SAHM Mom needs ideas to make money.....

[talulabelle]

I did the training and took the test for ChaCha. I can't wait to hear from them. I think I did well....but I definately need to get more familiar with searching quickly and with their search tools. Have my fingers crossed.

 

[mindyd]

I did the training and took the test for ChaCha. I can't wait to hear from them. I think I did well....but I definately need to get more familiar with searching quickly and with their search tools. Have my fingers crossed.

Good Luck! Once you start doing it your speed will get much faster.

 

[lukenick1]

I did the training and took the test for ChaCha. I can't wait to hear from them. I think I did well....but I definately need to get more familiar with searching quickly and with their search tools. Have my fingers crossed.

Good luck to you......do you have any tips for me??? I've been trying to read all of the handbook info but its so much to take in. Don't know if I should just jump in and take the test or keep reading......

 

[mindyd]

Good luck to you......do you have any tips for me??? I've been trying to read all of the handbook info but its so much to take in. Don't know if I should just jump in and take the test or keep reading......

Definitely keep reading the more prepared the better!

 

[lukenick1]

Definitely keep reading the more prepared the better!

is wikepedia.org an acceptable source to get answers from??

 

[mindyd]

is wikepedia.org an acceptable source to get answers from??

I do not answer the questions but I found this posted 'Wikipedia is ok, but I would try and use that as a last resort. Wiki.answers is not allowed though'

 

[lukenick1]

I do not answer the questions but I found this posted 'Wikipedia is ok, but I would try and use that as a last resort. Wiki.answers is not allowed though'

OK....what about copy and paste answers????

 

[mindyd]

OK....what about copy and paste answers????

I got this from the forum for you. Yes, just need to sometimes edit the wording, cut it down a bit sometimes to fit, and/or grammar when doing so. I read the forums every day you will find tons of great information on there.

 

[lukenick1]

Thanks all for the wonderful advice and suggestions. I am currently waiting the test results for becoming a ChaCha guide. Please keep your fingers crossed for me. I'll let you all know when I find out.
Thanks

 

[OhioDisDreamer]

What about Focus Groups in your area? I'm a SAHM, too, and started to do those lately. Make some quick cash for giving your opinion. I just got $100 today for 2 hours of giving my opinion

 

[TandLMommy28]

I did ChaCha for awhile but it got frustrating and I gave up (of course, I did it when there were no automated answers and you got 20 cents for every question and could make at least $10/hour, way back in the good old days).

I decided to try my hand at freelance writing (writing was my minor in college but I'd never pursued it as a career other than teaching English for al little while). I am now working for Demand Media and I make pretty decent money with them. The supply web content for eHow, GolfLinks, Trails, Travels, LiveSTRONG, Tyra Banks and more. You have to have a writing portfolio and a writing resume but to me, it's decent money. Of course, everyone's definition of good money is different but it's more than enough for my family for extras--I am fully paying for Disney out of the money I make with them and I do it all from home.

 

[TandLMommy28]

Oh! Also Corporate Research International is a legit mystery shopping company. My mom and sis do it a lot. My sister does it almost daily. She gets all kinds of free stuff and she gets paid on top of it. They send her to restaurants a lot so she gets free meals plus pay for her time for being there.

 

[samefay]

I write for AC - associated content. Most of my articles are Disney restaurant reviews. Very easy to get started with them.

 

[lukenick1]

Oh! Also Corporate Research International is a legit mystery shopping company. My mom and sis do it a lot. My sister does it almost daily. She gets all kinds of free stuff and she gets paid on top of it. They send her to restaurants a lot so she gets free meals plus pay for her time for being there.

I have heard of that....how do I find out about it in my area? Im in!!!!!

 

[DawnM]

What about working on cutting back on expenses? I know that when I started thinking of ways to MAKE money, I realized I could cut out about $300from our budget and work towards that instead.

I started more extreme couponing and using website that match coupons with grocery stores and drug stores. I look at couponing this way: An hour of work saves me over $60 typically....how many jobs will pay me $60/hour? Esp. working from home!

I make my own laundry soap now, HUGE savings.

I make most meals from scratch. I use this website for suggestions on cutting the food budget:

http://www.budget101.com/budget101-free-ebook/free-ebook-groceries-200-month-2547.html

We do NOT limit our budget to $200/month. I typically spend $500 for a family of 5 and that includes toiletries, cleaning supplies, and paper goods.

We rarely eat out and when we do, we only eat out from our designated budget.

We went down to a more 0 based budget. That means that every dollar is accounted for. We have allocated savings.....Disney fund, Christmas fund, grocery fund, eating out fund, etc......it also means our emergency fund is in place and we have an additional savings account that any extra goes towards.

I would much rather cut expenses and "make" $300/month that way. It works better for me.

I do score for Pearson some, but it is seasonal and it is hard to do with kids at home (we homeschool).

Dawn

 

[talulabelle]

Good luck to you......do you have any tips for me??? I've been trying to read all of the handbook info but its so much to take in. Don't know if I should just jump in and take the test or keep reading......

I don't know if this is good advice, but I just jumped in and took the test after watching the required videos. I just don't have the time to study something too much when my time is not being paid for. I did rewatch the video on preparing for the test and took a couple of notes. When I went to the site to take the test, at first I didn't understand why I wasn't getting questions, then I realized I hadn't changed my status from "unavailable" to "available" - so keep that in mind. It still took about 30 seconds for a question to pop up. Then on the first question, I just sort of dove in and figured it out as I was doing it. I just hit find answer and searched through that. A couple times I needed to switch over to google since I am just more familiar with it. Almost every time Yahoo answers and Wiki answers come up first on the search, so i had to be conscious to skip over those - other than that... I just dove in. I had to calm myself a couple times and remind myself I wasn't being timed and didn't need to rush like crazy, but it still only took me about 2 minutes a question or less.

I hope I didn't use any "blacklisted" sites - I remembered not to use Yahoo answers and I assumed Wiki was a bad thing as the content can be changed by anyone...but I didn't study what the blacklisted sites were and I forgot where they said they were listed. I still need to familarize myself alot with the site...but I figure if I pass the test, I will have time to do that while I'm waiting for questions to pop up. Urgg...I am wondering how long it will take to hear back.

 

[lukenick1]

I don't know if this is good advice, but I just jumped in and took the test after watching the required videos. I just don't have the time to study something too much when my time is not being paid for. I did rewatch the video on preparing for the test and took a couple of notes. When I went to the site to take the test, at first I didn't understand why I wasn't getting questions, then I realized I hadn't changed my status from "unavailable" to "available" - so keep that in mind. It still took about 30 seconds for a question to pop up. Then on the first question, I just sort of dove in and figured it out as I was doing it. I just hit find answer and searched through that. A couple times I needed to switch over to google since I am just more familiar with it. Almost every time Yahoo answers and Wiki answers come up first on the search, so i had to be conscious to skip over those - other than that... I just dove in. I had to calm myself a couple times and remind myself I wasn't being timed and didn't need to rush like crazy, but it still only took me about 2 minutes a question or less.
Heard it takes 2-4 days for results.
I hope I didn't use any "blacklisted" sites - I remembered not to use Yahoo answers and I assumed Wiki was a bad thing as the content can be changed by anyone...but I didn't study what the blacklisted sites were and I forgot where they said they were listed. I still need to familarize myself alot with the site...but I figure if I pass the test, I will have time to do that while I'm waiting for questions to pop up. Urgg...I am wondering how long it will take to hear back.

I took the same approach. Used bing for most of my answers....got a repeat question and forgot what source i got the answer form....woops! So they each got a different source. Oh well......i really hope I pass it was fun for me Good luck to you too. I also felt stressed to make a good impression by moving quickly.

 

[lukenick1]

What about working on cutting back on expenses? I know that when I started thinking of ways to MAKE money, I realized I could cut out about $300from our budget and work towards that instead.

I started more extreme couponing and using website that match coupons with grocery stores and drug stores. I look at couponing this way: An hour of work saves me over $60 typically....how many jobs will pay me $60/hour? Esp. working from home!

I make my own laundry soap now, HUGE savings.

I make most meals from scratch. I use this website for suggestions on cutting the food budget:

http://www.budget101.com/budget101-free-ebook/free-ebook-groceries-200-month-2547.html

We do NOT limit our budget to $200/month. I typically spend $500 for a family of 5 and that includes toiletries, cleaning supplies, and paper goods.

We rarely eat out and when we do, we only eat out from our designated budget.

We went down to a more 0 based budget. That means that every dollar is accounted for. We have allocated savings.....Disney fund, Christmas fund, grocery fund, eating out fund, etc......it also means our emergency fund is in place and we have an additional savings account that any extra goes towards.

I would much rather cut expenses and "make" $300/month that way. It works better for me.

I do score for Pearson some, but it is seasonal and it is hard to do with kids at home (we homeschool).

Dawn

Thanks Dawn....however I wasn't looking to cut costs just trying to keep busy while kids are in school. Now that you mention it though, we have cancelled all of our pay channels and my cleaning lady

 

[talulabelle]

I write for AC - associated content. Most of my articles are Disney restaurant reviews. Very easy to get started with them.

I have also been checking this out. So you paid per views of your articles? Is the trick to write about subjects that will be searched often? About how much to you make per month with them? How much time do you put into it?

Also, does your pen name show up as the writer of the article? I am a pretty private person ,and although I would be proud of an article I wrote, I wouldn't want it all popping up for anyone who googled my name.

 

[DVCBELLE]

I haven't done ChaCha in a while but my DH is losing his job so I thought I would try to start again. I have not done it in a year but thankfully my account is still active...but I can't seem to have found the most recent training guide...and the forum search isn't helping.

For those that have been around that long - has the criteria for answering changed drastically?