homeworking - ironing how do you get started anyone know?

[rivig]

I want to earn some money but with no-one to help with childcare and can't work during holidays/sick periods that eventually appear, have been wondering about ironing from home. Would like to do something else but can't think what. Does anyone know how you go about ironing from home, eg what irons do they use how can you get hangers etc or can anyone suggest anything else besides childminding, love children but don't really want anyone elses day in day out plus childminders should be paid a whole lot more IMO but do understand why they can't swings and roundabouts - stop rambling woman!

[rivig]

Just thought, as a working mum or SAHM what would make your life easier. For me it would be a reliable handy person who really knew what they were doing to put up the odd cabinet etc. Maybe someone has a need not being met that the likes of me could earn some money filling??

[Janstar]

I agree childminders deserve to be well paid but IMO they are. Mine charges £3.50 an hour, so if she looks after 4 kids (is that the max?)she gets £14 an hour.

Don't know where you would get the hangers etc but I bet you will get lots of takers - there are loads of people who hate ironing!

[fio2]

My friend did this rivig but it is quite time consuming, but if you are short of money then you will most probably be able to crack on with it when the kids are in bed or at school etc. My friend used a normal Tefal iron and bought one of those hanging rack things from Argos - the cheapest one. Most people will give you their own hangers to put the clothes on. She had loads of people wanting her to do it

[alibubbles]

Janstar, it might seem as though your childminder earns £14 an hour, but you need to remember she has to make an investment in cots, car seats ( parent's seats don't always fir the childminders car) highchairs, buggies, take off lighting and heating costs (I wouldn't have it on during the day, but I have to with a baby) wear and tear, extra cleaning, toilet roll. tissues, food, first aid equipment, public liability insurance, training costs, toys, pens paper, paints, puzzles, outings, etc, and then after all that is taken into account Tax and National Insurance have to be paid.

A childminder can only take 3 children under 5 including her own, so that is a maximum of £10.50 an hour, more likely she has one of her own, so therefore only £7 an hour less all those expenses.

A lot of childminders see it as a way to earn a bit of money while they bring up their own children, and there is nothing wrong in that, the downside is it can be rough on your own family, children having to share their toys, different sets of values etc, but it is a very rewarding job.

At the end of the day they certainly won't get rich on it!

[Janstar]

Sorry, alibubbles, I didn't mean to assume... of course there are all the overheads and I suppose the looking after of older kids can only take place during school holidays and before and after school if at all.

What I was really driving at was that maybe it is a viable alternative to ironing in terms of how much money you can make? But then I suppose that would depend how quick an ironer you are.

I certainly think childminders deserve good money, and if they earned £20 an hour it would not be too much for the work they do, IMO.

[alibubbles]

It's alright janstar, i know you didn't mean it like that, but people do need to seriously consider why they are thinking of childminding and the income would not be one of them!

I have just lost my daily au pair and enquired about a shirt service this morning. £3.50 each to wash and iron a shirt, the cheapest I could find was £2.75 a shirt!

I ask about quantity discount and was told rather haughtily, we are not in the business of discounting, we provide a service at a reasonable cost and some of our customers send us 30 shirts a week and don't get a discount!!

My aupair could iron 7 or 8 to a high standard in an hour and I paid her £5 an hour, I thionk you could easily get £1 a shirt for ironing. Locally the charge is £2.75 per kilo including pick up and deliver.

[WideWebWitch]

Rivig, if I was going to do this I'd do the following:

I wouldn't invest any* money in a new iron, hangers etc until you've got some business. Presumably you've got an iron you could use and you could wait for your first job before you think about incurring any costs.

• You could easily ask customers to provide their own hangers on the basis that then all they have to do when you return the clothes is hang their own shirts/skirts in their own wardrobes on their own hangers. Present is as part of your service if you want - you can always offer to provide hangers once you've got some business/or if someone wants you to. Clothes shops often give them away in boxes outside so you could always try ringing a few to get some free ones once you've got some business. Also some people have preferences - i.e they don't like wire hangers etc, so I wouldn't worry about getting them for now.
  *The beauty of starting an ironing service is no start up costs or overhead costs (apart from electricity, which shouldn't be much) so if I were you I'd produce some good quality but simple printed cards to go in newsagents' windows and take it from there. At 50p a week or something you could test your local market fairly well for about £3 and if you don't get any calls at all it's not a huge amount.
  
• And/or you could print off some leaflets and put them through letterboxes locally.
  
• If and when potential customers phone, be confident and act as if you're already running a successful business. Don't tell them you're starting up. Be prepared to answer anyone who asks for a reference (unlikely but you never know). State your rate unapologetically and don't negotiate if you don't want to. If your pricing is right you shouldn't need to anyway. You can say this if people ask, like the woman alibubbles spoke to did, but you can be polite about it - say "I'm sorry, we don't discount because we don't need to - we provide a quality service and are very busy at our normal charge out rate" . Think about whether you need insurance. I'd say probably not but potential customers may ask if you have.
  
• If you're not sure about pricing ring round anyone who does this locally - launderettes? and price accordingly. If the launderette doesn't do it, put a card there too advertising your service
  
  Let us know if you decide to go for it - Good luck!

[WideWebWitch]

I'd also provide an optional starching/fabric freshening service (at extra cost) for people who like the smell of Febreze/starched collars/something else. Also are you going to charge less for people dropping to you? What distance/times will you collect and deliver? Will you deliver out of work hours etc.?

[Jimjams]

I met someone once who was starting an ironing service. She stood outside the train station in the morning and handed out flyers to communters.

If you are anywhere near me I would like to use you please. I looked for one recently and couldn't find anyone.

[Sonnet]

I agree with WWW - I have looked into doing this, and in fact will do one day...
The only thing I would add is to ring around all your local competition in the yellow pages and found out how much and on what basis they charge - you wouldn't beleive how they differ. Set your charges up.

I would also produce "terms and conditions" such as canceling with 24 hrs notice. You do not want to turn up to pick up and found they don't need ironing done that week!.

Also, have a contingency plan if you get delayed droppinf off/picking up...a safe place for it to be left

Also, if people are dropping off/picking up to you give them a booking in time - it will help you plan your workload that day.

Good luck - it will be hard work, but a child friendly way of earing extra money!!

[rivig]

Thank you for all your responses. I am not keen on ironing but think it is something I could do and set up quite easily whereas for childminding you have to do so much before you can be registered and if my own are sick then how do I cope. Anyway, now wondering more about the handy person bit. Thanks again.

[ANGELMOTHER]

I absolutely hate ironing and although we're not always cash rich sometimes let it pile up and send off a batch.
I found this woman who's dh set up the website and she's fab.
HTH and good luck

[rivig]

Thanks angelmother! That's such a simple but informative website isn't it and it gives me a really good idea about pricing. Thanks again

[Twinkie]

Message withdrawn

[niccib]

Hi Rivig

I have been working from home for 18 months selling childrens books and have never used childcare. It is entirely flexible, no minimum sales targets and no pressure and you get lots of extra cash. Don't really want to say anymore, as I don't want to be seen as advertising and get into trouble. If you would like to know more, please e-mail me and I can send you more info [email protected]