Meetup Income

Ok so I found the best possible way to make an extra income. If you’re a social person or are looking to make some friends; this would be the way to go.

I came across meetup.com not in my quest to find more income, but as a result of my need to connect with people. My husband found this site for me when I was going through my baby blues. I just had my baby girl and felt closed to the world and isolated. Meetup.com was I miracle.

This is how it works: let's say I'm interested in playing volleyball, but it’s too expensive to join a volleyball league. I would go on meetup.com and do a search for volleyball in my area. I would then joint the meetup and attend the volleyball games planed. If there is no meetup that I'm looking for I would then create one. It’s an amazing tool that helps to connect us with people who share the same interests. I joined five different, first time mom, meetups. I felt happy to meet women that were going through the same thing I was going through. This is a great site to join for these reasons alone; however there is another reason (a monetary one) to create a meetup.

Me and my husband started a soccer meetup group. Why? Well not long ago my husband joint a soccer league and paid $150 dollars to play 8 games. After we discovered meetup we thought why pay if we can setup a meetup and have him play on his time for free. But further more we discovered that we can charge for the meetups. For example we charge $4 dollars per person for each meetup. Let's say we have about 20 people per meetup, two meetups a week. That's more than $600 a month. But the best part is; you make a small income doing what you love.

However you should realize that it’s not as easy as it sounds. You have to set up ways to collect the money, make sure your meetup gets a lot of people, keep the communication going and answer all e-mails from members. It takes time and energy.
If you never make a meetup you can always meet great people by joining meetups based on your interests.

Remember meetup.com does not pay me, I do this to help. I hope I offered some good information and wish you the best of luck in your money making ventures.

MAKING MONEY WITH FOCUS GROUPS

Ok. So I started a website called MoneyMakingHousewife.com. This website is a work in progress and I hope to build it with the help of all of you. I’m learning and gathering information as I go.

The first section of the website will be called Focus Groups.

FOCUS GROUPS:
A friend of mine first told me about focus groups about 8 months ago. Since then I’ve made $2,175 with only 18hr of work.

How It Works:
A focus group is a targeted group of consumers who are brought together for an in-depth discussion on a certain topic. Businesses and organizations rely on focus groups to obtain feedback on their products and services.

The Good:
They pay a lot!!!! The biggest amount I’ve made in a focus group was $300, for two hours of work. The least I’ve made was $50 for two hours of my time. Sometimes the focus group is on toys and your small children are asked to come and play with the toys. They will pay for your child’s time or give them the toys they played with.

The Bad:
Here is the trick part; you have to qualify. After receiving an e-mail or a phone call, you must answer a few screener questions. These questions are made to find the right people for the right focus groups. I can’t tell you how many times I did not answer the questions how they wanted, and did not qualify for the focus group. This can get very frustrating, because you think of the money you could have earned if you answered the questions another way. The best advice I can give you is to enter as many focus group databases as you can.

More Information:

For a list of data bases for focus groups visit www.moneymakinghousewife.com.

I tried to come up with as many as I could. However, it is always a good idea to do a local for companies in your state and county. Of course any information you may have, to improve the flow of information for everyone, is most welcome.

A Letter To My Dear Husband

This is not a letter to thank you for the vast amount of things you do for me and our daughter day after day.

It is not a letter to show my appreciation for your kindness, generosity, and loving heart. This note will not express my gratitude for you supporting this family and always thinking of us first.

This letter is a thank you for all the little things I have never showed appreciation for; mostly because I always assumed you knew how much they mean to me.

Thank you, for kissing my head every morning before you leave for work; even when you think I am asleep.

Thank you, for letting me devour the last bit of the delicious cake we are sharing; everyone knows that’s the best part.

Thank you, for completely ignoring when I am being a stubborn mule, and letting me see it for myself just so I can later say it never happened that way.

Thank you for sleeping in a freezing room, just because I hate the heat.

Thank you for getting mad at me when I am being reckless and destructive to myself.

Thank you for looking at our daughter with so much love in your eyes that it brings tears to mine.

Thank you for forgiving me for all my faults and trusting that I can and will be better.

Lastly, thank you for the inspiration I have found in your simile every single day for the last 10 years. No amount of thank you’s will ever be enough to show my gratitude for everything that you are to me.

I Am Selfish

After posting this blog I received an overwhelming amount of feedback from mothers all over the country. Some empathized with me and gave me great advice.

However, let me first address the angry messages I received from mothers that seemed to think me ungrateful and selfish.

I am selfish, but I am not ungrateful. I wake up every day and I thank god for my wonderful husband and beautiful little girl. It is not them I’m not happy with; it is me that needs work.

Selfish is thrown on women anytime they start to think about themselves. When did getting married and having a child become an automatic forfeit of a woman’s hopes and dreams? Not her hopes for her family, but her own, deep, dreams.

Yet, I am not angry. I still thank you all for taking the time to read my thoughts and giving your feedback.

Steps

I began to think of ways to give birth to the new me. Not the person I was before, that person is gone and I have to except that. I need to create a new identity; an identity that includes some parts of the old me, but also includes my husband and my little girl. So where to begin?

Step One:
I need to lose the 50lbs I gained during pregnancy. Not just for the confidence I desperately need, but also for the energy I need to accomplish all off the goals I have set for myself.

Step Two:
Find a way to earn an income from home. This has little to do with needing extra income and everything to do with feeling a sense of independence.

Step Three:
Establish a new, positive, group of friends. Although I love and cherish the friends I have, I need to find people I can truly relate to. I need to be around individuals who feel what I feel every day.

Step Three:
Discover a deeper sense of self. I have no idea what that means. But I know I have to try to get close to who I truly am.

The Beginning

I am lost…

For years I thought I knew who I was, or at least where my life was headed. Besides working and going to school I was a friend, a lover, and a socialite.
After having my baby girl, even though my life was now filled with another little person, I felt a sense of emptiness. I finished college, quit my job and decided to stay home with my baby. Quickly I realized that being home everyday completely severed me from the world. I became sad and lonely. Had all this time in my hands, but was not able to use it on me. My entire circle of friends did not have kids, so the relationships we once thought to be of so much importance, slowly and painfully vanished. I forgot the sound of my cell phone’s ringtone.

In some ways my mind is disconnected from itself and my body; it doesn’t recognize the person looking in the mirror. I refused to accept the reality that I was now a different person.

Parallel to this, my soul is fighting this war of feelings. I am overjoyed by all the blessings in my life. I have a wonderful husband and a beautiful little girl. Yet, there is an overwhelming anger in my soul. I feel as though my self-worth has been taken from me (or lost) among those sleepless nights, among those diaper changes, among those daily breast feedings, among those endless questions. My husband keeps telling me I’m worth more than gold; I don’t feel it. I want to feel self-worth again; I need to regain my sense of independence.