Making Money From Home

In yesterday's post I spoke of trying some of the "ways to make money from home". I have spent maybe an hour or two total signing up for some survey sites and taking surveys/filling out offers. In that short amount of time I have already made around $17. Not to bad! Some of it will be in points which I can purchase amazon, iTunes, etc. gift cards, but most will be sent to me in a check once I reach $20 on one site and $30 on another. I will post all of the sites I currently have favored in a later post. I will also let you know when I receive my first check! My goal with this is to make an extra $500-$800 a month. That is all I would be making at a part time job, so it would be well worth it! If any of you have trusted sites you use to make money at home please let me and everyone readig this post know what they are in a comment. I would love to try out more :).
As I have found, there are ways for us stay at home moms to earn a little extra cash before the kids wake up and during naps and play time. Although the laundry, dishes, cooking, shopping & much more still have to be done, we are at home so these surveys can be done easily while you wait on the clothes or dishes do dry :) if I can find a few hours a day so can you!!! Enjoy your survey taking :)

Here is an update to this post. I have found one survey site that I really like. Although I have not recieved a check yet (due to not being signed up long enough) I believe this is a really good site. If anyone is interested in signing up, it is completely free. Here is a link to the site :)

Back to work?

I have been pondering getting a part time job lately to help with finances, at least for a few months. I have been very torn about this decision. Being a mom and wife is something I feel is my "Job". From a young child I always wanted to get married and have children. I wanted to be a vet, but I also really wanted to be a mom and wife. This is something I love doing and I feel going back to work would lessen my ability to be the wife and mom I have been striving to be. Don't get me wrong, I am not bashing mothers who work. This is a personal battle. I have no problem with mothers who work, it is just not something I feel I would "love" as much as taking care of Brealyn and my husband. They come first to me, and when I have a job it is very hard for me to keep up with the "wifely" duties. The laundry is never done, and cooking, you can forget about that. We would eat microwavable junk and every once in a while a home cooked meal. After working all day I am just to drained to come home and clean, cook, make lunches, and fold clothes. I have recently started my own business which will allow my crafting talents to be put to good use. I have started a Facebook page and will soon have many items to offer. Having this business, I am hoping, will give us a little extra income without the "being gone all day" exhaustion of a "real job". I have also found a blog on pinterest that gives ways for stay at home moms to make money. I will put a link to her page at the bottom of this post and let you all know how some of her suggestions work. She is very informative though and I cannot wait to try some of her suggestions. If you have any suggestions please send them to me! I love hearing from others, and would love any input on ways to make money from home!!
Here is a link to her blog Making money from home

Children...

Over the holidays we found out that I am pregnant once again! My children will be 1 year and about 7 days apart. Although this was not planned we are very excited and hope for another healthy pregnancy. I will be delivering at home with a midwife, the same as with my first daughter. If anyone has questions on home birth please feel free to ask!

I just took Brealyn to the doctor for the first time because she has been pulling on her ears. They told me nothing is wrong with her, so I am quite confused on why she is tugging at them. I am hoping it is from teething an when her mouth stops hurting her ears will stop bothering her. I did get some pretty horrified looks though, because I have chosen not to vaccinate my children. I am curious to hear other thoughts on this matter. I have chosen this for my children because there have been small studies showing that vaccines can cause autism in children/babies. Also the side effects of most vaccines are worse than the illness they are supposed to be preventing. I would be absolutely heart broken if I found out vaccines had contributed in my children being autistic or some other type of problem they would have for the rest of their lives. I have been blessed with one very healthy and smart little girl (now 5 months) and I will do everything in my power to keep her that way.

I am planning on homeschooling my kids, so no worries with the vaccines an school :) if you have any questions or comments on this please feel free to comment. I would love to hear other views. Please keep it civil though. Thanks :)

Photography

Today I decided to finally take Brealyns Christmas pictures. I made the outfit and bow she is wearing. I will have to do a tutorial on how all of this was done soon! Everything was relatively easy except for the words "1st Christmas" that I have across her onsie. Let me tell you, cutting out letters that small to iron on is a pain in the butt! It sure was worth all of the work though :) 

I taped a white blanket up on my bar and then had it coming out as a backdrop/staging area. I then taped up Christmas lights to add some extra dimension. 

If you do not want your lights to look like, well Christmas lights then I highly suggest going over them with the "blur" tool in the editing site I mention below. It makes a world of difference. Also in order to not blur your entire picture there is a paintbrush in the corner (you must click blur before it shows up) you can then erase the effect and add it wherever you want. You can do this with most of the editing tools :)  

Here are just a few of the nearly 100 pictures I took...  Can you say camera happy? 

No, my pictures do not come out looking nearly this good, I wish. I use http://ipiccy.com/ to edit my pictures (If you try to edit them using this site and it doesn't work try downloading Google Chrome. That is the only way it worked for me). Play around with all of their editing tools, they are A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! The curve tool is how I get my images lighter even though my lighting was terrible. I also colored her eyes in some of the pictures. Her pretty blue eyes just don't always show up in pictures. 

I hope you enjoy!! Please leave my comments if you need any more information!

  

Saving Money

I love saving money in any way that I can, so I have started making my own baby wipes! I have also tried cloth diapers, but they are just not for me. I know there are many brave moms who use them and have great luck, but we just didn't. The baby wipes, on the other hand, are amazing! They are so much softer then regular wipes and they are much easier on Brealyns sensitive skin (her skin breaks out from everything including baby lotion).
Another money saver I am going to try is making laundry detergent. I have found a few posts on pinterest (follow me her http://pinterest.com/aesmith1992/)showing detergents that work well on cloth diapers and easy ways to make your own powder or liquid detergent. I can't wait to make these and test them out. Let me know if you have any great recipes for things that are easy to make and save lots of money! I am always on the look out for something new to try :)