How We Made Money From Home During The Lockdown

It’s the year 2020! That much I am sure of. But the days all seem to roll into one and honestly, some days I have to think about what day it is or even what the date is.

The year 2020 though sticks out in my mind. I have noticed a lot being said about this year and perhaps that is why. We had not gone too far into the new year when people were busy making resolutions, celebrations were going on all around and news of an extremely deadly virus was being banded about. It was in China and so to be fair, I was not too worried.

 

Fast forward to March 2020 and our country is in lockdown because the virus is here and thousands have lost their lives. Many have lost their jobs and have the joys of ‘putting up’ with their own kids for 24 solid hours a day. Right here I would like to interject that teachers, in my view are some of the most awesome human beings but it took being on lockdown for many to come to acknowledge that. You can read about why I left my teaching job, and it’s not because I look down on teachers at all.

Anyway, since the two of us in this household are in the vulnerable group, we have decided that we would stick to the mandate of staying home as much as possible. We are allowed to go out for some form of exercise once a day and we are also allowed to go shopping for essentials like food. Being that we are already fat, we wanted to try to do the daily walk to make use of some of the calories we were consuming from just sitting at home (mostly) and eating. But even that we have stopped now because some have come to the conclusion that the virus can remain in the atmosphere after someone has sneezed or coughed for longer than first thought. So we are not taking any chances. We do what we can from home, which really is not enough.

SALES

Since we cannot go out to work, we have decided that what money we earn must come from doing things at home. Our girls clear out their wardrobes quite often (too often if I’m honest) and they both have been using a site called Depop to list their clothes and other stuff for sale.

Well, I got interested because I do have a lot of stuff from decluttering. Previously, I have donated a lot of items to charity shops but alas, I could not do that now as all the shops are closed. I, nor the government know how long we will have to be confined to our homes so I have decided to sell the things from my decluttering. First I listed two items, a tie-dye T-shirt which I understand is becoming fashionable and a headphone I received as a gift from Apple when I purchased my laptop.

Well within 3 or 4 days I had sold the headphone after a few people showed interest in it! Kaching! I am no longer a Depop virgin.

That has spurred me on so we are now going to list lots of other stuff. When we are out on the other side, I will donate the unsold items to charity, perhaps.

WRITING

We continue to write posts for others and are grateful to be paid. The work does not come in fast and furious like before but at least it helps us to pay for food and a few bills. There are so many platforms out there for people who are interested in doing this to make a living and so I would suggest that if you have a flair for writing and you are out of a job right now, that is one of the things you could consider and research and seriously think about doing.

TEACHING

Many a parent out there right now have not a clue when it comes to helping their children with school work. In fact, I had to chuckle the other day when I was watching a television report where two little kids have commented to the effect that their mum is really stupid! Lol.

And one little boy said now he knows that his teacher is really smart and his mum is not! Bless them.

Well, I have been trying to help out parents who come to me with a need to teach their child/children something. I have all the time on my hand and I don’t mind helping out at all but don’t tell me about getting back into the classroom. So I have temporarily gone back into teacher mode, researched, prepared lesson plans, and teaching aids to support ‘my students’. The kids I have taught so far are kids from church so I have not asked for any monetary rewards but I would if I were to roll it out to others.

SURVEYS

This is one of the easiest ways to make free money. The money is slow to build up and I doubt I will ever become a millionaire from doing them but I am so grateful because every little adds up.

I was able to use my money from surveys recently to pay for my online grocery order! Now I think that is really good! We use a number of survey platforms but by far our favorites are Qmee, Prolific, and Pollpass. Check them out and be on your way to getting free money.

Pantry Organizing

We have turned an old storeroom into an amazing pantry that I am super pleased with! We have had so many compliments about it so far. It has made me think that maybe I have the knack of organizing and that perhaps others would employ me to organize certain areas of their house for them. So watch this space. If I can get paid for doing something I really loved doing, then why not? Watch this space!

Gardening

My own garden is a source of joy to me! I really enjoy gardening and I try to do a bit each day to help me keep busy, burn some calories, and make it delightful to look at.

Unfortunately, I have not made any money from doing my garden but oh how I wish I could! Uhm! I wonder if …….?

To be fair, I don’t think so. There are many people out there who are ultra-efficient at making beautiful gardens and I can’t get out to do it anyway so there’s that. Nil point.

Cooking and Baking

Well, we make good money throughout the year from this by baking and selling cakes for birthdays, Christmas, etc. It goes without saying that no one has ordered a birthday cake during the lockdown. But you know what, we have been experimenting with some baked goods and we are developing some amazing recipes that we will share with you all fairly soon.

The Christmas cake production preparation has begun, well aspects of it anyway. We use some of our time to make candied peels that are essentials in traditional Jamaican Christmas cakes. So instead of buying these, we are experiencing somewhat of saving now as we are making our own.

I would so love to be able to tell you that we are making thousands of pounds during this lockdown time, by doing and selling some amazing stuff or services but the truth is, we are not. What we have earned, we are grateful for and the main thing we need right now is to maintain our sanity, and by God’s grace, we are.

Sewing

So this week we have joined a Facebook group here in the Midlands. We are currently making bags for scrubs and ear protectors. This reminds me that we do have those skills that we can draw on too. So if ever someone needs something sewing or mending, we can do that and earn some money too.

Using our Cricut

We also joined some new Cricut groups on Facebook and have embarked on some new techniques including using HTV to create amazing designs on fabric bags and T-shirts. We are in the process of adding these to our Depop shop too.

So those are a few of the ways how we made money from home during the lockdown.

Are you doing anything to make money during the lockdown? Let us know about it.

Also, we would appreciate it if you click on the image below to save it to Pinterest.

Until next time, one love from Jo and Leisa.

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