How to make an extra bit of money from home. #Blogtober22

I am taking part in Blogtober 2022 and will be writing posts with various themes/prompts throughout October. Today's prompt is: Favourite side hustles!

At the moment we are all thinking an extra few pounds or pennies could make a difference. There are plenty of ways to make money from comfort of your own home without having to go to too much effort.

How to make an extra bit of money from home.

Start a blog!

I don't earn money from my blog because I choose not to but many other bloggers do. It can start from an armchair to be a real business. I have read about many bloggers leaving their full time jobs because they earn more from blogging through sponsored posts and advertising.

Start an online Craft Shop!

You can turn a crafty hobby into a business by setting up an Etsy shop which focuses on handmade and vintage items. It does cost a little to list an item and you are charged fee's but it allows you instant access to millions of buyers in the UK and worldwide looking for handmade treasures. I am really starting to love Etsy and the lovely Anne from Rasie Bay has a store on there, AtHomeALot who sells her crochet creations!

Sewing/Alteration services!

If you’re nifty with a needle this could be a solid income for you. I am in a local Facebook group and there is always people asking is there anyone who can alter curtains, trousers and goodness knows what else. 

Sell unwanted items!

It’s a pretty obvious one but sell anything you don’t need any more! Car boot sales, eBay or your local Facebook Marketplace pages. If you haven’t used it in the last year then consider parting with it.

Online surveys! 

A popular way for people to make money online is to fill out online surveys in your spare time. My favourite survey site by far is Prolific. In just under a couple of years I have earned just over £1000. The rewards for the studies vary. If it's a minute long you may only be paid 40 pence but with the longer one's the reward increases. Katy Kicker has quite a few blog posts about which survey sites are worth your time.

Rent a room!

If you have a spare room or converted garage you could rent out your space on trusted sites such as Airbnb. The more central you are to a city, town or place of interest, the more chance you have of increasing your rate.

An Ironing service!

Most people hate ironing and would happily part with some cash to have it taken care for them. Invest in a quality iron and ironing board then advertise locally and ask your friends and family to spread the word.

Do you have any ways to make money that I haven't thought of?

This week my Word of the Week is: Catch-Up! #WotW

I am taking part in Blogtober 2022 and will be writing posts with various themes/prompts throughout October. Today's prompt is: Autumn/Winter roundup!

This week my Word of the Week is:

We are well past the halfway point in October and with doing all of these Blogtober blog posts I haven't written much about my girls so this is a bit of a catch up with them.

Ellie, my 15 year old started year 11 at school, her final year before she goes to college and seems to have been really busy. We had a parents evening a few weeks ago and there's wasn't much for the teachers to say that we don't already know. Ellie is a quiet member of her class, she needs to speak up more, she works hard but needs to revise for her GCSE's. We have been working on the revision, she is doing at least 30 minutes every night and most nights more. Ellie is in the middle of her mock exams at the moment and is enjoying them. She is one of those people who likes doing exams, she said she is trying her best and that is all I can ask! When we get the results for them we can really focus on what subjects need more revision for her real GCSE's. I got a text off her English teacher on Monday saying Ellie had used her extra time, she's been given it because of her hearing loss and did a lot more writing. They write in blue or black pen in the main exam and then green pen for the extra time.

Ellie has also had visits to the local college and one on one talks with people from the college and those chats have been really helpful for her. She has a fair idea of what course that she wants to do when she leaves school next year, it's of course still engineering but she's narrowed it down a little. She also went to a careers fair at school but that was mainly just to get the free pens, food and practice interview techniques.

As well as doing well at school and stepping up there she has really stepped up at home too. Not having to nag her about every little thing is making a happy home life. I am of course still having to nag her to do her homework for school though, She didn't hand in 2 pieces of homework in one day and ended up with 2 detentions over two evenings. She deserved them and I have said if she gets any more detentions for not doing homework she will be serving time without the internet.

Ellie has made the most of being out with her friends after school and on a weekend while the not so dark nights lasted. She has spent her time collecting conkers, going for bike rides or just hanging out at the skatepark. It won't be long until she can't really play out which seems a shame.

Becky my 20 year has settled into full time work fantastically well. She is only doing an extra shift one week and two the next compared to what she was working part time. She is on full time nights now and those shifts work well for her. She has worked out that she has more time for herself than if she was working full time days.

A few weeks ago the care home where she works was over staffed, so much so people were struggling to get shifts and now with people leaving and residents needing extra care they are understaffed again. Part of the night staff's job is to do some of the cleaning and there was one night a few weeks ago when none of it got done as they were all busy with residents. Hopefully they sort the staff situation soon.

Despite working Becky has also finally made time to sort her bedroom out. She bought a new desk and office chair which took almost a month to put together because of the shifts she was working and on her days off she thought it was more important to go out with friends which we had words over. Ugh. Anyway it's done now and it looks fantastic, it has also given me some ideas for things to get her for Christmas. 

On Tuesday Becky finally started her driving lessons. Her first was 2 hours long and she said she got on OK but there's a lot to learn. She's booked in for another next week. She was just happy that she didn't crash the car on her first time out, the instructor said she did well and once she gets the hang of the gears she should be well away! 

Today is the start of half term for us. It means nothing to Becky, working life still goes on for her it's Ellie and me who can have some sneaky lie in's. hehehe We don't have much planned for the break from school apart from a shopping trip for Christmas presents and a trip to the cinema.

I hope you have all had a good week?

Pumpkin Spiced Muffins - Recipe!

October is all about the simple pumpkin, it's the pumpkins time to shine. There are so many things to do with pumpkins as well as carving them. Today I have a great recipe to share with you, Pumpkin Spiced Muffins! In just 4 simple steps you can whip up some tasty muffins made with sweet pumpkin puree and mixed spice which are perfect for Halloween parties or after school snacks for the kids. They're tasty and are pretty healthy too.

This recipe makes 12 muffins and takes only 10 minutes to prepare.

Ingredients needed:

215g of Pumpkin puree. This comes in a tin/can and is available to buy in supermarkets, especially at this time of year.

2 eggs.

125ml of sunflower or vegetable oil.

75ml of water.

300g of caster sugar.

225g of self raising flour.

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda.

3 teaspoons of mixed spice.

Pumpkin seeds.

Equipment needed.

A large mixing bowl.

A whisk or spoon.

A lined muffin tin.

Measuring spoons.

How to make.

1. Preheat your oven to 160°c (fan).

2. In the large mixing bowl whisk together the pumpkin puree, eggs, oil and water then add in the sugar, flour, bicarbonate of soda and mixed spice and whisk until a smooth batter is formed. This is really a recipe with not much washing up to do.

3. Divide the batter evenly between the muffin cases, top with a sprinkling of pumpkin seeds and bake for around 25 to 30 minutes until they are risen, golden and springy to the touch.

4. Allow to cool before serving.

This recipe is from the Easy Peasy Baking campaign launched by UK Flour Millers, making baking simple. You can find more Easy Peasy Baking recipes and information on the campaign over on the Fab Flour website.

(Ad - Gifted) The So Wrong It's Right game from Asmodee! - Review!

We are at that time of year when the games come out on an evening or a rainy day. Now that my girls are older the games that we play have changed. A lot are card type games instead of the traditional board games. Quick to set up and a lot of fun. We are always on the look out to add to our collection so when we had the chance to try a new game I jumped a the chance. 

We were sent the card game So Wrong It's Right to have a look at. Another classic game created by TV and radio personality Matt Edmondson. It's an easy quiz game but each question has five possible answers. With 500 questions and 2000 possible answers, with this game you will never play the same one twice. Perfect for large or small groups.

How it works is that each question has 5 possible answers, with action cards dictating how players must answer the question. ‘Got it’ means you answer correctly, ‘Flip it’ means you flip the words around in your answer, ‘Switch it’ means you switch the first letters of your answer, ‘Ditch it’ means you lose the first letter of your answer, and ‘Not it’ means you give a wrong answer. Giving the correct type of answer earns you action cards and at the end of the game, the player with the most action cards is the winner!

The manufacturer recommended age is 12 years plus and that is just because the questions are general knowledge. You could play in teams with a younger child if you want to play this game.

It was such an easy game to play. Set up in a minute and we skimmed through the instructions of how to play and all in all we were away playing within 5 minutes of opening the box.

The longer we played the funnier it became and the louder we all got trying to the be the first to answer. The questions are not really hard, my girls got nearly all of them with no hints but flipping, switching and ditching elements really add to the fun. It really makes you think. I just couldn't get the hand of ditching the first letters of an answer but my girls were brilliant at that. Ellie did make me laugh out loud when she couldn't think of wrong answers for quite a few questions. lol

This would be a great game to play either at a family games night or a larger get together. It is fantastic for older children and teenagers and really is a lot of fun to play.

You can buy So Wrong It's Right from all good toy and hobby retailers as well as Amazon for around £15.00.

We were sent the So Wrong It's Right game from Asmodee free of charge in exchange for this blog post.