Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms
Being a stay-at-home mom is, of course, bittersweet. While it's important to maintain a strong relationship with your children, it's also great to bring in extra income for the rising cost of living-and to cover those little expenses that tend to pop up without warning. So how can you find a balance between financial stability and spending time with your kids? Well, we're here to help.
Work online
There are several things you can do without even leaving your house. First of all, online jobs are steadily increasing in popularity, and though you have to watch out for scams, there are a lot of legitimate ways to produce computer-generated income. Mobile search engine services, such as ChaCha and Kgb, provide the opportunity to learn while you work, and to research and answer questions from your PC that will be sent out as text messages to anyone who asks. With these companies, once you pass a few simple tests and complete about an hour's worth of training videos, you're ready to work! Flexibility depends on the provider (for example, ChaCha allows you to log on as often or as seldom as you like-whatever best fits your schedule-while Kgb has been known to designate shifts, but is also willing to let you choose those shifts yourself). Also, don't be afraid to consider freelance writing (elance.com and odesk.com are a couple of free databases that can connect you with companies or individuals looking for writers, editors, and sometimes even programmers to help them with projects, and payment varies).
Child care
Another way to stimulate income from within the home is to provide daycare. You have to watch your own kids anyway, so why not add the neighbors' kids and your friend's son or daughter to the group? Aside from needing to have a potentially high noise tolerance, providing snacks, and putting away all breakables before the motley crew arrives, children are often good at entertaining one another, which can leave you free-at least once in a while-to try completing other necessary tasks, such as cleaning, or even putting some time into your online job! You can draw in more business by offering cheap rates in comparison to traditional daycare centers, and still make a fair amount of overall cash since you'll be receiving payment from multiple "customers."
Similar to daycare, some cities offer respite programs for troubled kids and are willing to pay for both your time and the expenses you incur during your entertainment of the kids-in fact, they want you to spend money. Jobs like these are more difficult to find, but will pay you per hour, per child (1 to 3 is a good number), and reimburse receipt-proven entertainment anywhere from movies to theme parks to eating out, up to your given budget limit. If you have the patience and the energy, this could be a great option, and you can take your own kids along, too (although you'll have to pay their expenses yourself).
Mystery shopping
And, if you're a little less tied down, you might consider making a few bucks here and there as a "mystery shopper." These jobs usually involve taking photos at stores or gas stations and writing evaluations of customer service, and can be done while you're out running your regular errands. You've been programmed to multitask-why not take advantage of it?
While none of these options offer any get-rich-quick opportunities, they can realistically land you a few extra tens or twenties. And even though that's not much, every little bit helps. You know this better than anyone!