Rock Bottom

[jen]

Hey, since you were low on kiddos this may work for you...

http://www.apply.westathome.com/index.html

more information on the company: http://www.west.com/careers/search/

It is a call center job...the real deal, not something you pay them for or anything like that. You won't make a ton of money, but you will make a couple hundred extra dollars a month.

I know someone who does it, and does OK. Say your client is Royal Caribbean. You have to study the materials and take a test before you can begin taking calls. From my friends experience, the test part was not all that easy.

[professionalmom]

Just a quick note. First, I was not asking for actual help, just advice and positive thoughts and/or prayers to keep my spirits up. Some of you have offered more and I can't thank you enough. I have to stop reading any more posts until late tonight. My weekenders are here now and the wonderfully supportive comments are making it impossible for me to not cry in front of them. And those are the tears of overwhelming gratitude that I never expected would be so abundant. So, I will respond later when they are all gone and DD is in bed. In the meantime, may God Bless each and every one of you forever!!

[originalkat]

I know you already mentioned that your Mortgage company is probably going to work with you...but I just wanted to mention that we also just refinanced our home (from 6.5% fixed to 4.875% Fixed) and it is saving us $140 per month plus we can skip 1 mortgage payment. You might look into that.
Your family will be in our prayers during these tough economic times.

[professionalmom]

Oh wow, I am so sorry to hear that your family is having such a difficult time. I hope that this turns around for you quickly.

Have you tried advertising in other ways besides craigslist? Is there a Moms club in your community? I know that here there is a Mom's of Multples club, and most parents have a hard time finding care for twins/triplets, especilly if they are infants.....maybe you could look on-line to see if there's one in your area....then create a flyer and take it to their next meeting, or contact the head af the group and ask them to let their members know.

I'll try to come up with more ideas.....I will keep your family in my thoughts, best wishes to you all

Oh my goodness!! I haven't even had a chance to check out the Mom's of Multiples club yet and I'm pregnant with twins, so maybe I need to get out there to bond with mom's like me and have the added opportunity to network. Thanks for the idea!! The only thing is I can't take on any infants because I can only have 2 under 18 months and in Nov. our twins will max that out. But I can definitely take on older twins.

[professionalmom]

things that have worked for me,..... dr dentist and hair places. laundrymats grocery stores, childrens resale stores. ??

I know this is going to sound really odd, but we tried that a couple months ago and almost everyone either said 1) no or 2) you can post a flier as long as it's nonprofit such as kittens free to good home. Even the libraries and all the grocery stores said that. The only places we could put up a flier were our church, ACO Hardware, and the community college. I am half tempted to go to Wal-Mart and Meijer and put my business cards on people's windshield wipers, but I don't want to get into trouble and I'm not sure if that's allowed here. I'll look into laundry mats and the consignment store.

[professionalmom]

i'm sure your daughter will get a ton of stuff from everyone.

working at a daycare is a good idea. if you're pregnant with twins though i dunno how long it would last. but it could help in the meantime. i'm so evil, but if you worked for a chain daycare, you could steal some of their clients when you leave!

awhile back i wasn't working and i sold baby clothes on ebay. or you could have a yard sale? you make more money with ebay, but it's also more work.

:: I was thinking about stealing clients too. But I wonder if they would refuse to hire me as long as I stay open as a home daycare. I thought maybe I could take on 3rd shift kids or late afternoon/evening kids to supplement and keep the home daycare going until I build it back up. But would the center be afraid that they would have a competitor working for them and knowing their secrets and trying to steal clients?

I can't sell any baby clothes. I had 1 child the first time and we had tons of clothes. But with twins on the way, all those clothes are really going to come in handy. Family and friends back home are throwing me a shower, but I am telling them no clothes, just diapers, gift cards to Walmart for formula (might have a hard time nursing both), some extra cloth diapers, gift cards for fast food places (so I won't have to try to cook the first couple weeks), etc. You know, the things that are consumable and the most expensive. Neither my husband nor I care if the twins are boys and wearing DD's pink clothes for the first year. Who cares? Who are they trying to impress? And really how often are we going to get out with 3 under 2.5 years old?

[professionalmom]

For the ones that mention some work-at-home side jobs, I am definitely looking into those during the next 24 hours and discussing with my husband. Who knows? Maybe both of us can do a little. I will be following up with those!! I am so glad to find something legit. Most of the things I see are scams and I am VERY suspicious.

For the one that mentioned refinancing the house, we are actually looking at refinancing to include the car payment so we can take that payment out of the equation and if coupled with a lower rate, the house payment may be comparable, but it would save a couple hundred on a car note. DH considered getting rid of his car, but that would leave us with a 14 year old car that needs almost $1000 worth of work, which makes it unreliable. Plus, if it breaks down, DH wouldn't have a way to work. So we are definitely looking at every possible solution and examining it very carefully.

Thank you to everyone who made suggestions and are praying for us. No words could ever thank you enough!

[Genesis Lady]

work at home opportunity

I am so sorry to hear about your situation. It really touched me, it is very similar to what our situation was a little over a year ago. I was pregnant, not with twins but I was high risk and on bed-rest. We actually lost our home...it was a blessing in disguise. That may not be the best for everyone and definitely does not seem to be what you want. We found our current home before we had to let the other one go. All four of our boys are happy and healthy and I was able to fulfill my long time dream of having a daycare. Life now is much less stressful and we are almost debt free! What a difference 2 years makes...some people call it dumb luck, charma, good fortune etc. We call it grace and mercy. Trust and pray....it will get better. I am also in Michigan, I am a new provider I have been licensed for a little over 2 months and I know first hand the difficulty in getting enrollments. I have been supplementing my income by working from home for the last 2 years. I enjoy what I do and plan to continue in the evenings and on weekends until we are completely stable and I feel confident in the daycare's success. I contract through a company called Arise. West at Home is also legit as mentioned by another poster. I sub-contracted for them through another WAH company. I am not sure what the extent of your financial situation is, I believe West requires a credit check. Arise requires a national background check and a drug screen depending on the client. If you are interested or have questions please feel free to PM me.

Keep the faith and stay encouraged...it does get better!

[laundryduchess@yahoo.com]

I know this is going to sound really odd, but we tried that a couple months ago and almost everyone either said 1) no or 2) you can post a flier as long as it's nonprofit such as kittens free to good home. Even the libraries and all the grocery stores said that. The only places we could put up a flier were our church, ACO Hardware, and the community college. I am half tempted to go to Wal-Mart and Meijer and put my business cards on people's windshield wipers, but I don't want to get into trouble and I'm not sure if that's allowed here. I'll look into laundry mats and the consignment store.

Oh I dont mean post flyers,... Im sorry,.. I just inquired,... if they had anyone or knew anyone. Thats how I got my peds kids, my dentists kids, and from thos Ive gotten 3 families who were patients of my ped,... I have every baby ever born at the dentist office.

[beachlovinmomma]

I am so sorry to hear about your situation. It really touched me, it is very similar to what our situation was a little over a year ago. I was pregnant, not with twins but I was high risk and on bed-rest. We actually lost our home...it was a blessing in disguise. That may not be the best for everyone and definitely does not seem to be what you want. We found our current home before we had to let the other one go. All four of our boys are happy and healthy and I was able to fulfill my long time dream of having a daycare. Life now is much less stressful and we are almost debt free! What a difference 2 years makes...some people call it dumb luck, charma, good fortune etc. We call it grace and mercy. Trust and pray....it will get better. I am also in Michigan, I am a new provider I have been licensed for a little over 2 months and I know first hand the difficulty in getting enrollments. I have been supplementing my income by working from home for the last 2 years. I enjoy what I do and plan to continue in the evenings and on weekends until we are completely stable and I feel confident in the daycare's success. I contract through a company called Arise. West at Home is also legit as mentioned by another poster. I sub-contracted for them through another WAH company. I am not sure what the extent of your financial situation is, I believe West requires a credit check. Arise requires a national background check and a drug screen depending on the client. If you are interested or have questions please feel free to PM me.

Keep the faith and stay encouraged...it does get better!

Do you mean you bought another home before you lost your previous home? How does that work? Or do you rent? Im just curious....thanks!

[Unregistered]

I have been in a similar situation in the past.

You could also try to make some quick money.

Garage sale

Sell big items on craigslist that you no longer use.

Write for ehow (it doesn't pay much, but to this day it still pays a utility bill).

Working at a daycare does sound like a good idea. Or even taking on a pt or weekend job may help.

Sending good luck vibes your way.((((((((((((((((((((((((

[pigletsmommy]

Last summer we were in a similar situation as you are. Thats when I went into childcare.

When you advertise at craigslist do you advertise your price? I found I get more responses when I leave that out. Here people are advertising for $75 per week I can't imagine how anyone can make money like that. I can't imagine going lower.

When I had opening last spring I told anyone and everyone that I did childcare and had openings. I made sure my parents knew. I actually had one parents say she knew someone looking for daycare but I would NOT want that kid.... You know thats got to be bad. Anywho... I told everyone. Word of mouth is the best advertising. Heck, sometimes I would find myself in store talking to someone...and I would even talk a little louder about my childcare so others around would hear me! You just never know who is going to hear you.

I hope it gets better for you. Sending some pixie dust your way!

[Genesis Lady]

Do you mean you bought another home before you lost your previous home? How does that work? Or do you rent? Im just curious....thanks!

Yes, we purchased another home. We do not rent, we own it, no mortgage! Has more rooms and larger than the one we owned before.

Praise God...because of Him...that's how it works!

[professionalmom]

pigletsmommy:

No. I do not advertise my prices on craigslist. However, I direct them to my website and every response I have gotten from the website starts out, "I love your website!" On the website, I list $130 per week for FT per child and $3.50 per hour for PT per child. Then I state that sibling discounts are available. I give a 25% sibling discount. I also state that other fees may apply and that weekend rates are higher. So when I get a hit from the website, I expect that they are prepared to pay what I charge and it's safe to go forward with getting to know them better.

I tell everyone that I am a daycare provider. I'm also in the bragging stage of my pregnancy and everyone says, "You'll have your hands full!" To which I reply, I am a daycare provider and deal with multiple toddler on a regular basis so this is nothing new to me. I love kids! After all, who else can you find to be so open, honest, and REAL as a child?

Thanks for the pixie dust!

To Everyone:
I got a hit from my website. Going to email the mom back in the next 5 minutes. It would be 2 kids, FT. That, alone, would be the difference we need! Pray I get them and maybe one or two more so we can rebuild the savings we just destroyed. Oh, no, now I think I'm too excited to sleep! Please, Lord, just let them be as good as the family who is moving away and the PT family I still have.

[Genesis Lady]

Professionalmom said:

I got a hit from my website. Going to email the mom back in the next 5 minutes. It would be 2 kids, FT. That, alone, would be the difference we need! Pray I get them and maybe one or two more so we can rebuild the savings we just destroyed. Oh, no, now I think I'm too excited to sleep! Please, Lord, just let them be as good as the family who is moving away and the PT family I still have. [/QUOTE]

That is AWESOME! I will be so excited when my website is completed next week!

I am happy for you and praying that everything works out well!