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Three hundred thousand women are presently employed in beauty culture work.

Even during the years of the depression, beauty parlors and cosmetic manufacturers have continued operating without feeling the "pinch" as have other industries.

If you live in a city apartment house, you will find a number of women who will be grateful for the opportunity of an occasional manicure, a good shampoo, or a facial treatment in their own apartment.

If you live in a college town, you will find many customers for manicures, massages, and shampoos in the girls' dormitories. Customers can likewise be found in the larger rooming and boarding houses.

In small towns there is ample opportunity for this part time activity, for whereas it would not pay to open a regular established beauty parlor for lack of sufficient customers, there are enough women who are interested in beauty culture to keep one occupied several hours a week.

Any woman, without exception, can easily learn the art of shampooing, manicuring, etc.

BARBERING IN SPARE TIME—More than fourteen million women in the United States have their hair bobbed. It is estimated that these women spend over $15,000,000 yearly for permanent waves. If you are situated in a community that does not have a regularly established barber shop for women, it would be advisable for you, if you like to fuss with hair, to open a female barber shop, specializing in women's bobs, advising women on the best style of bob. It is not necessary that you go to added expense by renting a store for this purpose. Set aside one of your rooms and have hair cutting done only by appointment.

To equip yourself better for this sort of work it is advisable that you take a course at some school of beauty culture, for bobbing, marcelling, permanent waves, shampoos, tinting, and hair treatment require special knowledge.

MASSAGING—As a side line to hairdressing, you could get a great many rich women in your town to engage you from time to time to give them facial and body massages. The reason for facial massages is obvious. Body massages are to be recommended as a means of helping fat women get thin, also to stimulate the appetite of thin women, to relax tired muscles and put lazy ones back to work. Body massaging is also recommended in a number of ailments, and if you make a special study of the various kinds of therapeutic massaging, you will be able to get customers from doctors and nurses.

CONDUCT A NIGHT KINDERGARTEN—This occupation is more suitable for women living in cities where one can find from twenty-five to five hundred families occupying suites in one large apartment house.

Practically every apartment house has its number of parents who would like to spend the evening away from home, dining out and then "taking in" a theatre or a movie, but cannot leave the children behind at home safely.

If you live in an apartment house, drop into each apartment and explain to the mother that any time she wants to stay away an evening you will bathe the children either in your apartment or in hers and put them to sleep until such time as the mother returns. All that the parents have to do when they return home is to bundle their children in blankets, carry them across the hall or upstairs, as the case may be, and lay them in their own beds.

A charge of $1.00 per child for the evening is not an unusual price. Taking care of two or three children in this way a few nights a week will prove a very easy source of spare time money.

INAUGURATE A PHYSICIAN'S NIGHT SERVICE—The physician's night telephone service is operating very successfully in most of the larger cities, and it is surprising that this idea has been overlooked in the smaller towns.

Such a service exists by the virtue of the fact that a doctor must constantly be available to his patients, night and day. If he is to have any recreation, or if he wants to spend some time with his family, it is necessary that someone else be at hand to receive telephone calls, and at the same time keep in touch with the doctor, at least once or twice an hour.

Most doctors cannot afford to employ an assistant to receive telephone communications while he is away. It is for this reason that anyone starting a physician's night service could get almost every doctor in the community to subscribe to it.

All that is necessary to start this business, is to call on all of the doctors in your town and explain to them that the telephone company will connect all night calls made for them at your home. All the doctor would have to do then would be to notify you where he can be reached, at home, at theatre or at a friend's home. Should a patient telephone him the message would reach you, and you in turn would relay the call to him.

This service should not cost the doctor very much, for in handling these duties for a number of doctors the cost entailed can be split among them proportionately.

Ten doctors subscribing to such a service should not have to 5 pay more than $10 or $15 a month for the service, exclusive of telephone charges.

A doctor would much rather pay $10 a month to a service, for if he were to employ a girl to receive night messages at his own office it would cost him more than $50 a month.

All that is necessary to operate such a service is to arrange with the telephone company to install two telephones in your home or rooms; one telephone to be used exclusively for incoming calls; the other for outgoing calls.

Then arrange with the doctors to take care of all calls from 5:30 to midnight, each night; and on Sundays from noon to midnight.

This is very good business for two people. They could work on alternating nights. It is an ideal business for students, who would find sufficient time to study while on duty.

A MOTHER'S VACATION ASSISTANT—A woman who has had long experience with her own children or in the caring of other children can earn an excellent income during summer vacations by staying at home with children while their parents are away on vacations.

Most mothers find the problem of leaving their children behind them a serious one. They are very reluctant about leaving their children with unreliable and inexperienced help.

Any experienced woman can find such employment by making proper inquiries at employment agencies. She will be employed for week ends, or for several weeks at a time. Her duties as a rule do not include such work as washing, cleaning, or any other housework. Her main interest is in giving the children the same competent care that they would receive from their mothers.

ENTERTAINING INVALIDS—If you are a good conversationalist and can read aloud pleasantly, or play a musical instrument of some sort, and if you are of a happy and good-natured disposition, you will easily qualify for the job of entertaining shut-ins and invalids of all ages and types. Doctors, ministers, and nurses will gladly recommend a number of such customers to you. Approach the shut-ins and you will often find them amenable to your proposition of being entertained for a few hours a day by a pleasant companion who will read to them, play for them, etc.

MOVING DAY ASSISTANT—In the late spring of the year when families are planning their summer vacations; also in the late summer when the annual epidemic of moving day arrives cash in on your ability as an expert packer and moving-day assistant.

Print up some attractive cards announcing your willingness to pack vacation trunks; also your ability in packing clothing, pictures, and expensive objects requiring special care.

Go after the families that you know. Leave your cards in the mail boxes of rich people. Approach real estate dealers, storage warehouses, moving van owners, superintendents of apartment houses with your cards. Advertise in your local paper.

PART TIME NURSE—If your education in nursing has been limited and you have not completed the usual three years' study requirements, however if you understand massaging, irrigations, bathing, and can perform the usual duties of a practical nurse, you will find many people who could use your services by the hour.

Register with doctors, nurses' registries, clinics, etc. Read Guidance Leaflet No. 15 on Nursing, U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Washington, D.C.

ESTABLISH A DYEING AND CLEANING AGENCY—There is money for a wide-awake person in the establishment of an agency for a dyer and cleaner. Most of these agencies are in the hands of tailors or small merchants who wait in their own establishments for trade to come to them.

Anyone soliciting this kind of work would find it as profitable as canvassing for subscriptions or hosiery or any of the hundred other articles. It has a big advantage over the other articles in that it is a repeat business.

Work should be sought by personal contact; collected and shipped to the parent house; returned by them to customers c.o.d. parcel post. Settlement can be made by the cleaning and dyeing house with the agent, weekly or monthly.

This work will suit a student, a teacher, or a business woman now out of work who has some spare time on her hands.

OPPORTUNITIES IN REAL ESTATE—The latest census of the United States shows that there are more than 10,000 women engaged in the real estate business.

Considering that one-fourth of the wealth of the nation is invested in real estate, and that there are about thirty million separate parcels of property in this country, and that 10,000,000 of them are always on the market for rent, sale, or exchange, it is surprising that there are not more than 10,000 women engaged in this lucrative work, especially when it lends itself to part time activity.

Among the other advantages is that one can start in the business with little or no capital. One's own home can take the place of an office.

The simplest way to get started in this business is in the renting end. Here is a specific example. Your next door neighbor moves out. The owner of the home puts out a "To let" sign. He cannot spend his entire day sitting in the empty apartment waiting for a prospective tenant. You approach him. Offer to keep an eye open for any interested parties who may come to the apartment with a view of renting it. You hang out a "To let" sign on your own home. Anyone dropping in to look at your apartment can be informed that you are the agent for the nearby vacant apartment, and proceed to show it to them. If you succeed in renting it, you are, of course, entitled to a commission for your services. You can now expand your field of operation. You keep your eye open for other vacancies, and repeat the procedure.

SELLING—After a while you will come in contact with prospective buyers of homes. If you are alert and if you are in the least bit acquainted with real estate methods it will not be long before you will make a substantial sum as commission for selling a home. The commission is 2½ per cent on the first $40,000; 1 per cent above $40,000.

The field offers wide possibilities for part-time activity. Read and study the following books at your public library. Follow the above suggestions. It will pay you.

RENT COLLECTOR—Many a landlord finds it expedient not to act as his own rent collector. Call on all the landlords in your town and offer to do this dirty work for him at a small commission.

CONDUCT A ROOMING HOUSE—If you have a spacious home with plenty of rooms you should be able to earn a living by renting out the rooms to working girls, business couples, and others. An attractive house with a comfortable living room and laundry conveniences will find many customers.

A TOURIST REST—If your house is located on a main highway in the country where automobile traffic is heavy, and if you have a couple of spare bedrooms, make this fact known to tourists by an attractive sign placed on your front lawn or over the front door. Thousands are now doing this with success.

STORAGE TO RENT—If you have a barn or a carless garage in your back yard do not let it go to waste. Advertise among your neighbors that it is available for storage purposes. You will find a number of them with over-crowded homes will want to use some of your storage space.

TOWEL SERVICE FOR FACTORY WORKERS—If you can induce a factory superintendent to permit you to interview his entire factory employees, you will have little difficulty in selling them your service of keeping them supplied with a clean towel every day. At first, if you have a washing machine at home, you should be able to do the work necessary alone or with the aid of some inexpensive help. Should you succeed in selling your towel service idea to several hundred factory employees, you can make an arrangement with some laundry to do the work and the delivery for you at a fixed cost, leaving you a profit. Laundries would also be willing to pay you a sales commission for all such work which you would be instrumental in recommending to them.

AN OVERALL LAUNDRY SERVICE—The very same factory employees who would subscribe to your towel service would be interested in having their overalls washed once a week. It should be easy to sell them the idea, specially if the price is not too high. A combination service of towels and overalls would, of course, prove more profitable.

MAKING HOOKED RUGS—This is one of the most entertaining ways of spending idle hours and is recommended to older women who are bored with their leisure and would like to keep themselves occupied profitably.

The apparatus and material required are neither complicated nor expensive. The braiding and sewing into shape are a matter of skill that is easily acquired.

It is not necessary to use new material for the braiding and the weaving of rugs. You can buy up all sorts of old rags and dye them when necessary into attractive colors with the commercial dyes that can be purchased at the drug or 5 and 10 cent store.

The sale of hooked rugs is not limited by competition or a dull market. Interior decorators and antique dealers will want as many as you can make to satisfy the vogue for colonial interiors.

A booklet entitled Handmade Rugs, illustrated, and with full directions for making all types of rugs as well as table mats, footstool tops and other small pieces, can be purchased for 25 cents from the Woman's Home Companion, 250 Park Avenue, New York City.

KNITTING—This kind of activity is likewise suited to older women, who cannot get around very much but who need to be preoccupied and at the same time earn some spare money.

Sweaters, scarves, woolen suits for children, baby carriage robes, and a variety of novel knitted materials can be easily disposed of to friends, neighbors, and stores. A great many booklets on the subject of knitting are available, free of charge, by writing to any of the yarn manufacturers. You can also pick up numerous suggestions from the various magazines that cater to women.

SUMMER BOARDING FOR PETS—In a million city and suburban homes every year around vacation time looms the big problem of what to do with such pets as dogs, cats, goldfish, canaries, and what not. It is not possible to take them along on a long auto trip or on a transatlantic liner or a transcontinental train, or to a country or seashore hotel. This suggests a way for spare time money making to a woman or a man who will board these pets by the day, week or month. A small "ad" in your local newspaper in June and July of each year will bring you more customers than you will be able to accommodate.

THE PROFESSIONAL SHOPPER—In small towns about 50 or 100 miles from a large city there has grown up a new spare-time profession known as the professional shopper.

The residents of her own town often wish to buy goods that the smaller stores in the town do not keep. They commission the shopper to buy these needed articles for them, on one of her regular trips to the city.

This is a time-saving service for them, and also saves railroad fares. The shopper may or may not charge a fee for her services. The city stores give a shopper's discount, amounting to as high as 10 or 15 per cent.

The shopper who makes a weekly trip to the city may find that she has commissions to buy from one or two hundred dollars' worth of goods on each trip. An average total commission of 15 per cent gives her from 15 to 30 dollars for the trip.

To get a shopper's commission there is no difficulty ordinarily encountered in making such an arrangement. Merely explain to the manager or credit manager of each department store that you are shopper for out-of-town people, and you will be put on the list of discount purchasers at once.

To obtain customers, the best procedure is to mail out post card or letter notices to the women of moderate circumstances in the town, explaining that you will undertake to buy merchandise for them in the city at no extra cost to them.

Very often a woman may want to match a certain piece of silk. It may be that only one of that particular shade and weave. To order by mail would be a waste of time and effort when a shopper service is available.

WINDOW DRESSING—The chief prerequisite for successful window display work is an artistic sense, and an ability to stage merchandise so that it will attract buyers. In the smaller towns it is seldom that a merchant can afford to employ a full-time window display expert. If you possess the necessary qualifications or if you have had experience in this work you should be able to get four or five merchants in your town to employ you. As the windows are usually dressed after business hours, this offers an unusual opportunity for one who is occupied with domestic or other affairs during the day.

Take a trip to the city occasionally and study large department store windows for ideas. Also write to the Bureau of Education, Washington, D.C., for a bulletin "Department Store Education," by Helen R. Norton; also get from the Federal Bureau of Vocational Education in Washington, D.C., a booklet on "Retail Selling," by Mrs. L. W. Prince.

MERCHANDISING AND STYLE ADVISER—This position is recommended to a woman who was brought up in a large city, but is now living in a small town or city. She should be a woman who understands styles, and modern trends in merchandising. Let her approach the manager or owner of her Local general or department store and offer to advise him in his merchandising problems, on styles, on material, color, and how to display merchandise. The average merchant as a rule is so absorbed in the viewpoint that he gets from his own marketing habits that he is inclined to overlook the all-important fact of how the store appears to an outsider. For that reason he often makes mistakes in the selection of merchandise, and in the matter of display. The merchandising adviser can devote herself only a few afternoons a week in showing the storekeeper new points of view, and have him see his problems from the buyer's point of view.