The Chronic Consumer

From time to time people ask me how I earn extra cash for all of my frivolous purchases. I haven’t worked full-time since before my son was born, and I don’t plan on rejoining the rat race anytime soon. My husband makes decent money, but his paychecks really just cover our mortgages (yes, that’s plural) and daily expenses. If I didn’t make extra money on the side, we wouldn’t be able to afford all these extras.

First of all, I have a home based business built around freelance writing. I blog, write keyword articles, write advertising copy, and create sales brochures for various clients, both online and in person. This takes up the bulk of my time and represents the bulk of my monthly income.

Second, I serve as a part-time consultant to a company that I once worked for. I spent several years at that company, and became friends with the owner. We parted on good terms, and at the beginning of this year he got in touch with me about becoming a consultant. I help him with various projects (mostly human resources stuff), give orientation presentations to new employees, and also occasionally cover for office drones who are on vacation. I’m required to put in two office days per month (about 4 hours per day) and receive a flat fee as well as hourly pay for whatever work I do beyond those 8 required hours.

Third, I tutor three girls (sisters) once a week at their home. Their mom is a friend of a friend, and she wants the girls (ages 5, 8, and 10) to learn Japanese for some reason. The public school system obviously doesn’t offer anything like this for kids their age, so the mom asked me to do it. Even though my Japanese sucks, it’s good enough to teach beginners. I get $60 for one hour of tutoring (all three girls at the same time). This gig is actually kind of a hassle for me because the girls tend to run a bit wild during the lesson, but the money is too good to pass up.

All three of these income streams provide me with a nice chunk of change to spend on movies, DVD box sets, dinners out with my family, and other treats that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to buy. I’m always busy because of this schedule, but the result is worth it!