This month's guest post is from Tiffani Crenshaw. Tiffani is the creative mind behind the blog Pencil Skirt Mama. Her blog is a resource that helps women implement employment strategies to understand their current value to their company or gain employment and increase their "life revenue". Happy Reading. 

I know you will probably look at this headline for a quick and easy way to always have childcare money but no, I’m sorry, you have to put some work in ASAP. You will, however, have the money you need and it won’t hurt you as much each paycheck. So let’s go…

About 3 1/2 months ago, I was set to go on maternity leave. No one told me when you have a normal delivery; most employers only pay for 6 weeks of maternity leave. Since this was my 2nd time having a child in 2 years (I blame my husband lol), not only were they paying for 6 weeks instead of 8, I was only going to get 70% of my paycheck. WHAT?! 70%. I don’t know about you but I need the whole 100%. 

With my first child, I went back to work after 8 weeks (and this was AFTER a C-Section). I made up my mind that I couldn’t risk missing out on being with my baby full time. I hated missing little moments with my baby because I had to go back to work. UGH. My oldest would have to start daycare (my mom was nice enough to watch her full time for her first year of life) and my household would have a new bill, similar to a 2nd mortgage. I should have been smart enough to save for her daycare while my mom was her caregiver, but I wasn’t thinking nor was I as smart about my money as I am now. Kids change your mindset. And they should….

Let’s look at some things I and others I know did to earn extra money:

Automatic Direct Deposit

Five months before I was set to go on maternity leave to give birth to my second child, I set up my direct deposit at work to take the money for estimated child care out of my check and deposit into an online savings/checking account with NO FEES. An account without FEES is vital. You want to make sure nothing is being taken from your child care money. Period. This helped tremendously. I gave myself ample time to budget and see how life would be with this new bill. My oldest would not start daycare until I returned to work. I was able to save five months’ worth of daycare. My daughter started daycare two weeks before I was set to start a new job, this wasn’t planned. This meant I wouldn’t even have a full check with the new job. But it was ok; I had the child care saved… See!

Mystery Shopping

People laugh at mystery shoppers. I used to laugh as well.  It’s funny to some, but one man made $14,000 last year Mystery shopping. That’s the average cost of child care/expenses these days for 1 child. Is it still funny? The key to mystery shopping is to sign up with multiple companies. Also, try to mystery shop in your area of work. This means, you could go on lunch breaks. Also, when you pass certain stores on the way home, you can stop and mystery shop. Easy Money. Easy.  I have researched several women banking in mystery shopping. I’m no expert on it so I will just stop there, you can google legit companies. Why not do what we (women) like doing anyway. 

Ask For A Raise

I’m serious about asking for a raise. More than likely, we are sitting at a job not making what we deserve. Ask for a raise. Show your value to the company. Save the new extra money. You need to still live like you are making your “OLD” pay and put the extra “NEW” money in an account strictly for child care or emergencies.

Sell Your Services

If your friends are always asking you to do something, you’re good at it, and you’re an expert, SELL IT. Stop doing free. I know you think it’s cool to give your bestie the twist out of a lifetime but you need to monetize that talent you have with those fingers. Don’t sell yourself short. If you lost 50lbs and everyone is asking you how, ma’am, you need to sell that knowledge. Stop doing free.

If you already are taking advantage of this and are making money on the side, please don’t negotiate your prices. Your price is your price. Your business is your life!

It’s not simple by any means to ALWAYS have child care, but implementing these strategies will at least have you with a little bit of cushion. Now, don’t use the money for an emergency unless you can replace it and PLEASE don’t use the money on bags, hair, and shoes. Let’s all be a responsible.

Connect with me: pencilskirtmama.com