year financially.

Just the year before we were out of debt, put 20% down on a house and had finished paying off the last of our student loans. Then 2013 met us with a change of job, a lower salary, various expensive car repairs, remodeling, and a costly hospital stay for our sweet girl with Kawasakis disease.

At the end of the year we were worse off than when we started, with just over $3000 in debt and no remaining emergency fund, let alone savings. Blast!

So this year, we are switching things around and prioritizing savings.

The breakdown of the budget was a little bleak, the amount of waste was already super low… but, somehow we have managed to cut back. Every line item that we cut back is an actual dollar amount that we are putting into our savings account.

Here is how we went from saving $0 to $136 a month.

• We started by deleting our Christmas savings of $40 per month. Christmas 2014 will include homemade gifts of wood, pottery, food, photography, and fun! I will also set out to earn at least one $5 gift card from Swagbucks every month. I do this primarily by using them as my search engine and watching cooking videos while I’m in the kitchen or folding laundry. Any Ebates cash back checks will also go in this fund.

• We don’t have cable, but we did have Netflix for $7.99 per month. Not anymore!

• I am making our own dog food. Having a large breed livestock guardian dog means at least $25 per month in dog food. We are now making it with leftover vegetable peelings, free organ meats, and rice. This costs only about $5-7 a month.

• My husband got a very modest raise for 2014 and $40 of that will go directly into savings.

• One goal for 2013 was to teach our kids how to manage their money. We will still continue on this route in 2014, but instead of allowances, we will allow them to do extra jobs for money if they desire. This means a savings of $20 per month.

• Cut back on milk by half… or right around $10 per month. This needed to happen for some health issues, but it represents a savings so I am including it on our list.

• Our next goal = POTTY TRAIN THE TWO-YEAR-OLD! This will save another $20-40 a month!

I’ve always “wished” I had a smoking or soda-drinking habit… then I could quit and save money! Well, I don’t. So, I’ll do what I can and find cash where I can.

Here’s a quick summary:

$40 = no Christmas fund
$8 = no Netflix
$18 = homemade dog food
$20 = no allowances
$40 = small raise
$10 = milk reduction

———————————————————-

$136 monthly to restart an emergency fund!

One more thing — take your small amounts, add them up, and put your savings on automatic monthly transfer for that amount. Money that isn’t allocated in a budget can be easily lost or used for other things!

Where can you cut back? How many little things can you add up to make something BIG?

Anita lives in Virginia with her husband and kids on a hopeful micro farm in the city. When she is not fine-tuning the budget, she can be found canning, cooking with spare parts, helping with math, praying the garden will grow, attending to a sick chicken or covered in mud at the potters wheel. She blogs at Traveling Along.

photo source