Cottage Industries

Cottage industries are small little businesses, run out of your home or cottage that provides a source of income for a family.  Sounds a little old fashioned but I’d say very much in vogue, still today.  We have one and have had for years. 

I am not one to put all my eggs in one basket, so to speak, and relying on one sole source of income is risky.  If you happen to lose that source of income then you have literally no income.  I like to think of my cottage industry as “backup income”. 

If you have a hobby or craft that you enjoy doing you can probably make money selling your wares to the public.  You probably have the items you need already in your house so your start-up costs would be minimal.

 

I have a friend that shops at garage sales and resells items she finds to make extra cash to supplement her income.  Depending on what the item is she will either list it on craigslist or eBay. 

My mother makes beautiful doll clothing for vintage collectible dolls and sells it to other collectors.  What started out as a way to pay for her hobby has turned into a little money making venture.  My father started making doll stands for her to display her dolls on.  He has kept making them and sells them to other doll collectors. 

I enjoy making doll clothes as well and refurbishing dolls from my childhood and reselling them.  I also do handcrafted items to sell.  I have set up booths at Christmas and Home & Garden shows and sold homemade jams, jellies, syrups and pancake mixes.  Etsy and eBay are where I sell a lot of my items too. 

When I adopted my daughters I used the income from my side business to pay our utility bills, buy our clothing and keep us in groceries.  I even made enough during that time to put a set of tires on the truck.  This freed up a lot of cash for me to apply to the expense of the adoption fees. 

Right now I am back to using this income to cover the utilities and groceries again.  Am I glad I have this resource available?  You better believe it! 

Do you have a specialty you can turn into cash?  Do you love to quilt, knit, crochet, or sew?  Have you ever thought about starting your own little side business?  Or do you already have one?  If you have any other ideas for making extra money please share!