WAHM Forums

I was babysitting for these two families - but now one has just given me notice that they are switching to on-base care because they will be moving there to save money. Which, in a way, is a hidden blessing because the baby has colic so bad no one knows how I have dealt with it this long. I was hoping to stick it out until January - when she should be grown out of it, but they are actually leaving me this Thursday!!! Had I known they were going to leave me so soon, I wouldn't have had to purchase a larger vehicle to take my daughter to school in the morning. ALSO, their leaving me right before Christmas - and that will make for four very sad kid's come Christmas day since I am now out $1200 a month. :(

I have been trying for some time now to find legitimate work from home - but I am just out of time and energy. There are so many scams out there. So, here is my resume, if anyone can point me to someone that is directly hiring someone like me, no selling, no parties, no calling or telephone work - I can type, I'm a great crafter, I can build, paint, clean...let me know:

Profile
To obtain legitimate work at home employment to help defray the costs of being a stay-at-home mom.

Experience
Ms.Caryn Care Springfield, Virginia 2004 - present
Responsible for comfortable, safe, stimulating, non-threatening environment for several preschool children including my own while parents are tending to other obligations. Combine basic care with teaching responsibilities to give them a well balanced daily program. Help to enhance each child’s development through consistent care. Provide children with activities which promote physical, emotional, intellectual and social growth while interacting with other children. Aid children in exploring interests, developing talents, building self-esteem and learning how to share and properly interact with others. Other activities including; reading, storytelling, playing coordination and counting games. Support social and emotional development of the children. Attend to the personal hygiene of each child; changing diapers or soiled clothing and washing hands, trimming nails, checking ears. Maintaining a clean and organized area for play, meals, and supplies. Preparing nutritional snacks and meals. Encouraging physical activities. Communicate with parents suggestions, concerns, and praise regarding their child. Provide photographic documentation of some of their fun activities.

C & C Sportshots (a.k.a. C & C Photography) Springfield, Virginia 2004 - present
A family owned and operated photography business serving Northern Virginia. We worked mainly with local youth sports leagues. Presently trying to pursue the arts and crafts side with framed pictures and cards. Co-owner. Create advertising to acquire more jobs. Keep work station clean and organized during events. Create digital files on computer during events. Crop and edit digital files and put on website in a timely manner. Upload as per customer orders. Constant customer service. Build and maintain client relationships. Maintain paperwork, permits and monthly statements. Print, cut, and frame photo’s for customer orders. Keep the creativity flowing for new product ideas.

Macy’s Springfield, Virginia 1998 - 2004
Visual Merchandiser. Responsible for hanging in-department signing and logo’s in all area’s of store. Strong involvement and focus in home merchandise. Maintained monthly mannequin changes. Maintained quarterly bed changes. Assisted managers and senior managers with floor moves, sales set-ups, and merchandising. Assisted merchandising teams with setting up of new goods and proper set ups of signing and displays. Trained to order supplies and display products. Assisted in preparing floor plans for new shops, floor moves, and holiday set ups. Worked with visual teams in Baltimore/Washington area in order to execute seasonal set ups for regional visits. Creatively worked with visual manager to maintain store standards. Assisted in bi-annual inventory counts. Attended “Opportunity 2002” for associates with recognized potential. Received “exceeds expectations” on past three years reviews. Assisted customers through answering questions and getting them the help they required.

Nautica Factory Store Woodbridge, Virginia 1997 - 1998
7/97 - 5/98 Boys Department Assistant Manager and 5/98 - 8/98, Second Assistant Store Manager. Managed staff of thirty - forty people. Trained and motivated staff, developed staff to be knowledgeable in product, merchandising, operations, customer service, and security awareness. Merchandised the assortment. Dressed bust forms and prepared wall and shelf displays. Analyzed and reacted to the needs of the business. Maintained organized stockroom. Prepared merchandise for transfers and customer shipments. Assisted customers and performed exchanges, returns, employee sales, customer sales, opening and closing procedures. Tracked sales and Boys’ inventory daily. Assisted in bi-annual inventory counts.

Education
West Springfield High School Springfield, Virginia — 1993
Marymount University Arlington, Virginia — B.A. in Fashion Merchandising, 1997

I posted this under a different thread I meant to post this for you... Ipsos hires in Ohio and Kentucky. I don't know if they are still hiring but it's worth a try!

Opportunities @ Ipsos in North America (http://www.ipsosna.com/careers/opportunity/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewjob&id=3309)

Sorry, I am not in Ohio or Kentucky. And this is a calling job.

Yeah like I said I meant to post this under someone elses thread but instead of editing I just left it here :)

Have you thought of advertising to clean homes in your area? I did that many many years ago. I had one client that was great. They paid well and really the cleaning was easy since they were very clean people. I would clean and then sit and visit with the woman for an hour or so. Very sweet lady.

Hi, this is a very supportive and resourceful place. I'm sure members will help with leads. If you are interested in writing, I also recommend the Writing Moms folder. There are many ways to make money by writing online with sites such as constant content, ehow etc. I also list many on my site, along with Transcriptionist jobs, Tutor, Translator, Artist and Photographer and more categories. I know you are in the right place. Here's to wishing you success with your search and I'm sorry that you were let go right before the Holidays,

Annie

I work for a company doing inbound sales from home on my computer. I've been working here for a little more than a year and love it. They are very supportive and will help get you setup and trained in very little time. The pay is very good and the staff and reps are very supportive and friendly. You can find more info at Absolutess.com - Work at Home Careers (http://www.absolutess.com) They have been around for more than five years, are expanding rapidly and there are a lot of opportunities for advancement. You sound like you really need to find something soon, you should definitely look into them!

Hi Aug's mom,

Owie! I'm sorry to hear that happened to you. That's tough at anytime but especially this time of year.

And I'm guessing that $1,200 is a significant portion of your budget.

If that's so then I suggest you try to get traditional (non-work at home) jobs to boost your income immediately while continuing to look for work at home jobs. Even if they're just "spare" jobs, that is one off jobs, like running errands, housekeeping, painting houses, etc. They have a tendency to pay more and more regularly than work at home jobs. Many people make the mistake of losing their income from traditional jobs and thinking they can make it up immediately by getting work from home. But getting work from home takes a while. Meanwhile the bills come in and they find themselves in a pickle - without enough money to pay them, then they start getting behind and things go from bad to worse.

isis_thisis has a good idea. Cleaning homes can be a good-paying job. If it isn't the light of your life *giggles* just think of it as a short-term means to an end. Also there's a big silver lining here: this is a terrific time of year to do 'One-off' cleaning. In other words, you don't have to try to find people who want you on a regular basis. Chances are you'll be competing with people who already do that. You can do something like "Give yourself a holiday gift! I'll make your house sparkling bright top to bottom for the holidays!" Painting for the holidays is a great idea, too. Right now is perfect timing. And that too is fairly lucrative.

Another thought that comes to mind is decorating for the holidays. Some folks don't have the time and many baby boomers are getting to the point where it's difficult to decorate the way they used to.

Since these are odd jobs, you can still be looking for routine employment to replace the lost income from the babysitting jobs.

Just don't let your bills fall behind. Take whatever you can get right now. The road to being successfully employed at home sometimes entails leaving it for work. *s*

Also might I suggest a tweak or two to your resume?

Change the Profile to be about the employer, not about you. Maybe change the heading altogether to 'Objective' but either way say something like "To solve your problems so that you can do what you do best," or "To be your behind the scenes Jill of all trades." Also if you're using this one to get work at home jobs, I'd get a resume specialist to take your experiences from here and present the skill sets from these jobs as they reflect in a telecommuting situation.

And above all hang in there! If I were to offer one word for successfully getting work at home jobs that word would be 'Persistence.'

Hope this helps. *looks up at amount written* Good gracious, hope it's not too much!

No offense, but it seems to me that you are eliminating most of the work at home jobs out there. It usually takes a while to get yourself established in the work at home world to where you can get those non phone, non sales jobs.

If you honestly need the money, you might want to consider doing some phone work. I know it is not your dream job, but it is money and it pays the bills. If I just lost that much income that was absolutely needed, I would not be so picky about things at least not until a better option came along.

Like I said, I'm not trying to be offensive, I am just stating that if you need to replace your lost income quickly, phone/sales work may be your best and quickest option. It took me 4 years of working from home, doing mostly phone work to find a job that is more geared towards what I was looking for. I think a lot of people think "Oh it will be so easy to work from home doing "blah blah blah" . The cold, hard truth of it is, the work at home world is far more competitive than the outside work world. You have to compete with everyone everywhere, not just the people in the local area.

I wish you the best of luck, and hope you find what you are looking for and need.

Don't give up. There are lots of positions posted in this section of the forum and new ones posted every day. Just keep looking and applying for as many things as you can. I know it can get frustrating, but hope you find something very very soon.

I'm sorry you're in a tough spot, but my best advice is to find something seasonal out of the home until you can make something happen. I have been trying for work from home jobs and finally bit the bullet and got a seasonal call center job at nights. It's not ideal, but it's temporary and will get me through the Christmas madness. Until you're well established with working from home, you may have to compromise and take call or sales work in the mean time. I just keep telling myself it's temporary and that's what's getting me through it.

Good luck.

I hope that you are able to find something, I am am my wits end too..our phone service is being shutoff and we have decided that it just would not pay for me to work out of the home with a baby, by the time I pay a sitter and gas i would be working for nothing. Dont lose hope though while 1200 is going to be hard to replace I have found alot of good leads on this website and everyone has been so very helpful. Even have some stuff in my inbox I need to look into when I have the time to actually sit down and do so. I hope you find something and keep your head up

I think I forgot to mention that any additional work that I do find, I must be able to do with an 18 month old, a two and a half year old, and a five year old in tow.

I think everyone has given great advice so far. If you are looking for non phone work it can take years to get on with a legitimate company. Do you like to write? Maybe you can try freelance writing or transcription work. I used to do phone work at night when the kids went to sleep for an extra source of income and if you truly need the money that might be the way to go.

Also remember that your children are young and "presents" are great, but christmas should be more about the family being healthy and together. The children do not need $1200 worth of presents to see that their parents love them. I am sorry if this harsh, but it is my opinion and we can't keep trying to help you if you continue to turn down every idea that we have.

ETA: Have you thought about posting an ad to replace the child that are will no longer be taking care of. You might want to try posting an add at your grocery store or local craigslist for your daycare.

I think I forgot to mention that any additional work that I do find, I must be able to do with an 18 month old, a two and a half year old, and a five year old in tow.

Aug's mom, is there anyone around you can trade babysitting with - it can be babysitting for babysitting or babysitting for some other service or even a product you can trade for like cleaning house cleaning, or painting or some other chores or cooking them a whole dinner that all they have to do is heat it up and eat it or ...?

This is a time that especially calls for creativity -- you know, necessity is the mother of invention? :)

It's great that you have your "feelers" out looking for something that will work for you and your family. I hope that you find the perfect fit and you have come to a great place! I know there is a lot to take in here, so take your time!