10 Top Tips for Work at Home Moms to Maintain a Sustainable Income

As the country continues to struggle through the recession, Moms may feel the pressure to return to the workforce and maintain a regular, stable income.  However, there are a number of options available to those mothers who want to stay at home with their kids and, at the same time, sustain a suitable wage.  Below are 10 top tips for work at home Moms to maximize their income.

Capture Cash with a Camera

Possibly one of the easiest of the 10 tips, making money from your photographs, is simple and fun.  Carry your camera and capitalize on the images of everyday life, by uploading them to a website, such as ShutterStock, Fotolia and BigStockPhoto.  Many companies search these sites for pictures to fill their websites, and every time one of your pictures is downloaded, you will be paid a fee.  This can range from 25 cents to a commission percentage, and obviously the more you upload, the more money you will make.

eBook Enterprises

Another simple endeavor, this requires a small amount of initial investment.  Choose a topic you love and buy the master resell rights of eBooks that fit, and you will be able to sell them and keep all the profits.  Once you have the rights, all you need to do is create a website to sell them, which can be easily done using an easy website builder such as Wordpress.

Save While You Shop

Don your detective hat and take the kids with you, as you investigate the customer services of various businesses, in the form of a mystery shopper.  Shoppers View, Service Excellence Group and Service Intelligence are mystery shopper specialist sites, who will allow you to register for free, and will then send you to report on the services of restaurants, stores and other businesses, from the customer’s point of view.  You’ll be paid around $20 to fill in a questionnaire and make a small purchase to validate your visit.

Cash for Crafts

If you have any talent for handicrafts, then utilise your skills by selling your painting, knitting and embroidery online.  eBay can provide a good platform to sell your goods, but there are also a number of handicraft specific websites, who can help you to turn your crafts into cash.

In 2008, Etsy’s sales toped $88 million, and with just a small initial fee,    benefit financially from your talents.  Another site, Silkfare, which also takes 3% of every final sale price, will allow you to sign up and list your items for free.  Silkfare has an additional service which allows you to customize your own online store, in which to sell your products for profits, for just $24.99 per month.

Wealth From a Website

Money can be made online without having to sell anything.  All that’s needed is a website with a reasonable amount of cyber traffic, and money will be made through the advertising and marketing links.  Get all the support and software you need from a website builder and fill the site with some interesting content, on any topic you have a passion for.  Then relax as your bank balance rises.

Sustainability from Students

If you are a Mom with a college degree, why not help the youth of today, by sharing your knowledge, as a virtual tutor.   On sites such as Tutor.com and Transwebtutors, you can assist students around the world by helping them with homework, reviewing essays and working through problems on an interactive work board.  No teaching experience is required, and if you have a background in languages, math, social science or science, this has the potential to become a great source of income.

Become Virtually Invaluable to Business

If you don’t want to help students with homework, you could help with the day to day running of a business, online.  Virtual assistants can earn around $20 an hour for offering administrative support to businesses.  Jobs can be found on the freelance website Elance, and through online recruitment agencies, including Virtual Office Temps, Team Double Click and Alpine Access; and with financial restraints forcing staff cut backs, a vast number of companies are turning to the internet to provide the support and resources they need.

Accumulate Cash Through Articles

The majority of articles and blogs we read on the internet are produced by freelance article writers, who are paid for creating web content from their own opinions, knowledge and experiences.  Don’t be put off if you lack writing experience.  Write a few simple articles that you can offer as examples of your work, and take your slice of the $2 million paid each week, for over 4000 jobs on Elance.

Others sites, including Getafreelancer and ODesk, ensure that there are vast numbers of writing jobs available, which pay anywhere between 1 and 50 dollars per article.  The constant need for new, updated articles means that Moms who work at home have a great opportunity to maintain a regular source of income.

Increase Your Cash - and Closet Space

It was recently estimated, by an eBay / Nielsen survey, that the average American household contains 52 unused items, valuing around $3000, which means merely sorting through your closets and identifying your 52 items can have a fantastic effect of your finances.

As well as eBay, sites like Craigslist, Efleaa and Hoobly, offer sellers the perfect platform to increase their cash and storage space, and, by setting a minimum bid, you are sure to get a fair price.  Once you’ve cleared out your own closets, expand your profit making abilities by hitting the sales and house clearances, and find some cut price items you can sell for a profit.

Cash in the Community

If you’re not comfortable making cash from computers, then focus your financial efforts on your local community instead.  Before becoming a mother, you probably gained a wealth of skills, which you can utilise to ease the lives of your neighbors, and make some money.  Using personal skills is a great way for Moms to maximise their income, as it requires no investment and can fit around your family commitments.

So, if you are good at fixing computers, sewing, organizing special events or have great gardening skills, produce some flyers and place a free ad in the local paper or store, and let your local area know how much help you can offer them.

You can also use your skills and knowledge to help people outside your own community, on sites like JustAnswer and LivePerson.  These sites will pay you by the minute, to provide answers to a variety of topic specific questions.  Use your individual skills to tap into this great source of income.

Regardless of the current financial crises, there are still a number of opportunities for work at home Moms to maximise and maintain a stable income.  Utilise the skills and opportunities available to you, both online and in your communities, and find the perfect employment to support and care for your family.

About the author: Melanie Citron is a freelance author who wants the web to be open to everyone. She regularly researches and writes about great free or low cost resources to help all have a great presence on the web. See more of her writing at BuildMySiteforFree.com

Standing on my soapbox,

JB.