Breaking Down my Income

So I've mentioned that what I classify as income includes my Canada Child Tax Benefit/Childcare Allowance (CCTB), child support and WAHM income. Total they equal $2675:

$871 income

$400 child support

1404 CCTB


If you've been reading this last week then you know that I have a short fall every month, with this money alone. So in comes my money making endeavors:



$350/month renting out a bedroom

$800/month babysitting

These are the things that I currently do to boost my income by up to $1150/month. I say "up to" because babysitting can change depending on how many working days are in the month, holidays and days off for my SIL.

If I was taking in kids other than my nephews, I'd charge more than the $40/day that I receive now, but seeing as how my SIL watched Owen for me last year for the same rate of pay while I worked, Im good with this amount. I work from home, as the children allow. Adding in two more children similar in age to my littles, hasn't seemed to disrupt things too much. I can bring them with me to pick up the biggs from school and they have lots of things to play with here that are age appropriate. When I work on school-type things with Jamie, I include the other two as well.

We live in a four bedroom house and to some people that would mean that we either do not have enough bedrooms or that we have just the right amount. With the set-up of this house though, there's three bedrooms on the top floor and one on the bottom. It's a four-level, side-split so there's really only a floor and a half between them, but it seems like a lot. Micah is only 9 and Im not yet ready for him to be so far away from me. Because of this, Micah and Noah share a room and the littles share a room, leaving the basement bedroom open for my university student brother.

The only other rooms on the same floor as his bedroom are a large unfinished storage area and the laundry room. There's a utility sink in there, shelves and a second fridge. When he moved in we agreed that he would use the second fridge and shelves as a place to store his food, though he cooks upstairs. There's also a bathroom on the next floor up and that's the main one he uses. The rest of us mostly stick to the upstairs one, unless the kids are in the rec room. His use of electricity is about the only thing that costs me money from his $350/month and for that reason it is well worth it to have him here.

So that's it. Two simple changes that I've worked into my circumstances allow for an extra $13800, minus expenses. Even at a conservative $10000/year, it's totally worth it. I plan to add even more this year, so watch for those posts in the coming months.

What do you do to make extra cash each month?