Source
r/AskReddit•
Condition

Stay at home dad, looking for advice.

In the next month, I will be separating from the Military(service commitment is up), and I will be a stay at home dad for our two children. My Wife is still active duty, but money will be a bit tighter. I was wondering if Reddit has any advice on how I can still be a stay-at home Dad, and still bring in some extra money for the family. Obviously, I am not looking for a full time job, but I hear about people having a side/part time job over the internet, and was wondering if thats something the average person can get into.

Edit: Thank you everyone who gave me advice, looks like I have some really good leads now, especially Amazon Mechanical Turk, Thank you dirtymonkey, and nobiscuitsinthesnow, for recommending that awsome list.

Edit 2: You guys are awsome, so much good advice keeps pouring in that I can't possible follow up on every lead here. Thank you all for this.

Posted Jan 4, 2011, 12:49 PM UTC · edited

4192
nobiscuitsinthesnow•

I remembered this thread and went looking for it for you. Good luck!

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d2417/reddit_are_there_any_truly_legit_parttime_work_at/

This comment in particular.

22
ConditionOP•

This is amazing, that comment in particular seems like the most help, thank you for digging it back up for me! Also, r/beermoney seems like a good place for stuff too.

4
nobiscuitsinthesnow•

No problem dude, hope it works out for ya.

4
exjentric•

Sometimes, it's easier to keep the money you have instead of making more. Cook all your meals, maybe even bake your own bread or grow your own vegetable garden. Use coupons; only shop sales or secondhand. The people at frugal have a lot of good advice.

10
ConditionOP•

Oh, we're pretty frugal, we don't eat out, we bring our lunches to work, We can't grow a garden where we live(no space, townhouses), unfortunately. We only shop for groceries at the on-base commisary, which is significantly cheaper than most places; we have a Costco card, but only buy bulk stuff there, obviously. Baking bread is more frugal, but to make any significant fiscal difference in baking it/buying it, you have to make a lot. Though r/frugal does have a ton of good advice, thanks.

3
Liar_tuck•

The vast majority of work from home via the internet stuff is all scam. Avoid anything that asks you to buy their information on how to make money online.

5
ConditionOP•

Yeah, I'm aware that all the self-help/employment "guides" are a waste of money, was trying to find out if there is any valid ones.

2
Liar_tuck•

I have a friend who sells video games on Ebay. And nicely supplements his income. But, he is collector himself and knows what other collectors will pay for rare games. He cruises yard sales, estate auctions and pawn shops to get his product.

3
ConditionOP•

Yeah, I use ebay, although I mostly collect old toys, like transformers. (I am a manchild) Thats a pretty good idea though.

2
Liar_tuck•

If you already what you can sell the toys for, your well ahead of most people.

2
dirtymonkey•

Without knowing what your good at I'd suggest checking out something like oDesk.com.

5
ConditionOP•

This actually looks really intriguing, thanks!

2
dirtymonkey•

There are some other similar sites out there also. I'm sure other redditors can post a similar sites if this is the sort of thing that would work for you. If you can deal with data entry kind of stuff you could also check out the Amazon Mechanical Turk.

4
animeguru•

I poked through that link (never seen it before) and there were quite a few things on there that were simple enough. Most aren't for much money, but they were short tasks that you could do in under a minute.

Tonight when I get home I'm going to sign up and go through some tasks to see how long it takes to amass $50 or so. I could stand doing that stuff for an hour a night for some extra cash.

5
ConditionOP•

This is actually much more helpful, it's certainly more flexible work. Thank you so much.

2
dirtymonkey•

No problem. Just keep in mind when you work with these sites that outsource work that you generally start off doing the lower paying jobs, or in the case something like oDesk it's beneficial to some times take a little lower paying jobs to simply build up your portfolio (profile, resume or whatever you care to call it).

3
_honeybird•

When you say your wife is active duty, do you mean she is deployed right now? Or is she working a 9-5 type job on base?

If she is home in the evenings, you could consider getting some kind of job where you would pick up a night shift or two a week. I work for a home health agency, and I've met other caregivers with kids who work nights while their spouse is at home with the kiddos. It would all depend on your childcare situation, but if you worked out something where you worked 1 8-hr shift a week, that could be an extra $200-$300 a month, depending on how much you would get paid.

5
ConditionOP•

She works on base, 8-5, m-f and she is unlikely to get deployed, given her job. I have considered a night shift of some sort, but with two kids that I have to be awake with around 6:30-7 in the morning, night shifts are kinda restricted. Although weekends are a idea I've been thinking about.

2
NuhuhtimesINFINITY•

I remember my dad working a "weekend warrior" shift for about a year. He worked two overnight 12 hour shifts on Friday and Saturday nights. I'm sure it sucked for my mom and him because they never got to spend their weekends together, but I know it helped our family through a rough time.

2
Natsuu•

Sell your plasma

4
ConditionOP•

Thats actually an idea, if only for a little cash. How much does that pay/how often can I give?

3
Natsuu•

I use to do it a lot when I wasn't working. It all depends in the center and your weight. At mine, the first two times as a new donor it's $50 and I'm above 115 lbs. after the first two times it was $25 each time.

5
CozmoNz•

Anyone else wondering for a while what selling his TV had to do with his weight?

8
motoroats•

I was confused until I read "how often can I give?". Then I thought about how I would have replied, "Selling my TV? That'd only get me like $500... dumbass."

Derp.

4
[deleted]•

Only in America.... in Canada it's illegal to sell body parts including fluids.

2
[deleted]•

I give at the red cross. You can donate up to 26 times per year - every 2 weeks. Pay varies, the one here is 35.00 the first two trips then 25 each additional one. it can take 1.5 to 2 hours. They use their collections for research, makeup, etc - not for use on live people (like red cross).

The downside? The one near me is nasty. I went in while I was in college looked around, left. People were nasty, staff didn't look too much better. At least red cross fed me when I was done, now they give me gas cards.

2
orangepotion•

Do not sell plasma. The machines are not that safe, and there are questions about the long term effects to your brain.

2
FountainPiDream•

I would recommend Leapforce / Lionbridge. $13.50 / $14.50 per hour part time, completely flexible, easy internet work. I have worked there for a while now and it is a fantastic part time or secondary job. I make $50 some months and $2,000+ other months, depending on how much time I have to spare. See this thread for more information:

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d2417/reddit_are_there_any_truly_legit_parttime_work_at/c0x0bsq

Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.

3
ConditionOP•

I have to say, after looking through their respective websites, this is fantastic, exactly what I was looking for. Thank you so much for this recommendation.

2
FountainPiDream•

Sure thing. I am kinda the go to guy on Reddit for these places. I get a few messages per day about the job or application process. So, certainly feel free to message me if you have any questions or need any help. I know that the job has helped my wife and me an amazing amount in times of need and I am very happy to spread the word and have it do the same for fellow redditors.

2
ToleratesNoBullshit•

I have no advice for aquiring money, but I want you to know that my dad was ex-military (Marine, Vietnam war) and a stay at home dad. I had the best childhood because my dad was always there for us. My mom worked long hours, my dad cooked and took care of us. He kept us out of trouble because he knew what we were going to do before we did it. I had a great relationship with him, and I am a better person for it. I am sure your kids will love having you there. Remember, you get to raise your kids the way you want. Instill the values in them that you and your wife think are important. And thanks for serving. I appreciate it more than you know.

3
ConditionOP•

Thank you for your comment, I had a very uninvolved father figure through most of my childhood, and it is my hope that I can be the kind of father you describe. It's easy to see how much he means to you, and that is good motivation to be succesful at this. There is a bit of stigma still about having the wife be the primary source of income, and stay-at home dads catch quite a bit of flak some days.

1
houndofbaskerville•

May I suggest Plants vs Zombies on Steam? You won't make any scratch but you pbobably won't doing anything else either so have fun in the meantime.

2
ConditionOP•

Being a stay at home dad to 2 children, aged 3 and 1, will be my full time job.

5
[deleted]•

My dad was a stay-at-home dad and he did a number of things to make money. He was a small-time ebay seller for a while before the site got saturated with power-sellers. He also taught night classes at the local CC and coached high school sports.

2
dmcnichol•

Sell your spunk (200 bucks) Part time job (server/bartender) Learn to program and pick up contract jobs from home

2
ConditionOP•

Can you really get that much from selling sperm?

2
TheScotchDivinity•

Time to cash in that jar in my bedroom!

2
NEWSBOT3•

this thread http://my.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/d2417/reddit_are_there_any_truly_legit_parttime_work_at/

contains some good advice on many work from home options. covers all sorts from article writing to porn etc, though you might not want that. There's also feedback on some and sites/advice on which are scams etc to help out as well.

anyway, good luck!

2
ConditionOP•

yeah, nobiscutsinthesnow commented on that thread too, seems like a good place to start.

1
Merlaak•

Find out if there are any market research companies in your area. If there are, contact them and let them know that you would like to be considered for doing research. The one in my town is always doing focus groups, taste tests, etc. and each time you go you get paid $50 cash.

2
ConditionOP•

Thats certainly an idea, do you know how to look around/search for something like that? Google comes up with a lot of junk when searching for it.

1
Merlaak•

Make sure to search locally. You may even need to check out the yellow pages (look under "market research"). You could also try calling local ad agencies or PR firms and see if they either know of companies or if they ever need people for focus groups.

When you are able to find one, you'll give them your age, race, gender, etc. so they can match you to a particular studies. BE HONEST. If they find out that you lied, you'll be black listed. Also, keep in mind that you'll probably only get called in once every six months or so (if that), but every little bit helps, right?

2
ConditionOP•

Thank you for the advice, I'll start looking around tonight. And yeah, every little bit does help.

1
Daydreamer2010•

20 job ideas for your reference. Good luck to you.

20 Self-employment Job Options (Part One)

20 Self-employment Job Options (Part Two)

2
ConditionOP•

Thank you! There's a lot of good stuff here.

2
[deleted]•

You can do sewing work and launder people's clothes..

2
shawric•

Go to the Free listings on craigslist.com, pickup decent looking stuff. Give the items a quick spitshine, and then sell them. This works well with furniture and college kids. Pickup the free stuff in the summer as kids leave, give it a decent cleaning, sell it to incoming college kids in the fall.

2
ConditionOP•

Ha, I love this idea, There are more than enough colleges around here that I'm sure it would be lucrative.

1
purpleyarn•

Are you good at woodworking/other manly craftsman skills? My father has been a stay at home dad for my entire life and a large portion of my sister's life (around 25 year's I'd estimate). My mom has always held well-paying jobs so he would do woodworking/craftsman jobs mostly for fun, and occasionally for extra money if things were tight. If you're good, you can make a lot.

It might not apply if you still live in military town homes and can't really install new counters, bookshelves, whatever, but it wouldn't hurt to try and hone the skill for whenever you move, which it seems like you will when your wife finishes up her active duty. My dad can make $100 installing a light for neighbors who are too dumb to do it themselves - and all of that is profit.

2
ombx•

Thanks a lot for posting this @Condition. I learnt a lot from this thread.

2
howdydoesit•

How about being a facilities janitor on base? I know someone who did it for the Navy. Here at my base, Air Force, contractors who need extra money or their spouses (usually) empty trash cans and tidy up the restrooms. I think it pays somewhat decently and the hours seem relatively flexible. Most of the cleaning gets done after hours and i think you can land a job only cleaning a particular facility and not a whole load of them. Although, with the limited hours worked i don't know if that is enough money to tide you over.

2
xoites•

You might think about writing. It may not pay off in the short run, but if you look for some good bonks about writing and get a solid grasp on the basics you could find a career writing articles, short stories or novels.

1
[deleted]•

Or perhaps even write a bonk yourself.

6
RosieMuffysticks•

I've been trying to write a bonk for years. It isn't as easy as it seems.

Also, Helium.com.

3
[deleted]•

I usually get stuck on the opening sentence of my bonk.

2
Ialmostthewholepost•

I wish I could write one hundred opening sentences.

2
xoites•

My first bonk is due out in Mey.

They are talking about making it into a mover.

3
kutuzof•

Playing a little too much TF2 lately?

2
ConditionOP•

Thats a possible idea, although I have never really enjoyed Writing much. Thanks for the idea!

1