My dh and I are really struggling financially. He works 40 hrs per week and I work 20. I can't work anymore due to some family responsibilities. We rent a 2 bedroom apartment with 3 kids. The youngest shares our room and my older two share a room even though they are of the opposite sex. We spend half as much as most of our friends on groceries and have no cell phone, cable, or credit card. I have a friend and my mom suggesting that I go into selling Cookie Lee jewelry. I know a lot of people hate selling parties, although I don't, but I also have a somewhat limited group of peers. I'm worried about getting into this with no idea how long it will last. I would probably do this at night and weekends when I don't work so I could keep that job for now. I would love to stay home with my kids if this did work out. I don't know anyone that does this so I don't know how hard it is to get out of if my group of friends is as far as this goes. I know that someone here is a Discovery toys representative. I don't know if anyone else has tried this. Do any of you have any advice, opinions, warnings???

By Mommyathome on Monday, May 10, 2004 - 05:53 pm:

My daughters have some adorable jewelry from Cookie Lee.
I haven't ever tried anything like this, so I don't have any advice.
I do have a friend that sells Stampin' Up. She barely makes her quoto every quarter. She just does it to get the discounts for herself, and she has several people that order regularly. She has had several parties, but we live in a small area, so there aren't that many party opportunities. She mostly just does it for herself.

By Anonymous on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 12:00 am:

***bump***

By Kaye on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 09:44 am:

What about looking into babysitting on weekend. Some churches hire, the y or even thorugh a babysitting service. If you do a group type thing you can take your kids with you usually, through a service you could not.

By Mommmie on Tuesday, May 11, 2004 - 10:20 am:

The moms I know who do the home selling parties do not make money from it. They just get the discount for the jewelry or whatever and the bonus items for holding a party and having so many people there and selling so much, etc. I know one mom who turns around and sells the freebie jewelry (or whatever) for cheaper to her friends than they would have paid at the party. It was the only way for her to actually make money.

My neighbor is a success story though. She sells Mary Kay and won a car after 1 year of selling. She also works full time and does PTA and has a large social circle. She's a very aggressive sales person.