Money money money....

Anyone who knows me very well knows I'm always trying to earn extra money. I am a stay at home mom. Chris and I have four great kids and I enjoy every day I get to be home with them. We have made many sacrifices to enable me to be home with them. When money gets tight I always start to feel guilty for not having a job. Chris has been wonderful in helping me get over that guilt by letting me know how much he enjoys me being able to stay home. So instead of sitting around feeling guilty all the time I am constantly trying to earn extra money.

One way I've found is my ebay store. I sell Christian books and make a little extra money. It is more a ministry than a profitable expedition, because I try to sell the books as cheaply as possible to help others afford these great books.

I hit the yard sales looking for good deals on misc. things to resell on ebay. One time I found some Evil Knievel toys at a yard sale for $3 and resold them for $84!!! Another time I found some white curtain panels for .50 cents and resold them for $40. Things like that are awesome but it doesn't happen as often as I'd like and with the slower economy I've noticed things take longer to sell.

Since November I've been selling Hickory Nuts. I stumbled across this when we were involved in harvesting Black Walnuts. That was such a chore!!! I discovered my in-laws have an abundance of Hickory Nuts that were never harvested. So I checked to see if things like that were selling on ebay. A tip I would give everyone wanting to sell on ebay is to check EVERYTHING! You never know what is selling unless you check. Anyway back to the Hickory Nuts. My kids and I have been picking up the nuts for the last few months and selling them on ebay. A 10 pound box sells for $16.95 and it costs $11 to ship it. So every ten pounds we sell we make $5.95. It doesn't seem like a lot but it's more than we'd make not doing it, and it's good for us to get out right! Oh and Grandpa Jim enjoys harvesting Hickory Nuts too so thanks to him for helping us out :) I also shell the nuts and sell the meats. This is probably the more profitable way to go when I have the time to shell them. I sell them by the pound and they usually go for $15 - $25. Hickory Nuts helped us have more Christmas money this year!

My blog has become another possible source of the ever sought after extra dollar. I've had the google ad's on here for over 2 years and generated a whopping $17.56! Yee Haw! They don't even send you a check until you reach $100... LOL. So all you loving relatives who occasionally read my blog, click on a link before you leave and send me a penny :p I don't believe my blog will ever become a profitable thing but I do enjoy it. I am a big journal freak, I have a journal for every member of my immediate family and myself plus this blog. I enjoy going back and reading old posts. Some of them I want to slap myself for posting... Why did I write some of that stuff?

Anyway back to the money money money. I believe I've inherited this ambition to earn extra money from my Dad. He has always been coming up with ideas to make extra money. So if you have any idea's for me I'll try it!

My Aunt Sonya gave me the best advice of all. She says the best way she's seen to earn extra money is to save money. She is the most frugal person I know. She always knows what's on sale and where to get a good deal. She's also one of the most encouraging people I know. So on that positive note I end this money rant.