25 Clever and Simple Ways to Make Money At Home

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Are you looking for ways to make money at home WITHOUT dealing with surveys or apps?

The number one question I hear when I encounter moms in my mom groups talking about wanting to homeschool or stay at home with their kids is what will it take to afford to stay home. Many families rely on two incomes, and merging down to one often feels impossible.

Budgeting isn’t always the answer either as you can only skimp on so much before risking health and quality of life.

Here is a list of 25 clever and simple ways to make money from home while homeschooling or staying home with your kids that doesn’t rely on surveys, apps, selling your blood, or being responsible to an employer… some you may even be able to include your kids!

Wait… what’s wrong with surveys and apps??

Well… to be fully honest, surveys aren’t really worth the time spent on them. Yes, it can be fun on occasion, but overall your time can be much better spent on activities that are much more valuable and lucrative.

Apps that you share for referral money and instant savings aren’t doing so for free just because. They use your buying habits, and sometimes collect information from your phone and internet browsing history, and use it to sell to marketers.

Everything comes at a cost, and information is one of the most expensive industries to be in. If you’re getting paid to use an app, chances are nearly 100% that your information is being sold somewhere to someone without your explicit consent (though you do often unknowingly provide consent if you actually read the terms of service).

Sometimes I’m ok with that happening. Sometimes I’m not. This really depends on where your privacy boundaries are.

When it comes to how much you could make per hour… I just don’t feel these two option types are really worth my time (or yours). Why? Because you could trade that time in for something you actually enjoy and make significantly more money that could go towards paying bills, affording extracurricular activities for your kids, or even being able to stay home with your kids.

PLUS there are many things you can do with your kids hanging out with you too, whether they’re little and still engaging in play-based learning, or they’re homeschooling and learning alongside you.

For example, check out these 25 moms’ favorite tips for working from home with kids.

25 clever and simple ways to make money at home

Yes. You can make money while homeschooling, staying home with your kids, or just not working a traditional job… with or without leaving your home. Some methods you can even do while out of the house waiting for kids doing extracurricular activities, or even waiting in the car (if you’re like me and have littles who often nap during car rides).

Here is a list of totally legitimate 25+ clever and simple ways to make money at home that we’ve found actually work, and don’t involve filling out penny surveys or sharing apps that track and sell your information.

Virtual Assistance to Make Money At Home

There are many bloggers, small business owners, coaches, and marketers who are desperately in need of administrative help. Virtual assistants help bridge that gap by providing the administrative and customer service help that growing business owners struggle to complete while scaling their business or staying in their “zone of genius.”

The best way to begin a virtual assistant business is to get connected with various business groups and network with business owners there, letting them know your intentions as a virtual assistant. I’ve seen numerous stay-at-home moms pick up clients that way.

Freelance Writing to Make Money Money At Home

If you’re skilled at writing, this may be perfect for you. Many websites hire freelance writers for writing articles, blog posts, ebooks, spreadsheets, printable downloads… etc.

You can make money while homeschooling through freelancing by writing during independent study or free playtime. This is what I do for my blogging and writing for other websites. When my boys are playing or working on projects they don’t need my direct help on, I spend some time hanging out nearby with my laptop, working on whichever article is next in my work schedule.

One of my favorite places to get started with paid writing opportunities is over at Freedom With Writing: http://www.freedomwithwriting.com

Provide Transcribing or Translating Services to Make Money From Home

Many podcasters and video bloggers look for people to help transcribe their audio into text for blog posts. If you’re skilled with typing, this may be an excellent option for you.

Numerous businesses are also looking for translators to translate written and audio works and in-person or virtual meetings. If you’re bilingual or multilingual, consider putting that skill to use by providing translation services.

Sell Handmade Items to Make Money From Home

Do you have a crafty hobby? You can make money while homeschooling by putting your crafting skills to use.

Selling items you create helps you (and your kids) to further develop and refine your inner artist, without having a ton of clutter filling up your home or trash bins. Create your masterpieces, and list them for sale on websites like eBay, Etsy, Amazon, or your own website.

And yes, you can even get your kids to help!

Nothing shouts fun like creating together, while also being able to afford more supplies for future fun… or being able to support your family’s homeschooling and living expenses.

Blogging (if done right) to Make Money From Home

I’ve seen the statistics… 68% of bloggers make less than $100 each month. Keep in mind the vast majority of bloggers don’t know how to market their blogs, or how to be found on search engines. That doesn’t mean you can’t be successful blogging.

Blogging can bring in a full-time income if you do it right… it can also bring in a substantial income, especially if you diversify streams of income.

• Affiliate programs (receive commissions for sales for products, courses, or services made through links on your site)
• Create and sell your own courses
• Write and sell books
• Run ads from an ad network

For example, I personally have 12 active streams of income (some are seasonal) that are all funneled through my websites between affiliate programs, course sales, printable worksheet sales, ebook sales, network marketing sales, and coaching income.

Graphic Design to Make Money From Home

Do you have a creative mind? Are you tech-savvy? Put your skills to use by creating graphics, logos, and branding packages for online entrepreneurs to help them save time.

Social Media Management to Make Money At Home

Do you enjoy social media? Many businesses are looking for help managing and scaling their social media accounts.

You’d be responsible for posting consistently in a way that is engaging to the audience, sharing content, asking questions, answering questions, interacting in the comments, and possibly answering or sending messages.

Pinterest Management to Make Money At Home

I don’t consider Pinterest a social media account, while many people do. Pinterest is a highly effective visual search engine that has a lot of potential for scaling most types of businesses. If you enjoy the platform, you may want to look into providing services to help people manage their Pinterest accounts and create intriguing pins.

Bookkeeping to Make Money At Home

Are you numbers-oriented or analytical?

I know many stay-at-home moms who enjoy being CPAs or financial advisers at home. And many who absolutely love bookkeeping. If you’re savvy with finances, you may want to look into providing services helping small businesses with managing their books.

Photography to Make Money At Home

Do you have an eye for photography?

There are many ways to be a photographer, whether you want to be active in providing portraits, or you want to photograph random items or topics to sell as stock photography.

How much fun would it be to do nature walks with your kids, photographing nature as you hike whichever trail you chose for that day… then turn those photos into a means of creating an additional stream of income?

There are many ways you can sell your photography on stock photography websites, or you can create your own membership website to sell your photogenic creations.

Tutoring to Make Money At Home

There are many ways to become a tutor, both in person or online.

Tutoring local students in person is as simple as networking in local homeschool or parenting groups and offering your services.

Many homeschool online curriculum needs teachers or tutors to teach children lessons.

I’ve seen many women tutor Chinese students in learning the English language using VIPKid. Most of the lessons are done in the evenings after the kids are in bed because of the time difference.

Childcare to Make Money At Home

There are many families who need reliable help with childcare. Some who wish to homeschool, but have difficulty figuring out how while working full time out of the home. If you have the energy and sanity for it, it wouldn’t be difficult to network in local parenting and homeschool groups to watch another family’s child (or children) during their working hours.

Gardening or Backyard Farming to Make Money At Home

Many homeschool kids LOVE activities like 4H or learning hands-on where food and plants come from. If that sounds like your family, look around at your yard and figure out what you and your kids can do together to create and sell.

Some common items in our area include:

• Backyard chicken, duck, or emu eggs
• Alpaca or sheep’s wool (spun or natural with or without dye)
• Baby livestock, such as chickens, ducks, goats, lambs, calfs
• Fruits
• Nuts
• Vegetables
• Use ingredients from your homestead for soap making
• Flowers
• Seeds for heirloom veggies
• Jewelry or baskets made from leaves
• Freshly squeezed juices
• Livestock guardian dog puppies

Basically, if you can grow or raise it, you can sell it. This would be an excellent addition to 4-H activities with your kids as well. Help them learn how to be self-sufficient, while also teaching them the basics of business… those are some incredible life lessons that will only prove to be valuable as your kids grow. Plus you can do all of it as a family. Family bonding, food raising, business training… all in one.

Realtor or Real Estate Investing to Make Money At Home

Many homeschooling families network with grandparents or other local homeschooling families to do a kid swap a few times a week and use that extra alone time to work on selling houses or real estate investing. I’ve even seen some realtors bring their kids along with them while looking at houses.

Become A Reseller to Make Money At Home

Many homeschool families frequent local garage sales and thrift stores in search of items to resell online on third-party sites such as eBay. I’ve met several women who do this as a full-time career, making more than 6-figures. It’s really impressive how they’re able to identify valuable items being sold at a fraction of the value through second-hand stores and yard sales.

Affiliate Marketing to Make Money At Home

This is the most common one I recommend. Affiliate marketing is fairly simple. Grow an audience who has similar interests to you, and recommend products, courses, or services to them. Then get paid commissions based on who purchases through your links.

You don’t need to do much for creation, short of showing the benefits of what you’re selling. This can be done through social media, email newsletters, or blogging. I personally employ all three means for the affiliate programs I use and have numerous friends who do the same.

I also have a non-blogging friend who uses Amazon’s affiliate marketing program to help supplement her family’s income solely using a public Facebook group. It’s simple to do, and free to get started.

Network Marketing to Make Money At Home

This one is very controversial. Many people can’t stand network marketing because of seeing people “swindled” out of money or not having any personal success. In fact, 92% of network marketers make less than $100 per month. This makes me sad because it is a very viable business model, even if you’re not already at the top. There are a lot of negative myths that simply just aren’t true.

The fact of the matter is… your success in network marketing solely depends on you. Too many “mentors” out there give horrible advice (even though they mean well) that is severely outdated and not at all efficient.

If you’re going to get into a network marketing company, make sure you know exactly what you’re getting into, make sure you love the products (so you have personal testimonies) and know exactly what training and support you’ll receive – do not settle for blanketed or vague statements.

I am part of a network marketing company that sells products that significantly helped me through healing my chronic autoimmune health crisis. A couple of years later, I started promoting the products (after previously being burned by 2 other companies). We teach and practice authentic marketing principles that are based on finding our leaders’ strengths, showcasing their stories, and focusing on building relationships and solving problems in a way that honors who we are and who we are speaking to. There is no spamming, cold messages, or shady nonsense that I cringe seeing so many people using. Just heart-centered sharing, and genuinely caring for people. Because of this, we have steady growth each and every year.

Basically, don’t discount it before you look into it with an open mind.

My network marketing business enabled me to take a full 4 months off for maternity leave, without losing a dime in income. This was amazing for my family because my affiliate income is not consistent and is largely seasonal, and at the time I wasn’t running any courses, website ads, or other selling any other products through my website either. The flexibility, among other benefits, it provides truly is something that I believe everyone should at least consider seeing if it is best for them.

If you need help seeing if this would work well for you, you’re welcome to contact me. I’d be happy to go over some strategy and see if the industry and which company would be a good fit for you, no strings attached.

Coaching or Consulting to Make Money At Home

You have your own set of knowledge, skills, and abilities. It wouldn’t be difficult to turn them into a full-blown coaching or consulting business. There are consultants and coaches for just about every idea, profession, topic, and need.

For me, I provide business strategy consulting and healthy lifestyle coaching both inside and separate from my network marketing business. It is a lot of fun and enables me to connect with other parents during the day. It is wonderful to have a break from kid adventures and have a grown-up conversation in a manner that allows me to help someone reach a goal or pursue a dream.

Design and Sell Courses to Make Money At Home

We went through a rough season in 2019 where I needed to take a step back from my coaching for a few months. Instead, I documented questions that came up in my coaching programs, on my social media channels, and on my Contact Me page. I turned all that value into a few automated, self-paced online courses to sell and supplemented them with email and group support.

This was incredibly helpful because it freed up time and emotional energy that I needed to focus on my family and my emotional trauma healing. Now, I keep them up because they are passive income generators that I will periodically promote through blog posts, Pinterest, and email newsletters.

After slowly adding coaching back into my schedule, I continue to keep those online courses to provide an extra stream of income.

If you’re looking into selling online courses, you need to check out Podia! I’ve tried almost every online course platform out there (including building my own), and their services are absolutely the best (plus most affordable).

Design and Sell Drop Shipped Products to Make Money At Home

This one can be a lot of fun. I have a friend who started up the online store, Geek Details, several years ago as a means to overcome frustrations caused by people saying snarky and ignorant comments to her as a stay-at-home mom and military wife. It ended up blowing up into full-blown business, mostly with products selling on Amazon.

We love to use websites like Printful, Merch by Amazon, and Art of Where to upload our designs on various products and sell them. They do all the creating and shipping for us so there is no need to hold inventory (which is a Godsend for our relatively transient lifestyle as a fairly minimalist military family).

Create Videos to Make Money From Home

Facebook and YouTube are great places to start with monetizing videos. If you’re creative and don’t mind being in front of the camera (or creating infographic-type videos), you can upload your videos to YouTube, Rumble, or on Facebook or Instagram as a Facebook Creative (or both) and monetize them by receiving an income from advertisements.

Create and Sell Printable Sheets to Make Money At Home

Creating printable documents can be a lot of fun, and offer continuing sales when promoted properly. There really is no limit to the number of printable documents you can create.

Basically, if you can dream it up (especially if it hasn’t been done before), you may be able to sell it.

There are a few places to sell digital downloads without much of a learning curve. I use ThriveCart with ConvertKit. You can also use systems like Podia, Send Owl, eJunkie, Easy Digital Downloads, WooCommerce, ConvertKit, PayPal, and other platforms.

Write Books or eBooks to Make Money At Home

There are so many different things you could write about… whether fiction, nonfiction, self-help, business, family-related, parenting, art… etc… that you could use to sell and create an additional income through.

Look through where you’re knowledgeable.

• Do you enjoy building things?
• Are you skilled at design?
• Do you love fashion?
• Are you a rockstar homeschooler?
• Do you love art?
• Are you knowledgeable in marketing?

Literally, any knowledge can be turned into a how-to tutorial or story. Then that story or tutorial can be formatted into an eBook and sold through your own website, on Amazon Kindle, through Barns and Noble’s Nook, or even through Apple’s iBooks.

Trading Stocks to Make Money from Home

Trading stocks for yourself or for other people is a great option IF you’re savvy with finances.

I loved learning about finances while in college majoring in business strategy and dabbled a little virtually with investments, but never was interested much in continuing through investing for other people. Now we hire a financial planner that takes care of our family investments for us.

If you’re wanting to learn more about finances and investing, definitely check out Wealth Tender, and read through their guides to help you become savvier with finances.

Run your own homeschool co-op to Make Money from Home

Many homeschool co-ops are free. Some require a fee to be a member. If you love to plan, this may be perfect for you. Helping orchestrate homeschool co-op activities, meetups, field trips, and curriculum may be right up your alley. Create a subscription program or yearly dues, then use that funding to secure a space to use, some supplies, and a little income to help support your family.

What About Passive Income? Is There Any Way Moms Can Make Genuine Passive Side Income??

The truly only way to be 100% passive from the beginning is to invest, and even then it is wise to have someone manage your investments.

There are places you can invest in mortgages and businesses if you have the funds to do so. Or purchase some commercial or residential property to rent to others.

So in an essence, your money goes to work for you to make more money.

Otherwise, passive income comes to you when you intentionally strategize for it and put in the work at the beginning.

There are several ways to do this, but the fastest way is to start a business and hire people to do the work (so you earn the profits).

Benefits of having multiple, mostly passive, streams of income:

For me, I have several streams of mostly passive income that generate more than 6-figures in total revenue allowing me to limit my work to a few hours a day total (20 hours a week max). My professional goals heavily rely on having a minimal amount of work for a good income that will provide for my family. These activities include:

• Rental property income (managed by the company we hire)
• Website affiliate partnership programs
• Online automated, self-paced courses (marketed through my websites, and through my own affiliate partnership program)
• Network marketing wellness company (marketed mostly through my websites)
• Individual business and wellness coaching (marketed through my websites)

These streams of income have proven to be passive in the past. I took off over 4 months for maternity leave when my second child was born, and solely focused on supporting changes within our family that came with bringing on a new addition. My income remained consistent the whole time.

I’ve also taken 2-3 months off completely during our interstate moves (which happens repeatedly every 2 to 3 years) to focus on family needs and adjustments. During these seasons I’ve taken off, my income hasn’t changed.

Setting my family up for this type of financial success has also made our transition into becoming a homeschool family so much easier. We don’t need to fret over finances, not being able to afford extra activities, or not being able to afford random excursions or camping adventures required for learning as much as possible through experience. And I am still able to earn my income, even when I’m focusing on my kids.

Creating a digital nomad lifestyle has definitely helped us design the life we want to live.

Do you earn money from home?

I’d love to hear about your adventures working from home in the comments below. What has working from home do for your and your family?

Looking for more info about adopting a healthier lifestyle? Check out our online courses or my home business opportunity centered around maximizing your physical and mental health.

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