I was an official Stay At Home Mom for quite some time, y’know. Then I figured I’d do a small paper route, pick up a few extra bucks, still be home with the kiddos all day. Perfect, said I–money AND SAHness!
So here I am, a year later, and my little 85-paper route has turned into a 288-paper route. Which means I’m working about 30 or more hours/week, plus I have my little soap and candle biz, plus I have an antique booth in a local mall. Which adds up, over the course of a week, to pretty much full-time working status.
But. Because I’m still home all day (I finish the paper route by 6:30 a.m.), I still sort of consider myself a SAHM in many ways. That’s one of the reasons I like my job so much, after all–I get to spend the whole day with the babies, be home in the evenings, cook at night, take the baby to the ER to get the beads out of her nose, that sort of thingy.
But darn. I’m tired. And since I’m a little slow on the uptake sometimes, I’m just now figuring out why.
FIBSAHM. I like it. I can even pronounce it…fib saaaahmmmm. It has sort of a soothing sound.
Omniscient, ask away about the paper route. Here’s the lowdown in a nutshell, and lmk if I can tell you anything else. I’m sure it varies by area, of course:
I make about $4 (per month) per weekly subscription; $2.50 for Sunday-only folks, in between those figures for other configurations. It’s a local paper, and I suppose Bloomington is considered either a very small city or a big town. (Coming from a town of 2000, it’s hard for me to have much perspective about that.)
I deliver about 285 papers each day. It takes about 3 hours Mon-Sat, and usually 5-6 hours on Sunday. Three of my routes have supplemental pay on them (because they’re PIA routes), so I make about $1200/month before tips. Tips vary wildly, but usually I make about $150 in tips, and will probably receive $500-600 around Christmas.
I don’t know how typical my situation is, but I will say that I’m fast and I’m good. (Paper-delivery wise, of course. heh.) So that helps my hourly rate stay up, and keeps the tips coming in.
And now you know way more about paper carriers than you ever wanted too, eh?
Other Dopers chime in: Do NOT ask her about making soap! She never shuts up!
In addition to being a paper carrier, antique booth owner, freelance proofreader, and WAHM/fibsaaahhhmmm, I also make soaps and candles.
It’s a very part-time thing now. I used to make 200# of soap a week, but a year or so of that made me just a teensy bit tired of stirring oils and lye. Now I basically make it when I feel like it and sell whatever I have on hand.
If I could find time to clean my soap/candle room out, I might actually get it in gear to whip up some goodies for Christmas! [eyes piles of stuff in soap room] Hmmm. Tomorrow, maybe.
FISAHM looks reminds me of “Fishamble” which is the same of a street here in Dublin. It has a small church, which had the honour of having the world premier of Handel’s Messiah.
Trust me, you aren’t the only one. But if your carrrier is good and reliable, it’s a nice thing to do. It will make her/his day.
Some folks don’t tip at all; most who do tip (probably about 1/3 or so of my customers, I haven’t really figured it out) tip $1-2/month; and those memorable few, my favorites, tip $80-120/year. At Christmas, most of my customers (again, not everyone tips) tipped $5-10, and a few up to $30. All of my tips came from a neighborhood of 45 deliveries, and by the end of December I had collected over $185 in tips.
This year I have two more neighborhoods, both bigger than the original one, along with several smaller routes, so I have my fingers crossed for a good Christmas bonus.
If I could get every customer on my route to tip $1/month, I’d be thrilled.
Yeah, I was going to ask that myself - the paper arrives somewhere on my sidewalk or front lawn around 5 am, before I’m up. I’d like to, but I have no idea how.
It’s easy to tip the postman, you can just leave a Christmas card in the mailbox. I don’t tip my postman, since he happens to be my husband. He gets other benefits.
Ya know, given that you have had to absorb the crushing weight of the eighteen tons of crap that have been thrown at you over the past few years, I suggest that you need a break.
Drop your kids off at your mother’s for a day and go take a steam bath or something.
If it’s a kid and they do a reasonably ok job - tip them.
If it’s an adult, and the paper shows up on time, dry, in the officially designated place. Tip them.
All the newspaper bills in my area have a place where you write in a tip for the papercarrier and then you pay the total of your bill & the tip by check. Is that not common?
(delivered the paper in Seattle rain for 6 years, it isn’t an easy job - and it didn’t pay remarkably well).
When I subscribed that was how it was set up too, a box on the bill to add the tip. I didn’t add one, because: the paper often arrived several hours late (having it not show up until afternoon on Sunday when I was promised an 8am delivery was not fun) if it showed up at all. Every 3-4 weeks it would not show up, then the person on the phone would profusely appoligize that the delivery person “forgot” to drop it off. For some reason I didn’t choose to re-subscribe after the subscription ran out. :rolleyes:
Bodypoet I’m in awe that you managed to work out your schedule in order to stay “home” with your younger kids
amarinth is right–you can add the tip to the bill. There should be a place to do so, but if not, give the office a call and ask them. Generally, if someone overpays their bill, the overpayment part is tipped to me. When I get my invoice/payment info, I also get a record of all tips that have been paid in this fashion. I have the habit of dropping thank you notes to anyone who tips over $5 or so, just so they know I received my tip, but I don’t know if most carriers do that.
Exengineer, thank you. That is a very good idea. I’m trying hard to treat myself gently and well right now, but it’s very healthy to hear that type of thing encouraged.
bodypoet , I don’t know what we are but whatever it is I am one, too.
Last year I decided to work from home; I have a consulting engineering business. Now I have also let my 14 yr old homeschool.
The wonderful thing about it, to me, is that my tiny family has a true home base ~ we are centered around the home now, rather than it being a sort of “bed and breakfast”. I think part of the importance it holds to us speaks to that survivor feeling we have from the old abusive marriage we left behind ~ it’s the three of us against the big bad ol’ world. I am their sole provider, both financially and emotionally.
Those who have teens know how hard it is for ‘rents to feel involved in their kids’ lives. Working from home, schooling at home ~ it just makes more sense to me. I am at the same time a raving feminist and a traditionalist ~ so the power of a working woman and the comfort of being the provider of the mommy heart of the home are both important forces in my life.
Currently I am enjoying it. It is tiring however, and I have to make myself stop sometimes and do something for me, which I encourage you to do also. Remember, If Momma aint happy, aint nobody happy.
NinetyWt, it sounds like you’re doing a great job. Reconciling some of those feminst/traditionalist/independent/family-oriented ideals can be a real job sometimes.
I do like being home during the day. My old schedule kept me out of the house from 6 a.m. to 5:00 each day of the week, and then I was exhausted from the commute, so I couldn’t manage to get the older kids involved in after-school activities, etc.
Now, I work just as hard for less money, but I’m sure enjoying the freedom I’ve found. I’m not sure that a Career is for me, at this point…a Job seems just about right.
If you want to share your story (re: the abusive marriage) I’d be interested…my email is in my profile.
Best,
karol
Well … as the song goes, it was long ago, and oh so far away
It’s been 13 years, and there was another short marriage in between then and now. I certainly learned a lot about myself over the years !
I have been following your other threads concerning your struggles and out of respect didn’t know if it was something you wanted to talk about in this thread (does that sound dumb? lol).
NE way if you are curious about some of the coping mechanisms I have had success with, or even how to answer snotty questions from quasi-acquaintances, I am at your service.
But if your carrrier is good and reliable, it’s a nice thing to do. It will make her/his day.