How I Make Money as a Stay-at-Home Mom
As an {almost} seasoned mom of three kids, I’ve had the unique opportunity to make money in several different ways and forms. I’ve worked full-time, part-time, no time, and now I make money as a stay-at-home mom (SAHM) via at-home work and side hustles.
My Story: Why I want to be a SAHM
(if you only care to know HOW I make money, then skip to the next section)
After the birth of my first son, I went back to work full-time. I was 27 years old and still had quite a bit of student debt weighing our budget down. I needed to work to continue making ends meet and provide for our little baby.
It was hard.
Pumping in a closet, because there was no dedicated space for me available, was somewhat humiliating and degrading. There was no lock on the door, so I had to hang a “do not disturb” sign on the outside and pray that no one missed it and accidently walked in on me (it was a supplies closet that was fairly high traffic). It also meant that EVERYONE knew what I was doing in there and I didn’t particularly like that.
However, aside from that one inconvenience (my employers were actually really great and accommodating in most regards) it was just really hard to be away from my baby all day. I missed him, longed to hold him, and even resented that I wasn’t the one who was cleaning the spit up or changing the diapers. He was mine and I wanted to be the one shouldering the sole responsibility for caring for him.
So after much soul searching (and religious reading of every financial book I could get my hands on) I convinced my husband we could make it work on his salary alone--but not without some major sacrifice.
How I was able to quit my job to become a SAHM
We sold our house. Ouch.
It was our first house together - a 1950’s fixer upper - and we weren’t yet finished living out our renovation dreams there. But the reality was, there was asbestos removal, plumbing repairs, and major foundation issues still left to tackle that would make it virtually impossible to survive financially as a single income family. Luckily, we had invested in an up-and-coming neighborhood, so even though we still had a lot of work to do, the value of our home had increased significantly. When we sold, we ended up getting full asking price in only three days. The profit we made was enough to pay off all of my husband’s student loan debt (roughly $22,000!) + give us a good down payment on a new home.
We weren’t 100% in the clear yet though. We ended up going with a new build house about 45 minutes outside of the city we lived in. It was a 2500 square foot home that would allow us to grow our family and because it was outside of the city, it was much cheaper than anything we could find within city limits. The catch? We didn’t anticipate the amount of development that would explode in our new area over the next three years.
The first year was great. We moved in, daydreamed about future upgrades and projects we would undertake. We started a vegetable garden and got pregnant with a second child. All with me as a SAHM. It was idyllic, really. A “dream come true.” But then the property taxes increased in thousand dollar increments. My health insurance, purchased through the marketplace since my husband is self-employed, informed me that I had a $7,000 deductible that I would have to pay before any of my pregnancy services would be covered. Our son was born January 4th, which meant I paid $7,000 in 2017 (I had to see specialists at $500 bucks a pop) and then an additional $7,000 in 2018 for the hospital birth fees.
The financial stability we had found was demolished in a matter of a year and a half.
History repeats itself
I had to get a job. I went back to work part-time and my husband watched the kids in the morning (so we wouldn’t have to pay for childcare) and then we’d switch when I got home and he would work until about 2AM.
It was painful to end up in the same boat we were in just two years prior. Financially strapped, working our butts off, only to break even. We paid our bills, but we didn’t have enough for savings, for a vacation (not that we’d really ever taken one on our own as a family before), or to have a third child that we knew we wanted. Our “dream house” suddenly felt like a trap that we couldn’t get out of and we were miserable.
So we sold our house, again. Ouch.
Same as before, we were fortunate enough to be in an area of rapid growth and demand. We got full asking on our home in just two weeks. I quit my job. We packed up, and we went back home - not without the feeling of having our tail between our legs.
How I make money as a SAHM
Presently, we are living on my husband’s income alone. However, to find the space we wanted inside city limits we are currently living in a 1960’s fixer upper (no asbestos or plumbing issues thankfully). We are also pregnant with our 3rd child. Health insurance is an issue, just as it was in my second pregnancy, and we expect to pay $10,000 minimum for the birth.
To cover the costs of the pregnancy and delivery + make minor renovations to our home, all while paying our bills AND saving money, I’ve gone “back-to-work” so to speak. I’ve come up with several side hustles that help us offset costs and bolster our savings so that we can stay on track for our ultimate goal - to be debt free by 40 (we are 32 for reference).
Here’s what I’m doing:
1: Use my previous work experience for freelance gigs
Before having children, I worked in fundraising and development in the nonprofit sector. I worked my way up to Assistant Director of Development status (my part-time gig in our second failed attempt at my being a SAHM), but this time, instead of working for someone else, I decided to strike out on my own.
I currently have a contract gig with our local children’s museum doing grant writing and I’ve helped a fellow freelance development specialist and friend out with any tasks she needed help with (website design, proofreading, etc.).
If you’re reading this and thinking “well that’s convenient for you, but I have no previous experience like that” then I recommend digging deeper. Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Babysitting or in-home daycare: Since you are already home watching your child, consider adding a couple more to the mix (if you have the mental and physical space). The benefits are increased income - childcare providers can charge anywhere between $15 to $30 an hour based on experience or services provided - as well as knowing you are providing safe, reliable help to other fellow moms in need.
Birth Coaching: Teach other new and expectant moms what to expect from their labor, delivery, and postpartum experience. There are several “official” methods including Bradley and Birthing from Within, but you can easily strike out on your own to teach from your personal experience. Classes/coaching can be conducted from your own living room and planned to fit your schedule (i.e. evenings or weekends when your partner can watch the kids). Most birthing coaches charge anywhere between $175 to $300 per participant per session or series.
Creative Service: Photography, Scrapbooking, Meal Prepping etc.: Do you enjoy taking pictures? Maybe you have an eye for scrapbooking and design? Or perhaps you’re really efficient at meal prep? Take your skill and turn it into income! You can join photography groups on Facebook or network with friends to find gigs. Even better, contact a local realtor (there are tons of them!) and see if they are in need of photography services for listings. You could also get paid to put together scrapbooks for busy parents who don’t have the time to do it themselves. Or you can do like my friend, and while you meal prep for your family for the week, double it up and meal prep for someone else’s! She simply charged for the food costs and then added a little extra for profit. She had up to four clients at one point!
2: Use Ibotta
I consider this neat little app a side hustle because it can easily bring in an extra couple hundred dollars a month if you are strategic about it. My method is simple:
Make out your grocery list as you normally would.
Check for coupons / sales on your local grocery store(s) app and website.
Check for rebates for the items you already plan to buy and add any eligibility details like quantity or size to your grocery list.
Go shopping and redeem your rebates!
I usually average between $4.00 and $10.00 per grocery trip (sometimes up to $25 if I’m buying cleaning products) and once I hit $100 I redeem my points for either a Walmart gift card (which I then use for more groceries!) or an Amazon gift card if there is an object or something specific I’m needing for the house. There are tons of retailers on the app including Costco, Sephora, Home Depot, you name it!
It’s important that when using this app you only look at products you already plan to buy, otherwise impulse shopping can take over and you’ll end up spending more money than what you save. I plan on doing another post after this explaining what I mean in more detail, so stay tuned and sign up below if you’re interested in learning more once that article goes live.
3: Start a blog or YouTube channel
I bet you’ve read this on a million other sites, but hear me out! YOU DON’T NEED MILLIONS OF FOLLOWERS TO MAKE MONEY ON BLOGS OR YOUTUBE. Really. I started “making money” when my YouTube had less than 100 subscribers and my Instagram only had about 300.
They key with making money online or through other social media platforms is simple:
Post consistently
Post quality, meaningful content
Don’t sell your soul
For me, even if I only got 20 views, I consistently posted content to my YouTube channel that was meaningful to me or that I thought would be beneficial to someone else. I ignore my analytics for the most part, because otherwise you end up down a rabbit hole of compromising who you are or why you started your platform in the first place (i.e. you sell your soul). I also try to build community with my viewers or readers and make sure I respond to every comment in an authentic way.
Currently, I make about $40 a month in ad revenue, and I’ve received hundreds of dollars worth of free products to test out and try. I rarely post sponsored content on these free products, unless it’s something I think is truly beneficial. Starting in the next month or so, I also plan to start charging companies for dedicated posts. I use a site called Social BlueBook, which I highly recommend if you want to know your worth online as a business owner.
*edit 2/18/22: I now make close to $200 a month and I haven’t posted on YouTube in over a year.
4: Sell your unwanted stuff
Got a bunch of clutter? Sell it! One person’s junk is another’s treasure as the saying goes, and we’ve made a pretty penny in our house by doing regular cleanouts of products, furniture, or clothes that we no longer want, need, or use. A few ideas on how you can make some quick cash on your unwanted stuff include:
FaceBook Marketplace: Post individual items and monitor the interest to adjust the price until you find a buyer
ThredUp: Sell your clothes for store credit or cash. They send you a box, you fill it, and they take care of the rest - professional photographs, pricing, and shipping. When the items sell, then you get paid!
Kid to Kid: (or whatever your local kid’s clothing retail shop is). When our kids outgrow toys or clothes, we sell to Kid to Kid for store credit (it’s usually a higher amount than the cash offer) and then use that to buy them new clothes. The quality is high as a lot of their selection is rarely worn or still brand new. So far we’ve saved about $200 this year using our store credit (we’ve bought clothes, baby furniture, etc.)
Have a garage sale: If you’ve got A LOT of stuff to get rid of then have a good ole fashioned garage sale! We recently downsized and have tons of furniture in our garage. We’ve got a sale planned in about two weeks and whatever we don’t sell there we will either sell on FaceBook Marketplace or we’ll donate to the Salvation Army (they will come to your house to pick things up!).
5: Use Credit Card Reward Points
If you’ve got credit card debt THEN IGNORE THIS SECTION. This strategy only works if you are credit card debt free. Otherwise, you risk building your debt higher and the interest you pay will outweigh any savings benefit.
Here’s what we do:
Make all purchases (except for bills) on our credit card.
Immediately login and pay off the credit card after we make the purchases.
Use the points accrued for either travel, purchases on Amazon, or cold hard cash.
So far in 2020 alone we’ve accumulated over 70,000 points (a five star hotel is about 20,000 points) or about $600 if we wanted to use our points on Amazon purchases.