How can we add to our income?

amother

Seafoam

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 4:55 pm

My husband and I are married for 3+ years, and are expecting our second child. I am a programmer, making a very nice salary, B"H, for someone my age, though we are not wealthy by any means. We live in Brooklyn, and since my husband's parents live here and are elderly, we are not in all likelihood going to be moving anywhere anytime soon.

So rent costs a very large chunk of my salary, and after babysitting and food, there isn't terribly much left. My husband was doing some admin work for the yeshiva he learns in this year, and some extracurricular stuff for another yeshiva, bringing in about 800 a month, which covers putting a little into savings, paying off what my salary can't, and having a cleaning lady 4 hours a week - needed, because after I get home from work, and since I am expecting, I can't clean much.

We are very quickly outgrowing our apartment. We can maybe manage another year or two if we put stuff into storage, but this isn't going to last.

My husband is going to look for a job that makes a little more next year, but we are really, bli ayin hara, fairly talented as a couple. Anyone have ideas of what we can do to bring in some more income?

My husband has admin experience, took a course on it, is a very good people manager, can convince anyone to do pretty much anything, never loses an argument (I know from lots of experience... and so do lots of customer service people), is creative, and not scared to work.

I am a programmer, but I can't create things without a team, so I can't make apps/websites myself. I am a published writer but am terrible at coming up with ideas so I have published two books, which don't make much money, but can't write short stories on any constant sort of basis. I have done some editing and writing for websites but can't get much work like that. I know computers pretty well and can explain things well and concisely. Unfortunately, my hours are long, so I couldn't teach a course in the afternoons - and I have a child and another to think about, so going to teach in college at night (except Sunday), if I could get a job like that, would mean never seeing my family.

We are both very good at organization. I run our budget meticulously, pay the bills weekly and make sure everything is as it should. Our credit is B"H excellent, but since houses in Brooklyn that fit a growing family start at about $800,000, we couldn't get approved for any mortgage here (not that we could afford one). We play the credit card game to an extent - nothing crazy, but have made a few thousand off of it over the years. You have to be very organized to do that right.

So - any ideas of a small business we could start, or anything we could do on the side that won't require us to have live in help? I know some families have both parents always out, teaching, lecturing, working 24/6. I still want to see my kids!

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:00 pm

no ideas - but what is the credit card game that you've made a few thousand from?

amother

Seafoam

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:05 pm

Citi double cash - you get 2 cents fro every dollar you spend. We have had it for a few years and when our extended family goes on vacation, when family with bad credit needs to pay college, etc, people have put money on our card. We made probably about a thousand on that card in about two years.

We also have chase freedom with 5% back categories, amex with 3% back on groceries, amazon store card with 5% on everything amazon, chase reserve with two cards - the only ones we spent money on, haven't cashed out yet, but already made more than we spent because it gives you 300 per calendar year (got in November) on travel and the card costs $450 - and we will close it before we have to pay again.

All these are cash back, and with chase you can sometimes get extra points per dollar if you know a good credit card for cash guy and have a paid card.

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:09 pm

amother wrote:

thanks for that explanation! that is a lot to keep track of. Its good that you trust your family to pay you back!

amother

Seafoam

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:15 pm

amother wrote:

thanks for that explanation! that is a lot to keep track of. Its good that you trust your family to pay you back!

That's why I pay my bills every week. If I miss something, I'll get it the next week, without having to worry about fees. I only lend credit when I know the money is there already, not possibly coming. When you think about it, a minimum of 2 cents per dollar is way more than you get from a bank account these days...

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:29 pm

amother wrote:

its a nice little 'low risk' business you have there - 2% return on someone else's money.

amother

Seafoam

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:32 pm

amother wrote:

its a nice little 'low risk' business you have there - 2% return on someone else's money.

It's not something we do often. It's mostly our own money we are getting a return on. And we used it to replace our broken tablets/phones/computer and to buy a camera, and hopefully one day to buy an artscroll shas and set of mishnayos when we have somewhere to put them.

amother

Scarlet

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 5:50 pm

amother wrote:

its a nice little 'low risk' business you have there - 2% return on someone else's money.

Not OP but, weird comment. You think there's something wrong with letting a family member use your credit card?

amother

Seafoam

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 6:04 pm

amother wrote:

Not OP but, weird comment. You think there's something wrong with letting a family member use your credit card?

I thought that comment sounded a bit off, too. If you had a family member who had money but needed credit, and you would be helping them, and yourself - you think there is something wrong with that?

amother

Scarlet

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 6:08 pm

amother wrote:

I thought that comment sounded a bit off, too. If you had a family member who had money but needed credit, and you would be helping them, and yourself - you think there is something wrong with that?

Also not low risk either. No guarantees they'll pay it back

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 7:13 pm

amother wrote:

Also not low risk either. No guarantees they'll pay it back

she said she only did it when she basically had the cash in hand, hence basically no risk.

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 7:15 pm

amother wrote:

I thought that comment sounded a bit off, too. If you had a family member who had money but needed credit, and you would be helping them, and yourself - you think there is something wrong with that?

please tell me what is wrong here. Are you suggesting its fraudulent? I'll admit - I'm not sure that it is, but I'm not sure that its not.

amother

Blush

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 7:54 pm

amother wrote:

Sounds interesting. I'm wondering what type of bills you pay where you actually have cash in hand so it's zero risk? I can't think of any real scenario.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 7:57 pm

amother wrote:

I thought that comment sounded a bit off, too. If you had a family member who had money but needed credit, and you would be helping them, and yourself - you think there is something wrong with that?

If a family member has money, why would they need to use my credit? What am I missing here?

amother

Blonde

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:01 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

If a family member has money, why would they need to use my credit? What am I missing here?

sounds like there are times when a payment is required to be made via credit card. Or perhaps it isn't, but the relative (via the OP) makes the payment via credit card so she can earn the cashback reward.

Its possible to both have money, and a messed up credit history.

tigerwife

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:03 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

If a family member has money, why would they need to use my credit? What am I missing here?

They are doing a favor to the card-owner, not the other way around.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:26 pm

amother wrote:

And debit cards suddenly don't work?

I didn't always have great credit, but I always had a debit card, if I wanted to buy something online I'd use that. If I couldn't afford to pay with my debit, it was certainly a clear sign I couldn't afford the item.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:27 pm

tigerwife wrote:

They are doing a favor to the card-owner, not the other way around.

So is the card owner splitting the vig they make?

tigerwife

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:35 pm

MagentaYenta wrote:

So is the card owner splitting the vig they make?

Perhaps they do, although likely they do not. IME most people are not on top of their credit card benefits and rewards programs and/or don't have the time to chase every special that comes up, so they have no problem helping out someone who is on top of it, I.e., by allowing the cardholder to make an expensive purchase for them thereby earning credit.

ETA: technically they are losing nothing, only missing out on gaining which they would probably miss out on anyway due to lack of interest.

MagentaYenta

Sun, Jun 11 2017, 8:40 pm

tigerwife wrote:

Thanks for explaining it. I couldn't figure it out at all. I learn something new every day from Ima.