60+ Real Jobs for Stay at Home Moms – advice from REAL moms
This is a post I’ve been wanting to write for a long time! In a way it’s a follow up to my post on How to Afford to Be a Stay at Home Mom article. And in a way it is at the crux of everything I write about here at GrowingSlower. In that article, I noted how the average mother only needs to make up $700 per month in order to afford to be a stay at home mom, after taking out all the costs of going to work.
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So how do you find that $700 when it means the difference between a roof over your heads or food on the table, and still afford to be a stay at home mom. One way is to make it up by finding cost savings in running your household. I already talk a LOT about ways to save money here on the blog.
The other option is to make the extra money from home to help make ends meet. This is a really big heart need for my readers. So many want stay at home with their kids, but really can’t make it on one income.
60+ Real Jobs for Stay at Home Moms
So I put the call out to stay at home moms to find out what kind of jobs they’ve created for themselves, and how they’re actually making money from home. What follows is an exhaustive list of their responses in their own words with links to their actual businesses so you can learn firsthand what is working for them.
This list represents the advice from real moms about real jobs for stay at home moms. I absolutely LOVE the diversity of creative jobs these stay at home moms have created for themselves!
Some never would have crossed my mind. Some direct marketing opportunities I’ve never heard of before. There are even a couple of single moms supporting their families with their work at home jobs. And what’s more is that they’re carving out a space to chase their own dreams even while raising little ones.
The list of jobs is divided into several categories including Blogging & Writing, Handmade Businesses, In-Home Childcare, Direct Marketing, and Other Businesses and Professional Services.
I have my hand in almost every one of these categories. You know, of course that I blog here at GrowingSlower.com. I have a couple of books on Amazon: 76 Free Things to Do with Kids and Natural Birth Stories. I also have a shop on Etsy where I design purses and knitting needle cases that you can sew yourself. You may not know that my “real” job is working from home as an architect. I haven’t tried direct marketing or in-home childcare yet, but who knows?!
All of these mini-businesses combined contribute to allowing me to afford to be a stay at home mom.
No matter what your situation, personality, or interests, I think you’ll be able to find some great ideas here that will get you inspired to start your own stay at-home business.
10 Blogging & Writing Jobs for Stay at Home Moms
- Tiny house blogger/podcaster/entrepreneur/minimalist. It seems counter sometimes but if you choose to live in a smaller house you’ll spend a lot less to upkeep it and you won’t feel the need to fill it up either! Both cost savings that may allow you to live well off of less income and potentially enable sahming.
- I write and sell home school materials for a niche market with beliefs similar to us. Creating the materials met a need for our family since we use them, and also brings in a small income. I also am an independent consultant for Lilla Rose hair jewelry.
- I’m a blogger for Hudson Valley Parent magazine. I blog about saving money and surviving as a stay at home mom of three. My latest addition is only 4 weeks old.
- I blog at Smithspirations where I share encouragement and inspiration for Christian homemakers in the areas of faith, family, and natural living. I’m also a Lilla Rose hair accessory consultant, which allows me to earn income and occasionally get out of the house! A win for a homeschooling & busy mom of 5!
- I began blogging publicly a year and a half ago, honing my writing skills, networking, and gathering social media marketing skills. I’m now earning income as a freelance writer (which was my main goal in starting my blog), in addition to a being a content curator and blogger liaise for two companies. I blog at www.lo-wren.com, but you can also find me writing for The Huffington Post, Mamapedia, BlogHer, and Scary Mommy.
- What could be more fun than getting paid to play on Pinterest? I took my love for Pinterest and blogging and became a Pinterest consultant. I focus on helping bloggers get the most out of Pinterest.
- I bring in a little side income in two ways. One, I write what I know and publish books on Kindle. And two, I sell essential oils with Simply Aroma (which lets me make money from my passion – natural health!).
- I’ve been a freelance writer for 6 years and it’s been a HUGE blessing. It’s been a really flexible career to have alongside raising a family. I’m launching a course about it.
- In addition to blogging, I write ebooks which is by far where most of my online income comes from. I also pick up a friend’s sons from school each day and they hang out with us until she gets off of work. It’s a blessing to both our families. My ebook, Hope – Thriving While Unemployed, has quite a few self employment ideas.
- If you like the idea of working online, but don’t want to commit to a job, there are lots of ways to make money from home while maintaining a very flexible schedule.
- I freelance a bit, along with doing some VA (virtual assistant) work for other bloggers. I also earn a bit with sponsored posts, affiliate sales, and advertising on my blog. I have also self-published a book,Intentional Marriage, and create printables which I sell in my shop. – Crystal at Serving Joyfully (Shannon here! Crystal is one of several VAs that I work with to help me with the blog. She is an absolute wiz with graphics and is responsible for many of the pretty images you see here on GrowingSlower.)
My home office, complete with baby monitor and Hot Wheels collection
11 Handmade Businesses by Stay at Home Moms
- Stay at home momma to one crazy 6yo at the moment. I own and run a small farm and am building an Etsy shop to help supplement our military income. Not much in the shop yet but I plan to spend the winter sewing and knitting like crazy!
- I’m a WAHM who started my own business. I specialize in children’s murals, design, crochet and organic skin care. I’m also a rep for doterra essential oils and Wildtree natural foods.
- I started our Etsy shop when our daughter was 6 months old and I stopped working full time away from home. It initially started out as a way to earn a little extra money but we’ve put a lot of energy into it the last two years and have grown our Etsy shop to be one of our family’s primary sources of income. Our Etsy shop is MontanaSolarCreations. I also write a blog, Montana Homesteader, about our adventures in modern day homesteading. I monetized the blog and started making money with it the first month we started it. It is now about 8 months old and it has been making enough money each month to pay some of our monthly household bills.
- I custom crochet items also sew, things are just starting for me so it is slow at the moment.
- I make custom cake pops for people locally.
- We make and sell natural products, including magnesium lotion, herbal salves, lotion bars, herbal bath salts and we’ll soon be adding spice mixes and teas!
- I started my own body scrub business. I sell online as well as in some local retail shops and will start home parties soon. I love what I do and love being home with my little man.
- I sell natural and organic body are items at local stores and through etsy. The toothpaste and deodorant are the most popular.
- I planned my Stay-at-Home while I was working my 40hr+/wk Sales Job over 8 yrs ago. I found something dear to my heart, HERBS, and made a business out of it! I now help heal children’s eczema, and provide Organic, healthy alternatives to the mainstream bath & beauty products for the whole family!! Lots of hard work, networking, and persistence has built my business to what it is today!
- When I had my first child, I couldn’t find a diaper clutch that was big enough for cloth diapers. I decided to design and sew my own and, after making a few for friends as gifts, I opened an Etsy shop with their encouragement. I don’t make a ton of money but every little bit helps!
- I have a natural products business that has helped my desire to serve a non-profit organization as a volunteer. I love the art of soap making and am thrilled to be able to have a small clientele that enjoys my craft.
2 In-Home Childcare Jobs for Stay at Home Moms
- I’m a divorced Momma. I’ve done Childcare for the past 7 years. The last 3-4 years was 11 hrs a day / 5 days a week. I now am down to part-time while studying to be a Certified Childbirth Education Instructor.
- I am a stay at home mom. I babysit a couple kids and I am also a wellness advocate for doTERRA essential oils. I teach classes about essential oils and love to share how the oils are a natural alternative to medicine and how they help my family. We are healthier by using them.
27 Direct Marketing Businesses for Stay at Home Moms
- I stay at home with 3 children and have become a consultant for Thirty-One because it helps me organize my busy Navy wife life. I am also a consultant for Tastefully Simple because it helps me entertain and provides some easy meal short cuts.
- I’m trying to build my business, so I can stay at home. So currently I am working a more-than-full-time job out of the house, and working my Jamberry business in any free time I have! I’ve never liked selling things, but I fell in love with Jamberry’s product, so I knew even if I only bought for myself and family id come out on top. I feel safe having them on my nails, as they’re non-toxic!
- I get to pamper other women (don’t we all need it!) in their homes while sharing natural safe products! I love my Lemongrass Spa business.
- I’m mom to three 5-and-under kiddos and I wear a number of hats. I try hard to blog (my site mariposablvd.com needs a revival) and I’ve tried to keep up an Etsy shop. Right now I’m enjoying working as an educational consultant with Usborne Books doing book parties, school book fairs and fundraisers. It’s an awesome company and I’m learning a lot about business and goal-setting and it’s very fulfilling. It’s right for me at this point to have some structure because trying to create that for myself was a huge challenge that I just couldn’t focus on. I’m also a big green living advocate and I just signed up with Poofy Organics because I want to be able to offer the choice of products I am comfortable recommending. I love hearing about how all of you wonderful mamas are making things work! It’s not easy!
- I have been doing multiple things. I make and sell hard lotions (mostly locally but do ship). I also sellYounique and Thirty-one products.
- I use and share doTERRA essential oils with others to help naturally maintain my family’s health and teach others how to do so also I also run an organic food buying club out of my house and help a naturopath friend manage her online newsletter.
- I help families get more fruits and vegetables in their diet with Juice Plus. My passion is to eradicate mommy guilt and empower families to dream bigger !
- I’m a stay-at-home wife, no kiddos yet, but I enjoy helping others and natural health. Essential oilshave helped me get healthy and earn an income.
- I left the hospital and now stay home with my kids. I do wellness coordination from home from my Juice Plus virtual office and am able to do nearly all phone consults so I can be home with my kids.
- I’m a stay at home mom with 3 kids, and just joined Nature’s Sunshine. I have been taking their products since I was a kid and now give them to mine as well. It’s an all natural, organic way of staying healthy.
- I’m a working stay at home mom! With Plexus I’m able to work and still be at home with my two kids!
- I found my company Norwex from a blog and absolutely love it. Using safe cleaning products is very important to me since I have two daughters I stay at home with. Norwex sells so many great products that radically reduce the use of chemicals in our homes. I love this company, the products, and how it allows me to make extra money for my family while staying home with my girls. I am so encouraged in this company, my goal is to eventually make enough for my husband to join my team and come home and work the business with me.
- I teach essential oils and sell Young Living. It’s the first home business I found that actually makes real money!
- I’m getting healthy while helping others make being healthy a lifestyle as well. Fitness+nutrition+SUPPORT=success and I’m the support! I started at 250lbs so it’s not about vanity pounds, it’s about saving lives!!!
- Stay at home, homeschooling mom of 4. My husband does a great job of supporting our family but I’ve become an independent distributor for 2 or 3 companies that we just love their products! My favorite for a home business would probably be Lilla Rose since the products are something almost any woman/girl can use and the company support is so great.
- Health and wellness educator. (doTerra) Empowering moms EVERYWHERE!! Only the BEST for our babies.
- I love staying at home with my daughter and working from home with Scentsy! Scentsy is a home fragrance company that is growing and growing by the minute! Being in the Scentsy family has built my confidence and enabled me to contribute to our household in a very real way!
- I joined Usborne Books as a consultant about a month ago. I’ve hosted one party and had some one-off online sales, and just cashed a $67.00 check!
- Married 31 years, going on our 15th year homeschooling. Thanks to AVON (rep since High School and babysitting I have been a stay-at-home mom and love it.
- I’ve tried everything to be able to work from home. Blogging, crowd sourcing, essential oils, digital assistant. The thing that I’ve been successful at is a Beachbody coach. I run challenge groups and help teach that the key to a healthy life means eating healthy and working out. I get to be a motivator and support for people and I love it!
- I also share and use dōTERRA essential oils. Helping families take control of their health needs. Enrich, empower, and educate!
- I’m a stay at home mom with a 16 month old. I am passionate about helping people get the proper nutrition they need to improve their health, lose weight, & increase athletic performance. I work alongside them to reach their goals & discover their full potential.
- I am a stay at home, homeschooling mom of two.
- Expecting our first in October! I want to stay home so badly! For now, I am building my It Works!business! And I love it! They provide so many avenues to help pay off your debt and start making real money!
- Stay at home mom while promoting health and wellness to everyone interested! Feel good, more energy, be healthy and happy!
- I make a small amount through affiliate marketing on my blog, but my main source of income comes from my Lilla Rose business.
- I share wellness with the world by educating and empowering families on essential oils (doTERRA). I do this both through my blog and with those that I build personal relationships with.
- I have a 7 month old baby, and have been running Snoack Studios, a web and graphic design company, for almost 5 years from home, I love it! We specialize in designing and developing WordPress websites, and also offer logos, business cards and any other print and digital marketing collateral a business may need!
14 Other Businesses & Professional Services by Stay at Home Moms
- I do social media for brands and businesses! Work early in the morning and at nap time and spend the day with my kids!
- I’m a homeschooling mom of 2 and work and write at Accidentally Green. I also work as a virtual assistant/site editor, sell Norwex products and teach private writing classes.
- I am a photographer so I make my own hours. – Sidero Fenner
- Weight loss through nutrition. Knowing how the body works and feeding it what it understands is the trick to shedding unwanted pounds. I love working from home!
- I’m not a stay-at-home mom, but my husband is a stay-at-home dad. He has a photography business
- I just started taking clients as a health coach. I set my own schedule and work as much as I decide to. I also share essential oils through dōTERRA and have made that a business too. Both are flexible and rewarding, but dōTERRA is easy to get started on, anyone can do it, all you are doing is sharing how great essential oils are, and making money while doing it. I’d be happy to share how I got started with both of these with anyone who is interested.
- I’m a homeschooling mom with one still in the homeschool nest (14) and one commuting as a sophomore in college. I have been a freelance proofreader for university presses since 1994; I teach World and Comparative Lit at a homeschool co-op; and began a Plexus business for weight loss in January of this year for only $34.95 (I’ve lost 16.5 pounds and feel better than I have in years!).
- I am a business owner of an online clothing store, and a consultant for Lilla Rose, where I sell fashionable yet practical hair clips for all hair types. I’m also a blogger, and a homeschooling mom of 5 children and expecting another one!
- I’m the founder of fit2b.com which began as as a fitness blog and has expanded to providing eLearning courses and wholesome workouts for the whole family to members in over 30 countries worldwide! My passions have always included healthy birth and bellies, and so I put my bachelor degree in Exercise and Sport Science to work for my family. Now, others are making money from Fit2B Studio via our affiliate program.
- My eBook The Bootstrap VA and my Facebook group is full of women pursuing VA (virtual assistant) work so they can be home with their kids. – Lisa Morosky at The Bootstrap VA (Lisa did some VA work for me last summer as I was getting ready to launch my Natural Birth Stories book. I love that she is empowering other moms to find jobs as VAs so they can stay at home too!)
- By reading some of my favorite blogs, I’ve seen them post jobs for VAs (virtual assistants). I replied to one, which led to getting a job with her. That job led me to connect with a couple of other bloggers. And the rest, as they say, is history.
- I’m a budgeting coach through Money 4 Life Center which is affiliated with Focus on the Family.
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Can’t make ends meet on just one income? How do you make up the difference? Haven’t started your business yet? Ask for suggestions in the comments. Share your story in the comments. I would really love to see this list of real jobs for stay at home moms grow even bigger, full of all of your creative and inspiring stories!
