For the next few months, we'll be discuss making a living without leaving home.

We hope you'll contribute to this section.

A Nineties Trend

In last month's issue of the webzine, we discussed the Proverbs 31 Lady marveling at how she managed several careers and a household with apparent ease. We dubbed her a women of the nineties because so many of today's women strive to do this very same thing.

Men, too, are showing great interest in working from home.... Never mind. I erased what I had written because you need answers not analysis! So let's get down to cases and begin our overview.

The Options:

• A Home Based Business

You may dream of operating a home bake shop, or catering service, or desktop printing business; but few businesses make any profit the first year, whether home based or operated from the traditional storefront or office.

When you need income and you need it now, there are few options. You don't have the luxury of going out on a limb with a home based business that may end up costing more than it makes. And let's be brutally honest here, most of them do, at least for the first year or two.

This doesn't mean you should scrap the idea. No, not at all. Follow the dream and get started right away by doing research, honing your skills, making contacts, etc. And PRAY for the Lord's will and guidance!! What you do today may yield great rewards tomorrow.

Meanwhile, you need something more immediate...

• A Home Based Job

A popular alternative: work for a paycheck, but do the work at home. This is not as far fetched as you might think and is almost as inviting to employers as employees.

Employers save on workmen's comp. insurance, overhead, office waste and more. Employees have obvious advantages of which you are already aware since you're reading this at all.

Obviously, this sort of arrangement doesn't apply to waitress work, but is fitting for a surprising number of job titles such as medical or other billing, secretarial or clerical duties, ad layout, dental appointment confirmation caller, answering service work, data entry, typesetting want ads or articles for the local paper, distribution tracking, truck dispatching or safety dept. log review, customer service, etc.

Start by looking for a job and approaching all potential employers as a normal applicant. Once rapport is established and you have them convinced of your suitability for the position, don't be shy about presenting your proposal that you could do this job in your own home and benefit all involved.

Do, however, avoid the stuffing envelope, home assembly and other mass marketed so-called money-makers, please. These have not proven financially productive nor efficient and can actually cost YOU money!

• Get an Outside Job

You didn't want to "hear" that, did you? And I didn't want to write it, either, but sometimes, that's the only temporary solution in sight. Read that again and pay close attention to the word temporary.

I know a brilliant man who had a dream. He wanted to be a railroad historian and probably knows more about railroad history than any single human being alive today, yet his knowledge is locked in his brain and he has worked for as a truck driver for almost 30 years!

He took the job when he was young to help tide his growing family over and get their fiscal feet on the ground. It was a "temporary" job...

I have a son who dreamed of becoming an architect. He married young, went to work at a copper mine and hoped to continue his education when money problems eased up. He's a grandfather now. He did take some classes but still works at the copper mine, his "temporary" job...

Be careful not to let that "temporary" job become more than that!

• Make Money by Saving Money

If it's financial need that's driving you to look for work, you might want to reevaluate your family budget and spending habits. You may be shocked at how much you can "earn" simply by making some well disciplined changes.

You don't have a family budget? You have no idea where your money goes? Again, you're not alone. If that's the case, though, it's the first thing you need to do, even before looking for work, in the home or at a workplace. Do it now! Tonight. For help, go HERE.

Please enjoy an original work by Margo Bentzler. There's much food for thought here...

Remember the song from the sixties, "Where Have All The Young Men Gone?" It was a song that spoke of the pain and loss from the casualties of war that we faced during such an upheaval in our country's history. Though the Vietnam War may be over and done with, there is another battle that rages on. This battle is not claiming the lives of our young men. Rather, it is stealing out young mothers from today's children.

When I grew up, nearly every one of my friend's mothers stayed at home to raise their children and to be homemakers. I can count on one hand the number of friends whose mothers were employed outside the home. Working moms were such a unique concept that I can remember thinking it was really "neat" that one of my friend's moms actually had a "real" job.

I have memories of being able to select whom I wanted to play from nearly a dozen children in my neighborhood my age, or close to it. But my children are growing up in a different generation. Their peers don't have mothers that stay home to "bake cookies and have teas" (to quote a common misconception of what we stay-at-home mothers do). My daughter doesn't have friends in our big neighborhood because they are all gone . . . gone to daycares everyone. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

My husband and I moved to what we now call home nearly a year ago. I was anxious to dig my feet into our church, our community, and to make some friends. I am still looking. I've knocked on doors at nearly every house within several blocks of our home - wherever I found a swing set or children's toys in the yard. I have found no stay-at-home mothers. Rather, only stay-at-home grandmothers who are helping their daughters who "have" to work. I hear them say, "It's so nice you get to stay home. I never worked outside the home when I was raising my kids, either. We just managed to do with less. But times are different now. These women have to work." But do they? Are they willing to do without like our mothers did? Or have we become so accustomed to the haves rather than the have-nots?

Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against a woman who is truly in the position of having to work. My heart especially goes out to the single mom who is forced to work whether she wants to or not. But it breaks my heart when I hear people say, "I don't have to work, it's just that we've grown accustomed to a certain standard of living. " I guess I also get frustrated because I am looking for a friend for my children and myself. Where have all the young moms and children gone?

I remember my mother finally getting a chance to relax after supper. The laundry was folded and put away, and the cleaning was done for the day. She'd walk next door to our neighbor's house, pull up a lawn chair, and sit on the porch and visit. We kids would then play with the neighbor children, riding our bikes up and down their driveway until it was nearly dark, when we all went inside.

My husband and I try to take walks with our children with the hope of meeting some people. But there are no people sitting on their front porches anymore. They are all inside trying to catch up on the housework they weren't able to do because they were at work. Or, because they had a hectic day at work and they want some privacy, they are . . . gone to their backyards, everyone. When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?

Learn what? you might ask. Learn that we still need each other. That we still need neighbors helping neighbors. We still need friends across the street. And our children still need friends they can choose to play with, not just those they are forced to play with at daycare. Am I a dying breed? Maybe. But this is not a war in which I choose to enlist. This stay-at-home mom is going to survive. What about you?

Get "Professional" Help

When left to our own understanding, we will wander astray. Count on it. No matter what the issue, money, career choice, you name it, if we try to deal with it in isolation, we will not deal wisely!

First, seek the Lord's will and leading. This is the most vital thing you can do. You assessment of the situation is narrow and faulty in comparison to His. Keep praying. Be like the lady in Jesus parable about the dishonest judge. She nagged him so persistently that he finally gave her justice.

Now, we know that Jesus wasn't suggesting that our Father is like unto the dishonest judge. Of course not! Jesus was showing us that if this works with a dishonest judge, how much MORE effective are the continual pleadings of the beloved child of our heavenly Father!

Keep praying! And praying! And praying!

God will lead you to wise counselors. Perhaps your pastor, banker, or even a web site! Don't forget God's Word. The Bible is full of the best fiscal advice you'll ever find.

Consider what you are given from these sources; compare the input you get one with another and with God's word; then pray some more. Ask for a prayer partner to help you.

More to Come

Each month, we'll do an in depth discussion of one of these options, so come back in December!