Being a single mom can be really challenging! It always is! Kids in tow, juggling work and quite often we are only just making ends meet. So today we are going to talk about some ways to get some extra cash into your household.
I am not going to talk about “get rich quick” schemes but I am going to talk about ways you can make money online that might take some work or take up some time if you have it, but there is the opportunity to use your transferable skills to help bring in some extra money!
Being a single mum, the kind of jobs or extra income ways you should choose should be extremely flexible. No doubt it’s a big task earning money and taking care of kids as a single parent.
Word of caution though, NEVER. EVER. sign up for an MLM regardless how desperate you are for money. They are predatory and you will end up losing money long term and that’s not what we would hope to achieve!
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WAYS TO MAKE EXTRA MONEY ONLINE THROUGH REMOTE WORK
There are a ton of sites that allow you to sign up and do freelance work, the most popular is “Upwork“, where you can do a variety of jobs, at a price you are comfortable with. You are payed directly to your account or through PayPal and all the employers are verified.
Making social media templates, resume templates, logo templates, canva templates etc. It is a good way to make extra cash on the side and all you have to do is design them and upload them on etsy or creative market! There is a huge demand for templates since everyone wants DIY, but they also do not have time to do the work!
Most remote jobs offer a great flexibility: you do not need to be all the time online. You just have to get the things done. And with the job aggregators like Remote 4 me, you
can find a 100% remote job for your profession. There are lot of remote
jobs for engineers and for designers/support/(tech) writers/marketing
specialists. So if you are already someone who has professional skills for a day job, try one of these!
DOING SURVEYS OR TESTING ONLINE PROGRAMS
Working as a search engine evaluator is one such job which has a lot of
flexibility and it pays well. Absolutely no technical knowledge is needed
for this extra income gig. You can work whenever you want, day or night as long as you finish your weekly deadlines.
USING YOUR CRAFTY SKILLS TO SELL PRODUCTS
Are you good at knitting? Drawing? Painting? Mosaic? Consider creating a small Etsy store and developing some products to sell. Make sure you price the products correctly, so that you are not undercutting yourself in terms of profit. There are also always ways for you to sell things locally too. There might be small cafe’s and coffee shops that stock local products, reach out to them once you have some products you might be able to sell!
Another creative gig you can do staying home with kids is being an Online
Stylist. If you have the ‘killer’ fashion sense then you can become a personal stylist with companies like Stitch Fix. You can use you innate skill to dress up women and kids and it’s completely online. The only requirement is you need to completely passionate about fashion!
DOING ODD JOBS AROUND THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Single moms throughout the country are using Rover.com, the nation’s largest network of loving and trustworthy dog sitters and walkers, as a side job – and way to earn a little extra cash during the week.
Do odd jobs for others – take a look on TaskRabbit and see what you can do from home to help others. An extra hack is to take on tasks that you’re already doing for yourself, like picking up someone’s shopping whilst picking up your own weekly shop, or delivering parcels to a destination you’re already driving in. Scroll through jobs that fit in with your existing schedule.
Care.com gives singles moms health benefits, flexible hour sand the option
to have their kids with them! Care.com offers services that enable families to find and manage care and provide employment opportunities for carers. For families, their digital platform provides a simple, comprehensive solution for finding, and managing family care needs including child care, elderly care, special needs care, pet care, housekeeping and tutoring. For carers, they provide a platform for finding high-quality jobs that can lead to sustainable, meaningful careers.
Earn money from leftovers If you’re on a budget, you are no doubt familiar with
meal planning and prep. If you’re already cooking for your own family, why not see if this is something you can earn additional income on simply by increasing quantities. Investigate opportunities to market to time-poor singles or families in your neighborhood that are willing to spend on home-cooked meals.
SELLING YOUR UNUSED ITEMS
Are there things in our house you do not use? Why not have an online garage sale to bring in some extra cash to your family during this time? Consider selling toys, clothing and technology that is in good nick. Some op shops will give you cash for good quality or unused clothing.
RENTING OUT YOUR SPARE SPACE
Hire out your car – If you have a car that tends to be sitting on the driveway, unused for a lot of the time, consider hiring your car out to others and making some extra money. On sites like EasyCar or Drivy you can rent your car to neighbours. Don’t worry it’s all insured and everything!
Rent out your space! Depending on your living situation, you may have spare space that can be rented out for additional income, that doesn’t take up time. Getting another person in might cover at least part of your rent and may even take some pressure off with an extra pair of hands around the house.
Turning your spare room into an Air BnB; this means that you can control who comes into your home and this also allows it to be more sporadic, rather than having a tenant living with you and your children full time. Renting out space in my home would not be my first option, only because I would want to make sure the safety element is locked down.
STARTING A BLOG
This is more a long game to making money! It takes time, and takes a steep learning curve if you havent already done this! You can start a blog for as little as $65 but keep in mind, it takes time to build an audience and monetise the blog.
