Being a SAHM vs. bringing home a slice of bacon

This was written 6 months ago... don't know why I never posted it.

As much as I love being a SAHM, and am grateful to my husband for enabling me to stay home – sometimes I wish we had a little more income than he provides. Don’t get me wrong – he is a great provider; we have all our needs met: food, shelter, clothing, health care and even many extras. But what about all my wants? I want to take my kids on vacation. I want to buy them a swing set, new bikes, and cute stuff for their room. More selfishly, I want to try out the latest jeans trend, splurge on a mani-pedi now and then, go out to lunch often with my girlfriends (and kids), or even purchase new furniture once in a while. Not to mention the new make up products, cooking tools, and books I need (want).

So I needed to find a way to make some cash to pay for wants, without sacrificing time with my kids. Many options came to mind, but unfortunately I am not pretty enough to be a model, talented enough to start my own crafting boutique, or strong enough to work at night and live on 2 hours of sleep a day. So I thought harder and finally came up with a few choices – some more practical than others. I could write a best-selling book while the kids are sleeping (please recommend this to all your friends!), I could become an awesome graphic designer/crafter while the kids are sleeping and sell my work online, I could slowly empty the contents of our house and sell them on e-bay while the kids are sleeping, or I could actually use my talents and college degree and do some tutoring while the kids are sleeping. Do you see a trend here? Luckily my kids still take good naps and go to bed early, and eventually they will be in school and my free time will be a little more flexible. And so I printed 250 business cards and headed to my local high school to hand them out to the chemistry teachers. Then I sat home and waited. I got a call that self-same day, but only tutored this girl once – guess she wasn’t impressed. Then I waited some more. About 3 months. I had pretty much given up and was looking for the next money-maker, but I finally got a call 2 weeks before the end of the school year from a girl who was worried about passing chemistry and graduating. Luckily this worked out well; she was able to come to my house every day while my boys napped. She graduated and I made $180. Enough to pay for the dental work I needed. (How do you classify those items that don’t make it into your monthly budget, but are obviously not wants?) So much for the new shoes I wanted for myself and the boys.