27 Money-Making Side Hustles for Stay-at-Home Moms

Average rates: $25–$35 per hour

Freelance writing is one of the best options for busy moms that need to make money from home.

This is a very robust field with plenty of opportunities. It’s easy to make money writing even when you’re a relative beginner (as long as you can turn a sentence).

You have plenty of options, like writing blog articles, website or ad copy, emails, and social media posts. If you’re a real wizard with words, you can also explore longer-form freelance gigs like writing grants or textbooks.

Where to get started

You can look for work on these platforms:

• LinkedIn
• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Freelancer
• WritersWork
• Contently

Average rates: $25–$40 per hour or $.02–$0.03 per word

Parents have keen eyes—they can spot the grape that rolled under the couch or the glint in a naughty child’s eye from a mile away. Make money off your powers of observation by becoming a proofreader.

Proofreaders check written works for spelling, grammar, consistency, and style. Many proofreading jobs will allow you to work from home on a flexible schedule.

Where to get started

• Upwork
• Freelancer
• Scribbr
• Proofreading Pal

Average rates: $16–$26 per hour

Ghostwriting is similar to (and arguably can be considered a subset of) freelancing writing, but it can open more opportunities, albeit with a catch—your name won’t be attached to any of your work.

Many ghostwriters take on bigger projects, like entire novels, which can be creatively satisfying (and more stable, since long-form, ongoing projects are generally safer than small ones).

It’s worth noting that the anonymity of ghostwriting can actually be a pro as well as a con. If you’re interested in writing something that you don’t want published under your name (risque vampire romance, for instance), ghostwriting offers a way to get paid for it while maintaining your privacy, and it’s easier to break into than publishing your own work under a pseudonym.

Where to get started

• Association of Ghostwriters
• LinkedIn
• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Freelancer
• WritersWork
• Contently

Average rates: 35%–70% of the cost of each download

If you’re interested in writing a book but want your name (or pen name) attached to the project, you can write and publish your very own novel, textbook, self-help book, or anything else.

As a stay-at-home parent, you probably have advice to share with other parents—or maybe you just have a really great story to tell.

Whatever your niche may be, take advantage of your kids’ naptime by sitting down and pounding out a book. Then, self-publish it as an e-book and make a profit on each download.

Where to get started

• Amazon Kindle Direct
• IngramSpark
• Smashwords
• Lulu Press

Average rates: $20–$30 per hour

If your kids are in school, you’re probably already acting as an unpaid tutor, helping them with lessons and homework. If you enjoy this kind of work, you can get paid for doing it from your home by becoming an online tutor.

You can tutor any subject, including non-academic subjects like art or music. You can even tutor English without needing to get a TEFL or TESOL certificate (though having one will certainly help you land jobs).

Where to get started

• Superprof
• Skooli
• Wyzant
• Tutor
• Preply
• TutorMe

Average rates: Variable, often $5–$25 per sale

If you’re an educator who put a pause on teaching to stay home with the children, use your skills and experience to create and sell curriculums for other teachers. These may include lesson plans, course objectives, quizzes, and assignments.

Selling teaching materials is a great side hustle for teachers who’ve transitioned to stay-at-home parenting, and one that keeps your skills sharp if you decide to get back in the classroom eventually.

Where to get started

• Teachers Pay Teachers
• Tes
• Teachable
• Etsy
• Pinterest

Average rates: $10–$16 per hour

As you’re probably well aware, childcare services are few and far between these days. If you’re willing to open your home to other families, you can turn your days with the kiddos into a profitable babysitting business.

You already possess the caregiving skills you need to excel at this (although some parents may expect you to get a first aid/CPR certificate, if you don’t already have one).

Where to get started

• Care
• UrbanSitter
• SitterCity

Average rates: $10–$18 per hour

Introduce your children to furry friends and enjoy some animal time by being a pet sitter in your own home.

You can sign up for various platforms that allow you to watch pets for certain time slots during the day, or you can board pets overnight. If you’re comfortable taking your kids out on the town with you and your fluffy charge, you can also consider becoming a dog walker.

Where to get started

• Rover
• Care
• PetBacker
• Wag! 
• Meowtel

Average rates: 93.5% of the sale price (on Etsy)

Spend time working with your hands—and even get your kids involved—by making and selling crafts and wares.

The crafting world is limitless, with plenty of demand for homemade products like jewelry, metalwork, ceramics, knitwear, art, woodwork, candles, bath products, and more.

To make money on your handmade creations, you can take the family for a day out at the local craft fair, farmer’s market, or flea market. Or you can keep it all indoors by selling your stuff online on your own website or on a marketplace like Etsy.

Where to get started

• Etsy
• Facebook Marketplace
• Handmade Artists

Average rates: Varies, potentially $200–$1,000 per week (depending on volume sold)

There’s no rule that says that all moms have to be A+ bakers—but a lot of them certainly are. If one of the aspects of motherhood that you enjoy most is getting to make the occasional sweet treat for your kids, maybe it’s time to court a broader audience.

You can bake whatever you like—such as homemade bread, cookies, pies, or cakes—and sell your goods online or at local marketplaces. If you like, you can even draft your older children to help in the kitchen. Needless to say, make sure they wash up first, and be careful to follow whatever sanitation laws apply in your area (look up the laws that govern the local cottage food industry).

Where to get started

• Etsy
• Amazon
• Local farmers’ markets

Average rates: $100 per month

Clean out your closet and make some money doing it by reselling used clothing. This is a great opportunity to get rid of clothes you no longer have a use for, like maternity wear and baby clothes your kids have outgrown.

If you want to take your sales to the next level, you can try flipping (buying clothes and reselling them for more money). Hunt for hidden gems on Craigslist and Facebook Marketplace or at Goodwill, flea markets, and garage sales, then sell your finds online for a profit.

Where to get started

• eBay
• Poshmark
• thredUP
• Mercari
• Flyp

Average rates: $5–$50 per hour

Platforms like Upwork and Fiverr connect talented individuals with service-seekers around the world. If you have a marketable skill, such as graphic design, song composition, coding, garden drafting (planning and design), logo creation, sloganeering, or something else entirely, you can sell your services online as a freelancer.

Doing odd jobs and per-project contract work is a great way to make extra money while catering to your busy (and often unpredictable) stay-at-home mom schedule. It can also help you stay sharp if it ties into a full-time career you’re eventually planning on returning to.

Where to get started

• Fiverr
• Upwork
• FlexJobs

Average rates: $25–$40 per hour

Organize, manage, communicate, coordinate—these sound like the tasks of a stay-at-home parent, don’t they? As it happens, they’re also the key disciplines for a virtual assistant, a job perfectly suited for parents who know how to get stuff done.

After becoming a virtual assistant, your job will vary widely, but your main responsibilities will revolve around supporting a business and helping it run smoothly, just the way you make sure your household runs smoothly.

Common virtual assistant tasks include:

• Coordinating schedules
• Managing calendars
• Overseeing projects
• Organizing databases and internal systems
• Curating contacts

Where to get started

• Time etc
• Prialto
• Upwork
• Randstad
• Virtual Coworker

Average rates: $11–$22 per hour

Being a parent is exhausting, so working on the side is a huge undertaking. If you’d prefer to occupy yourself with a rote activity that you can settle into a rhythm with (as opposed to something creatively challenging), look into work as a data entry clerk.

Data entry involves transferring information from one format to another, usually by uploading info into a database.

Once you learn the systems you’ll be working with, data entry can be done without draining your mental battery. Plus, it’s a hotly demanded contract job, meaning there are plenty of opportunities out there even for people with zero prior experience.

Where to get started

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• People Caddie
• Manpower
• Randstad

Average rates: $15–$23 per hour

Similar to working as a virtual assistant, being an online travel agent leverages all your skills as a parent, like organization, communication, and time management.

Virtual travel assistants help individuals or companies plan their trips by coordinating transportation, hotels, excursions, reservations, and more.

Not only is being a travel agent a flexible way to work from home while you’re with the kids, but it can also give you plenty of inspiration for your next family vacation.

Where to get started

• ADTRAV Travel Management
• CWT (formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel)
• Ovation Travel Group
• Tripadvisor 

Average rates: $19–$25 per hour

There’s a good chance that, like many parents, you’ve been documenting every second of your child’s life. If you’ve been doing it with a decent camera, you’re already well on the way to starting your own photography side hustle.

Use your point-and-shoot skills to take and sell pictures to individuals (such as website owners), businesses, or stock photo sites.

This side hustle is one of the more involved on this list, as you’ll need the right equipment and some sort of photo-editing software.

Where to get started

• Etsy
• Upwork
• Facebook Marketplace
• ShootProof
• SmugMug
• Shutterstock

Average rates: $12–$22 per hour

Use your keen ear and fast fingers to become a freelance transcriptionist. Transcribing consists of listening to or watching audio and video files and typing out what you hear.

This line of work doesn’t require prior experience, fits into any schedule, and can be accomplished in your home office. You can do it as long as you have a working laptop and you’re quick with the keyboard (you should be capable of a typing speed of at least 40–60 words per minute).

Where to get started

• Scribie
• TranscribeMe!
• SpeechPad
• CrowdSurf
• Rev

Average rates: $3–$15 per printable

Show off your creative side by making and selling digital “printables” (i.e., graphics that people can download and print out, such as worksheets, stickers, and so on).

You can design just about anything, but it could be particularly lucrative to use your experience as a stay-at-home mom to put a parental spin on your creations.

For example, you can make printables for meal plans, homework schedules, reading journals, nighttime routines, and more.

To make your printables, you’ll need to use design software like Canva, Adobe Photoshop, or Templett.

Where to get started

• Etsy
• Creative Market
• Shopify
• Gumroad
• Creative Fabrica

Average rates: $20–$25 per hour (highly dependent on the popularity of your blog)

Of course you’ve heard of “mommy blogging”—why not join the trend by writing about your experiences as a stay-at-home mom? Doing this will gain you entry into an online community of parents and can generate some extra cash to boot.

If you’d prefer not to monetize your maternal experiences, you can start a blog about anything that interests you or that you have special knowledge of.

Once your blog has gained some traction, you can monetize it through ads, sponsorships, and affiliate deals.

Where to get started

• Wix
• GoDaddy
• Squarespace
• WordPress
• Weebly
• LinkedIn

Average rates: $29 per hour (also highly dependent on popularity)

YouTube is another popular venue for mommy influencers. This platform provides a space for anyone to let their voice be heard, regardless of whether you’re creating videos about parenting, crafting, eating, reading, or anything else under the sun.

While being a YouTuber can absolutely be profitable (through views, ads, and partnerships), the space is very competitive. You’ll need to build a dedicated following to turn your YouTubing into a proper money-making hustle, which will take time, dedication, talent, and a certain amount of luck.

Average rates: $12–$20 per hour

It takes thick skin and patience to be a mom, which are traits that are also valuable in customer service.

If you’re up for making and taking calls, you can work as a customer service or call center representative. Plenty of businesses need freelance customer service reps who are organized, communicative, and willing to deal with potentially frustrated or confused consumers.

Where to get started

• Upwork
• Helpwise
• Fiverr
• Indeed
• ZipRecruiter
• FlexJobs

Average rates: $25–$55 per hour

If you had a career before transitioning to stay-at-home parenting, you can leverage your skills and experience in a consulting role.

As a consultant, you’ll communicate with businesses or individuals about their problem points and help them draft and execute solutions.

As a consultant, your schedule might not be as flexible as with many of the jobs on this list, as you’ll likely be beholden to phone calls and virtual meetings during traditional business hours. However, a lot of consulting work can be done independently (like your research and strategy planning) and you’ll have some freedom to set your own schedule since you won’t be a traditional employee.

Where to get started

• Upwork
• Fiverr
• Catalant
• Zintro
• MeasureMatch

Average rates: $17–$26 per hour

As the digital landscape changes, companies and developers are also changing what they offer and how they present their products. That’s why they need individuals like you to test their products, websites, and apps.

You don’t need any special knowledge or experience to be a website tester, as most developers are looking for the opinions of everyday users. You don’t need any special tools, either (a computer and smartphone will do), and this is a job that you can do with your kid on your lap.

Where to get started

• Tester Work
• User Testing
• Userlytics
• User Feel

Average rates: $1–$500 per test

If you like the idea of giving feedback to companies but testing websites isn’t your thing, you can also test actual, physical products (such as snacks, baby and childcare products, makeup, and so on). There are more than a few companies out there that are in the business of soliciting opinions from consumers like you, and some of them are willing to pay for them.

If you’re okay with enlisting your children’s help—testing only child-safe products, of course—that could be a real advantage when it comes to landing work, as single moms are a lucrative demographic for many businesses.

Where to get started

• McCormick & Company, Inc.
• Product Report Card
• Princeton Consumer Research

Average rates: $20–$25 per day

If you’re at home with the kids and find your car is sitting in the driveway collecting dust, consider renting it out for set hours or even entire days.

There are various services and apps that allow you to rent out your car to drivers in need, and most come equipped with insurance and other protections.

Where to get started

• Turo
• Getaround
• HyreCar

Average rates: N/A (dependent on the space)

As another passive income stream, you can always go the traditional route of renting out an extra room in your house to vacationers, traveling nurses, or short-term tenants. However, if you’re uncomfortable with strangers in your house when you have young children, there are other ways to make money off of other unused spaces.

For example, you can rent out that extra room (or your shed or garage) as a private storage unit. This way, you’ll get the extra passive income without having to actually invite people into your home.

Where to get started

• Neighbor
• StoreAtMyHouse

Average rates: $25–$200 per hour

A focus group session is a kind of group survey that companies use to get feedback from customers. They can be held in person or online. Generally, you’ll test a product or a service, or review something else from the company (e.g., watching an ad), and a moderator will collect your opinions about it.

Participating in focus groups can be a low-key way of making a few extra bucks each month. If you prioritize virtual focus groups, you can do this without ever leaving home. What’s more, as a mother, finding opportunities will probably be fairly easy for you, as young parents are a valuable market for many companies, particularly ones that sell childcare products.

Where to get started

• User Interviews
• Respondent
• Rare Patient Voices (RPV)
• Focus Group
• American Consumer Opinion

This list features the best side hustles for stay-at-home moms, but it’s by no means exhaustive. You can explore even more gigs below.