On baby sitter blues and earning money from blogging
I guess I’m slipping out of my dark mode now and I’m finally seeing the light.
I had some offline and online blues going on for the past week and I’m beginning to face them now.
Offline blues: Babysitter dilemma
The last two weeks have been quite challenging for our family. We did not have a baby sitter for Kalia and Kernan and I were facing that dilemma every day. Since Jamaine is already a handful these days, we need one baby sitter to focus on each of our babies.
It was a good thing Kernan’s schedule wasn’t as regular as mine so he could slip out for awhile when the babies are asleep to get work done at the office.
Some days my mom would come over to help when Kernan has to be at the office for the whole day.
On the other hand, I was thinking if I should stop work and just find a way to earn from home. I was asking myself if I was ready to be a stay at home mom and if I could really do it.
We were worried by the thought of having to pack the babies off to the grandparents and being away from each other if we could not find a baby sitter soon.
Each day, we had this heavy feeling hanging over our heads but we were hoping we could finally solve the dilemma at the soonest possible time.
Yesterday, we finally got a new babysitter. Though she was inexperienced, we were still thankful that we have another set of hands to help us out. I really hope everything will turn out okay
Online blues: Earning money from blogging paid posts
Online, I think I had a fit of blogging blues, specifically for this blog.
It’s no secret that I earn money from this blog. In fact, I have a disclosure badge and a disclosure link at the footer of every page.
I joined paid blogging programs a few months ago and I’ve been getting a steady stream of assignments every week.
Of course, I enjoyed earning a few dollars from each paid post especially when they’ve accumulated at the end of the month. It’s even more satisfying to see a 3-digit Paypal balance.
Initially, I was just thinking of spending the money to buy some blog bling or to spend for shopping. But then I resolved that I would use my earnings to invest in an educational fund for Jamaine and Kalia.
Whenever, I logged into my blogger dashboard, I was happy to see 6 or more assignments lined up. I would even spend time thinking of how to creatively and factually incorporate the assignments into this blog.
Sure they may be paid posts but I want them to be seamlessly woven into my writings and not stick out like a sore thumb.
But lately, I’ve been feeling a certain kind of uneasiness about writing them.
This was triggered when I began pruning my feedreader of blogs that I didn’t want to read anymore. I used to like reading them but when I began to see one obvious paid post after another, I just skipped their blogs and finally just unsubscribed to them.
Then I realized, I might be doing the same too.
A week ago, fellow mommy blogger Ris and I were plurking about it, and she said that sometimes writing paid posts can take over your blog even if you don’t want them to.
It’s like you want to write something but since your assignment has a deadline, you end up writing about it instead.
I began asking for advice from other friend bloggers and I got some mixed reactions. Some said they would be turned off by paid posts, while other said it’s fine because it’s just one way of earning money.
And why would you give up something that earns you money? Besides, it’s your blog and you can do anything you want to with it. If people don’t like it anymore they’re free to stop reading.
Still, I was torn over continuing as is or stopping and just closing this blog altogether.
After all, my blog title said “All Jayme” but it seemed like it was no longer me.
My final decision: I’m keeping this blog but I’m changing things up a bit.
And I’ve set up another blog that will be free of posts with paid links. A blog that would be “really me.”
It’s in the final stages of construction. I’ll post about it here when it’s done.
To all those who continue to read my blog and comment and even those who visit but don’t leave a comment, thank you.
To Toni, Loren, J, Sexy Mom, Rach, Papa Ces, Joanjoyce, Fran and Josiet, and to new visitors, Sab, Emz, Carol and Leslie: Thank you so much for your kind and encouraging comments. You all inspire to me a better blogger in so many ways.
May all of us continue to earn from blogging. 
But more than that, may all of us enjoy it to the fullest too.
Wishing everyone a happy week ahead. 
Photo credit: Hubbarton Forge Outdoor lighting from Lightoutlet.com
This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 12:26 am and is filed under Blogging, Just Jayme. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Sinta (1 comments.) August 13th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
At the problems of finding decent babysitters, many of my friends here in the UK are having that exact same question posed to them, “Is it better to quit and stay at home or work and struggle to find care for the kids?” Wierdly, some people don’t like career women 0_o bah.. silly tabloids. As for paid blogging, I guess it doesn’t really matter, unless you’re writing something you’d rather not. I look for content more than anything in blogs. Paid or not paid, doesn’t really matter. But once I see posts seemingly odd like advertisements, then I’m definitely put off.
Sintas last blog post..Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
[Reply]
Jayme Reply:
August 15th, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Hi Sinta! Thanks for visiting my blog.
Actually, I’m thinking of just making my blogs prosper so that eventually I’ll be able to depend on them for a stable income. Then I’ll just work from home and take care of the kids or pursue a passion that I can do on a flexible schedule and in my own terms.
As for paid blogging, I would have to admit that I will still continue to do it. After all, i can still find creative ways of how to write them. Plus, I could sure use the extra income too. But I did put up another personal blog just to fulfill my need to express myself freely without being concerned about paid blogging deadlines and schedules.
I’ll probably stop when I just get tired of it altogether or when the assignments stop coming.
[Reply]