Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms: 14 Awesome Options to Meet Your Needs

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Many of my readers are stay-at-home moms who want to make money from home. If that’s you, today’s post should be a big help! Whether you’re looking for ways to replace your previous income, supplement the family budget, or just have some extra spending money, there are tons of awesome jobs for stay-at-home moms.

As a stay-at-home mom, it can be deeply frustrating to try to sort through all of the information out there about online work opportunities. Finding the right opportunity for you may take time but with some work, you can learn how to make money as a stay-at-home mom.

When you think about making money from home, one of the first things you need to decide is how much you want to make and how much time you have to give it. There’s a big difference between looking a full-time at-home job, running your own business on your own schedule, and doing one-off tasks that pay a little bit here and there. Let’s take a look at some of the things you can do at each of these levels of “commitment.”

Finding Remote Work at Home

Many of the at-home jobs you hear about are very job-like in nature. When contracting with one of the big companies hiring remote workers, you'll often have a set schedule or at least be required to work a certain number of hours per week with a schedule you create. The benefits of contracting with one of these work-at-home jobs is that there is often no investment or marketing involved as there would be when starting your own business.

So many companies hire remote workers today, including big names you likely know; American Express, Apple, Enterprise and more. A few industries to consider when looking for a work-at-home j-o-b.

1. Telecommute for Your Current Employer

This is the easiest option – if you can make it happen. More and more employers are giving their workers the freedom to do their jobs from home, so ask your boss about this possibility.

Even if you cannot convince your boss to let you telecommute full-time, you may be able to work from home several days a week. That part-time telecommuting can cut your commuting expenses in half and give you additional freedom and flexibility, all without giving up your full-time paycheck.

2. Work as a Virtual Assistant

If you have experience as a secretary or an administrative assistant, you might be able to find work as a virtual assistant. These indispensable online workers do everything administrative assistants do, from setting up appointments to booking travel for their bosses. The difference is they do it online, and from the comfort of their homes. There are several companies that hire virtual assistants:

3. Act as a Remote Customer Service Representative

More and more companies are outsourcing their calls centers to remote workers. Anytime you call to place an order or get technical help, you may be speaking with an at-home rep. True story!

At-home customer service positions are some of the most plentiful work-at-home jobs and where many people get their start. These companies are frequently hiring. Most also offer a set hourly rate making them an attractive option for those that need a steady paycheck. Some even offer benefits!

One thing to note is these gigs typically require a quiet work environment. If you have little ones not yet in school, you may need to work only during naptime or after the kids go to bed. Many moms are doing it. You just need to develop a schedule that accommodates both your job and your family.

In addition to those “as seen on TV” sales roles, you will also find companies from every industry outsourcing to remote workers:

Yardi Matrix — This is a seasonal (temporary) job, but when the gig is available, it’s a great work-from-home job for moms. You’re assigned places to call — usually real estate and rental listings — to collect information and then report back to the company. Background noise and distractions are allowed and even appreciated because they make you appear more like a legitimate caller.
American Express
Apple
Alorica
Working Solutions
Williams-Sonoma
NexRep
KellyConnect
Convergys
Xerox
Liveops
U-Haul
Phone-Based Customer Service Jobs— Check out this big list for even more companies that hire remote customer service reps.
Non-Phone Customer Service Jobs— In addition to calling centers, many companies will hire remote workers to handle their email and chat inquiries.

4. Tutor Students Remotely

You will need the right qualifications and experience to land this kind of gig, but if you have teaching experience or foreign language skills you could find work as an online tutor. These online teaching professionals work in a number of different capacities, from formal teaching positions at community colleges and online schools to ad-hoc arrangements with parents and students.

There is a great deal of demand for tutors with foreign language skills, and these professionals often work with students overseas. If you have language skills and the right teaching experience, you could make a very good living as an online tutor.

5. Evaluate Search Engine Results, Social Media and More

A growing industry is becoming an “evaluator.” In this role, you may be evaluating search engine results or ads for relevancy and quality. The same companies that hire for search engine evaluators also hire social media evaluators and map analysts. These jobs are usually project-based and have a maximum number of hours you can work each week. Usually, no set schedule is required. Some of the projects can even be done with just your smartphone.

Appen
Lionbridge

If you are looking for a work-at-home job, one of your best resources (in addition to getting on my job leads email list) is going to be FlexJobs. It’s a job board that specializes in non-traditional work arrangements like the kind you can do from home. You can find full-time, part-time, contract, seasonal, and temp work on FlexJobs.

You Could Be Your Best Boss

Starting an at-home business is a great way to make some money from home. You can set your own hours, take on as much or as little work as you want, and really have some serious control on your time and income. This is a hugely popular job for stay-at-home moms who are willing to do the research into all the different opportunities. These are just a few ideas to get you started:

Blogging— I love blogging! It offers you a great outlet to share your ideas with the world, and there are lots of ways you can “monetize” your blog and develop income streams, which means your income potential is basically unlimited. Blogging does require work and you’ll need to learn a lot (either on your own or through a course), but it’s really popular with moms for good reasons.
Freelancing — I mentioned contracting as a virtual assistant for a multi-VA firm above, but you can also these services – and others – directly to clients. Freelance jobs include things like web design, bookkeeping, social media management, and being a virtual assistant. Even if you don’t think you have marketable skills, all it takes is a conversation with someone about what you know how to do, and you’ve got the potential for a freelance business. Plus, you can always deep-dive into something that interests you (Facebook ads, landing page design, marketing on Pinterest, podcast production, and more) and specialize in that area.
Writing – There is such a demand for content today. Whether it is blog content, articles, or business letters, this way of monetizing your skills has become quite common. Freelance writing can be incredibly lucrative and offers a flexible schedule. Most of the time, you can do your writing whenever and wherever you want – as long as you meet your client deadlines, of course.
Travel Agent— Sometimes the hours can be demanding, but a huge amount of travel agent work can be done over the computer or phone on your own schedule — and you usually know about crunch time far enough in advance to do some planning.
Direct Sales— This is one of the most common ways of making money for stay-at-home moms. Direct selling is simply selling another person’s product or service to receive a percentage of the sale (commission). This has enormous potential, and can easily help you earn money online. A word of caution though — before you join any business opportunity, investigate the company, make sure the product is available and reliable, and ensure you have a good knack for selling. Stella & Dot is one of my favorite direct sales opportunities.
Selling Products — Whether you’re a maker of physical goods or someone who’s more into writing books or putting together digital downloads, you can sell your wares online. Sites like Etsy and eBay are great for selling physical goods, FBA is an interesting way to become a reseller, Amazon is the go-to site for self-publishing and selling your own books, and you can sell digital products on your own website, on sites like Etsy, or even in ClickBank.

Ways to Get Pocket Money Here and There

None of these things will bring in a ton of money, but they’re great ways to come up with a bit of spending cash here and there or bridge the gap when you’re barely making ends meet. None of these tasks really require any skill or effort, and the vast majority of them can be done completely on your own time, whenever you feel like it.

Swagbucks— This is, hands down, one of my favorite ways to make extra cash from home. With Swagbucks, you can earn money in tons of ways: watching videos, taking surveys, shopping online, and even doing regular internet searches. Sign up here.
Surveys— These are a really popular way to make extra money in your spare time. Many surveys pay out between $1 and $5, but they’re sometimes hard to qualify for. If you’ve got time on your hands, they can be an easy way to make some extra money here and there. PineCone is one of my favorite survey companies and they pay $3 per survey. Not too shabby.
Small Tasks— Sites like Mechanical Turk are known for offering you small tasks you can do in a few minutes here and there and get paid. It’s usually simple, easy work, and you can just pick and choose what you do whenever you have some time to spare.
Online Juror— I don’t see this one recommended a lot, but it’s a great gig if you can find it. As an online juror, you’re presented with a “case” that you read and evaluate the way you would if you were on a jury. They’re often used by lawyers to figure out whether or not their case would do well in court. The work tends to be sporadic, but it’s pretty interesting when you can land it.
Mystery Shopping— While many “shops” will have to be completed at a specific time and place, you can plan your schedule around them. You may even be able to find family-friendly activities that you can do as a mystery shopper and then get reimbursed for them!
Sell Photos – Pictures are memories caught at the right time. Images are always in high demand. If you have a knack for taking high-quality snaps with your camera, this is definitely for you. There are sites where you can submit your photos and get paid for them, or enter them in contests to see if you win a prize.

Looking for more ideas for making money from home? I’ve got a huge list for you right here.

Originally published March 2016. Updated December 2018.