Many new mothers are faced with a dilemma: go back to work or stay home with the kids full-time?
Both options have pros and cons.
Work means bring in extra income and keeping an up-to-date resume, but sometimes the benefits are all but offset by the high cost of childcare (and you may worry about missing out on time with the kids).
Moms who choose to stay at home can adopt a combination strategy by finding legitimate work-at-home jobs for moms.
These job ideas for stay-at-home moms are ideal because of their flexibility, legitimacy, and potential to learn new skills while increasing your family’s income.
Before we delve deeper, I’d like to mention a common suggestion: not legitimate: multi-level marketing (also called MLM or direct selling).
These companies like to prey on new mothers by promising high incomes, flexibility, “owning your own business,” and so on.
However, research shows that less than 1% of MLM participants make a profit; most lose money. These companies usually require distributors to purchase products which they can then no longer resell (due to the low demand for overpriced, low-quality products).
Anyway, it’s a pet peeve of mine that MLMs like to take advantage of people like that, so be aware of people who promise you “an exciting new business opportunity.” This is the most comprehensive master list of MLMs I discovered that you are unsure about a specific company.
Now that that’s out of the way… time to talk about legit jobs for stay-at-home moms!
How to Make Money as a Stay at Home Mom
Most of these stay-at-home mom jobs are online, but a few are in-person as well ways to earn work from home jobs mixed in.
You may already have some of these skills, but if you want to pick up a new skill, I’ll throw in some learning resources as well.
1. Accounting
For people with good organizational skills and a head for numbers, accounting is a job with a relatively low barrier to entry.
It’s not as strictly regulated as accounting, so you don’t even need to get certified (although certifications can help convince companies to hire you).
Bookkeepers are responsible for maintaining financial records, including recording transactions, categorizing receipts, paying suppliers, invoicing customers, writing reports, etc. Automated accounting software allows you to do all of this online.
Where to find more information:
2. Writing
There are a few different ways to make money as a writer: freelance writing for clients, starting your own blog, or becoming an author.
As a freelance writer, you can write for websites, other people’s blogs, marketing materials, technical manuals, and so on. Find performances on remote work marketplaces or pitch publications you want to write for.
With most of these jobs, you have control over your time. As long as you can write, your client doesn’t care what hours you work.
When you start your own blog, you get a lot of control over your schedule and what topics you want to cover, but to make it profitable you’ll be doing a lot more than just writing.
You’ll have to find a niche, create a brand, market yourself and find ways to do that monetize the blog. That said, if you find a good niche and start getting a lot of traffic, this can become a lucrative endeavor.
Finally, becoming an author is probably the least financially guaranteed of the three, but if you enjoy creative writing, you can see it as a fun hobby that can make you money.
Self-publishing ebooks for sale on Kindle is one of the more accessible ways to get the word out about your stories.
Where to find more information:
3. eBay Flips
Job ideas for a stay-at-home mom don’t have to keep you home 100% of the time. Take the kids on adventures to yard sales, thrift stores and retail sales to look for flippable deals.
It helps if you have a good basic knowledge of certain types of products, but this is something you can build up over time. With a smartphone you can conduct portable research into the value of objects you find.
Then you need to write offers, obtain shipping materials, and wait for the items to sell. (However, you are taking the risk that your inventory won’t sell, so it’s best to start slowly until you get a handle on demand.)
Where to find more information:
4. Teaching/guidance
If you were a certified teacher before having children, this will be a natural transition. But even if you’ve never taught in your life, you have options, like tutoring children in a subject you’ve mastered or teaching English to non-native speakers online.
Recommended:
As a tutor, you can offer online services or meet students in person at your home. (The latter option may be more successful if your children are old enough to entertain themselves so they don’t distract you and the students.)
Where to find more information:
5. Virtual assistance
Many business owners use virtual assistants to handle some of their time-consuming daily tasks. This may involve answering work emails, arranging appointments, using company software, assisting with marketing efforts, and taking care of other administrative tasks as needed.
This type of work requires you to be somewhat “on-call” throughout the day to monitor the inbox, communicate, and meet time-sensitive needs, but it usually doesn’t require strict scheduling.
Where to find more information:
6. Social media management
An active, friendly and helpful social presence is important for today’s businesses.
If you have an idea of what kind of content people will like, can interpret statistics to assess success, know how to find or create images/graphics, and have a welcoming and diplomatic tone when interacting with customers, then you would can be the ones with a friendly face.
Where to find more information:
7. Childcare
If you have the stamina to handle your own children and a little extra, you can combine it by starting a home daycare center. However, it is not an attempt to take it lightly.
After all, you are responsible for other people’s children and everything that their care entails: supervision, learning and playing, conflict resolution, nutrition and allergies, etc.
And if you do more than occasional babysitting, you’ll likely need to register as a business and obtain insurance and licensing (depending on the laws of your state/country).
Where to find more information:
8. Amazon FBA
Selling through Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is a very different type of online product selling because you never have to actually handle the product.
The short version is you choose something to sell, buy it from a wholesaler, ship your inventory directly to Amazonand create a product listing.
From there, all you have to do is handle the marketing and customer communications, while Amazon handles the actual order fulfillment and shipping.
Like I said: the short version. The long version is in the source list below!
Where to find more information:
9. Sell crafts on Etsy
For those who have a creative streak and want to make and sell their own goods, Etsy is the place to do it.
Jewelry, art, clothing, accessories, wedding decorations, homewares, children’s toys… your imagination is the limit here. Make sure you carefully package anything fragile, such as an original painting or glassware.
Where to find more information:
10. Graphic design
An eye for aesthetics combined with precise technical skills make you an excellent candidate for design work.
The work is also highly compatible with remote and freelance scenarios: you can offer logo design, create infographics, do ad hoc work for a local company, or specialize more in web design/UI and collaborate with developers.
Where to find more information:
11. Web development
It’s the Internet age and if a company doesn’t have a good website, it’s a major attack. This means there is a high demand for people who know how to build, maintain and update websites.
Plus, coding skills make you flexible and ensure you have good career prospects once the kids are independent and you’re ready to get back to work.
Where to find more information:
12. Insurance audit
Start with volunteer and postal audits, choose a commercial insurance company or search for insurance providers on LinkedIn.
Usually super easy to get started, no sales, mostly data entry on your own schedule. This is possible as an insurance auditor earn $50,000 per year working from home.
With insurance, as soon as you have a year, you have a career.
13. Online fitness trainer
If you have a passion for fitness or yoga, becoming an online trainer or instructor can be a good career choice. This role involves leading training sessions or yoga classes via digital platforms.
You would create exercise programs, demonstrate routines, and provide guidance to help clients achieve their fitness goals.
The key is to maintain a personal connection with customers, even through a screen. While certifications in fitness training or yoga can boost your credibility, they are not always necessary.
14. Advice
Consulting is a dynamic field for those who are experts in a specific field. Unlike traditional 9-to-5 jobs, consulting offers the freedom to work with different clients on a variety of projects.
Whether in marketing, management, IT or education, your role is to provide strategic advice to improve clients’ operations or strategies.
The beauty of consultancy lies in its diversity; every project offers new challenges and learning opportunities. You can work independently or with consultancy firms and you can often determine your own hours and rates.
15. Transcription Services
Transcription involves converting audio or video content into written text. As a transcriber, you can transcribe everything from legal proceedings and medical dictations to business meetings and interviews.
The work is varied and often interesting. Although formal qualifications are not usually required, good knowledge of language and grammar is required.
Do you have any good ideas for a stay at home mom to add? Share them in the comments!
More from Dollar Sanity:
15 best part-time evening jobs for a second income
21 Best Part-Time Jobs with Flexible Hours (Earn $10-100/hour)
How to Start a Press On Nail Business at Home
13 Stay at Home Jobs for Pregnant Moms
15 well-paying jobs for women without a diploma