Miscellaneous Thoughts on Earning More Money

I’ve been working a little less than usual recently and my cheques have been a bit smaller. This pay period I was finally closer to my average hours and I was looking forward to a few bucks more, so that I could try to catch up on a few bills.

Imagine my feelings then, when I got an email telling me that I had actually been slightly overpaid a couple of times recently and that this cheque will have 6.5 hours deducted.

Sometimes I feel like I can’t get ahead. I’m frustrated and I think I need to come up with ways to increase my income. I could increase my hours. There’s certainly enough work to do that I can justify adding hours but the only time I can really add is a few hours on the Fridays and Sundays that we don’t go to our other house and maybe an hour on Thursdays. (Of course, I can only work until 3 pm on Fridays during the summer when sundown comes later. The rest of the year 1 or 2 pm is the latest.)

But I have to admit I’m not dying to go to the office for 3 hours every other Sunday! It’s literally the only day we have to really get things done around the house and I’m not 20 years old any more. I’m tired a lot of the time. I work 20 to 25 hours per week, I look after the little girls 3 days per week, we keep Shabbos (which is technically a day of rest but involves a lot of walking), I’m doing renovation projects at both houses and most nights I’m up past midnight, writing.

But if I have to do it, I have to do it.

Then I start thinking about other ways to earn more money. Getting a raise is out. It’s basically a COLA, we get it automatically every January and that’s all there is. I’m not going to get a formal 2nd job. When would I be able to commit to working? Every other Sunday? But I was already going to work at my current job then and I’m willing to bet I make more money doing that than I’d make at a second job. I mean, really, what am I going to get? Retail at $8.50/hour is not worth it!

I have done the occasional special project in the past and gotten paid better (in the $17 to $25/hour range). These projects have been computer-based, meaning that I’m not tied to any particular location so long as I have my laptop. I can even work at the other house or late at night and it doesn’t matter. This has more potential. But I was approached to do those projects. It’s a bit of a stretch for me to go prospecting for more—a big step out of my comfort zone. It might be worth it though.

And the blog. What about the blog? Well, there are a couple of ways to make money off a blog. You can put ads on the site and you can write sponsored posts. If you use Adsense some of the ads may be inappropriate and a site cluttered up with a lot of ads is irritating to me. I’m worried that writing sponsored posts is like selling out, but I know people do it because it really does pay them to do so. Is it okay if you only write sponsored posts that don’t offend your own sensibilities? I can’t stand gushy posts about products the author doesn’t really care about. But if what you write is honest, is it okay?