How We Prepared for a Lay-off Part 5: C is for Creativity (Plus We are Buying a House Today!!)

You can read parts 1-4 of this series here.

Creativity. What pops into your mind when I mention that creativity was the final piece to our lay-off survival preparation?

If you picture me with my sewing machine, making cute little outfits for my boys, you would be…wrong. (My Mom did sign me up for sewing lessons growing up, but unfortunately, they didn’t take!)

If you picture me dressed in an apron happily humming while I make all of my bread from scratch and eat off the land, unfortunately, you would be wrong as well. (Although we are excited to start our very own garden next year when we have more space. Our little garden on our deck sure was fun!)

In my experience, creativity has meant being resourceful in finding ways to bring extra income into our home. Additionally, the idea of using your home for extra income could also be a possibility to bring in extra money and it doesn’t have to be by doing something creative if this is not your strong point. There are many to start making money from your home. It’s just about finding the best way for you and the family, in the hopes of making a little extra income.

In the future, we may look at doing this. Those considering doing something similar might want to use a calculator to compare rates of available plans.

I like how J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly puts it:

All of personal finance is built around a simple equation:

When considering frugality it’s easy to focus simply on the “What You Spend” part of this equation. However, you can have just as much success when you focus on the other half of personal finance: increasing your income.

Once our first son was born, we made the choice for me to stay home. This is always a financial sacrifice for anyone who chooses this option. We knew that it may mean finding creative ways to bring in extra income, but we were willing to give it a try!

Free Money Opportunities:

At first, creativity was simply finding ways to bring in some ‘free money’. I discovered MyPoints during this time and took great delight in finding ways to score free gift cards through their site. It would be a while before I discovered that there is a world of ‘free money opportunities’ available out there!

Taking the Next Step:

When our son was a bit older, I stumbled upon an opportunity to apply for a part-time position as a speaker for Monster.com’s Making It Count program. Since I had some public speaking experience in my background, I decided to give it a try. I was hired for the position and was able to earn some extra income by simply being out of the house one or two half days a week.

This was a big help when Wes was laid off in 2008. It meant that we had a nice little financial cushion to work with. (Not to mention it gave me a reason to put make-up on a few days a week and gave me some fun opportunities to travel!)

However, it wasn’t long before our second son was born and I gave up this job. I began couponing during this time, so we learned how to better save money, but I was not able to help bring in any extra income. It’s times like that you need to consider your personal finances, which I did, but it became tricky regardless.

Until I started blogging.

Which is a whole new story on its own. I can’t wait to share it with you.

But the bottom line is this. At 2:00 today, Wes and I are going to become homeowners for the first time.

When we looked at our budget, we realized that this would not be possible without the income that Cha-Ching on a Shoestring is bringing in.

Thank you, dear readers, for your part in that!

Maybe you didn’t realize you were helping me in this way, but you are. When you print coupons from my site or click on ads or sign up for certain offers that I post, you are helping me bring in a small, but growing income. YOU are helping us buy a home today!

Creativity. It’s the final piece to the puzzle.

And it’s definitely my favorite!

B-Budget
A-Apartment
S-Saving
I-Investing
C-Creativity