Make Money with Your Kitchen: Creative Money-Making Ventures

A kitchen can be a great place to start when you need to be inventive about making money. As a mother and a homemaker, I have thought up many simple ways to make money right in your own kitchen. Some will involve the kids, but with some variation, kids do not need to be the focus.

Have a Beverage & Bake Sale
Bake cookies, pies, and other goodies. Make kool-aid, lemonade, or other drinks. Go outside your house with the kids and set up a stand. You can use a table and a cooler if that's all you have. Be sure to sit in a shady spot, to keep the sun away from the people as well as the cooler. Display the baked goodies on the table. Keep the drink pitchers in the cooler. One drink pitcher filled with ice is fine to keep on the table, especially if your stand gets busy. If your children are holding the sale, let them use the profits to purchase crafts. If the stand is something they will do all Summer, teach them how to take out money for operating their next stand and keep the rest for profit.

Sell Customized Cookies
Personal greetings ("I Love You" etc...) on edible items are thoughtful any time of the year, especially around Christmas and Valentine's Day. Start a business selling cookies with personal messages written on them with frosting. Lovers, friends, and relatives enjoy getting that thoughtful gift and this one certainly falls in line with that. Print up and hand out fliers advertising your business. Make a website as well, if you can. Tell family, friends, and everyone else you come across. Print yourself up some business cards and register your business name.

Sell Holiday Cookies
Similar to the custom cookies, holiday cookies are very popular. Some of these may have messages, as the custom cookies do. Some may not. You could even combine these two businesses together to create an all-purpose cookie company. Creating a flier with pictures and prices of the products will help your business go further. Pass the fliers out around your neighborhood and at large events. Placing the fliers on cars and on doors is a great way to get the word out.

Invent A Unique Recipe And Sell It
Ever heard of a Kool-Aid pickle? Maybe you've heard of the fried candy bar or frozen watermelon. What do all of these have in common? These were all unique foods invented by people just like you and me. So, think long and hard about something different. Try it and taste it. If it's good, market it. Let your kids sell it at their lemonade stand first to see what people think. Maybe you already have something unique that you make. Either way, sell, sell, sell! You'd be amazed at the profit you can reap from something so simple.

Have Some Fun With Clay
Make assorted fun and unique items out of clay and sell them in a party designated for such. If you have a talent for sculpting things from clay, make good use of that talent. Get yourself some pottery clay or Sculpey. Sculpt and bake away! Don't forget that you can also paint your creations as well for even more design versatility. You could make clay earrings, clay pots, vases, treasure boxes, and more. Go clay crazy! You could also sell these items at a yard sale, bake sale, or craft fair.

Combination Frenzy
By combining a few of these together, you will reap even more benefits. For instance, combine the bake sale items, the unique food recipe, as well as the clay stuff and you've got yourself a unique business that can be done straight from your yard every day of the week.

Ebay Mania
So, you don't want to hold the sale in your yard? Or, maybe you do, but you want to extend your avenues. List your items on eBay. Ebay is a great way to increase your business. It's your own little online store and you don't even have to web hosting services.