Raising children to be good humans takes time and attention (and lots of teaching, correcting, and nurturing). It’s a full-time job with no days off. And you love it!
You love being there for it all: the activities, the mess, the dancing, the first time they ride their bike without training wheels.
You wouldn’t trade being a stay-at-home mom for anything. You embrace it as your duty to society to raise the next generation of humans, who will grow into people of integrity.
I know because that’s how I feel, too.
But stay-at-home moms know there’s a flip side.
Those nights when the kids are asleep, you’re lonely because your husband is working long hours trying to keep up with the rate of inflation. Which leaves you doom scrolling through Facebook…
You wish there was something you could do in those evening hours. Surely, there must be some kind of stay-at-home mom job you can do.
That was me three years ago. We had just lost the home we had a contract on – thanks 2020 – and my husband worked from 6:00 am to 10:00 pm. He was tapped out. So I got to thinking about how to make money as a stay-at-home mom…
How to Make Real Money from Home as a Stay-at-Home Mom
Let’s face it, jobs are demanding, and they take away time with the kids, and paying for childcare usually cancels out any earnings. So, when I started thinking about how I could make money from home as a stay-at-home mom, I came up with certain non-negotiables when job hunting.
- I don’t work when the kids are awake. (I only had 3-4 hours a day to work.)
- It can’t take over my life. My first responsibility is to raise these kids.
- It shouldn’t add stress to my life. (Because if Momma’s stressed, everyone feels it.)
- It should be worth my time.
At this point, my kids were all under five, so my focus was nurturing and building relationships with them.
Now I have a career that lets me skip the mom guilt, prioritize my family, and earn money from home.
What Kind of Stay at Home Mom Job Fits YOU Best?
There are several decent ways for moms to make some extra cash. Which one works best for you depends on your lifestyle and priorities.
- How much time can you commit?
- Do you have a set schedule?
- What skills do you have that you could leverage?
- How much extra money are you looking to make?
- How quickly do you need to make it?
Answering these questions helps you decide whether you want a side hustle that earns a little spending money or a career that can grow with your children.
What works for me may not work for you. So, I reached out to other moms and found the top eight stay-at-home mom jobs that help their families thrive.
9 Work from Home Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms in 2024
These work-from-home jobs offer a flexible schedule that other moms work to earn extra income.
#1: Offer Your Services as a Notary
A notary is a third-party witness who signs documents and contracts to make them legally binding. Some examples would be marriage certificates, deeds, and notices of commencement.
If you become an online notary, you’ll never have to travel. Your clients don’t have to come to you. It’s all done on your computer. Plus, you can charge $10-$30 for each signature you provide.
As an added bonus, the upfront costs are low – in my state, it’s about $140 for the course and certificate. And the training only takes a week, so you can start earning fast.
#2: Tutor Other Children
Moms are teachers. If you have formal education in specific subjects like Music, Physics, Chemistry, Art, or Ancient History, this could be the right path for you.
You can freelance as a tutor by telling your friends and family. Or you can join a platform like Wyzant that connects students to tutors in their area.
You pay nothing upfront. You set your hourly rate. And when a student contacts you, you set reasonable goals before you commit to the job. Once you’ve completed a tutoring session, Wyzant takes a 25% fee for their service.
#3: Sell Your Creations on Etsy
You’re the creative and crafty type. You love making things on your cricket. Or maybe you knit or crochet, or pride yourself on your custom sewing projects.
Etsy is a great place to post your products and refer people to them through your social media pages.
That’s what Holly does. You can check out her Esty shop here. For Etsy sellers like Holly, endorsing her products through her TikTok and Instagram channels is what leads to her success.
#4: Rent That Unused Space With Neighbor
Perhaps one of the easiest ways to make recurring monthly income on this list, is Neighbor Storage, a peer-to-peer storage marketplace.
For stay-at-moms looking to establish channels of passive income, this is a great, no-hustle side hustle. As a marketplace, Neighbor’s goal is to connect those who have unused space to those who need affordable storage.
So if you have a shed out back that you’re not using. You can rent that space. Or if you’re on a piece of land that allows you to park an RV, you can rent a spot to your neighbor in need of RV storage.
All you need is unused space to start a micro-storage business of your own. You can read more about renting with Neighbor here.
#5: Create an At-Home Baking Business
If you can bake, then you have a marketable skill. You can choose to make your confections for special events or find a niche in the baking world and specialize.
That’s what Kayla Jane and Amanda do.
Kayla Jane’s kids can’t have dairy. So instead of dooming them to a life without delectable baked goods, Kayla crafted her own dairy-free versions of cinnamon rolls, and now she offers them to others for sale here.
Amanda created Sweet Petite Macaron Bakery where she specializes in unique flavors of macarons. You can salivate over them here.
#6: Complete Tasks as a Virtual Assistant
Let’s face it. Keeping little humans on track is what we do all day. So why not help adults do the same?!
A good virtual assistant is GOLD to busy entrepreneurs, small business owners, and influencers. Your job is to take care of the mundane (and time-consuming) tasks that hog up space in someone’s schedule: screening emails, scheduling appointments, data entry, and organizing files or photos.
If you’re an organized person who loves checking off a to-do list of simple tasks, this is for you. You can check out Katie for an inside look at what it takes to be a virtual assistant.
#7: Create Passive Income as an Author
As an author, you slowly build a passive income stream through book sales.
Self-publishing is more accessible than ever. With Amazon looking for original authors and SelfPublishing.com flipping the publishing industry in favor of the author, you can finally put your daydreams to work for you.
Crystal started publishing her stories seven years ago, now she’s published 17 books (and several more short stories) on online platforms.
You can check out her website here or follow her on Facebook to see how she mothers and authors – oh, and homeschools. Really, she’s amazing.
#7: Write Your Way to Freedom through Freelance Writing
The second way you can make money writing is the one I chose.
I’m a freelance copywriter who specializes in SEO and content strategies. Remember how I was doom scrolling through Facebook?
That’s when I found Write Your Way to Freedom.
This course taught me how to write for businesses in a helpful, non-sleazy, ethical manner – like this blog, for example. It taught me the ins and outs of running my own freelance business and gave me a community of other writers – several of whom are moms – that I can ask for advice.
This year, I brought in over $13,000.
(That’s more than I earned in a year working part-time at Home Depot to pay off my student loans. So yeah, it’s a real job.)
If you like the idea of working on your terms and making money in your first year, then check out Sarah Turner’s Write Your Way to Freedom course.
(FYI, this is the only affiliate link in this blog. And it’s also the only one that I share with my personal friends who want to change their lives like I did mine.)
What I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Job as a Stay-at-Home Mom
Working a stay-at-home mom job is not for the faint of heart. Whether you work as a freelance writer or open a pet-sitting business, you have to be your own advocate. Put yourself out there. And be willing to say, “No, my family comes first,”
In the beginning, I fought with guilt.
I felt guilty that I wasn’t progressing as fast as “everyone else”. So, I worked harder. Then I felt guilty for working when the kids were awake…and you know how mom guilt goes. It’s a spiral.
So here’s what I would tell my past self as a mom of a four-year-old and two-year-old twins…
Slow and steady action wins the race. Take small actions towards your goals every day.
Don’t compare your progress to others. They don’t have your responsibilities.
Don’t compare your choices to others. They don’t have your needs.
You know what your children need. You know what your family needs. Just do your best. Because you are enough.
