My husband and I have really busy lives and often don't have time to clean the house. Unfortunately, both our kids have quite bad allergies to dust and mould, which means we need to keep the house spotless, which can be quite hard. We have started having a professional cleaning service come in a few times a week to give the house a good scrub while we are at work. It means that we can come home to a clean house. It means everyone is healthier, happier and less stressed out. This blog is for other parents of kids with allergies and has tips on how you can keep your house allergen free.
Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day; teach him how to fish. … Well, you know how the saying goes, and it should apply to children too. Your children can gain so much from taking on a manageable amount of paid work during their teen years. Not only do they get the satisfaction of earning their own money, they also learn new skills. Rather than watching them go off to a low paid PT job, you could help them to start a business they can run themselves. The following ideas are perfect for teens as they require minimal financial outlays to get up and running and have the potential to provide extra cash throughout your child's education.
An Online Store
Running an online sales business via an auction website is ideal for tech-savvy teens. Most will have access to everything they'll need to get up and running on their phones or tablets.
Start them off by getting them to think of a name for their business, then get them to consider how they'll manage dispatching and customer care. Take the opportunity to have a clearout and unload all your unwanted stuff. These items can be your child's first lot of stock -- the proceed from sales can fund their next lot. You may need to set up an account for your teen, as some auction sites have age restrictions. You may also need to give them a loan for the packaging and postal costs of their first sales.
A Cleaning Business
A cleaning business offers your teen a way to earn money as well as keeping fit. They can focus on cars to start with and expand to drives and decks if they want to grow. They'll be offering services at the homes of their clients, giving them the competitive edge of convenience over the local carwash.
The start-up costs can be very low -- a bucket, sponges, and polishing cloths will be enough to begin with, alongside photocopying costs for the sales flyers they'll need to create. If they want to expand, you could lend them the money to buy a pressure washer enabling them to provide pressure cleaning services for cars, drives and decks. They can repay the loan as they earn money.
Whatever business they decide to start, get them to follow an online tutorial on how to create a bookkeeping spreadsheet to keep track of their incomings and outgoings. This will teach them about how businesses work and get them thinking about how they can improve profit margins.
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