Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

What is Matt up to these days?

by 8 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

Now that we’ve moved to Lincoln many people have asked, “What is Matt up to these days?” Let’s take some time to answer that question now…

What is Matt up to these days?

—-> The short answer is that he gets to be a work-from-home dad now, teamworking with me – a work-from-home-mom – take care of our seven little ones. <—-

But how is that working? Let me share God’s goodness in working out His plans during the past 29 years to make this happen for us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As I was praying over this post, these are the bullet items that came to mind to share first:

  1. Matt is visionary.
  2. Matt and I are both entrepreneurs.
  3. We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.
  4. We are savers, not spenders.
  5. During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.
  6. God knew what He would be calling us to in 2023 and He paved the way for this.

And now I’ll go into more detail. :)

Matt is visionary.

This guy gets an idea every five minutes. I can hardly keep up. Some ideas turn into nothing. Some turn into hours of research and then nothing. But some turn into hours of research and then become side hustles. Some turn into work/income that help to meet our family’s needs and the needs of others. Some turn into investments that provide a very good return.

This is the way God made Matt, and it’s fun to be a part of his creativity in finding ways that provide for our family. I love that he is always thinking outside the box and looking for opportunities to serve our family and others.

Matt and I are both entrepreneurs

While Matt is the one who is constantly thinking of ideas for possible streams of income, I also have always been an entrepreneur at heart. All of our married life, I have pursued some sort of money-making adventure while remaining a stay-at-home-mom. Early on, I sold Stampin’ Up! products for a few years, then I baked these incredible soft pretzels and sold them at the Farmer’s Market. Somewhere in there, I did in-home daycare for a short time – and all of these provided a little extra income for our family. This has always been fun for me and being self-employed with Matt also pursuing ventures works well because of the way we think. (It’s not for everyone, but it works for us!)

In 2007, I started this blog as a fun hobby and as a possible way to make some side income. After a few years it turned into a ministry, a beautiful community, a delightful hobby, and income for our family too. I have been doing this now for almost 16 years – can you believe it?

Aww, look at our first four babies back when HeavenlyHomemakers.com began:

We like to have “a variety of eggs in our basket” so that our financial needs are never dependent on just one source of income.

We have very much valued having different streams of income through the years so that if one slows down or goes away, we still have income from other sources. For instance, Matt had a snow removal service with our boys for several years – but of course business was pretty slow in the summer, ha. No worries, they mowed lawns in the summertime. That snow/mowing business didn’t pay all the bills for our family, but it definitely bought some groceries. Meanwhile, he and I had other streams of income coming from a variety of areas of work.

A few years ago, Matt became Certified in Radon Mitigation, installing safety systems in people’s homes. This was hard work but good money. In addition to everything else, through the years, Matt has worked in ministry, been a part time or full time soccer coach, offered handi-man services, and even tried his hand at a Shaved Ice Shack.

Matt’s visionary nature and our mutual entrepreneurial spirits meant that through the years, nothing paid all of the bills but everything added together provided enough.

We are savers, not spenders.

Throughout our married life, we have lived comfortably, but frugally. Neither of us are big spenders and we like to be careful about where our money goes. We’ve appreciated having a cushion in our bank account so that any time something comes up (car repairs, home repairs, kids’ needs, etc.) we have what we need to pay for it.

We’ve also been intentional about paying down debt as quickly as possible so that it doesn’t hang over our heads. When we were newlyweds and had two full time incomes, we lived on one and used the second to pay off student loans. I’m so thankful we did that!

And even though we are frugal by nature, we still find all kinds of ways to have fun as a family. :)

During the past 20 years, we have invested in real estate as God has provided opportunity.

This started back when our boys were little and we had a tiny bit of savings in our bank account. At that time, Matt was approached by someone with an offer to buy their Storage Units. He knew that it would be a great opportunity for mostly passive income through the years – specifically to use for our kids’ college education down the road. I was extremely hesitant! That little bit of extra savings in the bank felt very good and I liked looking at it like a security blanket. Besides, our boys were little and in my head, they were never going to grow up and go to college (bahaha, joke’s on me).

Matt’s visionary mind, detailed research, and financial savvy won me over and we bought the storage units. After a few years, we paid off their loan, making all of the rental fees 100% income for us (minus yearly property tax and insurance). Sure enough, we eventually used that income to help our boys with their college bills. And now? It continues to provide income to help pay some of our other bills.

Having such a good experience with this first real estate investment, a few years after buying the storage units, we used our next pocket of savings to buy a small house to use as a rental property. As the years went on, we continued to save and invest – eventually purchasing a total of four rental houses plus a duplex. We got incredible deals on these because the market was right for buyers looking to invest during those years. The rental income from these houses plus the storage units has been a lovely “egg in our basket” that we have very much appreciated.

God knew what He would be calling us to and He paved the way for this.

Now here we are, 29 years of marriage and 11 kids later.

As we have added children to our family during the past five years, our needs at home have become much, much greater. All of our adopted/foster children are fantastic, precious, and dear – and Matt and I find that we need to pour an incredible amount of energy into caring for them as we help them heal and grow into healthy and secure adults.

Last fall, a few things shifted for us and God made it clear that instead of pursing out-of-the-home work, we should make some simple financial changes so that Matt could work from home and be with our family full time. As it had been, almost all of his outside employment paycheck went toward paying for people to come help me care for our kids (it’s almost impossible to take care of this many littles without help). It makes more sense now that we would keep Matt home and work together. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. We teamwork life more fully now as we manage our properties, write this blog, and care for our children together to meet their needs in a greater way.

Then God did something we didn’t expect…

Looking ahead last winter, with Matt at home full time and knowing that Elias would soon graduate from college, and that Malachi would graduate from high school we found ourselves looking at an open door. We had thought we’d live in York forever. But God drew our hearts to Lincoln so that we could be closer to our older kids. We need them for this too.

So here we are. 

Right now we are both exactly where we need to be – at home caring for all of these little ones together. God is good and He set us up for this long before we knew we’d need it.

When we moved, we sold and profited on some of our York rental properties to help us pay for the gift of our Coppinger Castle. Thank you, God. Meanwhile, we’ve also kept some of them as an “egg in our basket” to provide income for our needs. In addition, our Castle has three empty suites on the third floor that we rent out. People have come and gone and our renters have all been amazing to live with! Here’s Matt finishing the third room as we prepared for another renter:

We are amazed when we think about how God opened those doors for us so many years ago so that we could move to Lincoln and do what He needs us to do now.

As we look at the past and head into the future, we see clearly that God is faithful and good to care for all His children. While there are always unknowns, we know that we don’t need to worry. He has proven Himself over and over in our lives, and we’ve loved looking back on the past 29 years to see how He’s prepared us for this new journey.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!

How to Find Legitimate Work From Home Opportunities

by 34 Comments

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our disclosure policy.

This post is written by Craig Ford, writer at Money Help for Christians.

As part of your 2011 New Years resolutions, many of you are looking for legitimate ways to increase your income by working at home. For some of you, an extra few hundred dollars a month will give your budget some much needed breathing room. Others of you might want to supplement several thousand dollars a month by working from home. The extra income might be needed to help you get out of credit card debt. Regardless, this post focuses on offering specific suggestions for mothers who have decided to earn some extra income in 2011. 

But this post is not just for ordinary mothers. It is for those who want to have their cake and eat it, too (without gaining any weight). Since kids come first, you need a job that will fit around your schedule, not a job that is going to compete with your family. The jobs I’ll suggest in this post will allow you to:

  1. Work from home. 
  2. Have a flexible schedule.

Red Flags When Looking For Extra Income

  • Avoid using Google as a starting place.  Yes, of course, you will eventually need to do some research online to get information about a work opportunity, but I highly recommend starting with personal contacts and people you already trust online. A lot of people get online and type “how to make money at home” or “make money online”. The problem is that there is no Google quality police. Generally speaking, she with the most links to her website gets the top position in Google. If I have a product that is a scam, I can easily work for links or buy links and get a top ranking in Google.
  • Avoid anything that requires you to put money down or buy a ‘secret’ starter pack. Yes, many legitimate home business will require you to purchase inventory. However, if you are being forced to buy more than you want ($500 minimum start up package), or you’re not sure what you get for your money, avoid that business “opportunity”.
  • Avoid pyramid schemes.  A pyramid or multi-level marketing business is one where others make money by teaching you how to make money. There is a lot of hype around these type of businesses because in many ways the hype is the business. Many of these businesses offer little of actual value, but instead there is only a smoke screen of actual business transactions. As long as people are referring others the business makes a profit, not necessarily when they are actually selling the product.

(Laura’s Note!!  Several of you have pointed out that not all multi-level marketing businesses are schemes. You are absolutely right!! I was involved in selling Stampin’ Up! products for several years when my kids were babies and that certainly wasn’t a scheme…and it falls right into this category. Please accept my apologies for any frustration the above paragraph may have caused. The point is to avoid SCHEMES…not to avoid all businesses of  this nature.)

Tips for Finding the Right Side Business

Personally, I’m a big fan of teaching people to turn a hobby into a side business. The reason is quite simple – you’ll do a better job and feel better when you make money doing something you love. Besides, what if you figure out how to make a lot of money doing something you hate to do? That doesn’t sound like any fun, does it?

A successful business will do one of the three things:

  1. Sell a product or a service that is better than what is currently being offered.
  2. Sell a product or a service that is cheaper than what is currently being offered.
  3. Sell a product or a service that is currently not available.

A List of 15 Legitimate Work From Home Jobs

In this list you’ll notice I favor online businesses. The reason? You usually have 100% control over your schedule. If your little baby is sick you can work late after the child is in bed. Furthermore, I believe most small business growth involves a hefty component of online business. 

  1. Blogging.   You can make money blogging as long as you select the right topic and are willing to work hard. Here’s my 7,500+ word free guide on how to make money blogging.
  2. Virtual Assistant – With the explosion of web based businesses and online entrepreneurs, there is a huge market right now for qualified virtual assistants. What is a virtual assistant (VA)? A VA is a person who does secretarial type work from home. You get an email of tasks and you complete them for a boss you may never meet. You can advertise your services on either Odesk or Elance.
  3. Baking – Sell cake, cookies, or any other goodies from home.
  4. Freelance Writing – I believe this is a great time to be a writer. Many online blogs and businesses are looking for good quality content. Guess how they get that content? They pay someone to write for them. I’ve spent some time over the last few years doing some freelance writing in my field (personal finance). My first paid writing offer was for $5 per article. On average (depending on the niche), you can make $20 per article to write online. Learn more about how to make money writing.
  5. Tax Filing Business from Home – For anyone who has tax experience and the proper licensing, you can set up your own home based business and generate clients whom you will never meet in person.
  6. Selling items on eBay – This style of business has been around for a long time, but it can still be profitable if you make wise purchasing decisions. Basically, you buy items at highly discounted prices and then sell them on eBay. You can either purchase products wholesale or just stock up on inventory when your favorite store has their next 85% off clearance sale.
  7. Tutoring – If you can fit tutoring into your schedule, you might be able to spend part of an evening helping a struggling student.
  8. Teach a Skill – Do you know how to play the piano? Do you know how to do a craft? Teaching people how to do the skills you already know is a great way to earn a few extra dollars.
  9. Mystery shopping – Yes, get paid to shop. You too can learn how to be a mystery shopper.
  10. Sell eBooks – If you have an online audience, you can produce your own products and earn some extra income selling eBooks. Of course, you would first need to build up an online audience through a blog or a similar medium.
  11. Sell Photos – Amateur photographers can start selling their pictures online. All you need to do is to go to a popular site that sells photos and get an idea of what type of pictures sell well. Use the popular pictures as a standard to help direct your own freelance photography business. Check out Shutterstock.com as an example of one of many websites that allow you to sell your photos online.
  12. Social Media Consultant – You mean, get paid to use Facebook and Twitter? Exactly. In November last year, one of the largest personal finance blogs, WiseBread, was looking to hire a social media consultant. Once again, Odesk and Elance would be a good place to start advertising your services. 
  13. Web graphics and logos designing – If you are artistic, you might want to invest in a Photoshop program that will allow you to do graphic designing for blogs and websites.
  14. Learn how to do something you normally pay for. – OK, this isn’t a specific idea, but if you pay for something, don’t you think others would too? At the very least, when you learn how to do something new, you don’t have to pay for that service any more. But then you can also build up a client list and provide that service for others.
  15. Sell plasma.  You’ll never find me doing this to make an extra buck, but my mother-in-law thinks this is the best way to earn some extra cash. As for me and my household, we’ll pursue other methods to supplement our income. 

Alright, you’re officially equipped to start chasing your dreams. Find an opportunity that interests you and fits your scheduling limitations. Chase it with your full energy and passion, then go, go, go.

What other suggestions do you have that can help someone else make an extra few dollars by working from home?

—————————————————————–

 Be sure to visit Money Help for Christians where Craig promotes a frugal, simple, debt-free, and generous lifestyle so Christians can faithfully maximize their resources by putting them at the disposal of God’s Kingdom.

Heavenly Homemaker's Club Members: Access your homepage and all your fantastic resources here! Not a member yet? Please join us!