One year ago, my son had just turned one; and I was being faced with a difficult decision. At home money was getting short, and it was the start of the “credit crunch”. The choices I faced were to either return to work and bring extra money into the house, or stay at home and look after my little boy, saving the money on nursery fees, but then have difficulties with paying the bills.

I knew which I wanted to do, stay at home to bring up my son. He was growing up so fast and I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. So I started searching the internet to try and find ways to earn money from home. There were a few options but they all would take up way too much time and I wouldn’t be able to concentrate on him during the days.

Then I came across a site advertising free gifts. I thought it was going to be a scam or something but I was curious and I am so glad I was. It turned out to be a legitimate site where all you had to do was sign up, complete an offer, and get friends to do the same. I gave it a try and discovered this could be the new way for me to make money at home, in my free time; not strict hours. It turned out that it was possible for me to receive cash alternatives to the gifts on offer or special custom orders.

After a few weeks I had received my first gift, 18 packs of Hipp Organic Follow on Milk. From this point I knew that I could use this method to bring extra money into the house. Over the year I was bringing money into the house to help with bills and also spending quality time with my son.

The amazing thing about this past year is that I have managed to bring home £25,000 from this site, which is more than I would have earned being at work and many other people who work full time. It has meant so much to us, even having the ability to pay some debt off which has been such a weight off our minds.

Looking at it from a wider perspective, the advantages I was making from working from home was unbelievable. If I wasn’t working at home there would have been full time nursery fees, around £600 a month, so if I was only able to get a job on a low wage that would leave so little extra money that it wouldn’t be worth it, especially after the travel costs. And then there would be all the special moments I would have missed as my little boy grew up. It was clear that working from home was the best choice I made. The only problem is that it isn’t a guaranteed income. Sometimes lots can be earned other times it can go quiet, and doing this is not recognised as employment meaning when I decide to go back to work my CV could only say ’stay at home mum’.

But really the savings on nursery fees, and spending the precious time with my son as he grows up is worth it every day. If you want to find out more about how the process I used works, and the things you can get for free, you can find out more at GratisGadgets.co.uk