Everything is relative

My husband was talking with a friend about our plan to drastically cut our living expenses, so we can semi-retire and continue make our living through art, music, web ventures, and of course, my coveted library job. His friend lives in Boston, and he commented that $1,000 a month would barely buy daily coffee in Boston.

Everything is relative, and while the cost of living there is probably much higher than here, Boston jobs also pay a lot more to make up the difference. For example, the median household income in Boston is $42,500, while here in Eureka Springs, the median household income is only $26,600. Another issue that Eureka Springs residents have to contend with is the tourism market and the fact that most of the town virtually shuts down for several months in the winter, making some workers stretch nine months of income out over the entire year. I'm lucky that the library remains busy all twelve months.

Get paid for something you already do

When my children were very small, I was content to be a stay-at-home mom. Raising children and keeping house is truly a full time job and I didn't really have time for anything else. When my daughter started school and my son started getting a bit more self-reliant, I felt like I should try to find something I could do at home to make some money.

Upon searching in the internet, I found out about blog advertising. I was just starting a blog of my own to get in the habit of journaling daily, so getting paid to write sounded like fun. Basically, companies pay to advertise on blog postings so they can get "buzz" about their business throughout social media pages on the internet. Studies show that word-of-mouth is the most effective marketing tool, and advertising on blogs fits the bill perfectly.

Now that I have really gotten into it, I can get paid for blogging every day if I want to. The pay is pretty good for something so simple. It ranges from $5 to $20 per blog post. When you consider that it only takes 15 to 30 minutes to compose one post, that's not a bad rate of pay!

So I am now a work-at-home mom and when people ask what I do, I can proudly tell them I'm a writer in addition to being home for my children. I advise all housewives to look into paid blogging as an added source of income for their families.