Summer Break, Day One

So today officially begins summer break. My older kids are still in school until Friday, but my preschoolers are now home every-day-all-day-long. I plunged right in by including my 3 little tykes in some house organization, which was made more fun for them by playing some good music for kids. I'm not sure how it worked out this way, but I've actually accomplished more today than I normally do with 2 of them at preschool. I went through about 5 terrible containers packed full of various toys, cups, papers, puzzle pieces, etc. that were jamming up their bedroom closet. Would you believe that just about every bit of that is all put away/thrown away? I've also done laundry (several loads! Entirely done and put away!), put a couple dozen books away where they go, taken the boys outside to play, and even stocked the Burb with nice educational and entertaining books and travel-sized electronic games! That's something I have long thought of doing but just never.....you know....picked out the items I wanted and walked my rear out there to put it in the back-of-the-seat organizer thingy. So, now we have board books and easy readers and all sorts of good stuff to keep my little kiddos's brains engaged all summer long. The best part is that there is an actual place for these items to go, so they will be within reach and easily put back.

Like a lot of stay-at-home moms, I really get a thrill out of organizing persistent Bad Spots in my house, and making things look better, even if it's just one tiny little thing (like that day when I took all the magnets and papers off the fridge). One of the best things about home organization is that it is a form of FREE entertainment for me....which is a mighty good thing right now because we're on a poor streak that is not very fun. So, I have been trying to stave off despair by saying to myself, "Hey! Cleaning is free! Organizing is free! Moving things around is free! A shiny sink is free!" and just be happy for simple stuff like that.

Now, in the spirit of I-am-feeling-very-poor, I have been trying to figure out if there is something else I can do in life to bring in some money. How this will be accomplished with 6 kids around is a little bit tricky, but I have at least come up with a few ideas. So, you, my willing victims, can see my list of possible (and a few rejected) ideas for how I can rake in some bucks:

1. Summer childcare: Yes, I already have 6 kids. BUT, what I was thinking is that if I could get a couple of school-age kids that my older kids would play with, it might work out alright since they don't need to constantly be watched for fear of them swallowing Legos and other stuff like that. (Yes, I KNOW I would still need to watch them. I'm just saying that to me it would be easier than, say, a one year old) DOWNSIDE: I thought of this too late. School ends on Friday. Anybody who doesn't have their kid care lined up yet is probably so much of a moron that I should not get involved with them.

2. EBay! : I've had some decent success with Ebay in the past, and I actually do have a whole basket of goodies waiting to be sold right now, so that will definitely happen once I get a chance to do it. I will try to get going on it this week and see what I can declutter and earn. Maybe after that I could scour yard sales for Ebay-worthy items to resell.

3. Going along with the Ebay idea is this other brain child of mine: I have this idea that people who have yard sales DO NOT want to face packing up all of their unwanted stuff and doing something with it at the end of the day. I thought that the hubster and I could start a business taking away yard sale remnants for people. The idea would be that they pay us something to pack it all up and haul it away. The fee would be anywhere from $10-50+ depending on amount of stuff and whether or not what they have looks Ebay-ish. They would have the joy of walking into their home at the end of the sale and not have to think about the junk that's left, and we could take the Good Junk to Ebay, and drop the rest at Goodwill for a tax deduction. What do you think??

4. Meals on wheels (of sorts): My husband works at a fire dept. and I thought about offering to make meals for the guys and deliver them. They already spend so much money eating junk at drive thrus, plus they spend time at the grocery store, AND the cooking, which especially doesn't work out well for them if they have an overly busy day with training or calls to respond to. I think I could make them good meals that would be healthier and tastier than what they eat now, for less or the same as what they currently spend.

5. Another idea spun off of the above would be to just specialize in one meal (such as lasagne, salad, homemade bread, and dessert) and just offer it once a week, even locally. Maybe people would want the convenience of take-out, but without a huge expense. I don't really know how I would drum up enough business for this, though, and I live in a really small town.

6. Laundry service: I could pick up people's dirty laundry and bring it back all clean and folded. Yeah, I have plenty of laundry to do here, but it's not that big of a deal. I've got a big Maytag Neptune so I can do very large loads, and it would still only take about 20 minutes to fold a load. Do you think people would be too nervous to let someone take their laundry away? Will people fuss at me that they're missing one sock or a hand towel? What do you think is reasonable to charge per load, considering the picking up and returning?

7. Tutoring: I already tutor one kid for 1-2 hours a week. There may be other kids who need summer tutoring.......again, I'm not sure how I would find enough of them to make it worthwhile. How much do tutors make in your area?

So what do you think, faithful readers? Do you like any of these ideas? Do you have some other ideas for me? Now is the time to share your genius, Internet!