Thursday, March 6, 2014

Movin’ On Up!

Dave Ramsey constantly talks about increasing your income.  Well, with a baby at home and a husband that works constantly, I could not figure out how to do that.  When I hear him telling people to deliver pizzas part time, he is usually talking to men or single people without children (if you fit in one of those categories, by all means get your delivery on!).  What is this mama to do?  Turner already spends most of her awake time at my mom’s house (she very generously babysits for free).  I’m not about to leave her there even more so I can work some low wage job.  That’s not fair to Turner or my mom.  
I learned a valuable lesson at Paul Mitchel the School:  Never say no.  When I am at work, I never turn down extra work.  If someone wants to teach me to do something new or have me take over a project, I do it.  This is how you get promoted (I realize more corporate situations have very structured advancement ladders, but it’s still worth a try!).  If you decline extra work, your company assumes you can’t handle your current job, so why would they give you more responsibilities?  At my latest job, I took on any extra work they wanted to give me (that fit in my regular hours).  This resulted in a $1/hour wage increase after less than 2 months on the job and a promotion (with an additional $3/hour!) 1 month later.  That extra $4/hour adds up to over $690/month (I get paid weekly, so some months I get more than 4 paychecks)!  I would probably make about half that at a part time job.  And let’s face it, my part time gig would probably be in retail (LOVED working retail), and all of it would be given right back to the store.  I worked at the mall in high school, and I had an amazing wardrobe but no money.  So, I’ll take more work during my regular work hours to spend more time with my sweet, baby girl.  
This spring, we’re also working on selling some stuff.  I don’t know why it’s so hard for me to take some pictures and post them online.  We have a goal of getting rid of half the stuff in our house.  If anything is still in a box from our move (last July), we probably don’t need it.  Also, Turner goes through clothes super fast (not even 6 months old and already almost too big for 6 month clothes), so I have A LOT of her stuff to sell.  I think we might try a few different avenues and figure out which we like best (eBay, VarageSale, various Facebook groups, Craigslist, etc.).    
Do you have any ways to increase your income that don’t involve a second job?

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