Looking after your kids and managing the routine household chores is itself the biggest job for stay-at-home moms, yet these go uncompensated and often unappreciated. This is where a great side hustle that doesn’t require you to leave your home yet make extra cash can help you make ends meet.
Continue reading as we explore the 21 best side hustles for stay-at-home moms like you. Get an idea of each job’s earning potential, too.
Note: Click the Earning Potential links to apply to amazing opportunities directly on platforms like Glassdoor, Indeed, etc.
21 Side Hustles for Stay-At-Home Moms
Sell Feet Pics
Earning Potential: $5 to $100/feet pic
Selling feet pics is becoming the first choice of many stay-at-home moms due to its high earning potential and flexibility. FeetFinder is the best platform for this.
All you must do is click some awesome shots of your beautiful feet and sell them online to interested buyers. These may include an individual running a footwear business, a collector of unique images, a foot fetishist, a pedicure agency, etc.
Note: You can also register as a seller on dedicated sites like FeetFinder to connect with potential customers.
Although there’s no limit to how much money one can make from selling their foot pics, it’s generally $5 to $100 (or more) per picture.
Similarly, making over $70k/year isn’t a big deal either in the foot modeling career, as proved by Jessica Gould from Ontario. It’s a great side hustle that helps you make extra money online.
Freelance Writing
Earning Potential: $52,759/year
If you’re a passionate writer, you must definitely try your hands at freelance writing for extra cash.
Many companies/magazines look forward to hiring skilled mama bloggers, allowing them to combine their professional skills with their family life. Some examples include Her View From Home, Chicago Parent, Freelance Mom, and our all-time favorite PTO Today, due to its best-in-class payout for their freelance writing projects!
All these sites are a good start for your freelance writing or blogging career. After this, you can take the next steps in becoming a ‘mompreneur’ to join the leagues of popular mom bloggers like Mandy Rose (House of Rose), Holly Homer (Kids Activities Blog), Abby Lawson (Just a Girl and Her Blog), etc.
This home mom job not only showcases your skill but can also make you a freelance writing sensation across any social media platform.
Virtual Assistant
Earning Potential: $44,505/year
Thanks to more companies acknowledging that certain administrative and office-related tasks can be done remotely, the demand for virtual assistants has seen an uprise in recent years.
The best part?
Most virtual assistant jobs don’t ask for hard-and-fast educational requirements. This opens a passive income source for even less qualified moms as well.
Talking about your responsibilities, they mainly include handling all administrative work, content management, travel arrangements, and more. Depending on your qualifications, you may also be required to look after billing and accounting activities, which, of course, will add extra cash to your payout.
To find high-paying VA jobs, use platforms like Glassdoor, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter or search directly on Google for available opportunities.
Virtual Bookkeeping Or Accounting
Earning Potential: $50,017/year
Virtual bookkeeping or accounting jobs form another perfect side hustle for stay-at-home moms with a background in accounting, finance, or related fields.
There are many online marketplaces like Upwork, BELAY, and Fiverr that connect you to recruiters looking for an expert to track their important financial documents, reconcile bank statements, run payroll for the employees, etc. In addition, you can also start your own bookkeeping or accounting business online.
But it’s worth noting that this particular hustle idea is quite hectic and may require overtime on certain days—for example, the end of the month, quarter, and financial year.
Social Media Management
Earning Potential: $57,110/year
In today’s world of social media, everyone wants to amp up their online presence, no matter what it takes. This is where your social media management skills can come in handy.
From creating, scheduling, and publishing content across various social media platforms, as well as interacting with followers and managing online communities, your routine ‘virtual’ chores will include all these or even more. The best part? You can also target a specific platform like TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, or X (earlier Twitter) to grow your career.
To ensure a profitable side hustle of a social media manager and executing your role across multiple social media platforms, we highly recommend registering on online marketplaces like $99 Social, Upwork, SocialBee, and ModSquad.
Tutoring
Earning Potential: $47,897/year
The right tutor has the potential to make all the difference in a student’s ability to grasp a complex subject. If you’ve got this potential, you can be a great tutor.
In this lucrative side hustle, you can either start your own at-home online tutoring business or offer sessions for any subject you’re interested in. It may be a foreign language (like French, Japanese, or German), Mathematics, or even courses for a specific test preparation like TOEFL or GRE. Moreover, various platforms like Course Hero and Studypool post a pool of openings you can apply to.
This is a perfect side hustle to earn good money for any stay at home mom. Besides teaching, you may also need to help students complete their assignments. A site like Tutorhunt.com can be a great site to find any jobs.
Note: You must prove your expertise in your desired subject area to make a living in this field.
Online Transcription Services
Earning Potential: $40,046/year
From legal professionals to journalists, no one wants the hassle of time-consuming audio playback to obtain crucial information. Instead, they find audio transcription a better alternative. If you’ve got attentive listening, sharp memory, and fast typing speed, you’re a good fit here.
Although advancements in technology have now given rise to automated tools, human transcribers still hold the aces due to their high accuracy and adaptability to users’ specific needs. You can further level up your transcription skills by incorporating AI tools like Google’s Bard or OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Coming to the opportunities, reputed companies like Rev, TranscribeMe, SyncScript, and Ubiqus, post numerous openings you can apply to. But you must pass their respective transcription tests to join them.
Virtual Administrative Support
Earning Potential: $45,067/year
Courtesy of how efficiently you balance looking after your kids and the routine household duties, you can make the best virtual administrative support every business can rely on. Along with multi-tasking, if you possess excellent communication and organizational skills, nothing can be better than this!
Talking about the job responsibilities, you’ll generally be occupied with scheduling appointments, making phone calls, managing email accounts, checking travel arrangements, and corporate event handling (to some extent though).
As per FlexJobs, virtual administration continues to be the fastest growing career field with ample ‘fully remote’ opportunities for freelancers, part-, and full-timers. Thus, it is tailor-made for stay at home moms and even working moms who wish to earn extra cash. So, what are your thoughts on this side hustle idea?
Selling Handmade Crafts
Earning Potential: Varies
According to a report by the IMARC Group, the US handicraft market is expected to reach $467.6 billion by 2028. This makes a handmade craft business a worthy idea for home moms to showcase their creativity, culture, and craftsmanship to others.
From handmade ornaments, toys, candles, and soaps, to expensive leather goods, you can sell any handicraft on websites like Etsy, Amazon, Cratejoy, Zibbet, Folksy, and iCraft. Just launch your online store, list your products, publicize them well across social media platforms, and wait for potential buyers.
Along with the online marketplaces, we also recommend selling your handmade crafts locally for extra earnings. For this, farmer’s markets, flea markets, local craft fairs, consignment shops, and Craigslist are the suitable options.
Dog Walking
Earning Potential: $18.06/hour
Dogs need regular exercise to keep common health issues like osteoarthritis, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and insulin resistance under check. Not to forget that a simple walk prevents obesity in these fur babies! This is where a dog walker comes into picture.
As a dog walker, you’ll be responsible for fetching your client’s dog from their home and dropping them off after the walk. Due to this, pet walkers are often required to work around only scheduled times approved by owners. In some cases, you may also need to wipe the dogs’ paws after every walk and take them to the vet in an emergency.
Dog walkers are usually paid by the hour. The wages may not be huge here, but walking along with the dog is good for your health, too.
Affiliate Marketing
Earning Potential: $93,647/year
Affiliate marketing, in simple words, means promoting someone else’s products/services in exchange of a small fee on every sale.
Have you seen your favorite YouTuber place product links in their video’s description? It’s because they are a part of an affiliate program, which earns them a small commission every time a sale is made through these ‘unique’ links. Not just YouTubers, even bloggers earn handsomely through affiliate marketing, with Ryan Robinson of Ryrob one of the best examples.
On similar lines, stay-at-home moms like you can also make a living out of affiliate marketing. Don’t worry, you need not start a YouTube channel or launch a blog for this purpose. Use your social media presence to sell others’ products or services to your audience and earn extra cash with every click on your affiliate link.
Take Online Surveys
Earning Potential: Varies
For moms with no matching skills or sufficient time to devote to other jobs, online surveys are indeed one of the best side hustles.
Many brands and businesses take out regular feedback surveys to know how customers feel about their products or services, helping them get genuine opinions for any improvement(s). In return, you’re compensated for your time with cool rewards as a gesture of appreciation. This lets you generate a self-regulated income from the comfort of your home by working for just a few minutes per survey!
In some cases, the rewards also include special discounts, offers, and even a freelance opportunity to work with the company in the long run. Some legit paid online survey sites to earn extra money are Branded Surveys, Google Opinion Rewards, Harris Poll Online, LifePoints, and more. So use this hustle idea to become a prominent survey junkie and earn extra cash for your household!
Pet Sitting
Earning Potential: $33,260/year
66% of U.S. households own a pet, and this makes pet sitting another flexible gig for stay-at-home moms.
Generally, pet sitting involves caring for pets while the owners aren’t around. This may include taking them out for a stroll or just looking after them at either your home or the owner’s. While pet sitting may seem like a fun job (if you’re an animal lover), it’s often demanding and tiring. At times, you may have to feed, exercise, and groom a wild child as well!
That’s why you must put yourself in the owner’s shoes to better understand their expectations. For jobs as a pet sitter, searching your neighborhood is certainly the best option. Look for families that own a pet and see if they need someone to look after them.
Selling Digital Products
Earning Potential: Varies
A digital product is anything that can’t be touched, tasted, or held, unlike their physical counterparts, but everyone consumes them. Take the example of music, videos, eBooks, and the list is endless. For home moms, selling these ‘intangible items’ translates to another home-based business idea.
The main benefit of starting your mom-preneurial journey by selling digital goods is their popularity and ease of distribution. Even if your initial capital is small, you can build an entire business with it. This is because these products can be created once and sold repeatedly to new or same customers, eliminating the need to replenish your inventory with new stuff.
Some top-selling non-physical goods include educational products, music, art & craft, membership sites, etc. If you’re wondering where to sell these, Sellfy, Shopify, Podia, Gumroad, EasyDigitalDownloads, and Thinkific are the answers. This is a great side hustle for any home mom to make some extra money.
Online Coaching
Earning Potential: $58,268/year
If you’ve the capability to help individuals or businesses achieve their goals through your guidance, expertise, and support, online coaching is for you.
As an online or virtual coach, your primary job will be to work closely with your clients to clarify their objectives, whether they are related to personality development, health, career growth, or other areas of life. Based on this information, you must outline the next steps to reach the desired outcome.
Like other side hustles we’ve discussed in this guide, online coaching is flexible and well-suited for any home mom. But it’s necessary that you own the required skills and knowledge to excel in this otherwise tough job.
Beauty Services
Earning Potential: $63,063/year
For home moms with a passion for skincare, makeup, and hair styling, no side hustle is better than providing holistic beauty services.
This flexible side business idea will let you work around your own schedule, and better utilize the spare time. You can start off with limited services for wedding, special occasions, or everyday beauty needs. Leverage social media platforms or invest in a dedicated Bluehost-powered website to grow your client base. If you’ve previously done a beautician course, you can partner with a reputed salon or spa, too.
There’s no fixed earning as a beautician, as it mainly depends on who you are. For example, a makeup artist, nail artist, manicure specialist, etc.
This side hustle not only boosts your family finances but also promotes your personal growth and empowerment.
Sell Baked Goods
Earning Potential: Varies
Just like digital products, as we discussed above, selling baked goods is another cool side hustle idea for home moms who love baking.
The aroma of freshly baked cakes, brownies, and cookies (these three things sell the most!) from your kitchen can turn your culinary talent into a profitable home-based business. Start with crafting a diverse menu of delectable items you’re proud of. In the beginning, we recommend keeping it limited to a few items. Next, leverage online platforms like Shopify, Facebook marketplace, or Instagram to find potential customers. Community forums are also a good option to spread the word about your bakery.
Tip: Offer customization options for special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries, or dietary preferences to set your online bakery apart.
A baked goods side hustle generates consistent income and allows you to do what you love while staying close to your family.
Proofreader
Earning Potential: $50,848/year
It goes without saying that misspellings, incorrect grammar, and other silly mistakes reflect poorly on any business, leading to unexpected problems and confusion. Imagine an advert promoting a product on sale for $12 against the intended $21! A blunder, right?
This is where an efficient proofreader comes into play. Thanks to their eagle eyes and ability to spot a typo quickly, they ensure every piece of writing is at its best by meticulously reviewing it. If you’ve got this knack, you might make a good proofreader.
From the education point of view, you just need a bachelor’s degree in English or journalism to apply to any proofreading job. But don’t fret if you don’t have one. In the latter case, you must demonstrate your written language understanding to secure the job.
YouTuber
Earning Potential: Varies
YouTube is another great source of extra income if you’re a stay-at-home mom and want to work from the comfort of your home.
It offers the required flexibility, a platform to showcase your other side, and income potential. From parenting stories, tips, cooking tutorials, and DIY crafts to product reviews, these are just a handful of content ideas you can start with. And what we like the most is that you can incorporate affiliate marketing to maximize your YouTube earnings.
While building a YT channel from scratch and taking it to new heights is definitely hard, it’s completely worth it. And if done right, you can join other well-recognized mom YouTubers like Neo KirchBaby, Jennifer Chapin, and Jessica Hover.
Data Entry
Earning Potential: $41,353/year
Data entry may sometimes get hectic and time-consuming, but it’s still a decently paying job that will let you balance your daily responsibilities effectively.
Although most companies prefer candidates with data entry certification and training, mamas with fast typing skills and meticulous attention to detail are also an ideal fit for this job profile. Alongside that, proficiency in the MS Office Suite is the icing on the cake.
Regarding earnings, it mostly depends on your skills and what type of work you’re assigned, such as plain data entry, typing, data cleaning, processing emails, data capturing, etc. To find legit data entry jobs, we highly recommend signing up on platforms like Glassdoor, Upwork, Fiverr, Indeed, and ZipRecruiter.
Note: Beware of fraudulent data entry jobs that promise easy money, but usually turn out to be scams.
Sell On Etsy
Earning Potential: Varies
Selling on Etsy is another booming side hustle idea for stay-at-home moms, with over 89.9 million active buyers willing to purchase from your online store. Plus, this is another cool way to start your entrepreneurial journey.
Although you can sell literally anything on this online marketplace, we’ve found handmade products to be the bestsellers. These may include printed tees, paintings, vintage clothing, figurines, mugs, pendants, wall decors, and whatnot. If you’re a jewelry designer, you can launch your online ornamental store on Etsy!
Coming to the earning part, making $20k to $50k a month isn’t a big deal on Etsy if you’ve got a product that sells. Take inspiration from Alicia Shaffer, the wealthiest seller on the platform (as per 2015 data), with a monthly earning of a whopping $80k!
Graphic Designer
Earning Potential: $53,028/year
Last but not least, graphic designing is another great side hustle for a home mom.
Whether starting your own home-based business to utilize the spare time when your kids aren’t home or joining a company, you just need some basic skills to excel in graphic designing. These include knowledge of software such as Adobe Photoshop (most preferred), Illustrator, and InDesign.
In addition to the tools, you must also have a strong eye for visual composition. This is a prerequisite for creating eye-catching posters, websites, logos, brochures, magazines, and many other materials.
If all this excites you, what’s stopping you from taking the next step and showcasing your creative side to the world? Sign up on any online marketplace to get started today!
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we hope you found your ideal side hustle from the above list.
Irrespective of your educational background, these part-time gigs are a great extra money source for every working mom out there. From offering virtual assistant services to a company to becoming an influencer’s social media manager, there are numerous ways to generate consistent passive income to plan your future.
So, which side hustle seems perfect to you? Let us know!