Are There Legitimate Work at Home Jobs Out There?

I've been a stay at home mom for several years now and sometimes money can get pretty tight. Over the years I've tried and tried to find a legitimate work at home job. In the process I've been scammed twice. The first time was I was suckered into thinking there was really a company that would pay people to stuff envelops. I paid my fee to begin the job and receive the paperwork and materials I needed, only to receive nothing. Tip number one, don't EVER pay a company to work for them. The second time I was scammed by a work at home company was I paid a company to send me job leads and ways to find work at home jobs via mail and email. I paid my money only to receive a book with very little information that I had already read for free at the library and on the internet. Tip number two, don't pay a company to find work for you, do the research yourself. So needless to say neither of those worked out.

There are legitimate jobs out there, you just have to REALLY look and do your research. The biggest problem I've found is the pay and no benefits. Most work at home jobs I've found and have worked for don't offer medical insurance, vacation time, or any kind of benefits. After all you do have the luxury of working from home right? The other problem I've had is there is no minimum wage standards for working at home. One job I had as a dispatcher for a lock smith company paid per call. The average amount of money I was making was two dollars an hour and sometimes less than that. That's just crazy. Why aren't companies who hire people to work at home required to follow the minimum wage standards too?

If you have small children at home sometimes the scheduling can be tough. Some jobs require weekend and or late night hours to be worked which can be hard to work around your family. Small children also require constant care and attention and if you have to work specific hours it can be hard providing adequate care for the child during those times. If you are working from home because you don't want to be away from your child/children, working from home takes you away from them too. Unless you can find a job that you can work whenever you have the time to work not whenever they need you to work, small children can make it hard to do that.

On the up side, I have found a few jobs so far that actually pay decent money at home and have a very flexible schedule. The ideal situation for a person who is trying to make money while staying home with their children is to take on more than one work at home position. I have not found a company yet that offers insurance so ideally your spouse would need to have insurance with another company. And don't accept work from companies that are not willing to pay you what you're worth. You wouldn't take a very low paying job in the outside world would you?

I personally, do not work full time at home and don't plan on it since I will be taking away more time than I'd like from my children. BUT it can be done. With a lot of determination and research and insisting on a decent pay amount you can work from home to be with your family more. Key things to remember, don't ever pay a company to work for them, do your research, and refuse to work for too little pay.