How to Earn Extra Money as a Stay-at-Home Mom

Being a stay-at-home mom is a lot of work. You tend to a little one all day, every day, for free. Not only is it physically demanding, you often stress about money, because your family lives on one salary. To supplement our income, I often search for ways to make extra money. 

"Why not get a job?" You ask.

Because my child comes first, and my entire schedule revolves around her. So, any side gig I get must be extremely flexible. Unfortunately, no job comes with that much flexibility, especially ones that require my original skill set. To make extra money, I must find unconventional ways.

After two years of digging around and trying new things, I've compiled several income streams that are both flexible and credible. Not only do they work for stay-at-home moms, they work for anyone who wants to make extra income.

Earn Extra Money by Freelance Writing

Like to write? Put those writing chops to work. There are many places that hire freelance writers. 

So far, I have used Demand Studios and Text Broker. Neither pays much (about $7 - $15 per 400 words), but you work on your own time.

You can also contact local papers and magazines. Small publications also don't offer good pay, but the work is fun, and you receive professional editing. Plus, articles for legitimate papers are great for a growing portfolio.

If you like to write, freelance writing allows you to work flexible hours and practice writing skills.

 

Earn Extra Money by Babysitting

If you have the energy, you can always babysit. When my daughter was small, I babysat a couple of families a few hours a week. It's not much money, but it's a job I can take my baby to. However, when my daughter got older, it became too difficult and I had to quit.

Earn Extra Money by Selling Things on the Internet

The internet is truly a wonderful market place. Ebay, for example, can really help you make extra money, if you know what to sell. Some brands and niche products practically sell themselves. 

My husband's remote control toys, for example, always make money. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about remote control stuff. But I do know beauty and fashion. I once found a Coach cross body bag for $65, and sold it on Ebay for $95. 

Pretty good deal, right? The down side is that you have to look for in-demand brands at unthinkably low prices. Or you can go wholesale, but that's too much commitment.

Other internet market places include etsy, amazon and half.com. And if you get into niche items like used diabetic test strips -- bet you didn't know you can sell diabetic strips, right? -- you can try Dtsbuyers.com.

 

Earn Extra Money by Outsourcing Your Creative Talents

Okay, I haven't tried this myself, but a few of my mama friends have. They all do it on their own time too. One of them was a graphic designer and continued on as a freelancer for her old employee. Another one actually learned web design on her own, and opened her own design shop, while another freelances as an illustrator. A few of them are making quite a handsome income.

If you have creative talent, you can certainly put it to work. It takes a while to build a client base, but if you continue, it pays off in the end.

Earn Extra Money by Blogging

This is by far my favorite way to make extra income, because I love blogging. It takes time to build readers, reputation and page rank. But it is extremely flexible, and it pays.

So far, I make extra money by blogging with sponsorships and paid posts. (Some of my opportunities come from brokers like Link Vehicle and Blogsvertise.) You can also try affiliate marketing, pay per click and selling permanent links.

(I don't know much about affiliate marketing, but have been looking into it and getting Affiliate marketing tips around the internet. I can share it in an upcoming post.)

This is my latest invoice at Blogsvertise.com

That's all the ways to earn extra money I have for now.

Do you have other ideas? I'm sure visitors at Girlie Blog Seattle would love to hear them.