Modern Luxuries

I tend to overthink everything. I think too much and too long on subjects that many people probably don't even consider. For one thing, I really don't like some contemporary cultural rituals of ours. I wonder where they all started and how they became so important in our lives. Despite the advancements in technology, which have improved our lives, true, some of it is unnecessary and has created a culture of both selfishness and laziness.

An example of this is the decorated bedroom. Not that I'm against a child having their own room and even having it decorated to their tastes, but when did it become a necessity? I recently saw a commercial advertising cheap decorating accessories so you can change your teen's room as her moods and tastes change. Really? I don't think my parents ever did anything for decorating my room other than giving me a matching bedspread and pillow cases with a bedskirt that also matched. I was fortunate enough just to have my own room, growing up with 5 brothers. That's actually the only reason I got my own room--because I was the only girl. My brothers all shared until the older ones moved out of the house. One house we lived in my four brothers shared a basement as their bedroom. It didn't even have a door, it was basically the basement living room turned into a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. My baby brother was less than a year at the time, so he got his own room upstairs across the hall from my parents. Two homes later, my two older brothers shared one room and the three younger ones shared another room, and all five of them shared one bathroom between them.

All I'm saying is that some things that are deemed as "necessary" by parents of today's contemporary culture are not really necessities, but luxuries that we could live without. I could go on about other types of this indulgence, but I can't think anymore right now. My brain needs a rest!

Work From Home?

Working from home in order to be at home with your children is sort of a new fad. Lots of moms do it (dads too even) and there's all sorts of companies and things out there that cater to it. You can have home parties for anything from kitchenware to skin care to tasers. Yes, tasers. I read that one in a magazine about a year ago.

We've been involved with a network marketing company in the arena of health and wellness since September of 2003. We've had some ups and downs with it. Right now, we still keep our business open so that at some point, hopefully, it can pan out for us. Occasionally we get a check, often when we're least expecting it. I was working the business hard just before my 3rd child was born, and since then, I haven't done much with it because I had him and then I had our 4th just 14 months after our 3rd. Since then, it's been pretty much chaotic insanity just trying to keep it together, much less work a business on the side.

Still, extra income is always needed around here. While we do okay, mostly, from month-to-month, it would be nice to establish a savings, have more money to build up a more adequate food storage, and just have more money to use for all the extras that seem to bombard us regularly--new brakes on the car, for instance. So I've been toying around the ideas of different money-making schemes.

Here are the latest ideas:

A home preschool.
If I could enroll 7 students at $120/month, I could make $840/month. I would probably put about $100-$150 back into the preschool each month for supplies. If I could have two sessions going at once, a morning class and an afternoon class, that would even double the amount I would make. Plus, I think $120/month is way more affordable than most preschools out there. I would stick to my philosophy that children need to learn through play and exploration.

Write a book.
Obviously, I can't make any money with this unless it sells. I've been working on several ideas, but I have yet to think of something that is really stellar. This might make me a little bit of extra, but I certainly can't count on this as a huge stream of income, unless I get lucky and write a best seller. I've no doubt that I could write one, but there really isn't a high chance statistically of that happening.

Cake decorating.
I love to make fun cakes for my kids, and some of them have turned out quite well. I've often thought about taking classes and then doing cakes as a business. But I'm not ready to start making them for money yet, I still have a lot to learn. All of what I've done so far has been on my own, I don't even know the proper way of doing any of it. And I would need to get some delicious recipes for good cakes--no cake mixes in a business like that!

House cleaning and organizing.
Since I seem to possess natural talent in the area of cleanliness and organization, this could be fun. But would somebody honestly pay for help in that area?

I know I had more ideas than this when I started this post, but I've been interrupted several times and even had to postpone finishing it overnight, so now I can't remember what else I was going to write about. These are just some of my ideas. They are just that, ideas. None that are even close to being followed through with.

Have you done anything from home that allows you to continue to be home with your children but creates a side income?