“Gosh, I just have too much money!” Said no one ever.
Living off of one income isn’t always easy, but it was the right choice for my family. We committed to living off of my husband’s one income, but I started to feel restless.
I was brought up in a feminist household; rely on no one, be self-sufficient, and above all never stop working for your own money. So when I found myself as a stay-at-home, homeschooling, make-your-own-everything mom of three, I still felt the need to contribute to our overall income.
For my family, our desire to homeschool and for me to be at home with the kids was more important that the extra income that I would bring in going to work. So we were perfectly content living off of my husband’s one income and building our budget around it.
But I still wanted to contribute some income!
I figured that any “make money from home” gigwould be a giant scheme or would just be an outright lie. I was really wrong! There are actually a LOT of ways to make money either from home or without doing anything differently than what you do now.
Here’s what Ido to make extra money without having to go to work…
Swagbucks
If you’ve never heard of Swagbucks, you need to check it out. It’s pretty awesome. I have been using Swagbucks for more than two years at this point and have only been using it for around 5 hours a week and have still managed to make almost $500 in Amazon gift cards! My favorite thing to do is to watch the educational videos with my children. I wind up earning Swagbucks, and they get to see some cute penguins! It’s a win-win for everybody. You can read more about what I do to make the most of my Swagbucks and how to earn more Swagbucks here.
Grocery apps
I absolutely love Costco. But I love Costco even more knowing that Ibotta appgives me cash rebates every time that I shop there! You don’t even have to do anything for Ibotta. You select the items that you purchased (a lot of the rebates can be used for any brand too), and when you scan your receipt at the end of your shopping trip they give you money back! It’s really amazing.
Another really amazing app to use is Walmart Savings Catcher. If you shop at Walmart you have to get this app. Every time you shop, scan your receipt and savings catcher will check prices at all of your local stores to make sure that you are getting the best deals. If they overcharged you for a product because they founded lower deal somewhere else they will give you a rebate for that money. See you didn’t have to do anything!
Babysitting
Now, I know if you’re already a mom you’re probably thinking “why on earth would I want to take on more kids in this house!?” Maybe I’m the crazy woman who thinks “what’s one more kid,” but for me watching other people’s kids is so much fun and it’s a really great and easy way to earn somemoney.
Since Ialready spend my time at home for the most part and we plan on homeschooling anyway it’s a lot of fun to be able to basically have playdates for my kids where I get paid. Even if I don’t get paid, we do a babysitting swap. That is where I watch a friend’s kids for an evening so that she can her husband can go out, and in exchange, she and her husband will watch my kids so that my husband and I can go out. This option might not necessarily be making money, but it is saving me a lot of money trying to find a good babysitter when I need it!
Sell your stuff online
You know that junk drawer that you have sitting around your house? We all know you have it. I have one too! And you know what? I cleaned mine out and I ended up making more than$100. Yes, I’m serious. All of thatjewelry that I got from Claire’s in high school, the hair accessories that I never use, and a lot of other miscellaneous stuff that I just had collecting dust and taking up space wound up making me some money.
Do you have any textbook lying around from college? Maybe you’re cleaning off your bookshelf and are trying to get rid of books or DVDs you’re not into anymore. Or you just got a new phone leaving your old one obsolete. Amazon had a really great trade-in program to help you make money off of your old stuff. I especially love their textbook buy backs. I had a few books from college and they paid more than double what the stupid college bookstore wanted to pay for them! Plus, Amazon pays for shipping. If they don’t want them, they’ll send them back to you for free.
Craigslist is another really great one. If you are trying to sell large items, this is where you want to go. Obviously, make sure that you are using appropriate safety precautions and always bring a buddy! But if you can do getting rid of stuff in your house as well as making money, I consider it a win-win!
Can you crochet? Or make earrings? Maybe you make greeting cards! If you make anything by hand, look into opening an Etsy shop. It’s a great way to earn money off of something that you love to make!
Start a blog!
Of course what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t say that a great way to start earning a living from home is to start blogging!If you are finding that you are bored a lot during the day and are making poor spending decisions because of your boredom, blogging might be the right thing for you. I found that in the evening when I had finished all my chores and the kids were in bed and I had nothing better to do I would veg out watching Netflix while on Amazon looking for things that I shouldn’t be buying.
Starting a blog is one of the cheapest ways to start making money from home as a mom.
I can honestly say that the best thing I’ve ever done to help make sure that I can start to make money off of my blog was joining the Elite Blog Academy. I wish that I had joined right after I started blogging! There are lots of blogging freebies that you can get by signing up for the Elite Blog Academyand they offer an amazing (not free, but worth every penny) class starting up again in the fall. Definitely worth the sign-up!
Since I started my blog less than 6 months ago, I am very pleased to say that I am starting to see a really great increase in my traffic and I can honestly say that it’s thanks toElite Blog Academy.Of course, nothing is easy. It’s the opposite of a get rich quick scheme, but it is a lot of fun and I have enjoyed every minute of it!
Check out my first big payday from blogging!
User Testing
I started using UserTesting.com just to see what it was about. You get to review websites or apps before they hit the market. If you can click around o
n a website and use a microphone on your computer, you can use UserTesting.
I found that each week I can make between $20 and $50 just doing the website testing from this site. Obviously, this is not enough to get you a full-time income. But it is a really great way to supplements either a date night or even a grocery budget for the week.
If you are at home for any reason. Don’t ever think that it’s impossible to earn income! Even if it’s small, every little bit helps, right?
Want some more ideas on how to make money from home? Check out how I use my side hustle money to fully pay for my groceries and more!
How do you make money from home?
