Recently I added a sixth way to enter the giveaways on this site: subscribing to my Write A Blog People Will Read newsletter. The weekly(ish) newsletter is writing-focused, but that doesn’t mean that non-writers shouldn’t read it.
Sure, it includes info like how much freelancers should charge and why blogging matters. But general-interest topics show up as well, such as why walking can change a bad day, how “Moose: The Movie” can inspire us all and the ways that fear can actually be good for people.
So even if you aren’t itching to start your own website, give the newsletter a try. Here’s how to do it:
- Go to WriteABlogPeopleWillRead.com/blog.
- Look for the “Free Writing Tips” box on the right-hand side.
- Enter your name and e-mail address and you’ll be subscribed.
Every time you enter a Surviving and Thriving giveaway, be sure to leave a separate comment stating that you’re a newsletter subscriber. It’s just one more chance to win.
And if you are interested in becoming a blogger, or even just a better writer in the workplace? Use the link above for a 25 percent discount on the 12-part online writing course. For a free course sample, e-mail me at Contact@WriteABlogPeopleWillRead.com.
Double the rewards
The Swagbucks rewards site will give double points Monday and Tuesday, June 29 and 30, for any fun you have on Encrave. You can earn points (“Swagbucks,” or SBs) by browsing articles, videos, slide shows and visiting other websites.
All you U.S.-based readers will also get double points for nGage and the Daily Crave as well. The SBs you get on Monday will be credited on Tuesday and the ones you get on Tuesday will show up on Wednesday.
Head over to Encrave and start earning, then trade the points for something you want. I usually opt for Amazon gift cards that I use for birthdays and holidays, and sometimes for restaurant gift cards that I take with me on the road.
And if you’re not yet a member, I hope you’ll join using my referral code.
Season-ender savings
According to the price-comparison website FatWallet.com, right now is a good time to buy “end of season” apparel.
Um…Isn’t it still summer? Technically, yes. But retail is gearing up for its back-to-school push and that means getting rid of a lot of current inventory.
“June clothing sales offer families a chance to save as much as 80 percent off popular brands,” says FW spokesman Brent Shelton. Among them: Puma, Levi, Reebok, Adidas, Banana Republic, LL Bean and Eddie Bauer.
Consider getting some early BTS shopping done, since items like khakis and short-sleeved shirts can be worn in early fall (or year-round, if you live in a warm place). Shelton says you can expect prices to go back up later on in the summer.
So unless you want to pay more money for items like khakis and short-sleeved shirts, start looking now. Bonus: You can pay cash as you go vs.
Soaked by sitters?
Finally: You may be wildly underpaying your babysitter. According to Care.com, the average U.S. sitter salary is $13.50 per hour. If you live in a place like San Francisco, you’ll pay about $3 more for the same service.
Anyone else remember making 75 cents to $1 per hour for kid-wrangling? Gee, I’m old. On the other hand, when I was back in college at midlife I was pulling in anywhere from $10 to $14 per hour as the best babysitter in Seattle. That’s because I:
- Drove myself there and back
- Played with the kids and read to them vs. turning on the TV
- Tidied up the house afterward, and
- Never, ever called boys
The children were generally well-behaved and fun to be around. Since they generally went to bed one or two hours after I arrived, I considered it as being paid to study.
I wonder how folks can afford the dinner or the movie if they’re paying $40 or more just for the child care? Maybe that’s why attachment parenting has taken off lately: It’s too costly to leave your kids.
I certainly remember small change for my babysitting services in my younger days. I also remember paying $5/hr to have my kids watched about 18 years ago. Will check out your newsletter, sounds very interesting. Take care
In 1972 I split a summer babysitting gig with my sister. We lived with a doctor’s family for a week at a time, trading off on Saturdays. In addition to having us watch the kids while they were at work (his wife was a nurse at the practice) and also riding herd on them in the evenings, we did light housework and laundry, helped with the cooking and did the dishes.
The pay: $25 a week.
Sometimes they invited friends over and whoever was sitting that week would be responsible for any children the friends brought with them. I remember one hectic summer day watching eight kids aged 18 months to 12 years of age and thinking, “I’m not being paid enough.”
Did any of their (also well-off) friends ever tip me for watching their kids for three or four hours while they played tennis and drank iced tea? They did not. Some of them didn’t even bother to thank me, but would just collect their children and go.
Grrrr.
I can remember being paid a buck an hour. One particular couple had three active boys. They went out one Saturday evening with friends, but stopped in for about a half hour to pick something up they had forgotten. And the skinflint actually didn’t pay me for that half hour.
I can go you one better. The summer I was almost 15 my steady babysitting client asked if I wanted to spend a week at the shore with her and three friends and their kids.
So I was there for one week and had responsibility for eight kids; only one other woman brought her own sitter. That girl and I took the children to the beach before their moms were out of bed, made lunches, took care of the laundry, kept the little ones amused when we weren’t at the beach, cleaned up after dinners and stayed with the kids several evenings while their moms went out.
We couldn’t swim ourselves because we had children to keep an eye on. We couldn’t escape them in the evenings if we wanted to because there was no TV and the kids always wanted to play, play, play. We couldn’t walk away from a littered table because we’d been brought up to make ourselves useful, so while the women lounged with their coffee or iced tea we automatically cleared away the dishes.
Hell, one night one of the husbands drove down after work and when he arrived his shirt was completely soaked with sweat (no air conditioning in his car). His wife told him to take it off and come for a swim — and she told ME to wash his shirt and hang it out on the line.
The women set aside one evening for me and the other sitter to go the boardwalk by ourselves. Other than that, we were at their beck and call the entire time.
One of the other mothers noticed me reading once the kids were in bed and gave me a gift of several Agatha Christie mystery paperbacks. The other two moms did not even offer a gift or a tip.
And the woman who’d invited me down there paid me…exactly NOTHING. Shame on me for not nailing down the payment before I agreed (“Wow, a week? Will I be watching the kids the whole time? Would I be paid just for those hours or a lump sum for the week?”), I suppose. But shame on her for thinking that a week of taking care of the kids pretty much nonstop, with one three-hour evening at the boardwalk, would be “fun” for me.
You know, it actually *was* kind of fun at times because the kids were sweet. But I would have appreciated not being treated as a full-time employee without being paid.
They never rented a house together again. If they had, would I have had the cojones to say, if invited, “No, it was too much work for zero money”? Probably not. I was pretty timid back then.
That “week at the shore” sounds hellish. I did a little babysitting as a teen and again in my early twenties, haven’t done it since.
I did spend several weeks taking care of two young brothers the summer I was 17, but can’t remember what I was paid. I became very attached to them and became friends with their mom for a while. That “friendship” blew up in my face once I made the mistake of getting a job in the same office with her. Almost as soon as we started working together, she began a campaign to get me fired. Yeah, fun times. ;o)
Thanks for the extra info on your writing newsletter. I hadn’t signed up thinking it wouldn’t be for me. But I took a look and found some interesting stuff! Thanks!
I think I must have had the dream babysitting gig: my mom’s social-climbing friend landed a wealthy European man, produced a son, and asked me to babysit for them when he was just a few months old. She left dinner for me: filet mignon, fresh steamed green beans with lemon butter, and champagne. All of this served on a gold-edged plate (and the champagne in a golden goblet). I was 14. I discovered I liked champagne, but that I also didn’t know how to change a diaper. That was back when you had to fold a cotton cloth and pin it carefully on the infant. My mom walked me through it on the phone. I don’t recall what I was paid, but I am sure it was more than I really had earned. I spent the evening dining regally. Baby Jimmy was an angel; I don’t think he cried once. Looking back, I don’t think that if I were a mother I’d be willing to trust a 14-year-old with my infant. At least I didn’t set the house on fire with my candle-lit meal.