Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Mama-entrepreneur

Husband informed me over the weekend that we REALLY need to get our financial house in order. He's talking debt consolidation, home equity lines of credit, all that sort of stuff. I'm down with it. I'm happy to be thrifty while I'm staying at home with the kids. We'll sit down and finally draw up a budget soon, I'm sure (though we've been promising to do this for a couple of years now and haven't...). In the meantime, I'm on the hunt for some income-generating things I can do at home. Any of you out there have any ideas? Husband has suggested that I sell freshly-worn panties on Ebay, but I don't think he realizes the extent to which I have gone over to the granny-pantie dark side. Surely no perv out there wants my slightly soiled Hanes Her Way. (Do they...?)

No, folks, I had something more like hand-made baby blankets in mind. A friend and I are tossing around the idea of actually starting up a little cottage company to do this as a matter of fact. I'm considering putting my precious collection of 1940's era vintage dresses up for auction, though some part of me thinks I just might still wear them again one day. When I'm not nursing. And when I can afford dry-cleaning on a regular basis. And when lolling around on the floor with a baby or young child isn't on the day's agenda. And when glitter glue is a thing of the past. Maybe then...

Any suggestions, oh resourceful ones?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmm, I have thought about this before, and have tried little craft ideas but could never get anything major generated. What I've tossed around mentally includes making quilted blankets (though I only sew by hand, no machine -- scratch that idea), knitted or crocheted blankets (can't knit well -- that was out the window), making beaded necklaces (I did do that but never sold any), producing hand-drawn pet portraits (I can draw but this was too much mental pressure), and making greeting cards (I can do calligraphy and draw but I don't think there's much of a market for this, on a big scale.)

I have sold some things on eBay before such as some older pieces of a model horse collection I've had since I was a kid. If you can bear to part with the vintage dresses you might get decent prices for them on eBay -- I'd scope out the market first.

If I think of anything else I'll post again, but I've tapped my knowledge base for now. BTW, we've been working through the budget stuff if you're looking for any ideas on that front (books, etc.)

Unknown said...

Um, yes. Vintage anything. Please let me know. I'm drooling as I type at the very thought.

Kathryn Thompson said...

Writing? The craft market is a hard nut to crack. I've been doing it for a while now and it's hard to break even AND keep enough supplies to be generating more stuff. Good luck. If you figure it out, let me know.

Sugarmama said...

I do worry about the supplies issue, Daring One. It occurs to me that the fancy, retro fabric my friend and I are most interested in sewing with is expensive enough to be cost prohibitive. I have no idea how to get wholesale fabrics that are good quality and cute...

And hearing that others would also want my beautiful dresses makes me feel like I really SHOULD wear them more to justify keeping them in my closets. They are really so nice, and I'm so fond of them. Such a dilemma! But if I decide to sell them I'll post a link. Still don't know about that one.

Lauren D. McKinney said...

Sugarmama,

How about offering small baking classes in your home?