Money Saving Mom®

Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next three months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

Guest post from Lindsey of Faithful Homemaking

When I was trying to earn money to buy a DSLR camera, I came up with the idea of hosting a “home preschool” once a week so my friends could get a break from their kids. I feel that most of the moms I know are over-worked and under-paid and could use a morning off!

This option has a dual-purpose of earning some extra cash and blessing your friends at the same time. An added bonus is that you don’t have to leave your kids or your own home to do it!

I chose Friday mornings as the mornings I’d offer Mom’s Morning Out to other moms. This is what worked best for the friends I was marketing my services to. I just committed to do it for four weeks, since I was only aiming to earn enough for a short-term goal of buying a DSLR camera.

Fridays may work for you, or, with the holidays coming, there are other times that would be prime options for a kid’s group. Such as offering to:

• Watch children on Black Friday so their moms can shop?
• Watch children the day or two before Thanksgiving Day while many moms are cooking up a storm?
• Host a Christmas-ornament-making party for kids on a Saturday in December so parents can wrap gifts at home?
• Offer to care for several kids every other Friday night so all your friends can go out for Date Night with their spouse?

If this sounds like something you’d be interested in trying, here are some things you’ll want to decide upfront:

How many children will you accept?

First, decide how many kids you can handle without going crazy. My limit was 8.

If you want to partner with another mom or two and invite more kids, go for it! I typed up a flier explaining to my friends what I would be doing and said that only the first 8 kids to sign up for each session could come.

Some kids were able to come to all 4 playgroups and some were only able to come to 1 or 2.

How long will each session last?

Decide on a time limit that works for your schedule. I recommend between 2 and 4 hours for a Mom’s Morning Out.

If you are doing a special event, like watching a bunch of kids on Black Friday, it could be an all-day thing; just don’t wear yourself out!

What ages will you accept?

You can choose to offer your services to kids of all ages but it won’t be as successful if you have babies in the mix. If the kids are similar ages it will be easier to get them interested in the games and activities you have planned.

I catered my playgroup sessions towards preschoolers.

What will you do?

I chose four themes, one for each Friday, to make up a month’s worth of Mom’s Mornings Out. Some theme ideas that are always a big hit with the kids are: dinosaurs, baking, race cars, princesses, nature, books/reading, the solar system, cowboys and cowgirls, helping the needy, etc.

If you are doing one in the pre-Christmas season you may want to do a different Christmas craft with the kids each time. During one play session, I had the kids help me package hats and gloves for a shelter and make Christmas cards for the homeless.

Once you have your theme idea, begin to build on it. Choose a healthy and inexpensive snack that fits your theme. Find books at the library on the topic. Find a Bible lesson or character lesson that would go well with your theme. Plan a game or two.

It’s very important to plan ahead so you have lots of fun things to occupy the little ones. In addition, give the kids plenty of free-play time as well where they can play with blocks, legos, dress-ups, dolls, cars and one another.

What will you charge?

First of all, it’s probably best to go with a suggested donation instead of a fee, due to different laws regarding daycare regulations and childcare licensing. Bartering is a great way to go, too!

Do your friends have a skill that you need? Maybe one friend could take your Christmas photos for you, one could cut your hair, one could crochet some hats for you to give as gifts, or one could bake you some holiday goodies which you can share with your neighbors.

If you’d prefer getting money, ask around to see what the local daycares and preschools are charging per child per hour. Adjust your suggested donation for doing playgroups depending on what the parents can afford. Remember to add in the cost of craft supplies and snacks, too.

I did my Mom’s Morning Out playgroup for just one month (four Fridays total) and was able to earn around $150 towards my camera for about 15 hours of work (charging a fairly low rate to bless my friends). My kids and their friends had a lot of fun and my friends got a little time to themselves!

If one of my friends offered this service to me, I would definitely sign up at least one of my children for this!

Lindsey blogs at Faithful Homemaking. She loves planning theme birthday parties for her two girls and two boys that have included: ballerinas, tea parties, teddy bear picnics, cowboys, cowgirls, a wet n’ wild water party, monster trucks, motorcycles, and ponies.

Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next two months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

Guest post from Carrie of CarrieWillard.com

For the past five years, I’ve been earning part-time money doing focus groups and testing and giving my opinions on products for market research firms.

These are not the same as doing online surveys. They usually involve traveling to a location in your area to participate. Sometimes, the study takes place over the phone.

Participating in market research is a fun way to earn some extra cash — especially for a stay at home mom, student, or a retired person with a flexible schedule. Other than gas to drive to the research facility, there is no cost to be a respondent.

What Are Market Research and Focus Groups?

When a company wants to change an existing product or launch a new one, they need people to test and try that product to get an idea of how it will perform in the marketplace.

These companies hire market research firms to gather groups of people in various demographics so they can compile this information from their target market.

How Do You Find Legitimate Market Research Companies?

The company I’ve done the most work for is Delve. They have offices in several states.

You can search for other similar companies in your area with a Google search. I found the two companies I work with by searching “market research respondent database”. GreenBook.org has quite a few recommend companies to choose from.

Remember to use good common sense when searching for a research company to work with. The number one rule is: don’t pay any money to join a database. Legitimate Market Research companies will never ask you to pay them any money to join. In addition, don’t give private information such as your social security number out to anyone.

What Is the Process For Getting Jobs With Market Research Companies?

To start working for a market research firm, you’ll first need to fill out an online profile. Then, if you’re accepted, a screener will call you when a study becomes available that fits your demographics. The screener will ask you questions to determine whether you’re a good fit for the project.

Please note: Companies typically don’t want you to do more than one study for the same type of product in a 3-6 month period. Before accepting you for a particular job, a screener will ask you questions that may disqualify you for a particular study.

How Much Can You Earn?

The amount of money you can earn depends on how many companies you sign up with. Compensation is given to you immediately when the study is completed, and it is in the form of a check or a prepaid debit card.

The studies are fun and pay quite well for the time involved. For instance, once I got paid $35 just to taste and give my opinions on a bakery product. It took all of five minutes!

I have listened to music and shared my thoughts on radio stations. I’ve been given free baby diapers and personal care products in addition to compensation for my time.

My sons were even selected to do a study once and each of them earned $150 in about 1 ½ hours! They were thrilled about that, of course. 🙂

In addition to the in-house focus groups that you can do with other people, you will sometimes take home product and try it out over a period of days. A couple of times I’ve earned $100-$150 for a few minutes of paperwork each day. This doesn’t include the value of the product — things like beauty products or baby necessities or food.

Carrie is a writer, wife and homeschooling mom of 7 and lover of good food and great books. Visit her online at CarrieWillard.com.

Welcome to October’s series on 31 Ways to Earn Extra Cash Before Christmas. In this series, I’m highlighting simple and legitimate ways you can earn extra cash in the next two months for those of you who could use a little extra cash to help you pay for Christmas — or just for your living expenses if you’re in a tight spot right now.

If you’ve found a great way to make extra cash before Christmas that doesn’t require an outlay of cash upfront, please email me your tip. I’d love to hear it and possibly share it during this series!

Guest post from Shannon of Tethered Mommy

I’ve discovered an interesting (and fun!) way to earn a few Amazon cards — just for getting rid of stuff I don’t need. I use Listia.com to give away my items and receive credits that I can use to “buy” other things that I do want and need such as Amazon gift cards, Chili’s gift cards, and more.

What is Listia?

Listia is an online auction similar to eBay yet no money is exchanged (unless the winning bidder pays for shipping). Instead, credits are used to win auctions and are received when your auctions have “sold”.

How does it work?

If you have something you’d like to list, you would take a photo of it and list it using their auction platform. You’ll  choose a category, write a description, and select how long you would like the auction to run (ten days is the max).

There’s no cost to list an item and you’ll receive free credits for doing so. You can also receive free credits for offering free shipping, earning badges, and more. If your item ends with a winning bid, you’ll receive the credits for that auction.

Once you’ve accumulated a decent amount of credits, you can bid on auctions you’re interested in. The Amazon cards are very popular so I try to find some with a low GIN (Get It Now) price. I’ve won a $5 Amazon card for 2500 credits, but now that Listia is getting more popular I don’t think I’ll find one for that low again.

How much time does it take?

It take about 10-15 minutes to list an auction — basically however long it takes you to photograph your item, upload the picture, and create your listing.

How much can I earn?

The key to listing items on Listia is offering items that cost little or nothing to ship. You’ll want to offer small, lightweight items that can ship with just the cost of a stamp or two, such as CD’s or necklaces.

It’s amazing the items people will bid on! I’ve seen MyCokeRewards codes being listed and have started collecting caps myself to create an auction of my own. These codes can then be emailed to the winning bidder, saving you from having to pay shipping costs. Just make sure to include a photo of the caps because there is a rule that no intangible goods can be sold.

I recently received a TJ MAXX $10 store credit and will not be using it since the closest TJ Maxx is two hours away. Instead, I’m going to list on Listia — and that should result in a large number of credits (plus, it will only cost $0.45 to ship!)

You can also earn credits by referring your friends. When they successfully list their first auction, you’ll get 500 credits! And they’ll get 100 credits simply by joining.

You’re not going to get rich, but Listia is a great way to earn Amazon cards from things you no longer need or can’t use. Then, you can use your Amazon gift cards to purchase Christmas gifts or other things your family needs!

Shannon is a blogger at Tethered Mommy. She’s always on the lookout for ways to earn extra money when you’re “tied-up” at home.