10 WAY EARN MONEY IN YOUR HOME
All of these options can be done from the house and shouldn't take time away from the kids.
3 Side Jobs for Stay-at-Home Moms and Dads
Being a stay-at-home parent is a full-time job. Unfortunately, it
doesn’t come with a full-time paycheck. As a result, it can be hard for
some families relying on just one income to make ends meet or build
savings.
However, there are ways for stay-at-home moms and dads to earn a bit of
extra cash to supplement the family budget without leaving the house or
sacrificing time with the kids. In fact, here are 10 money-making
opportunities that can be pursued when your children are at school or
asleep, or possibly even when they are awake and demanding your
attention. The earnings potential is modest, and not every opportunity
will be right for you, but over the course of a year you could pocket
hundreds – and possibly even thousands – of dollars.
Get paid for your opinions. Taking surveys online can be a
relatively quick way to earn enough to afford a few extras. Harris Poll
Online, for example, awards points for the completion of online surveys,
which can take between five and 25 minutes to fill out. Survey takers
accumulate points and can redeem them for gift cards from retailers such
as Amazon and Starbucks. Other online outfits that will pay you to take
surveys include SurveyClub, Global Test Market and Swagbucks. There's
no cost to sign up.
Evaluate Web sites. Another way to make extra cash in a short
amount time – $10 for about 20 minutes of work – is to sign on
with UserTesting and evaluate Web sites. You need a computer with a
microphone and Internet connection, and you’ll have to fill out a
one-page demographic profile. You’ll receive work if your profile
matches that of the target audience of sites being tested. Then it’s
just a matter of using UserTesting’s screen recorder, which you'll need
to download to your computer, to record your verbal comments and
on-screen movements as you click through a site. Site owners typically
are looking for feedback about whether the Web site is confusing to
navigate.
ADVERTISEMENT
Serve as an online juror. Some attorneys use large panels of
online mock jurors to get feedback on their cases before they go to
trial. However, the mock jurors must live in the county or federal
district where the case will be tried. You can sign up at a couple of
sites and receive e-mail notifications if a case is posted in your
area. EJury.com pays $5 to $10 per case via the online payment system
PayPal. You can't be an attorney, paralegal or legal assistant – or even
related to an attorney – to participate. EJury says you're likely to
have better luck getting picked if you live in a large metropolitan
area, where more cases are tried, rather than a rural area. The average
case takes about 35 minutes to review. At , where cases typically take
between 20 minutes and one hour to review, fees range from $20 to $60.
Payment is made by check.
Run virtual errands. If you have a computer with Internet
connection and are good at searching the Web and communicating with
others, you can become a virtual personal assistant with Fancy Hands.
The service hires assistants, who set their own hours, to help its users
tackle tasks such as making calls to service providers, scheduling
appointments, and finding the best prices for services and products. You
get paid per task, starting at between $3 and $7.
Tutor students. If you have an academic specialty and can squeeze
in a couple of hours during the week while Junior is taking a nap or
Janie is at gymnastics, share your knowledge with struggling students.
Find students looking to improve their grades on your own through your
kids' schools – check a site such as Craigslist.org to gauge hourly
rates in your area – or sign on with an online tutoring company, such
as Tutor.com. You must be available to tutor at least five hours a week
and have a college degree to tutor certain subjects for Tutor.com.
Tutoring is done virtually from home via a computer, not in person.
Tutor.com tutors are paid an hourly rate based on the subject.
Be a mommy (or daddy) blogger. If you haven’t used your free time
between changing diapers, washing clothes and shuttling kids around to
hop on the blog bandwagon, it’s worth considering this potential source
of income. And just because you’re a parent doesn’t mean you have to
write about parenting issues. In fact, given that there already are so
many blogs about life as a mom (or dad), consider writing about another
topic about which you are passionate. The more original, entertaining
and informative you are, the more likely you’ll gain followers – and you
need an online following to make money.