Ideas for Moms who Want to Earn Extra Money From Home

When I came up with the idea for this post, I forewent the usual online lists of side jobs for work-at-home moms and asked actual women what they do instead.

All the responses blew me away, I couldn’t believe the varied jobs that are out there for moms like me, who wish to earn some extra while staying home with their children.

Regardless of your skill level, education or talents, there is something here for everyone.

(I tried to add as many helpful links as possible, but keep in mind, you will need to do your own research on each company as I have not personally worked with all of them.)

Some of the links in this post may be affiliate links, you can read my full disclosure here or look for more information at the bottom of this post.

Work From Home as a Reseller

Shanon recreates items and sells them on her FB page R&S Rescue and Repurpose. She takes things like old plates/picture frames etc. and transforms them into beautiful chalkboards with sayings or verses on them.

Jaclyn finds deals on clothing and resells them on Poshmark.

Becky has found success with selling items on Ebay. As with any venture, she finds the rewards are greater the more time you have to put into it.

This article has a lot of great tips to help get you started.

Amber buys liquidation and sells on Amazon, eBay and Poshmark. She also sells on Facebook, as well.

She finds items at online auctions, but those require you to have a selling license or certificate to make accounts and bid on items.

The auctions can be a gamble & you have to do your research on everything. The more time you put into it, the more you can make. A lot of trial & error.

Here’s an article with some great tips!

Emily flips furniture. She gives outdated pieces a new lease on life. More times than not, her furniture is free as she finds many of the pieces on the side of the road, or friends will donate them. 

She sells mainly through FB marketplace and Letgo, but also has pieces in a local store.

She finds inspiration by following several furniture artists online and on YouTube. If she isn’t sure how to do something, she finds a tutorial on YouTube.

She also has an LLC which allows her to take in other people’s furniture and turns their vision into reality.

Work From Home as a Teacher

Karen teaches English independently but also grades papers through a company called ETS, although this is seasonal work.

Pearson and ACT also allow you to apply for a position as a scorer, etc. but might require a bachelor’s degree or higher, among other qualifications, depending on the position.

Quite a few moms teach through VIPKid and PalFish although Jeanie recommends caution when starting out with any online ESL companies as many have paused hiring new teachers at this time.

(She supports this as a great means of making money for stay-at-home moms but recommends waiting until the US economy has stabilized.)

Larissa loves her teaching position as all her students are located in China, which means with the time difference she is done working by no later than 8 am and has the rest of the day open to do whatever she needs. She loves being able to choose her own hours, too.

Being able to meet people from all over the world and learn about their cultures is another plus. Not only does she get to meet her students from China, but also fellow teachers from different corners of the world.

Nicole has found Outschool to be a great alternative to VIPKid and Palfish.

At Outschool you can teach anything you think people would want to sign their children up for from actual school subjects, like Algebra, to niche classes like “How to care for your pet guinea pig.”

Charity coaches and is an online course creator.

She has found there are many online coaching certifications you can get and plenty of how-to courses through places like Teachable.

Charity also bought a course to learn how to write and build her online course called School Unboxing.

For her, it’s been a learning process of several years of studying online marketing and platform building from people like Pat Flynn, Christy Wright, Emily Ley, and Michael Hyatt.

Work From Home With Music

Tiffany and Jamie teach music and voice lessons online via Zoom, Skype and FaceBook.

They rely on word of mouth and referrals to build their list of students, as well as some advertising.

Beka writes and arranges sheet music and self-publishes digitally through Sheet Music Plus and Sheet Music Marketplace.

She has mainly focused on single pieces or 3-pack bundles but plans to publish her first piano book later this year.

Work From Home in the Medical Field

Emily works remotely as an RN for a pharmaceutical company.

She wrote this great article you’ll want to check out if this sounds like something you’d like to do. Here’s one more for you.

Kathy works as an admin assistant/patient advocate for Lantz Medical.

Her company sells medical devices to help patients get their range of motion back. She works for a couple of sales reps, calling MD clinics and therapy clinics for paperwork required by their insurance.

She also makes all the follow-up phone calls to their patients to see how they are doing.

Customer service skills are a must. Also, knowing computer basics, Word, Excel, etc.

Kathy loves the flexible hours which let her stay a part of her daughter’s busy lives.

Work From Home as a Proofreader

Marion is working as a transcript proofreader, something her mom and sister have been doing for some time.

The course she is working through at the moment is Proofread Anywhere.

Rena edits and proofreads from home through Affordable Christian Editing.

The flexible hours are wonderful as it allowed her to care for her mother while she lived in her home.

Work From Home With Food

Atina makes meals to order. These are normally family meals and to-go meals and she sells them through her Facebook page Atina Simply Homemade.

She started this business to earn extra money and teach her kids about gardening, meal prep, and the business aspects of packaging, delivery, and earning an income from home.

She has not needed to advertise as word-of-mouth has kept her very busy.

Hannah is a certified baker and bakes a variety of delectables for individuals, showers, weddings, meetings, graduations, etc.

Right now she sells by word of mouth and reaching out to venues to be placed on their list of services.

Deborah delivers for Instacart in her spare time. She loves the flexibility of working her own schedule, and it’s something she can do with her kids.

She says it’s easy to get started. You just download the app, answer a few interview questions, and depending on the need for shoppers in your area, you are approved or put on a waiting list.

Once you pass the initial approval, you must pass a background check. After the final approval, available batches (grocery orders) show up on your app and you can accept the jobs at your discretion and convenience.

Work From Home Creating

Julie makes homemade soaps and lotions and sells them at local craft fairs.

When starting out she found craft fairs by keeping an eye out for signs by the side of the roads, word of mouth, and calling each town’s parks and recreations dept for any craft shows, etc.

(Here is a great resource for those interested in selling at craft fairs.)

Joy is a seamstress on the side, using business cards from Vistaprint to pass out to friends or anyone who needs alterations.

Tricia makes custom metal hand-stamped jewelry from her small home studio. You can find her beautiful creations at her Pretty and Witty FB page.

She has stayed consistently busy and hasn’t had to do any outside marketing. The people wearing her jewelry are ultimately marketing for her.

Kayte works as a portrait photographer at katemccoyphoto.com. She photographs babies and corporate headshots in her home and family sessions on location.

She’ll also go to businesses if they have a group needing headshots.

Although she can set her own hours, she requires childcare for the sessions but does all the editing and other work for the business at home.

(Keep reading for Kayte’s tips for working from home.)

(Note from me)

A great opportunity for so many women is selling on Etsy.

I used to think this was only for the crafty type (which I’m not) but then I started making printables and realized I could sell those on Etsy. I now have two Etsy shops: Every Mom Printables and In a Girl's World.

For something I can only give a bit of time towards each week, I have been thrilled with my progress to date.

I have a YouTube channel that teaches how to make printables, if that sounds like something you would like to do, check me out at Everything Printables.

(Note from me)

Working on Fiverr is another great option for those who have a skill set that they would like to utilize to earn money.

When I published my book, I used someone on Fiverr to create my cover and I was so pleased with her work, I plan to use her for all my covers!

(Note from me)

And of course, I cannot leave out blogging, as it is my main source of income and allows me to stay home with my family and be there for all of life’s moments.

If you are wondering whether you should start your own blog, you can read my thoughts on the matter here and find some helpful tips and recommendations.

Work From Home With a Company

Hilda manages buildings which she does from home, unless she is checking on vendor’s jobs.

Here is a post from another property manager who lists some great tips for those who are interesting in pursuing this option.

Chrissy works for a company called Sharetown who helps retailers with returns.

This opportunity has allowed Chrissy flexible hours and is something her husband and their boys (almost 11, 9, & 4) can help with and also get paid.

Having a business the entire family can be a part of has been wonderful for Chrissy.

Nathan and his wife, Becky, work from home with their real estate business through Keller Williams Realty Professionals.

They say that if you’re:

👉🏽Social 

👉🏽Have lots of friends

👉🏽Get along with just about anyone

👉🏽Somewhat tech-savvy

THEN:

👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽👇🏽

1) www.getintorealestate.careers 

2) Click “Become An Agent”

3) Click on the state at the bottom for specific requirements

4) Click on the link for Real Estate Express to take the online course needed for the state.

From there, after successful completion of any state and national tests, you can place your license with a sponsoring broker and start helping friends, family, coworkers, and neighbors with their real estate needs.

The first home sale usually covers the expenses for classes and tests and then some.

(Note from me)

Many moms have found great success working for other companies by promoting their products and services, also recognized as Mulit-Level Marketing.

I have loved many companies and their missions but have never signed up with them because I could never keep up with quotas with my busy schedule.

So instead, I promote ones I like and oftentimes receive a small commission. One such company is Wink Well, because it centers around families and their products are really great.

See what I did there?

If there are companies you already love, see if they have an affiliate program and then use your code to promote it on your social media channels. Just like I did above.

Extra cash for telling others about great products. It’s a win-win!

Tips for Working From Home

Tonya recommends keeping work and home separate.

Schedule your time so you don’t feel you’re “working all the time”.

When your working hours are done, put your electronics away, take your work hat off, and put your mom/wife (or dad/husband) hat on.

You are NOT on call 24/7 just because you work from home.

Kayte’s biggest obstacles have been establishing designated work time, so she’s not “momming” all day and working all night. Being flexible can actually mean less time with her family when she agrees to things that cut into work hours or family time.

Practicing a simple response of “I’m sorry I’m working then” has helped. She finds the less she tries to explain, the better it goes.

One thing she was thankful she did at the start was commit to running her business with zero debt. There were times when she was tempted, but when COVID shut her down, she did not stress as she had no business bills to pay. She chose to grow slowly than have the stress of debt.

Early on, Kayte found a Woman’s Business Center that offers free business counseling. She learned a lot about insurance, determining cost of goods, business plans, etc.

As for business advice specific to her field, she was very active in online forums and took advantage of free education every chance she could.

She recommends learning from a variety of people in your field. Sometimes there will be contrasting opinions, but find it’s great to glimpse successful people’s minds to make the choices that suit your business specifically.

(Note from me)

If you are serious about working from home, you might want to check out my post about essentials for work-at-home moms.

*As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases, but if I am recommending an item in my post, it is only because I have used it myself or have done enough research on the product to feel it is a good fit for my readers.