I am so tired of being broke! My dh works hard in public service, and he doesn't get paid enough. The state of Tx doesn't care about it's employees. I can't leave my kids with strangers, so I stay home. I am currently working towards a medical transcriptionion degree, but my joints have been hurting so much that it hurts to type for long periods (but that's a whole other story!). Plus I am so tired that whenever I sit at the computer and start reading boring medical stuff, I start falling asleep. So now I am looking to take care of 1 or 2 kids in my home, but no luck in finding someone yet. I have thought of selling some gluten-free stuff, like gluten-free oreo-style cookies or bread or something, but I don't know that many ppl w/ celiac in this area. I made a batch of oreo-style cookies for our latest support group meeting and they were a big hit. I was hoping someone would ask me if they could buy some, but it didn't happen. Plus all those ppl live about an hour away from me. My dream is to start a gluten-free bakery, but that would cost thousands of dollars, which I don't have . It's like this neverending cycle when you have no money. You can think of things to do, but they require an investment, which can't happen. I am SO FRUSTRATED and I feel so sad and depressed because I can't afford to do the things my kids want to do. And I HATE not having enough good food for my kids. My toddlers really deserve more than a hot dog and slice of cheese every day for lunch, but that is all I can afford to give them.

Sorry this has turned into such a depressing rant! I just had to share w/ someone! My dh feels guilty when I complain to him. My mom just pushes me to hurry up and finish my schooling, but I don't think I will be able to because of my other health problems. And I have no one else to "talk" to. So, if you are still reading this, I appreciate it! And if you are the praying kind of person, please say some prayers for us that we can get out of our financial problems for once in our lives. I am sick of this. Why can't we just win the lottery??? (I guess we have to actually play to win, but we don't have enough money to play!)

ptkds

I hear you...we have been playing catch up for the past 11 months and still aren't there. My son was married in July and we had to be groom AND bride's parents if you know what I mean. We also had an unexpected $1,000 expense back in May. Within the next 2 weeks, we have property taxes due, mortgage payment, and a car payment not to mention the other monthly bills. Hang in there!

Hope it gets better for you. Keep studying your medical terms as that career will be a good chance for you to make a steady income. One thing to beware of..I have a friend in FL who has been doing this work for 20 years now and she says that doctors are using transcriptionists from overseas (outsourcing) as they can have the transcript done by the next morning, whereas transcriptionists in US need a full 24 hr. day to turn it around.
Her competition is with people from Asia - our nighttime is their daytime -- that's why they can provide the documents sooner; however, she also told me that some doctors tried this "outsource" and the transcripts are coming back with a lot of errors either due to the doctor's accent on the tape or the transcriptionist doesn't have a strong grasp of American English. The doctors are unhappy about the outsourcing and have come back to her for their transcription needs.

The problem with making food from your home is that if you hook up with a store that'll sell your goods, they might want you to have Products Liability insurance and that insurance can be expensive and if you have to buy business insurance it'll take from your profit of making the food. (I'm in insurance business and I see things through the eyes of an insurance person who sees lawsuits against people who didn't realize they were taking uninsured risks. Products liability insurance protects you against people who say that your goods broke a tooth or got them sick, etc. In food lawsuits, the manufacturer (you) has "strict" lability - meaning that if customer can even barely prove your goods did that to them, they win the lawsuit.) This also can be applied to taking care of kids in your home: many homeowners policies exclude business pursuits - so if a kid gets hurt in your care you are uninsured. Check your homeowners policy before embarking on this home care business.

I've been in your position my whole life (needing more income and no way of getting it; no money to invest in a business which would make an income, etc.). Due to this, I knew I could not afford to have children - even if I did work outside of the home. Knew that having children would mean that I'd raise them in semi-poverty -- literally. Unfortunately, I was right and life got worse instead of better (financially).

My only advice is don't take risks where you can lose everything you've worked for.

This may or may not work for you but when celiac took away my ability to work outside the home I was able to keep us off the dole by selling on Ebay. I started just checking out the thrift stores and second hand shops around my small town. I looked for knicknacks, dolls, clothing in good shape, books etc. It does not cost much to list stuff and it can be really surprising how much people will pay for stuff others 'threw away'. Two of my best sales were for a tattered stained old doll, I paid 5 bucks for it and sold it for over $300 and recently sold a set of old books from my collection that added almost $500 to my budget. If you are at all a pack rat you may have enough stuff lurking around the house to get you started. I still check out my thrift stores two or three times a week and have found everything from the afore mentioned kinds of items to 18 KT gold earrings (bring a loop or magnifying glass) for less than a $20 dollar investment.

i completely understand where you're coming from. finances suck! i grew up with money, and so, getting married, and not having mommy and daddy's money around was a HUGE adjustment for me (still a struggle sometimes).
my husband and i both took new jobs in the first week of october, and both have been a paycut in one way or another. then my job tells me they need everyone to cut back hours because the company's not making enough. like i needed that. you know my marriage has been on the rocks...that one definitely didn't help.
i think raven's idea about selling stuff on ebay is a good idea. i've thought about doing that myself. some of those 2nd hand stores actually have decent stuff that i buy (gently worn items) for myself and my husband. we've stopped going out almost completely.
another tip, i don't know if you're doing the gluten-free diet for the whole family, but if so, buying what you can in bulk (like flours and such) really does save some money.
instead of selling your cookies, maybe you could think about putting together a cookbook. local places are pretty good about supporting those (at least around here they are). i'd be interested in a copy, especially the way you made those cookies sound!
i hope things get better for you. pm me if you want. i'm here to talk you're in my prayers.

I have thought about doing this also . . . just to bring in a little extra. Don't forget yardsales. Sometimes people just want it out of their house and sell for a song. I also get some of the kids' toys and clothes at yardsales. That is getting harder though since they are getting older . . . not as many people sell their older kids' stuff.

If you have an outlet mall anywhere near you, you can take a little money and invest in the clearance racks at Old Navy, Gap Kids, (name brand), etc and sell that on ebay. The big names with "New With Tags" always seem to do well.

Good Luck!

You might consider looking for a part time job with hours so that your husband or other family member can take care or the children. My Sister-in-law did this when her daughter was young. She worked weekends and her husband worked weekdays.

I worked parttime when my kids were little. I also did the childcare thing. Something to keep in mind if you do childcare is that probably half of the parents out there don't pay their bill. I got stiffed so much it put me out of business.

As for selling on Ebay, I buy. Period. I seem to be a Ebay-shopping-junkie.

so true...

I feel for you and have been there myself, was not happy and made changes.....

grew up poor, married rich jerk, divorced rich jerk, found nice guy with a nice paying job and got myself a nicer paying job..... took me almost 20 years to determine money does not buy happiness.

another thought is to become a tupperware, pampered chef, avon, stanley or whatever dealer, you can pretty much set your own hours and if your persistent you can make a nice part time income... my sister is a pampered chef dealer part time and she earns about $1,000 per month, its not for everyone but is another option to think about, the expenses are relatively low and extra insurance is not needed. All you need is a willingness to work and a automobile, ok so some organization skills help but since you have kids would guess you have those already!

As for saving money.... even with a "good" income I do my best not to spend more than I have to, I have found things on amazon .com by the case most comes with free shipping to USA for things I use alot of and wont spoil, this is where I buy them, and yes they have gluten-free products as well. I also hunt for coupons online for products I use alot or need occationally.

When I grocery shop if something I use alot is on sale I buy more than I "need" as in the long run I save money and I now have a huge pantry so have the extra space for what I have but before I moved here I had a tiny house without any pantry at all and I used under beds and in closets for my "food overages"

I tried the ebay thing but without much success my greatest sale was buying a box of about 25 old glass electric insulators at an auction for 25 cents and ended up selling them for $2 each

Lottery tickets? nope dont buy them so I will never win, however the upside to this is that I am not wasting my money as the odds are not in your favor, if they were then they wouldnt be making money!