How can we increase our income?

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How can we increase our income?
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Forum -> Household Management -> Finances

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amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 1:58 am

We're a couple in our 40s living in Israel and we have a large family ka"h. I work from home with my 2 youngest children with me. My husband is in kollel and has 2 very small businesses on the side which he runs at night. Until recently, we've been making ends meet by living very frugally. We don't own a car, have no household help, never go out to eat, use hand-me-downs, etc. We're BH happy to be supporting ourselves and not be dependent on others. Hashem has been good to us and we've even been able to put away a bit for the future.

One thing that's been helping us significantly is that we've been entitled to a non-income-related stipend from the government every month. I don't want to give too much detail, but just as handicapped people or terror victims get a monthly deposit from Bituach Leumi, we've also been getting a significant sum of money deposited into our account due to our unique circumstance. The amount of the deposit is approximately the same as my monthly paycheck.

Recently, Bituach Leumi has decided to stop giving us this money. There was little warning about this and we were not prepared for this. And suddenly we find ourselves very strapped for cash and have actually had to borrow money to get us to the end of the month. Of course, our expenses have not decreased and there are always things coming up. We desperately need to replace our broken fridge, and we need a significant safety-related home repair and we have no way we can even think about these things now. We can barely put food on the table and that has to come first. Our daughter also just got braces right before the stipend was stopped and we're left having to cover the cost of that without this income.

So, any creative ideas of how we can increase our income? I can take on another client or two, but it won't bring in enough to make up the difference. DH's businesses don't take up too much of his time at this point so he's open to looking into something else he can do bein hasdarim or in the evenings, but we don't really know where to start. His only degree is a Bachelor's of Talmudic Law and he has no particular training in anything, and we don't have time or money for him to study anything at this point.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 2:05 am

Could he stop kollel for awhile to do something during the day, at least until you are back to a better financial place?
If not, and he cant change the night time jobs and you cant change your day job too much, you will have to find things to cut back on.
Really there are only two viable options, have less to spend on or make more money. Can you work full time?

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 2:34 am

shabbatiscoming wrote:

He may be able to add to the nighttime jobs; we're just not sure how. Adding on another part-time job would be ideal. Even if he would take some time off from kollel during the day, we're not sure what he could do.

I can't work full time while taking care of my kids and I can't send them out either at this point.

amother

Navy

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:00 am

amother wrote:

Can DH take care of your kids while you work?

amother

Fuchsia

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:13 am

I'm so sorry you're in this difficult situation. Is there any way to fight BL's decision?

If your husband has his nights free, there are many American companies that hire for those hours, since that's the American' work day. Be on the look out for those sort of jobs.

Hatzlacha

someone

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:14 am

Could your husband give private lessons in limuedei kodesh? Help boys struggling with gemara, that kind of thing? People pay well for that. Maybe he could tutor in English as well?

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:18 am

amother wrote:

Can DH take care of your kids while you work?

It wouldn't pay for him to lose his kollel paycheck for the extra I would be making by working those hours. I also have a nursing newborn, so I would still have to take lots of breaks throughout the day.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:20 am

amother wrote:

Thank you. I will keep my eyes open. I think most of the American companies require more of a commitment than he would be able to make with his current 2 jobs, but I will see if anything comes up that can work.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:21 am

someone wrote:

Could your husband give private lessons in limuedei kodesh? Help boys struggling with gemara, that kind of thing? People pay well for that. Maybe he could tutor in English as well?

Thank you. This gives me some food for thought. Most of the elementary school kids who need help get it very cheaply through Yad Eliezer, but he may do well to advertise among high school kids. I will definitely suggest this to him.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 3:40 am

amother wrote:

Forgot to answer the bold. We appealed BL's decision, but it was rejected.

someone

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 4:30 am

amother wrote:

Wishing you lots of hatzlacha and siyata dishmaya in everything you do.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 7:49 am

someone wrote:

Wishing you lots of hatzlacha and siyata dishmaya in everything you do.

Amen. Thank you!

DVOM

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 8:06 am

Tell us more about your husband's businesses. Maybe there is a way for him to expand them.

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 10:12 am

DVOM wrote:

Tell us more about your husband's businesses. Maybe there is a way for him to expand them.

If I give too much detail, it will be easy to identify me, so I'm going to be a bit vague here. One of them is simcha related, meaning he has to physically be at the venue of the simcha so he's pretty limited to only local events. There are very few people here in his line of business so he gets almost all of the business in our city, but since the community is small, there just isn't that much. The other one is online so he can really service anyone, but that one is just starting out and people don't really know about him. He's reluctant to advertise that one just yet since while he's really great at what he does, he's still very slow at it and he's afraid he wouldn't be able to make deadlines. He is working on building up his speed and then hopefully he'll feel more comfortable getting his name out.

amother

Wine

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 10:17 am

Maybe its time for DH to leave kollel & get a full time job.

amother

Pink

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 10:39 am

Can you babysit other kids while you take care of yours.
Open a playgroup.
Do you bake?
Dd makes party themed dipped items, cookies, pretzels, etc. and sets up desser displays.
You need to have a talent for this, though.
The idea is to offer a service that ppl want or need
Is there a government funded course you can take, sometimes these courses pay a stipen and baby sitting for women to find a career, don’t know if this exist in Israel.
Last, but not least. Will a full time employment for yourself be worth financially to cover childcare and your expenses? I know it’s not ideal to not take care of your own children, but these are hard circumstances

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 11:36 am

Thanks for all the suggestions. I didn't want to bring this up since I didn't think it was relevant, but one of my children can't be around other children at this point due to a medical condition. Hopefully this will change in the future, but for now, taking care of other children or sending them out to daycare are not options.

amother

Brunette

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 11:50 am

Your husband needs a full time job. Either something with on the job training, or take anything and study in the evenings for something better. Accounting? ACCA? (Lots of frum men do it). EA? (Only 3 exams)

amother

Cobalt

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 11:53 am

We will consider a full-time job for my husband if we can't come up with any other way to increase our income. Though we've been living a kollel lifestyle for over 20 years, we've done it with our feet on the ground while making sure we could sustain ourselves independently. We would like to continue living this way and for now are looking for ways to make up that lost income without leaving kollel.

amother

Brunette

Wed, Oct 10 2018, 12:01 pm

The issue is that life only gets more expensive, and if braces are a problem, how much more so bar mitzvahs, chasunahs, etc. Do you have pensions?

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