Real Life of a Stay At Home Mom Trying to Make Money

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Are you a stay at home mom trying to make money? Or have you ever wondered what it really looks like for a stay at home mom who is trying to make money from home?  Curious if it’s possible to actually make money from home?  Do you think she’s crazy?  Or, do you envy her? 

Are you wishing you were her?  Does her life look perfect? I mean, she gets the pleasure of cleaning her house and taking care of kids. She gets to be a taxi as well as a chef and baker, because she should have Pinterest worthy treats on her table when her kids walk in the door every day from school, right?

Do you want to know what it’s really like to be a stay at home mom trying to make money?  Hold on tight while you read this post and try not to get too mad at me.

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Stay At Home Mom Life Is Not Glamorous

The glitz and glamour of being a stay at home mom trying to make money is all a façade.  It’s not glamorous at all.  It has it moments, but for the most part, it’s hard.   While the working mom is at a real job and making real money, the stay at home mom is at at home in her yoga pants, while she tries to make a dime.

Ok, I know not every stay at home mom is in her yoga pants – but I know I am – so we will go with that. 

To the stay at home mom, the joy of being able to go to a job, earn real income, and be around adults all day sounds like a dream!  The stay at home mom is at home with little kids – in her yoga pants. 

She’s doing things, usually taking care of little kids – reading them books, wiping their boogers, and wishing she had ear plugs when the tantrum starts.  Yes, she’s at home, but sometimes that’s harder than not being with her kids.  Being home day in and day out is rough. 

Struggling To Be A Stay At Home Mom

I am the stay at home mom who struggles with being only a stay at home mom. I want to be a stay at home mom who actually does make money.  I’ve been a stay at home mom for so many years that it’s my normal now, I struggle to be anything else.

I’ve seen all 3 of my kids go through the baby stages of diapers and drool to full time school.  When my youngest started first grade I was panicked – not because he was going to in school day, but because I felt like I got fired from my job. Fired from the one job I thought I excelled at – the job of being a stay at home mom.

What To Do When Your Kids Go To School

I know I’m still a mom.  There are a ton of mom things I have to get done each day, but the job of being a mom, to little kids that still need me, was gone. I loved being a stay at home mom to my young kids.  It was fun, exciting, hard, and so worth it all wrapped up into a job that I loved to do. 

I worried for a couple years before my youngest went to school full time about what I would do with myself when he was finally in school all day.  It’s a long day after all, and I know my self well enough, I can’t just sit still. 

Being A Stay At Home Mom Doesn’t Pay The Bills

Being a stay at home mom trying to make money doesn’t pay the bills – not unless you actually make steady money. I’ve been a stay at home mom for 11 years, and that doesn’t help pay the bills in my house. I don’t contribute significantly to the our monthly income.  I want to.  I’ve always wanted to.  I’m a dreamer and love business.  

Over the years, I’ve done a lot of small little jobs to help produce an income and I’ve learned lots of strategies to save our family as much money as we can.  Not working a real job for this many years adds up to a lot of lost income. 

I never focused on the lost income because we had always planned for me to be a full time mommy when we had kids.  We worked really hard at that beginning of our marriage to pay off all our debt and save money so that we could live on just one income, freeing me up to be a full -time mommy. 

Being A Mom Is A Calling

I took my full time stay at home mom job seriously, by making it as fun as possible. We did all sorts of fun things, spent tons of time outside, went on adventures, played with friends as much as possible, and got involved in as many ministries as we could.  I loved every minute of it!

Then my kids grew up.  There were no more park play dates for hours on end in the sunshine, and we all know that park play dates are just as a much a play date for the moms as the kids.  I loved hanging out for a long time with my mom friends while the kids played. Seemed like the best job in the world!

I consumed a lot of coffee over those years, while the kids played with cars and trucks on the floor.  My life revolved around naptimes. My job was to wear out my kids as much as possible, so they would take a long nap. Plus, I had to make sure they did not fall asleep in the car on the way home from an epic morning play date. 

Naptime Is Sacred

Naptime was the only time I ever got anything done.  Often, naptime was also naptime for me.  Some days I was so exhausted by 1pm that I could do nothing more than stick a movie on for my older kids who no longer napped, while I took a nap on the couch.  I was always envious of the stay at home moms that could use their child’s naptime to get real stuff done.  I did that sometimes, but goodness, I was tried from all the fun we were having.

Jealousy Is Real

Let’s also talk about jealously. 

I’ll go first. 

I was and continue to be jealous of the moms that have it all together.  Do you know what I mean?  That stay at home mom trying to make money, who actually does make money and still has her act together as a mom.   This is not easy to do, and it’s certainly not me.

I know there are tons of people out there who say it’s easy, but it’s not.  It’s really hard.  It takes some serious commitment and tons of hard work, and very little sleep, and I like my sleep.

I’ve tried a lot of things over the years to make money from home, and have made some money, but it’s never been anything significant.  Before I share the things I’ve tried, make sure you snag my FREE guide!

A Few Of The Ways I’ve Tried To Make Money

• Nannying – I took care of a little girl for about a year in my home.
• Sold My Own Product – I used to make and sell an all-purpose cleaning product.
• Appointment Scheduler – this job was my favorite! I set up appointments for a local chiropractor’s office virtually from home.
• Multi-level Marketing Business – yep. I did it. Went to the meetings and drug others along trying to sell an overpriced product for someone else.
• Graphic/Web Design Business – this was a real money-maker for me and my husband, in fact for quite a few years it was our full time job – but this was before kids.
• Dog Walking – I still do this whenever anyone asks.
• Babysitting – I still babysit, but typically I trade babysitting for a friend.
• Amazon Reseller Business – this was fun for a while, but wasn’t a money maker.

And many more.  Some have produced more money than others, like my graphic and web design business, in fact, that home business was our sole income for quite a few years. Which was amazing, and we made great money too!! We ran into trouble when we had kids.

You can see from my photo that I’ve been on this road, of being a stay at home mom trying to make money, for a long time.

This photo is actually me and my daughter when she was 4. She’s almost in middle school now. You’ll see that I was still rocking the mohawk, although it was red at the time (there have been a lot of colors over the years).

At the time of this photo I had 2nd grader, a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Obviously, I was busy, but I was still trying to make extra money. I took this photo when I was in the multilevel business, grasping at straws and trying to make that business work.

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I have a couple great posts about ways to save money and generate money as a stay at home mom that you might want to read too: 5 Easy Ways For Moms To Save Money – Today! and 10 Easy Ways To Make Extra Money From Home

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Trying to Make Money Is Hard Work

When we had our graphic and web design company life was good! We were working from home and were actually making it! And, not just making it, we were making great money. But, it was a lot of work. In fact, that’s all we did – work. I was ready for kids and by the time we had our first child, I just couldn’t keep up. All I really wanted was to be a full time mommy. When our oldest was born with a heart condition, we had a hard time paying for his health insurance being self employed.

We kept plugging along for a few more years, but by the time our third child was born, we had to close the business. My husband needed to get a job that provided cheaper insurance for our son, and I didn’t want to work – I just wanted to be a stay at home mom.

I Don’t Want To Sell Anything

The multilevel business we got into “selling” was horrible.  Talk about being sold a dream that never produced any income. If you have bought the same lie as me then you understand. There is only so long you can keep trying to “make it work” and hope you make money.

Eventually, you realize all you are doing is paying a lot of money buying their products and going to their meetings just so you can stay in the business. Who’s really making the money here? They continue to sell you the dream that if you “try hard enough” you will make millions.

The reality is that very few people make millions while everyone else has a real job to pay the bills and keeps hoping they will make the millions. It was a tough pill to swallow.  I did meet one of my best friends through it though and I’m forever thankful that I did!

Back At Square One

And now I’m here.  Still a stay at home mom trying to make money, with no kids at home each day.  No naptimes, not play dates.  Just me, at home, dreaming.  Feeling lost because my purpose is at school all day.  It can be a long day too. 

I’m just starting my journey of being a blogger.  You guessed it, my dreams are big – but many days they feel totally unreachable.  That’s the truth of it.  I desire to be used by God, to have a purpose, and to make an impact on the lives of other moms who are walking my road, and make money. 

Hoping to Offer Encouragement

I desire to offer hope, inspiration, encouragement, and a general feeling of camaraderie because I know how you feel. 

Being a mom is hard.  Being a stay a home mom trying to make money is even harder. 

Trying to make money from home is an awesome goal – but I’ll be the first to tell you, it’s not easy.  I still struggle with making this happen. 

I’m still trying to make this all work – I’m still and probably forever will be a be a stay a home mom trying to make money. I’m not an expert. I don’t have all the answers, but someday I hope to have a story that is different than all the others I’ve had so far. I know one thing, I will keep trying. Most days, I feel like I’m not getting anywhere, but I know I can’t just give up. Nor can I sit still.

Do Your Friends Think You Are Crazy?

Do you feel like all your friends and family think you are crazy for being a stay a home mom trying to make money? If so, you are in the right place! I feel that too, but I’m going to keep trying!

Mom, I want you to know I understand.  I know how hard it is.  I know you long to contribue your family income.  That you want to help relieve the stress of providing that your husband is under.  How you know deep inside that you must have some type of skill that can produce an income. 

You long to be valued and feel a sense of purpose, outside of just being a stay at home mom.  Just know, I know.  I’m right there with you.  I feel it too.  Every day.  I want all the same things and feel all the feelings.

Want To Go Along For The Ride?

Join me as I walk this road of starting a blog and hoping it will be a money-maker down the road. Want to go along for the ride with me? I’d sure love for you to!  I’m not an expert, I don’t have all the answers.  I’m not doing it all right. 

I know I’m a wimp and afraid to step out of my box.  I deeply struggle with being real to strangers.  I’m trying. I’m learning and I’m honored that you are on this journey with me.  

My hope is that my story can encourage you and that you will share and encourage me as well! I pray we all can be honest and open and real with each other.  I promise to share more of who I really am – the struggle, the ick, the hard stuff.  Will you share with me too?

Want To Join Me?

I’d love to stay in touch with you and best way I can do this by having you join me! Sign up below for my free guide – my Get It Free Checklist and not only will you hear from me in the future, but you will also get my free guide to help you start saving money today!

Hugs momma – I can’t wait to get to know you!

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