Babysitting

I wanted to find something I could do for some extra income before the holidays. I knew I would have a month off of school and I figured it would be perfect to fill my time up with a money making activity. At first I was thinking, "I could totally do the barista thing at Starbucks." But then I was thinking it would be a huge pain to be tied to a certain schedule. The schedule would probably conflict with my schedule at my full time job. Then my best friend Katie mentioned that she had been babysitting and the families in NYC were paying her up to $20 per hour (in UT I make about $12 per hour)! So I quickly jumped on that bandwagon and made myself an account on sittercity.com, the site she recommended. It took a little while but by early November I had a job with two different families, babysitting about twice per week. From then till now, I have made about $350 babysitting. It has paid for my family's Christmas presents and made the budget feel a little more comfortable. Last week family A gave me $20 extra and said "We gave you a little extra for Christmas and for being such a great babysitter!" Aww! I love that! Then last night family B gave me a card and when I opened it there was the sweetest message about how it has been so nice knowing someone great is watching their children so they can feel comfortable leaving on dates and such. There was also $40 in the card. These people are so sweet! Needless to say, it has been awesome babysitting. It's fun to go play hide and go seek and do puzzles and watch Beauty and the Beast and then I get to go home to my much quieter life when I'm done, with some extra money. I am meeting with a third family in January after they are back from holiday travels. We'll see what fun that brings!