Hello!

We have a plan for me to stay home until both kids are in primary school. Problem is that our youngest isn’t even 1 yet, so there is quite some time until that happens. Money is tight. I feel like it would be beneficial for our family if I could get some sort of income. We miss out on a health care card by about $10 a week, so my husband earns enough for us to not be considered low income enough to get help, but not enough for us to not stress constantly about money. I have no interest in using childcare so my options are limited to work from home or evening shifts. How do other stay at home mums make extra money? I am not creative, I don’t really have any skills or something that I am interested in enough to turn it into a money maker. Would love to hear what others have done….not MLM though, I would rather nothing than get involved in that.


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  • You could consider doing family daycare (looking after another child or two) from your home. There’s not much else that’s legitimate, I’m afraid.


  • Tricky one, there’s always babysitting


  • I, too, am not creative. I sell things on ebay. I started with things I no longer use that are in the house. That’s a good way to declutter and make a bit of money as well. U could sell the things that your baby has outgrown. Stick with what u know. At this point in time u know a lot about baby items. U could use a bit of the profit you make on ebay and reinvest in baby items that that don’t cost too much for u to buy and sell and make a bit of profit. It will be a learning curve but it could be worth it.


  • I wanted to contribute as well to help out with the bills and started a small ironing business from home. It started slowly then got a bit crazy and I got too much work and had to drop a few clients. I just put flyers up on shop notice boards with the little tear off section with my phone number on it. I charge an hourly rate to be fair, mostly on myself because if you charge by the basket people tend to stack it to overflowing. I made sure people provided their own hangers and I had some drop off their ironing and pick up and some I did myself. I just started with a normal size iron and ironing board and as the money came in I got a bigger ironing board and a steam station as I was getting so much work. It was great because you can do it at night when the kids have gone to bed and also during the day. You need to be organised but if you get good clients that don’t stuff you around it’s a grwat way to earn some money from home.


  • It is very difficult to find anything you can do from home that brings in a half decent amount of money! Having recently moved interstate, I have been looking for something similar until I can take up full or part time employment. I am computer savvy, a touch typist, experienced in accounting and very creative, but have still had no luck! I do the occasional online surveys but they bring in a pittance really … will watch this thread with interest to see what is suggested … and good luck to you!


  • Some of my friends have become Rodan and Fieldes consultants which they do from home with multiple kids, you could run a home day care if you have the right qualifications, or check out air tasker jobs or be a travel manager? If you have fast typing skills (over 70wpm) you could be a virtual secretary or transcript writer? I work so my suggestions are of friends who are SAHMs and they all seem happy with their choices. Good luck!


  • This is not my question but many of the answers are quite helpful and I particularly like the being creative response. It is such a clever and good idea to use creative talents in this manner.


  • I do surveys online and am linked up to many online sample companies. I know its not a lot but it does help out. Go over your budget and expenses every two months to see if theres a better deal or things you can take out.


  • I get creative and make little things to sell online. Eg Bows, T-shirt’s, artwork etc.
    It gives me a bit of me time and brings in a little extra cash :)


  • It is hard to find additional income streams whilst staying at home with a little one. I looked at many options when my little ones were under 1 but in the end the effort to cash ration was just not worth it for me so instead i looked at ways to cut expenses wherever possible.


  • Look at local afternoon shifts shelf stacking or hospitality. If that won’t work have a look at little things you can do, maybe offer services to friends and/or family (simple things like, cooking, cleaning, ironing, making cakes etc). As suggested you can do surveys online. Also look out for opportunities like needing volunteers to help with conventions etc, they don’t pay cash but they do give supermarket vouchers so just as good as cash. Local festivals, elections etc can offer some temporary work which usually pay pretty well without a big commitment.


  • Your situation is very much similar to one of my friend, she is working only on Saturday and Sunday when her husband is at home to take care of her kids. She is working 3-5 hours each day in a restaurant as a waitress, I am not sure if you are ok with that but she can earn an extra 100$-200$ a week just by working 2 days a week.


  • Thanks Ashna9 for the information on the Body Shop at Home.


  • If you can type and have a computer and some headphones you could try transcription work. Check out http://www.rev.com – you simply listen to the audio and then type what you hear. Payment is via paypal each week. Great to do in the evenings when the kids are asleep.

    Alteratively check out https://www.facebook.com/SugarMamma.TV/ (she also has a blog, and is on youtube) she has lots of suggestions for earning/manifesting extra income. Highly recommend her.

    Good luck with everything :)


  • Surveys online will get you maybe an extra $20 a week at best. You have to sign up to a lot of panels and spend a lot of time for very little reward. Its boring as hell. Same with mystery shopping. Its generally a couple of hours work for maybe $5. When I quit work to be a stay at home mum it was less stressful to just manage our money better. Shop at op shops and less treats and stuff like that. Its surprising what you can find for free or really cheap that you never blinked at spending a fortune on.


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