How to Make Money & Earn an Income as a Stay at Home Mom
The best flexible, part-time jobs for stay at home moms, plus advice on how to find the right side hustle for you!
Source: Kampus Production
While every family situation is different, many mothers who choose to take a career break often look for ways to make extra income while at home with their little ones. We understand the desire to earn money while also embracing this precious time at home with your children. And we also know that the transition to finding a part-time, online, or flexible job can bring on a host of questions. You may be wondering, where do I search for a job as a stay-at-home mom? Or, how can I accomplish work tasks in a noisy setting? Or even, will this be too stressful to handle on top of providing childcare?
To answer these questions and more, we spoke to two career experts about how to make money as a stay at home mom. We’re tackling everything from how to find a stay at home mom job to how to balance part-time work and family, and where to begin your job search. What’s more, we have data on what these flexible and part-time jobs pay, as well as advice on how to find work that fills your cup. So refresh your resume, and finally take on that side hustle and earn some extra cash.
Meet the Experts
Stephanie Chipman: A job search strategist and the owner of SAHM Coaching, Chipman relies on her extensive background in human resources to guide stay at home mothers back to the paid workforce after a career break for family life.
Nicole Wood: A career coach and the CEO and cofounder of Ama La Vida Coaching, Wood helps professionals plan and achieve their career goals.
15 of the Best Flexible & Part-Time Jobs for Stay at Home Moms
Ready to get started? We’ve pulled together 15 different ways to make money as a stay at home mom. As you’ll read, some of these jobs require no additional training, while others rely on having some prior experience in the field. No matter which role appeals to you as a side hustle or part-time job, you’ll find that each offers the flexibility moms need to earn an income and continue to care for their children at home.
1. Customer Service Representative
Average pay: $15/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
If you’re looking for ways to make money as a stay at home mom, consider becoming a customer service representative. In this role, you will communicate with customers via phone or chat and answer questions and concerns they might have over a product or service. Companies looking for customer service representatives can range from pharmacies, banks, and insurance agencies to retailers and more.
2. Web Developer
Average pay: $45/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
If you excel at writing code and have a knack for creating user-friendly websites, you might consider pitching your expertise to small brands and companies. You’ll find that there are a host of potential clients in need of a web developer to help them create secure and functional websites.
3. Data Entry Specialist
Average pay: $17/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
If you enjoy being organized and using spreadsheets, consider a job as a data entry specialist. In this role, the company will give you information and notes to double check for accuracy and will then enter into their databases. Having a good internet connection is essential for this job.
4. Product Tester/Reviewer
Average pay: $19/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Becoming a product tester can be a great way to make money as a stay-at-home mom. This flexible role is ideal for stay at home moms as it doesn’t require much training other than being able to test products from companies that you may already make purchases. You can test things such as electronics, household items like laundry detergent, make up, and even baby items and provide honest reviews on the company website. This is a great option if family life needs you to be flexible with your time.
5. Travel Agent
Average pay: $23/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
As moms, we are always planning and looking for deals. That’s why becoming a remote travel agent can be a wonderful role to step into and earn extra income from home. This job requires agents to help customers make travel plans, book flights, and look for hotel and car rental options that fit their budget.
6. Virtual Assistant
Average pay: $28/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Being a virtual assistant is one of the most popular part-time jobs for stay at home moms. It requires having good communication and administrative skills. For this job, you would be in charge of calendar management and answering emails for an employer, along with many other office tasks—except you work from home. You may also be in charge of the employer’s social media accounts. While still being fairly flexible, this job would require more steady hours in which the employer can meet with you or when you can answer phone calls.
7. Online Tutor
Average pay: $29/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
The job of an online tutor is to offer students extra assistance on particular subjects. This job often requires you to have a Bachelor’s degree and some experience with teaching, but this is not always the case. If you enjoy helping students learn, can offer encouragement, and communicate well, this is a great job to you can do from home to make an income.
8. Freelance Writer
Average pay: $33/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
If your strength lies in writing, you may want to consider being a freelance writer. Freelance writing is one of the most flexible jobs for SAHMs. In this role, you will have the opportunity to bring in extra money while writing for companies or publications that need specific content. You can write about many topics, but honing in on a specific subject of expertise, such as parenting, beauty, mental health, etc. can help you to charge higher rates and build a steady client base. This is definitely a route stay-at-home moms can take if they enjoy being creative but are also deadline-driven.
9. Social Media Manager
Average pay: $31/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Put your scrolling to good use by managing a brand’s social media presence. In this role, you might find yourself responsible for creating social media growth strategies, developing messaging, and managing campaigns. Many brands have social media teams, with smaller roles dedicated to managing day-to-day posts across platforms.
10. Dog Walker
Average pay: $18-22/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
This is a two-for-one side gig in that you can get some steps in while earning income. You may even be able to bring your kids along, depending on their age (walking ability) or portability (think: baby carrier). Plus, this role allows you to hang out with some furry friends and get fresh air.
11. Airbnb Host
Average rate per night: $130-$160 according to Airbnb
Whether you have a guest suite, perfect to rent out, or are finally taking a long family weekend away, renting out your home is an easy way to make money without doing much. Research what other homeowners are charging in your area, clean your home, and lock up anything precious or expensive. Bonus points if you make your home kid-friendly for another family (it’s good karma).
12. In-Home Babysitting
Average pay: $17/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
In-home babysitting can be a great option for moms who have a little one who may need a friend or two to play and socialize with. This is a great way to earn extra income while also helping out a working friend or family member who can’t afford daycare.
13. Graphic Designer
Average pay: $27/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Have experience in art or design? Put your skills to use with a side gig in graphic design. Many companies and brands need someone with an eye for detail and beauty to create marketing visuals.
14. Consultant
Average pay: $50/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Just because you’ve paused your career for a chapter, doesn’t mean your skills and expertise are on pause, too. Whether your background is in marketing, HR, sales, or anything in between, take your professional experience and pitch yourself to clients as an independent consultant. If you loved your work prior to your career break, consulting may be a natural way to make money as a stay at home mom. Not sure where to start? A seasoned consultant shares four steps to take when starting a consulting business from the ground up.
15. Transcriptionist
Average pay: $20/hour, according to Zip Recruiter
Taking on part-time work as a transcriptionist may be ideal for parents with napping children at home, who only have a few hours here and there to spare. This job requires translating audio or video files into written text, and many transcriptionist jobs are available in the medical, legal, and media industries.
Where to Find Flexible & Remote Stay at Home Mom Jobs
Mothers who are searching for stay at home mom job options—such as a part-time job, fulfilling side hustle, a role with flexible hours, or remote work—can utilize sites such as LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter to look for jobs that are best suited to their family’s needs.
There are also websites that are tailored specifically for working mothers, such as The Mom Project, Hire My Mom, and Mother Untitled’s Flex Jobs Board—the last of which is a consistently updated curation of part-time, remote, and freelance jobs that work alongside motherhood. To access our Flex Jobs Board—and a host of additional supports to navigate in this stage of motherhood, be sure to check out the resources at Mother Untitled.
Source: Tatiana Syrikova
How to Work From Home as a Stay at Home Mom
Let’s face it: a stay-at-home parent’s days are full. Between school drop-offs and diaper changes, dinner prep and bedtimes, full-time caregivers don’t exactly have downtime. So, how can you squeeze in an income-earning opportunity while also caring for your children? Our experts share 10 tips for making it all come together and fitting part-time work into stay at home mom life in a way that’s both fulfilling and manageable.
1. Look for Flexible Hours
When choosing a job that fits into your family life, Nicole Wood, CEO and cofounder of Ama La Vida Coaching, advises seeking work that can be done at any time of day and doesn’t require long meetings. This way, you don’t have to wait until your little one goes down for a nap to clock in for the day.
2. Master Your Weekly Routine
Stephanie Chipman, a job search strategist and the founder of SAHM Coaching, encourages stay-at-home parents to understand their weekly routine– keeping in mind how much time needs to be designated for work and how this will align with your children’s schedule. Are there family members or friends who may be able to watch your kids while you do a few hours of work?
3. Carve Out a Dedicated Work Space
Chipman also emphasized the importance of having the proper work space and to dress the part even when you are not leaving home. If you don’t have the space for a full-fledged office, fit a desk into your living space, or tuck work items into a basket you can pull out when needed.
Having a dedicated space for work helps to “signal to your child when you’re working and when you’re available to them,” Wood says.
4. Set Manageable Goals
Chipman recommends kickstarting your motivation with manageable goals. You can accomplish so much in 20 minutes, which can be done while your kids watch 20-30 minutes of TV.
“Small increments done consistently will produce results,” says Chipman. “There’s an expectation to do a lot–be kind to yourself. Sometimes you need to slow down to speed up.”
5. Protect Yourself From Burnout
In order to prevent burnout or excessive stress in a new job, Wood advises starting small and scaling only when you’re ready. She points out how easy it is to take on more and more work tasks, so starting with less and waiting until you get a good grip on your responsibilities will help you work at a pace that’s both comfortable and efficient.
6. Choose Enjoyable Work
As simple as it sounds, Wood encourages at-home parents to choose paid work they will actually enjoy doing–not just work that brings in the most money. This will make the experience more meaningful and keep you motivated.
7. Go Easy On Yourself
Wood reminds moms to give themselves grace. “It can be difficult to let go of the expectations you had for yourself when you were a professional with no children, but you are in a different season of your life now,” she adds. “[You] are growing in new and meaningful ways and have so much to offer beyond just productivity alone.”
8. Make a Sick Day Plan
As any parent knows, a sick day or any other day off from school can throw your entire day off its axis. If you’re working from home as the primary parent, make sure you have a plan to entertain kids while you work. Maybe it’s as simple as keeping a basket stocked with fun, engaging, and quiet activities to keep them busy for small stretches of time. Or maybe you ritualize screen time so that you can make calls, take meetings, or get into a flow state while your littles are otherwise occupied.
9. Cushion Your Deadlines
As a mother, you’re already accustomed to pivoting at a moment’s notice. Make it all a bit less stressful by plotting your work deadlines a day or two early on your calendar. That way, when surprises arise—as they inevitably do with kids—you’ll have a bit more time than you planned to complete your work and turn it in on time.
10. Get Organized & Be Meticulous
Family life can be hectic enough. Don’t add to your stress by keeping mental to-do lists. Instead, find a task management and organizational system that will help you stay on top of your work duties, whether that means using a planner, setting calendar reminders on your phone, or using a digital scheduler. Need more inspiration for staying organized and productive? Check out 11 Tips & Tools to Balance Part-Time Work With Stay-at-Home Motherhood.
Finding Flexible Work That Fills You Up
If you’re unsure about which professional opportunities to pursue, Chipman suggests asking yourself three clarifying questions:
What do you enjoy doing?
What makes you happy?
What are you good at?
Some people may be good at sales, for example, but they don’t necessarily enjoy it. Others may be interested in freelance writing, but worry they don’t have strong enough writing skills to pursue it.
If you’re concerned you are not good at certain tasks that pique your interest, take the time to practice and upgrade your skills, Chipman says. “There are many government agencies and nonprofits that offer [skills-]training at little or no cost,” she adds.
Read More:
When Flexible Work Schedules Are a Struggle—How 5 Moms Deal
Fabiola Mejia is a freelance writer living in the North Shore of Boston. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Creative Writing from Salem State University in 2016 and became a recipient of the GrubStreet Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2020. Her writing primarily focuses on beauty, mental health, and motherhood. Fabiola's other interests include reading, musical theater, traveling, and gardening with her three daughters.
FAQs
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Many stay at home moms find success with part-time, flexible roles like customer service, data entry, virtual assistance, and freelance writing. These are among the best jobs for SAHMs because they allow moms to work around childcare schedules and maintain a balance between work and family.
To learn more, read How to Find a Flexible Job After a Career Break
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For stay at home parents, flexible, remote jobs make balancing work with family life more doable. By setting family routines, asking for help, and working during school hours or nap time, many stay at home mothers find they can manage work and family more seamlessly.
Find our thorough, expert-backed guide on creating a family routine that works for you.
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For stay at home mom jobs, websites like LinkedIn, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter offer many remote, part-time opportunities. Platforms like The Mom Project, Hire My Mom, and Mother Untitled’s FlexJobs Board specifically cater to moms seeking flexible work that fits their family life.
Check out the Mother Untitled FlexJobs Board for flexible, remote, and part-time jobs that work alongside motherhood.
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Starting with a part-time job is ideal for stay at home moms wanting to avoid burnout. Begin with manageable tasks, set realistic goals, and focus on roles that provide a good work-life balance to protect your mental health.
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Some of the best jobs for stay-at-home moms who need part-time flexibility include virtual assistant roles, online tutoring, freelance writing, and social media management. These jobs allow for adaptable hours, making it easier to balance work with family responsibilities.
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Stay-at-home moms can find several online opportunities that don’t require extensive experience. Jobs like data entry, product testing, and remote customer service are all accessible entry-level options for earning income while caregiving for kids.
