A single mother from Australia, Danica Slack, is raising four young children. Facing challenges in finding work and needing funds to purchase a seven-seater vehicle for her family, she devised a clever way to earn some extra income from home. Now, she is just one step away from realizing her dream.
Initially, Slack operated a successful cleaning business that flourished. However, that all changed following a tragic car accident.
While driving on the road along with her sister and two children, another vehicle collided with their car from the side, resulting in both vehicles overturning. Fortunately, Slack, her sister, and the children emerged unscathed, but a passenger in the other vehicle lost their life.
The accident had a profound psychological impact on Slack. A week later, she discovered she was pregnant with twins. In the aftermath—dealing with the emotional fallout from the accident, adjusting to single parenthood, and suffering from morning sickness—she was forced to shut down her cleaning business.
The closure of her business meant she could no longer afford her rent, resulting in an early termination of her lease and ultimately leaving her and her children homeless. Months later, she finally secured a rental property.
Now that her twins have turned one, Slack needed to switch from infant car seats to safety seats, but her current vehicle was too small to accommodate four child safety seats. This reality prompted her need for a larger seven-seater vehicle. As a full-time mother still nursing, finding time to work outside the home proved to be incredibly difficult.
However, she held on to her father’s words of wisdom: “There is nothing that can’t be done, only things you are unwilling to do.” Encouraging herself to focus on what she could do rather than what she could not, she began to take action.
Knowing she could fold laundry without leaving home, Slack engaged her local community on social media to see if there was a need for such a service, hoping it would help her save for a new car. The response was overwhelming.
In June, she set herself a challenge to fold 1,300 baskets of laundry within three months. Charging ten Australian dollars per basket, she aimed to raise a total of 13,000 dollars for her vehicle.
In an interview with ABC News, Slack shared that she received 200 baskets of laundry within the first two weeks of starting her new venture.
“There were some mornings when I would wake up and find several baskets waiting at my doorstep,” she recalled.
Slack was surprised by the success of her business, which quickly became a whirlwind that she had to manage.
“The vast majority of my clients are busy moms with many children,” she said. “Additionally, there are customers with sick children, ill partners, or disabled individuals. Some are simply those too busy with work.”
Interestingly, she mentioned that several clients reached out to her not even because they needed laundry assistance, but to support her challenge.
Various Australian media outlets have reported on Slack’s initiative of folding laundry to fund her vehicle purchase, which has drawn the attention of kind-hearted individuals. By November 12, Slack had folded approximately 750 baskets of laundry and received 4,000 dollars in donations. Now, she only needs to earn just over 1,000 dollars more to purchase her new car.
Slack has also observed a burgeoning trend where others are following in her footsteps, starting their own laundry folding services. Each time she opens Facebook, she finds at least one post offering laundry services, with a standard charge of ten Australian dollars per basket. This burgeoning interest brings her joy, and she genuinely cheers on all those getting involved.
In addition, she has started a spray tanning service from home, seeking to generate income through providing services to other women.
Aware that many people contact her for advice on how to earn side income as a full-time parent, she suggests various ideas for those with little or no startup capital:
– Laundry services (washing, drying, folding, ironing)
– Pet care
– Lawn maintenance
– Cleaning services
– Toy cleaning and disinfection
– Cleaning shoes, hats, and handbags
– Baby stroller and child safety seat cleaning
– Clothing repairs (sewing on buttons, patching holes)
– Gift wrapping
– Packing orders
– Organizing documents
– Meal prep (unless done at home, relevant certifications and approvals may be needed)
– Bottle sterilization
– Printing/scanning
– Organizing puzzles, LEGO, and games
Slack reminds everyone, regardless of their line of work, to consider insurance to protect themselves in their endeavors.