MTurk Issues!

I woke up today thinking I got the shaft in a huge way from MTurk. Huge. BUT I found out one thing today, if you have a problem, start writing emails. I completed a very large batch of HITS yesterday for Smartsheet.com, and woke up today to find all of them rejected. I was positive I'd followed the directions to the letter, so needless to say I was very upset.

 

It wasn't just the money, which the amount for MTurk is kind of a lot. But my credibility rating fell through the floor, limiting what work I can do. I was furious, I felt scammed.

Here's what I learned today. Smartsheet.com has it's own clients, and the clients of them is who approves or rejects work. Thankfully, when made aware of a problem, Smartsheet.com DOES go above and beyond to rectify the issue. They worked with me and their client to come to a peaceful resolution, I am very impressed.

 

Although once work is rejected, it's stuck with no way to unreject, I was paid for my work with a nice bonus. All within a couple hours of firing off that first email. I'll say I was given enough of a bonus to keep me happy, as it will make up for the lost work for a little while. I have a large amount of HITS outstanding for another requestor I work with daily, so in time my rating will come back up to an acceptable level. I feel I've been compensated in the meantime.

So, in short, THANK YOU Smartsheet.com for taking the time to work this out. I was very impressed with the communication, and obviously happy with the end result. I'd be happier if my approval status was back up to par, but like I said, I think we came to a fair resolution. It's nice to find integrity on MTurk!

Cheap Christmas craft ideas

So I've been working on some Christmas crafts, and I found one that's not only cheap, but makes really cute Christmas ornaments. Best part is, you can recycle old sweatshirts for this!

Cut strips of fleece or old sweatshirts into one inch squares. I use my rotary cutter and it takes no time at all. They don't have to be perfectly square or exactly one inch, having a little variation actually makes these cuter!

Thread several onto a string, pushed close together and each one turned a slightly different direction. When you have enough to tie off into a circle in a nice wreath shape, sew the ends together and tie it off. I made mine wreath ornaments about four inches across.

Here's the fun part! Glue on beads and / or bows, tie a loop at the top and you have yourself some cheap homemade Christmas ornaments for pennies. It doesn't take much fabric at all to do these, and if you recycle old sweatshirts it's practically free! I'm making these in sets of six for presents. I've done sets in all white, dark green, and some in favorite football team colors. Each one has turned out fanastic!

Another cheap Christmas craft idea I'm working on this week is sewing gift bags. I used to spend around $20 to buy gift bags and wrapping paper each year. Well, I have a ton of fabric laying around, so I'm going to sew my own. Nothing really fancy, just a rectangular piece of fabric with the top folded over and hemmed, and sewn up the sides. Shouldn't take more than a couple minutes for each, and I already have the fabric. These are so simple you don't need a pattern an even a beginner can do wonderfully. I will tie off each with a ribbon, or possibly a drawstring. The bags can be reused by the gift recipient, too!

I still haven't started the full sized wreaths, but I'm thinking of carrying over the sports colors themes for those, too. I've seen a lot of cute patterns for wreaths online, but I think I'll stick to tying six inch long and one inch wide strips of fabric to a wire frame. I haven't seen any done with polar fleece, but going to give it a shot. I think the look will be super cute!

MTurk Money

I'm not quite sure what's up, but MTurk has tons of work posted!! The past few days it's been unreal, I saw as many as 853,000 HITS posted a couple days ago. It's like Santa Claus made an early arrival, yippee!!

I've been working on the Retail Data HITS a lot, that seems to be the bulk of what's posted. They're penny HITS, but they go quickly and are easy. I really liked working on the Baby products ones, but they're already gone. So, I've also been working on the Sports and Outdoor ones lately, too.

I found a real gem on there yesterday, I found 75 cent HITS that only took a few minutes to finish, and there was a big batch of them. If they all approve, I think I made $20 pretty quickly. I was in the middle of making dinner, or I would have stayed til the very end!

MTurk is really helping to make a little Christmas money, I've been averaging a little over $10 a day, with the occasional bonus day with a few more dollars. Not bad for an hour or two of easy work from home. If I just had a little more time to spend on it, it could add up even more.

Just a little update, back to the grind at MTurk. My favorite time to work there is late morning to early afternoon. It seems to be when I have the most time and can find the work I like to do.

Christmas on a Budget

This Christmas the budget is stretched pretty tight this year. I've done this before, but it's been awhile. So this year I'm going to be making many of our gifts. I've got tons of fabric, ribbon and beads around here, so I'm going to make some Christmas ornaments and wreaths. For both, I will take strips of fabric and tie around a wire frame. The ornaments will probably be mini-wreaths, and possibly some snowflakes and candycanes. 

Cookies and candies are always a great gift for Christmas, and the ingredients are cheap. Plus I love to cook, yay! I'll be picking up some cheapie tins at the dollar store today, along with chocolate and nuts. My favorite Chirstmas candy recipe is just a bag of dark chocolate chips and about an equal amount of nuts. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring in between. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and voila! Great candy. Hazelnut is my favorite, but they're sometimes hard to find around here. Any nut will do for this recipe, though.

Otherwise, Christmas will be sale items and last minute impulse buys. I'll probably throw together a quilt or two, if time allows. Rag quilts are perfect for last minute gifts, as they are so quick to put together. Like I said, I have TONS of fabric left here! I think I have enough denim fabric left to make a nice lap throw. Hmm, who's going to be the lucky recipient this Christmas?

Been a Little Busy

I've been a little busy lately, and haven't had much time to update. I can't believe I ever found time to go to work before! Although it's looking like I'm going to have to go back to work, working online just isn't cutting it for me. Maybe if I had a little more time, or would get off my butt and write more eHow articles...

November earnings on eHow have been tallied, and it was my best month ever, by far. I made just shy of $150, and managed to write four more articles. Of course, I lost four in the latest sweep, so I'm still at 160 articles posted. 

Still chipping away at MTurk, and I made around $80 this month there. My earnings have totalled $616 there since starting. I have been trying some different techniques to make more money with MTurk--I filter the results to show most recently posted and just refresh away until something comes up. I check first off for my favorite requesters, of course. But if there's nothing else going on with them, the most recent is a decent way to add a few bucks here and there to the pot.

I'm kind of irritated that I'm going to have to go back to work. I really thought I could swing it, but it's just too soon. I've got to get a couple more bills paid down, and then it's SAHM time. Keeping up with cleaning and cooking, spending time with the family, etc, just doesn't leave any time. I don't know how I ever pulled it off before! But if I find a part time job in town, I think I'll be able to get ahead a little.

I'm still scouting around for different ways to make money online, but not finding a lot of luck just yet. I signed up with LiveWork, and applied for a couple jobs there, but didn't hear anything back. According to the WAHM.com forum, I need to fill out my profile there a little more. I scored great on all the job skills tests I took, so I'm hoping if I get that filled out it will lead to something. 

I tried shetoldme.com, using my Adsense ID and Chitika, and I'm just not seeing a whole lot of money come out of it at all. 

For now, I'm browsing the help wanted section in the local newspaper, and religiously reading WAHM.com forums to get that one lead that will make it all work out. I think my #1 enemy is TIME. There's just never enough of that when you're a SAHM!

 

Mondays

So we survived Thanksgiving, and the fluffy pumpkin pie was delicious. Rushing around and visiting left little time to clean house, so as per usual on Mondays, I'm tackling housework with a vengance. Well, when I get a little more motivated I will!

I rearranged the living room over the weekend to allow more play area for Gracie. She has her own little corner now with her toybox and doll baby bed, plus her favorite box she likes to use as a playhouse. It's funny how just moving a recliner and scooting the couch a foot can make such a huge difference!

Once I get a little more clutter out of the way it's time to dig out the Christmas decorations. I hate to admit it, but the vast majority of my Christmas decorations are buried deep in the back of an over stuffed storage unit! There's enough here to do a little decorating and a smallish tree. Gracie's really a fan of the big gaudy yard displays, so I'm afraid I'll have to go buy some more to make her happy. 

I'm thinking of digging in and making something crafty to add to the decorations we already have. Years ago my oldest daughter brought home a wreath made at school, made by tying strips of decorative fabric around a coat hanger that was twisted into a circle. It's one of my favorite Christmas decorations! I have oodles of fabric laying around, so I think I'll enlist Gracie's help to make a new one.

All in all, Mondays are... well, Mondays around here. It's raining and cold, and a ton of housework awaits. It's the perfect day to whip up a crock pot dinner and just dig in. Thankfully, with a "new" play area, I'll have one less toddler under my feet as I clean. A girl can dream, right?

Thanksgiving Dinner, Pie Ideas

Thanksgiving is just around the corner and thankfully I get to put off making the big dinner for a little while longer, to accommodate out of town guest schedules. I do, however, need to bring along something to Granny's on Thanksgiving. They always cover the traditional stuff, so I'm going to try something new for dessert.

I've had something similar, and have no idea what it's actually called. But basically it's a pumpkin pie, mixed with Cool Whip, which creates a wonderfully fluffy pie. Yummy!Since I don't even know what it's actually called, I couldn't search for a recipe. But I stumbled on a Jello no bake pumpkin pie kit and it gave me the idea to give it a shot.

I got an extra pie crust (graham) and a regular sized container of Cool Whip. So I'll make the pumpkin mix as directed, and then mix in the entire container of whipped cream. I suspect it should fill both pie crusts, if not I'll be in a little pinch! I regularly have heavy whipping cream on hand for coffee or other recipes, so if I must I'll just whip up some homemade whipped cream and top it with that. 

I'll be making the pies tomorrow, and will have the extra so my son will be the guinea pig to see if this Pumpkin pie recipe will be a good fit for Thanksgiving dinner. I was seriously considering a Pumpkin Cheesecake, by using the same mix and a no-bake cheesecake, putting a layer of each in each pie. I still might do that for Christmas, or for the big Thanksgiving dinner we do when Sadie's in town. 

Either way, I got all the ingredients on sale or already had on hand, so I will probably have less than $3 in each pie. Plus, the fluffy pumpkin pie I'd had before was divine, I'm hoping I can make this the way I'm picturing it turning out!

Alice.com, made it to 50!

I made it to my first $50 on Alice.com, and true to their word they automatically took off ten bucks! Yay! So this last order I got diapers, 20 mule team borax, 2 rolls paper towels, Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner and Alka Seltzer for $6.53!!! Yay! And they still applied the coupons they were advertising, too.

Here's how it works. Sing up here with Alice.com, and get coupons automatically applied to your items. Plus when your order history reaches $50, whether all at once or accumulated to 50, they automatically give you $10 off. There's nothing to request or send in, they just take it right off that order.

I was really curious how it would all work out. Getting 10 back on that first 50 is like taking an additional 20% off all your orders, yay! I was very pleasantly surprised to see it just come right off my checkout total.

I check with Alice.com a couple times per week, it seems they change quite a bit. Different coupons available, new items. On my last shipment I got two free samples, one for laundry drops and another for a shaving cream. And both shipments I've already gotten came within 3 business days with free shipping.

I'm definitely a fan, I'm liking Alice.com more and more. 

Make $25 Online Quick!

I just finished up an opportunity I stumbled upon on WAHM.com to make a quick $25! It's through a Facebook app, and can be found here. Several members on the WAHM forum have already been paid, so I thought "why not?" I signed up on the above page last night, and received the email from them this morning.

All you are doing is reviewing local businesses, ten of them. It's for AroundMe. It's that easy. It took me a minute to figure out how to submit a review, but you find one of the businesses listed and you'll see "submit review" listed beside the name of the biz. 

The lady who sent that first email was very prompt and helpful with answering my questions, and it took less than an hour to write them all up. They ask for them to not be all restaurants, so I did a couple banks, an insurance agent, and a dentist along with some restaurants and hotels I am familiar with.

They ask the reviews be between 60 and 150 words, which wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. 

All in all, it was probably the easiest 25 bucks I've ever earned in my life! Check it out!

Black Friday, only a week away!

Every Mom should take note of Black Friday deals, whether online or off. Black Friday often offers such ridiculously great deals, it really pays to get up early and fight the crowd for the sales that allow you to buy more for Christmas.

It makes sense to check as many ads as possible and map out the best course of action. While store A may be offering great deals on electronics, store B might have a hard to beat deal on the season's hottest toys. Several places are advertising their Black Friday deals ahead of time so you can map it out yourself for the bargains that fit your needs the best.

Some people like to plan their sales with family or friends and make a special day of it. Getting up early for a light breakfast and a big pot of coffee is important to keep your stamina going for a long day of shopping. My friends make an annual tradition of hitting certain stores first, sometimes branching out and meeting back up afterward at a different store.

A great idea for a quick breakfast on Black Friday is a breakfast casserole. You can prep this the night before and throw it in the oven first thing in the morning. No muss, no fuss. Tear up pieces of bread, stale is fine, and fill the bottom inch or so of a casserole dish. I spray mine with butter flavored cooking spray first. Throw in a layer of each of hash browns, chopped sausage or ham, and a little bit of diced onion. Cover it with four eggs, lightly scrambled, and cover that with a layer of cheddar cheese. Let the eggs soak in overnight, it really makes a difference! In the morning, pop it in the oven at 350 for about 20 minutes or so, until the eggs seem set. Yummy! 

BlackFriday.info has coupons and sale ads for many major stores, what an invaluable service! Everything you need right there on one site! I looked around and found so many bargains, it was hard to peel myself away! Just keep your eyes open, and you're sure to find many great deals this holiday season!

eHow update, I've made a thousand bucks!

I finally did it! Today I broke a thousand dollars on eHow, that's total overall earnings. I started with one article in late July 08, so in 16 months with 158 articles (after sweeps) I've finally hit a big milestone, yay!

My earnings per month just keep going up, even though I haven't written very many  new articles in the past several months. This month I'm projecting I'll make around $140, my best month yet.

Now if I could only get the creative juices flowing and churn out 158 more articles, I'd be sitting pretty. I keep saying I'm going to, and I have a huge list of article ideas I'd like to dig in on. But really, I think I'm going to write some recipes before diving in bigger topics.

Recipe articles don't earn that great on eHow, but they're pretty consistent. Especially around the holidays. But if you have enough written, it does add up to a nice little profit each month. 

That's the greatest part about residual income. You write it once, and it just keeps on earning. I need to tweak some of the lower earning articles, most of those were from when I was still new to online writing, and didn't have a great keyword or SEO strategy.

I just had to share my milestone, I'm so happy!

Trying to Maintain My Sanity

Well, I'm trying to maintain my sanity. It may or may not be working out so well! You know, when I took the leap and became a SAHM, I thought everything would just magically fall into place, that the house would somehow become sparkling clean, and I wouldn't miss the adult interaction I got from working. HA!

Apparently, I need more structure. Without time constraints, a lot of things are not getting done. Egads, this house is still a disaster!

So, the only solution I think that might help is a pretty strict schedule. I've been falling into a natural pattern with housework, like laundry is usually done Mondays and Thursdays, with a small load over the weekend. Dishes tend to get done in the late afternoon. Things like that.

It's just not enough. I'll be thinking it through and coming up with a better plan of attack on housework. I'm seriously open to suggestions!

Some WAHM opportunities seem to be fizzling out. My favorite job poster on MTurk is taking a break. I'd say about three quarters of the work I've done on MTurk came from that one job alone! I've been researching some others, I signed up at LiveWork and applied for an ad reviewer there. I impressed myself by doing really well on some of the skills testing. 

Another opportunity I'm looking into, but somewhat leery of, is dropshipping. It just almost sounds too easy. From what I've read, you just really REALLY have to research the dropshipping company you order from. Basically, you're buying things straight from the warehouse at wholesale prices, selling them on eBay, and they ship for you. You don't even buy it until your auction has ended and has been paid for. It sounds like it could become an excellent addition to making money at home.

All in all, it's been hectic around here. I swear, I felt less stressed when I was working. I never dreamed I'd say that!

For the love of coffee!

Anybody who knows me knows exactly how much I love coffee. I heart coffee! I cannot imagine starting my day without a big mug of java. Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I have more time to enjoy and savor my daily treat.

I recently found on Gevalia's website an offer for three bags of their coffee for three bucks! I assumed it would be trial sized bags, but was very pleasantly surprised to find they were indeed full sized bags, horray!

I got the Creme Brulee and Dark Chocolate Truffle flavored coffees, and a Decaf. I seem to crave coffee in the evenings, and the jolt of caffeine in those hours is not a good thing. Each of the ones I received are divine! I'm definitely a fan!

I wasn't sure what flavor to try for the decaf, but I really like my flavored creamers, so figured I'd enjoy those in the evenings. I'm liking this plan.

In the mornings, I find as I sip my coffee I'm better able to plan my day. It's my zen time, Gracie is eating her breakfast, and I'm able to map out just what I need to accomplish for the day with a renewed sense of well being. 

I'm not quite sure how I used to wake up and function before I started drinking coffee. Perhaps this is why I used to be so grumpy? I have only been a coffee drinker for a little less than ten years now. But then again, I got more sleep back then without a toddler waking at the crack of dawn!

If you are looking for a fantasticly smooth coffee, check out Gevalia. I was so very impressed. I'd  always heard their products were great, I just took a little while to get around trying it. Of course, three bags for three bucks, I couldn't pass it up!

What's cookin?

I found a new weakness. I'm afraid it's going to take over my life. Apple Crostatas! Wow, these are good. And easy to make, too! I spent the day trying to get it figured out, and I think I found a really easy, and tasty, recipe!

Honestly, I rarely measure things when cooking, so I'll do the best I can with sharing this. I looked at a few Apple Crostata recipes online, and just kind of threw it together from there. Each one makes either one good sized Crostata, or can be cut in half and still have a good sized portion.

Preheat your oven to 375F. Unroll one pre-made pie crust, Betty Crocker's are pretty tasty. These come in a nine inch round, and are already rolled out to just the right thickness. Spray a cookie sheet with no-stick cooking spray and lay it out on the sheet.

Peel, core, and dice two to three medium sized apples. I chopped mine fairly small, compared to what I would make for an apple pie. Put them in a good sized bowl, and sprinkle pretty heavily with sugar, brown sugar, about a Tbs of flour, cinnamon, and a dash of nutmeg. Stir until it's all coated pretty well. Taste, and adjust seasonings if desired.

Plop the apples right onto the middle of the pie crust. Spread out the apple mixture to within about two inches of the edges, leaving a slight mound in the middle. Very carefully fold the edges up and over, overlapping and pinching any areas that break. You can make this as ornate or as plain as you like. I went with a somewhat scalloped edge look. The middle area will remain open throughout baking.

Bake uncovered for about 45 minutes. If the edges of your Apple Crostata are browning a little too quickly, cover them loosely with foil. It's finished when the crust has a nice golden brown color.

While hot, top with Caramel sauce and chopped pecans (optional.) Serve with a side of Vanilla ice cream. Caution: these are highly addictive!! I can imagine this way of making Crostatas would work with just about any fruit, and can't wait to try to make it with berries sometime!   

Another Alice.com order!

I was so impressed with Alice.com that I've decided to do another order with them. The first order came on the third business day, and everything was just how it should be. Not to mention all item but one had a coupon, yay!

This time I branched out a little more. I got bleach, diapers, toothpaste, dishwashing liquid, some snacks for Gracie, air freshener, and a couple other things. All told, I ordered nine items, and saved only $2.05 in coupons. But the regular prices seem to be pretty good, too. The Luvs diapers were a full dollar cheaper than the dollar store, without a coupon! My total order was $27.85, and the shipping was still free. PLUS there was a note with the order that there will be free samples included, yay!

So I'm working my way to that first $50, at which I'll get a $10 discount. So that takes an extra 20% off everything I've ordered to that point. When you sign up through the referral program, both the referred person gets the discount. The referrer also gets a little cash, so that's nice, too!

Alice.com is great for those of us that have a long drive to the store, for minimizing trips and saving gas to just pick up a few items. Not having to clip coupons is also nice, but I generally don't mind that. It's nice that they have so many products with coupons right on the site!

     

Cleaning is so not fun

I feel like I finally caught up a bit on my cleaning fiasco over the weekend. At least enough that the dishes aren't talking smack as I walk by anymore. If anything I'm a little smug when I pass the empty sink, thinking to myself, "Ha! Take THAT!"

So I get all the general housework caught up and I realized how far this house still has to go to be, well, CLEAN. In a nutshell (pun intended,) we're finishing up remodeling the other house. So, this one has to do in the meantime. Putting all the time into the other one, there's a lot of odds and ends here being neglected.

I really hope Santa brings me one of those Shark floor cleaners this year for Christmas. The linoleum is old and has cracks and tears in many places, making it a nightmare to mop. It will be perfect for the new house, too, as it will have hardwood and tile floors. 

So this week, I'm focusing on getting these floors in shape. Or at least, not so gross. There's still a long way to go to achieve that! Thankfully, Mother Nature is cooperating with me, so I can hang the rugs out to dry and freshen up while the floors dry. Did I mention how much I like the Fabuloso cleaner? It's not the best product on the market, but wowza it smells fresh!

Playtime is over, it's back to the grind. Or the mop, as the case may be.

Pets get sick, too!

With a tighter budget as a stay at home mom, I'm looking for ways to cut costs on just about everything these days. And that includes pet meds. Prescription pet medicine can be every bit as costly as people meds, so cutting corners when possible is important.

With a dog and a cat, fleas are taking over the house! Frontline is awesome stuff, but it's price tag reflects how well it works. Thankfully, with the Internet, it's easier than ever to find pet meds at a reduced cost. There are many websites that offer pet medicine at an impressive discount, and eBay often has it at a great price.

Amazon often has good deals, too, so it's always worth checking out when comparing prices. It might take a little work finding the best deal, but when the savings are big enough, it's a great investment of time.

One thing to watch out for when buying discount pet medicine online is to make sure the produce is not damaged or out of date. This is especially true on eBay. Just make sure you are buying from a reputable seller, no matter where the deal is found.

Coloring book fun!

Today we're going to have a little fun. Gracie's discovered the joy of coloring, and we are just plain out of coloring books. So why not make our own? Downloading coloring pages is a great way to make a customized coloring book, and it's free, too! There are pages with just about any theme you can think of out floating around on the net, waiting to hit your printer and make your child as happy as can be.

Today we're going to focus on finding Elmo and Spongebob coloring pages, two of the favorite characters in this house. I'll be putting them together into a binder so Gracie can have her very own coloring book, customized just for her.

I think these will be much better to save in a hope chest than a ratty old coloring book. Somewhat of a better protected "best of," in a sense. We already have a spare binder laying around, so they'll be protected and kept neat.

The only dilemma is whether to start a new folder of coloring pages with each topic or season, or just keep adding to the original one. Either way, it will be neat to see how her coloring abilities progress throughout the years. 

Now if we could only keep the coloring limited to the coloring pages or books. Oh boy, if I could count all the surfaces G has colored on in this house! And for the record, Windex will take Sharpie marker off a computer screen. I found this out the hard way!

All in all, downloading coloring pages is an affordable way to have a little bit of fun, customized for each child. What could be better than that!

Taking care of business

In my switch to stay at home mom, I've been so focused on trying to make money I've lost sight of the primary job I have: taking care of the houe and family! I feel that the time I've put in this week toward earning money hasn't really brought enough reward to justify a messy house. So, today I'm cracking down on housework!

First on my agenda is the ginormous mound of laundry on the bed. I sure would like to sleep in my bed this evening, so the laundry must be folded and put away ASAP. Catching up the rest of the laundry won't be much of a problem, I've kept up with washing it this week for the most part. It's the folding and putting away that's got me stuck!

Next job: tackling the kitchen. Ick, I've fallen behind a little too much on that! The dishes are piled halfway to the ceiling, it seems. I'm almost positive I heard them mocking me this morning as I walked by. Time to dig in!

I think I need to go back to my old way of housework, which was making a list every day of things I wanted finished pronto. No smoke breaks or phone calls until certain points on the list. Kind of silly, but it worked. Sooo, I'll be making a list, and checking it twice...

Break time is over, time to get down and dirty with housework!

Bargain Shopping

It's getting close to the holidays, and time to start Christmas shopping. It's no secret that I use a lot of my MTurk earnings to buy things right off Amazon.com, and I have found some really good deals there over the years. Whether you use your own cash, or money you've earned from MTurk, shopping there couldn't be easier. Check out the Gold Box deals every day to get the best specials for your Christmas presents!

eHow update!

I figured it's probably a good time to throw in an eHow update, too. Earnings for October have been calculated, and I made $119.91 on 158 articles. Around 76 cents each! It keeps going up, last month it was around 74 cents, and the month before 67. 

I finally wrote another eHow article, finally! It had been six months since I actually wrote anything there! I've got to put some time and effort into eHow, the residual income can't be beat. 

I enjoy writing eHow articles, and really they don't take long to do well. A half hour to an hour, depending on how familiar I am with the subject matter is about all it takes.

One word of advice. eHow's site is often buggy. I strongly suggest writing articles first in a Word Processor document, then cutting and pasting into the site submission form. This way you have a back-up should it not go through, or if an article is deleted. 

I have been writing for eHow since July 08, and in that time I have made almost $900. If you divide that by the time I have spent writing there, it comes out to about $11.32 per hour. Not bad! Even if I never write there again, that hourly wage will just go up as the residual income trickles in. 

This is one of my favorite ways to make money being a stay at home mom! Now if I could just buckle down and write a bunch more....

Another MTurk update

Now that I'm a full time stay at home mom, I'm focusing a lot more time on working with MTurk. I'm up about $510 earned through MTurk! The work has seemed to dry up a tad bit, but there's still plenty of stuff for stay at home moms to piddle around on and make a little cash.

I haven't done much more work with CastingWords transcription through MTurk yet, but my first two assignments I did with them got good reviews and I liked the work. I need just a little more quiet time around here to do that. My plan is once a week or so to take Gracie to her aunt's house and spend the day on those jobs. The rest I can do when she's here, as they're shorter and don't require as much hands-on work. It would be easier, sure, but I can still definitely find enough time and attention to do the work on MTurk with Gracie here.

My goal is to make $80 per week with MTurk, and that is definitely reachable. I have to focus my time on this for now, as I'm still getting the hang of being a stay at home mom! One of my biggest time drainers if my favorite Mom message board. Now that I have the time, it's hard to peel myself away from there and get to work! 

I'm hoping to find a perfect balance between stay at home work, housework, and a little bit of me time. I'm sure that will come in time. But for the time being, MTurk is where much of my focus is going to be. 

CloudCrowd, is it worth it?

So I finally had a not so good experience with CloudCrowd. I got a rejection on work I am confident was done correctly. Actually, I would go so far as to say I'm positive it was done correctly. The part of that I'm upset about is that because I haven't found a lot of work on there, it put a serious ding in my credibility rating, which put me on probation. If I had done a lot of work, the ding wouldn't have been so bad. 

The approval system needs some serious work. There are reports on a few forums about CrowdCloud of similar complaints. A LOT of them. This is the way the work is reviewed: The work is open to several workers, so say a few people are zipping through and not paying enough attention and one person was. Majority rules. So, there ARE people who are getting their work rejected on CloudCrowd that didn't deserve to be. 

Being on probation means I can keep on working, and the approved work will raise my credibility score. BUT if I get another false rejection I'll be permanently suspended. There is at this time no way to appeal or fix this. I wouldn't mind so much if it could be looked at and someone with CloudCrowd could say "Why yes, you are correct. Let me fix this for you!" But that system is not in place.

I think for the time being I'm just going to sit back and wait it out. They say they're still working out the bugs in the system. Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll be back when they do. Maybe. The probation thing just left a bad taste in my mouth. There's too many other work at home sites I could focus my time on in the meantime. For now, this stay at home mom is taking a break from CC.

Alice.com order, arrived safe and sound!

I thought I'd do a quick update about my Alice.com order. As advertised, it arrived safe and sound within three business days! The bottles were all taped shut, to prevent leakage in transit, and everything was as advertised. I'm really pleased with my experience, everything was at a bargain price, and they list a lot of dry goods groceries and household items. I will definitely be a returning customer!

If you sign up with this link, you will receive $10 off your first order of $50. It's like taking an additional 20% off your stuff! With already low prices, and fast and free shipping, you just can't beat it!

Saving money and time with Alice.com

Well I made my first order with Alice.com today, and felt I made out with quite a deal! Alice.com applies manufacturer coupons automatically, no more clipping! Plus if you have a minimum order of six items, the shipping is free. They estimate two to three business days, so hopefully by Wednesday I'll be updating again. Yay!

My order consisted of Degree men's deodorant, Kashi granola bars with coconut and dark chocolate, Suave coconut shampoo and conditioner, Dove's women's deodorant, Bic disposable razors, and Softsoap moisturizing hand soap. Total before coupons was $14.76. There were coupons on all but the hand soap, and total after coupons was $10.08. So I saved $5.25 total, plus free shipping! Yippee!

One thing I've noticed with Alice.com is that their selection is improving, and you can sort your view with lowest price first, or best value first, which helps bargain hunting tremendously. The prices before coupons are pretty reasonable, as well. Plus, if you sign up through this link when you accumulate $50 in orders, you automatically save $10, too. 

All in all, I'm pretty impressed with Alice.com. I've heard other people say the shipping is super quick, so I'm looking forward to that, too. I think this website will be invaluable to stay at home moms trying to save a little money! 

Another CloudCrowd update

So I have managed to find a tiny bit of work on CloudCrowd so far, but it's been few and far between. I have read on several forums they're working the bugs out and new work should be available in the near future. I've checked back several times, sometimes work is listed for just a couple minutes at a time. BUT. It does show up, and it is paid the next day.

I think CloudCrowd will be a great addition to my stay at home mom work routine. I like that they seem to be listening to worker feedback so far. CloudCrowd workers have been active on many message boards working with workers to ensure bugs are being worked out, as well as communicating issues they are working on.

Although the work has been spotty, it is there. Little bits at a time. It all adds up in the long run. And it's great to KNOW they truly pay for work completed. Rumor has it on message boards we'll be seeing much more work posted next week. I would think when it is, it will go fast.

To sign up with CloudCrowd, follow this link. It does require a Facebook account, and will ask for access to your profile. I have found NO issues with granting this. I was really skeptical at first, but many Facebook apps ask for the same thing. So far, my experience with them has been a positive one!

Starting with Castingwords on MTurk

After much debate and research, I finally accepted and completed my first HIT with Castingwords on MTurk. Whew! 

I had downloaded the Express Scribe software, but was having tons of trouble figuring out how to actually download the MP3 file to work on it. I finally figured out to right click the link, click "Save As," saved it to My Documents, and then I could easily load it into the Express Scribe software to transcribe it. Originally, when I clicked the link, it would open in a separate page in QuickTime, and it would not have been easy to transcribe it that way!

It was relatively painless once I figured that part out! I did a transcription that was a little over two and a half minutes, and it did take me a while to do it. Most of the transcription work on Castingwords is in small snippets like that, so I purposely found a short one to get my feet wet. 

The transcription software has hot keys to make it easier to transcribe, and once I get a real feel for it I feel I can zip through this work MUCH faster than I did today. I do like the whole idea of Castingwords, and I already love MTurk! I think once I learn the ropes a little more I'll be ready to dig into the bigger, and much better paying, jobs Castingwords has to offer. Who knows? It might even lead to bigger and better stay at home mom work!

All in all, I'd say my first experience with Castingwords was a good one. It took about 45 minutes, but again, I was checking and rechecking the style guide to ensure my first submission was excellent quality. 

I'm definitely a fan of the Express Scribe software. You can slow down the speed of playback, which made it incredibly easy to understand when the speaker was talking too fast, or to decipher hard to understand words. I only marked one place with a question mark, I could figure out the rest.

I will keep updating my experiences with Castingwords. This is a great opportunity for stay at home moms to earn a little extra money. Anybody can sign up and give it a shot!

Ladybug invasion!

Since housework takes up much of the day of the typical stay at home mom, I've been digging in today as much as humanly possible. And because it's a beautiful Autumn day, we've been invaded by ladybugs. Egads, they're everywhere!

This is my preferred method of avoiding and getting rid of those pesky little buggers. And lady luck must be shining on me today, Gracie actually let me vacuum without too much of a fit. It was like the heavens opened and the angels sang!

I haven't had the chance to take lice or bug spray around to discourage ladybugs from entering just yet. Spraying down will be my next step. I just had to get those smelly ladybugs out of here before doing anything else. Those things are just plain disgusting!

With my efforts of vacuuming them up today, I have about a half a shop vac full of ladybugs. One other tip I've heard was to take a half cup or so of rubbing alcohol and when you find them, drop them right in. No muss, no fuss. That's probably what I will do with the ladybugs I find throughout the evening. 

  It figures. Mother Nature gives us a beautiful fall day, the sun is shining, the temperature just right. And in flies a ginormous swarm of ladybugs. Ick, ick, ick! Hopefully spraying down all the windows and doors will do the trick and they'll be nothing more than an unpleasant memory!

Taking a Leap of Faith

Yesterday, I had enough. I couldn't balance working outside the home and all the work in the home any longer. I turned in my two week notice! It's a giant leap of faith, I would have rather paid down my bills a little more before becoming a stay at home mom. But no more talking, it's time to just do it.

This will force me to start treating working at home as a real job. A "work" schedule will become very necessary in this quest. I think it is within reach, I just have to get off my tooshie and make it happen!

The plan for now is to work 10am to 2pm, about half of that time Gracie naps. The rest she's winding down for her nap and it should be easy enough to work from home during that time. Housework can come afterward. Then once Gracie is in bed at night, I can probably crank out another hour or two. Doing this five days a week should give about 15 hours per week.

The first month I will need to step up the residual income work, mostly eHow and Infobarrel. I still don't have my first article up at IB yet, but there's no time like the present! I need to clean up the two I wrote for my Suite 101 application and submit them. I hope to write more during the day, and use MTurk and CloudCrowd at night.

It's a huge relief to quit that job. HUGE!

CloudCrowd update

So one day into CloudCrowd my work, all three jobs, was approved and paid. Yay! I checked into the work available section several times throughout the day and night, and work was spotty. Keeping in mind, they DID say work would be light as they were rolling out new features and guidelines. So I wasn't too disappointed, but would have rather had more opportunity to earn from home.

I think as CloudCrowd grows a little more, there will be more work available. I do know now, from first hand experience, that they DO pay, they do NOT spam your Facebook profile, and the work is easy to do from home. These are always my biggest three concerns for work from home jobs. 

I was a little busy yesterday, so I probably didn't check the CloudCrowd site as much as I'd have liked, but there was bits of work here and there. To be fair, about three quarters of the time I looked, there was no work available. You did have the option of clicking the type of work and seeing if it is something that would interest you or not, and the instructions on how to do that type of job. I liked having the option of a sneak preview of the work, so to speak. On MTurk, you don't necessarily have the option unless the job is actively open.

All in all, I think CloudCrowd will be a great tool to use in the journey to become a stay at home mom.  I especially like that you can work on it as you please, for as long as you like, when you like. When chasing a busy toddler around the house, having the option of stopping work when needed is extremely important! 

Each task can be completed fairly quickly, and is easy work. As far as I could tell, there was no time limit for the jobs. On MTurk, each task is alloted a certain amount of time after you accept the job, and if not completed by that limit it counts as an abandoned hit, which hurts your score. Some jobs have to have a certain approval rating, often very high, and that could hinder future work. There is a rating system at CloudCrowd along the same premise, but without time limits, it shouldn't be hard to keep the rating high. I've had to abandon a few hits on MTurk because of a sick baby, boo-boos, or phone calls.

To sign up for CloudCrowd, follow this link and sign up in my crowd. I'm looking forward to hearing any and all success stories or complaints about CC, so feel free to let me know what you think so far! 

CloudCloud

So I finally did my first two tasks at CloudCrowd, finding Chinese websites whose English could use some polishing. I only did two so far, to get a feel for what to expect. It was fairly easy, and I am awaiting approval. One tip for this I picked up on a forum was to go through Alibaba.com and click the country of origin. You then have to go to the company's website from their profile on Alibaba, and check out if their English needs improved. Then you submit the site's URL, and a contact e-mail address. It only took a few minutes and pays 16 cents apiece at the moment.

The work is pretty scarce today as they implement some changes. It seems CloudCrowd exploded with growth and they are having some growing pains. I was encouraged to see some work listed today, but running short on time to do more work. I wanted to get a feel for the site before spending a lot of time, plus I want to see exactly how quickly they do approve and pay. I have heard from several CloudCrowd users that I know and trust that they have been approved very quickly and paid the next day. 

They do have a message on the work available page, with only the one listed as open, that there will be more projects listed in the near future. I think CloudCrowd is going to help me quite a bit in my journey to become a stay at home mom. If it pans out, this could add a lot of income from home. 

I can't wait to compare this with what I make from MTurk. It would be nice to have both to draw on, when one is slow I could do the other. I'm hearing over and over people making on average $10 to $15 per hour on CloudCrowd. This is encouraging! Plus the page load time is much less than MTurk, so I can see once I'm more familiar with this how I can zip through and get a lot more work done. 

I'll update again when I get a little more experience with them, and approved or denied for my work done, and most importantly, paid! If you are interested in signing up, you can use my referral link here. So far, so good. I'll keep everyone posted as soon as possible!

New way to make money at home!

I've been reading about a new site similar to MTurk, so I thought I'd check it out myself. CloudCrowd operates on Facebook, so I was a little hesitant to sign up for this at first. I have read in the eHow forums several people who worked as recently as last week, and almost all were paid the NEXT DAY, straight into their PayPal accounts! Woot!

Being a new and rapidly expanding website, CloudCrowd is going through some growing pains. This week work will be very limited, as they implement measures to weed out scammers. I have followed a few forum threads on both eHow and TurkerNation, the latter of which had two employees of CloudCrowd answering question and addressing problems. 

It seems the issues are being worked out, there were several forum posters who had claimed their work was rejected unfairly, and the company looked into it and not only approved their work, but promptly paid. Hence the need to tweak the app, too many were getting good work rejected by scammers.

This seems a lot like the work I do on MTurk, a lot of editing or reviewing work. It seems the work they had posted last week was focusing on Chinese websites which were originally poorly translated to English. Some work was finding such sites, some work was editing the translation, other work was grading work that was done.

The rates of pay seem to fluctuate a tad here and there, but overall, many people report making anywhere from $6 per hour to over $12. Several worked just a few hours and were paid above $30 per day. Some were reporting around $80 per day! Not bad for an aspiring stay at home mom!

So, I can't give an honest conclusion about CloudCrowd just yet, but I do know people who have been paid. There is a referral system, so I would be thrilled if you used this link to sign up. I will update throughout the week letting you know how this is working for me. So far, it looks good. Especially if they get the bugs worked out of the system and start posting work this week!

One last, and very important thing. I was hesitant to grant access to CloudCrowd on my Facebook. I took the leap of faith, and nothing showed up on my wall, or was sent to my friends. There is an option to send an invite to your friends, but it is definitely not necessary. I was afraid of appearing spammy to my friends, or bugging them with info they were not interested in. I'm happy to say, it's been kept private on my profile. 

Updating eHow articles to make more money

Now that I've really gotten my feet good and wet writing for eHow, I like to take a little time now and then to update articles. How so, you may ask? After giving a new article a couple months, I check in on them with page views and earnings. To do this, I go to my list of articles and click the views tab once. This will sort them, starting with the lowest views at the top. 

These are the articles that need attention. Perhaps I chose a keyword with too much competition, or not enough search traffic. I will pull each up, studying the keywords used, and use the Google Keyword Tool to find similar, but better, keywords. 

I try to shoot for 2 or 3 keywords per article, any more than that seems to water them down and give strange ads. By playing around with these, I've seen dud articles suddenly take off and add an increase to my residual income. I haven't added any new articles in a few months now, but I have seen my income rise each month using this process. 

Also, I focus on articles with low views but decent earnings considering. I try not to veer off the keywords too much on these, because something is right. It's just the page rank that is suffering. Promotion of those articles, via social book marks, seem to help with that. Anything to get those articles out there!

eHow is a fantastic tool for my journey to become a stay at home mom. The residual income comes in super handy each month. The sky is the limit, the more you put into eHow, the more you will get out of it. 

Writing more articles is key to making more money, but at times it's best to take a step back, and fix the ones that aren't doing so well. A few minutes work doing this can reap huge rewards in the long run.

eHow Sweeps

eHow has been a godsend for me for extra money. Any US citizen can sign up, write articles, and generate residual income. Simple, right? Well, not necessarily so. I've been a member since July 08, and I've only lost a few eHow articles in sweeps. And honestly, those should have went. They came across as spammy, didn't meet the how-to criteria, or were poorly written. All we can do is learn from our mistakes.

There are several guides available to help somebody become a better eHow writer, to increase income, and to avoid getting articles deleted. This guide, by one of eHow's top earners, WriterGig, can help get the most money from each article. It has proven invaluable to my own time on eHow, what a fantastic investment!

This free guide, written by a well known presence in the eHow forums, shows how to not only write a good eHow article, but to make sure it is in the proper format to avoid deletion in eHow sweeps. I strongly suggest reading both to get the most out of your time on eHow.

So what is proper format, you may ask? It's actually fairly simple. It has to be a straight forward how-to article. The writing doesn't have to be fantabulous, but of course that helps! Each step should be in a logical, chronological order, and show a specific action. Many suggest starting each step with a verb.

Proper spelling and grammar are also of utmost importance. Using spell check should be done on every article. Once published, you should take another look and read aloud, to ensure grammar is used properly. You can go back and edit if necessary.

I'm getting ahead of myself. Using good keywords is also important for the value of your articles. There's several different theories on the best way to go about this, but using Google's Keyword Tool and clicking CPC (cost per click) can show you the best paying keywords. Really, anything above a dollar can be good. Plus the Google Keyword Tool will show the amount of searches per keyword. Going for keywords that are heavily searched, say above 10,000 searches per month, will probably have stiff competition. So a good approach is to go for keywords with less competition, to ensure you get a fair amount of traffic.

eHow can provide a nice little residual income in time, but it takes a while to build up a library to achieve success. Working at it a little bit every day will have big rewards in the end. If you lose some eHow articles in the sweeps, don't let it get you down or turn you off to eHow. It happens to some of the best authors. Learn from the mistakes and keep writing.

MTurk General Transcription

I've been looking for ways to increase work at home opportunities with MTurk and stumbled upon their transcription work. It's general transcription, which is great for a newbie like myself. I did take some Medical Transcription classes a few years back, but never stuck with the program. I actually have the hardware and software necessary, but it's packed away somewhere at the moment. So, needing work in the general area of this field is important.

Castingwords has loads of general transcription work on MTurk at any given time. They have a nice style guide available, which can train anybody on how to do this work. Some of the jobs are longer, some shorter, and they offer nice bonuses for excellent work. I've read through many WAHM forums that give rave reviews of the company, they're legit, give bonus pay fairly, and pay quickly.

It seems this would be a great company to learn the ropes with. They do have a qualification testing process, which would make me feel more at ease, or at least more confident in getting started. I plan to download the Express Scribe software this afternoon, which is the easiest way to do transcription from what I've read. Once qualified, they also offer jobs grading transcription work that has already been turned in with them.

I always keep my eyes open for companies on MTurk I would like to do work often with. The ones who pay well and quickly, and post content often, are at the top of the list. I think Castingwords is looking like a great bet for working on becoming a stay at home mom. It seems steady enough to rely on, unlike some of my other favorites that post jobs sporadically. One that I work for often pays well, but it seems like it takes 2 weeks to get jobs approved and paid. I guess that's okay if there's nothing else available, but I like having that money in my account rather quickly in case I need it.

I'm really excited about this opportunity. This feels right, like it will help make the transition to stay at home mom quicker. Getting into a routine before quitting my job will be an important first step. I'm not positive I have enough self control to be a full on work at home mom, but by golly I'll give it my best shot! 

Alice.com, a new way to shop and save!

Wow, I recently stumbled upon a new website that can really change the way we save and use coupons. Alice.com scours the internet for sales and coupons and automatically applies those savings to everyday products. They have a section for best bargains, and some of those prices are unbelievably good! Plus, they ship free!

If you sign up with this link, you will save $10 off your first $50, and it doens't have to be in one transaction, it can accumulate to that amount. They have a good selection of dry goods and non-perishable foods, and it seems to be growing every day.

One more feature I really like, you can set your own "pantry" where you list the things that you regularly use. They will let you know when they have sales you may be interested in, or you can set it for them to let you know when you should order more before running out. 

The coupon potential on this site is great! Granted, they don't double or triple coupons, but for a busy stay at home mom who doesn't like to actually clip coupons this is a great option. I recently saw deoderant for .58 cents apiece there! I'm really excited about this opportunity, I think this will be a great way to save money on groceries. The prices are so low, it might take a while to hit that first $50!  

MTurk, making money in my spare time

I'm buckling down more and more with MTurk. This can really be a profitable website for a stay at home moms. The biggest problem with me, is finding the time and sticking with it. There are too many distractions on the world wide web sometimes to keep focused. Finding work with MTurk that is enjoyable helps overcome some of those issues. Staying on task and devoting time and energy to it really brings in a decent little income. Of course, the longer you devote to it, the more money you make!

I'm setting aside at least three hours per day to work on MTurk, at least an hour and a half both morning and evening. This will leave the rest of the day to take care of the house and kids, make dinner, and focus on other online earning oportunities. Plus, setting a realistic schedule can help reduce burnout so you can work harder and more efficently. Every little bit helps when trying to work from home!

Another time zapper for me is continually checking the dashboard to see how much money I've made. This is a bad habit! Just keep plugging along is the best way to really add up some income. Plus, it makes the time go by so much faster. 

MTurk is one of my important tools in becoming a stay at home mom. I can make quick and easy money there, while waiting for my residual income from places like eHow. The combination of both types of income are handy, you know you can count on the residuals, but when something comes up you have the opportunity to make it up quickly. 

On to Infobarrel

Well, I was very excited to apply with Suite 101, but my application was denied. I think I need to strengthen my writing a little more and will probably apply with them at some point in the future. They do only accept 20% of applicants, so I really need to get a little stronger before trying again.

However. For now I am giving Infobarrel a shot. It utilizes Google AdSense as a means of payment, offering a nice share of ad revenue. The writing style seems easy to work with, and the residual income will be much appreciated. Every little bit helps when trying to become a stay at home mom. Plus, having multiple streams of residuals is always a good bet. 

I plan to go through my eHow library to spawn ideas for Infobarrel articles. Not to copy them, just for brainstorming purposes. Their writing also does not have to be in the how-to format, which opens up a lot of possibilities to write about. This is an exciting step for me, definitely a way to broaden the writing horizons! On the bright side, I had to write two sample articles to apply on Suite 101, so my first two submissions are already taken care of. 

I'll keep this updated with progress with Infobarrel. I do think this will be a great opportunity in my journey to become a stay at home mome.

Infobarrel does have a referral program, so if you are interested in writing for Infobarrel please check out this link. 

Expanding writing skills and trying Suite 101

After doing a little research, I'm finding people on WAHM.com are saying Suite 101 has higher residual income than eHow. There is an application process, and active editors involved. Eh, things could be worse. I like the idea of editors being involved, unlike eHow, to provide higher quality writing. I'm still somewhat new to writing online, but have learned a lot about SEO and article marketing along the way. I think the next logical step from eHow must be to Suite 101! 

Some of the WAHMs on the message board were posting their numbers of articles compared with the montly earning between the two sites. It was a huge difference, some of them three to four times as much residual income from Suite 101! Since there is no cost to apply, I have nothing to lose and everything to gain. This could very well the the means to becoming a stay at home mom!

Straying from the how-to format is seriously going to stretch and improve my writing. It's ridiculously easy to put a how-to together into actionable steps. I've just ran somewhat dry on ideas I can do that with. I have "the list" but just have been having trouble adapting ideas I have into articles. Remove the how-to and actionable step issue, and voila, I have tons of articles ready to go for Suite 101. Problem solved!

They do have a set amount of articles they want written, but it's fairly small. I believe it's 10 articles per three months. When I was going strong with eHow, I was churning out 15 per week, so I know that won't be an issue. Obviously, it would not be wise to just copy the eHow articles to put over on Suite 101, as this hurts search engine ranking. Plus, I believe they frown on exact copies, as well. However, I plan to use the same byline, so I can modify existing articles for use on their site. 

I'm really excited about this opportunity. If I spend two hours each morning on writing, my odds of becoming a stay at home mom raise substantially. No more scrambling to find a babysitter for me, hopefully! Wish me luck!

Update on eHow earnings

I am taking a good hard look at eHow, and how much money I am currently making from my efforts there. To date, I have made almost $750 in just over a year writing for eHow. I estimate that I spent around 82 hours in my time writing there, which would make about $9.14 per hour for my work. Here's the catch, once the work is done, the earnings keep coming in, so even if I never write another article there my hourly wage is only going up. Not bad for passive income for a stay at home mom!

Obviously, the way to raise this even more is to churn out more articles. Easier said than done. I've mentioned before keeping a running log of article ideas to draw from in moments of writer's block, or to just keep on paper before I can forget. Then there's the issue of time. What stay at home mom has enough of that? There's always laundry that needs done, always dishes in the sink, always life in the way. I'm making it my goal to FIND time to write more articles, and up my passive income.

Another important thing. You can never know enough about SEO (Search Engine Optimization). It's not good enough to just throw it out there and hope your writing just strikes it rich. If you are counting on this for another stream of income, make the most of it! Use Google's Keyword Analysis Tool and find the keywords that are searched for and have a decent pay per click. I was going about this wrong in the beginning, going for keywords with tens of thousands of searches AND a very high CPC. Those keywords often have very heavy competition, which means it will be hard to get on the front page of searches in search engines. 

Finding keywords with a couple thousand searches per month and a decent payout (between $1 and $5) means there is a demand for the subject, but not so much competition that your article gets buried in thousands of other search results. A little bit of homework in this area goes a very long way with passive income!

How does that work with "the list?" Finding which keywords to use for your subject is tricky. It may involve wording that you're not very comfortable with, which can show through in your writing. Take the time to MAKE it work, to make it sound natural and you will see much better rewards in your writing. Go through "The List" from time to time and do your homework, and take notes. If you think BBQ is going to provide better results than Barbeque, take note. It's the little differences like this that can make a huge difference in the long run in passive income. 

When using passive income and writing online as a means to becoming a stay at home mom, you've really got to stay on top of things. Read through everything you can get your hands on to ensure you are finding the best way to maximize your time, thus maxmizing your income.