Well isn't that the "million dollar question!?"

Wouldn't we ALL like to know how to make a decent amount of money while staying at home and raising our kids.
I am very curious too to see some of the ideas that people come up with...
Hopefully people will be willing to share their "secrets of success." Hmmmm......

If you speak another language you can do translation from home. A lot of editing & proofreading jobs can be done from home as well, but these are all pretty much freelance.

I'm a graphic designer looking to find that perfect work from home job, as we're expecting our first baby in June... unfortunately I haven't found anything that fits just right. I'm too scared to freelance and depend on myself to find new clients, because what if I can't?!

It's frustrating but I'm still hopeful... It will definitely be interesting to see the responses!

I taught myself Quickbooks when I was pregnant with my first child and now work as a bookkeeper and small business manager. Most of my work is done from home though I do still go see clients once a week. I earn from $25-60 an hour. I made the move "home" so I could be with my children every day and because child care in my area is as expensive as college tuition! It is tough, as the only time I have to work is when they are sleeping. I often have to start work at 8 pm at night when I am dead tired. If you plan on having help at home during the day, or have older kids in school great. Good luck

Have you looked into transcriptions (legal, medical, what not)? I used to do that before, and still do every once in a blue moon, for a relative who has a business of that sort. They'd mail the audio to me, sometimes even download from their site, and then I'd email the final transcription back. Very simple and easy to do. It was based out of the country, so the rates were different, but I hear that here in the US, you can earn a good income. I've been lazy and haven't looked into it here, but definately do a search and see what comes up. It might be worth trying.

Several moms I know (myself included) were able to work out an "alternate work location" setup with our employer OR we work on a freelance/project basis with our employer. All of us had 5 to 7 years in-house with our companies, so we already had in-person relationships with our managers, co-workers and clients. Our fields are graphic design (me), proofreader -- we are the part-time freelancers -- and a manager of traveling salespeople (who works 50 hrs/wk and whose husband has a flexible job of property management).

One thing to think about if you are currently a stay-at-home mom: How many more years are you going to have young kids at home? If you're attending college for four more years, will all your kids have started school by then? At that point, you will just need to worry about the summertime.

If you already have a skill that could be done at home -- then try it out by getting a few freelance clients. You really have nothing to lose by trying it out.

The reason you are having a hard time finding something like this is because there aren't viable options that aren't scams. You pretty much have to make your own stay at home job and hope it's successful. You'll be hard pressed to find a company that will be ok with you working from home off the bat- a lot of employers have been burned in the past with this, and are more than a little skeptical. Good luck!

I feel very lucky because I work from home in the midwest for a large environmental NGO in New York City. I work 20 hours per week, with flexible timing, and a trip to the office once every two months or so (which seems like a vacation). I've been doing this for 7 years now and I would agree with the earlier posters who said that your chances of getting a green light from the boss are greater if you establish a relationship with your colleagues in the office first. In my case working at home means pretty much always working when the kids are napping or at school, and also trying to avoid distractions (thanks a lot AT!). So, it's not for everyone but I'm glad I didn't have to choose between staying at home and working full time in the office.

Many people I know who have become Mommies and want to stay at home have found a hidden talent and worked with that. One has started a cake/cupcake business, another has started a photography business, another does Avon/MaryKay/Pampered Chef. Maybe even an Etsy shop.

Long post, but I have to balance out what craftyashley says, because it's not my personal experience. For me, contract technical writing pays extremely well and many of the contracts can be worked from home. I have an agent who finds me far more work than I can handle, and there are also agencies who will farm you out for a cut of the pay - you can get experience that way. You do need to live in a region with geek companies, and do some hard learning to get the skills.

Conducive to family life - no. You can take part-time contracts, you can establish the days you'll work with your client, but you still have to work. A small baby is compatible with computer work, but nobody bigger than that in my experience. As nectarsquarespace says, you will be working at night/weekends/whenever you can borrow or pay someone to watch your children. It's exhausting and mothering is exhausting already, so you know what that word means.

I think auntiejennjenn has some great advice - brainstorming something you love to do will probably be the most family friendly option, magically. My girlfriend is doing shortbread cookie mixes with lavender and they are in all the grocery stores locally now, for example. Ask around at the playground!

It depends on how much money you must make, I would guess. I just wanted to write this post to tell you I know many moms who do it (substitute teaching, proofing legal documents, accounting, running a large non-profit and me of course), and you are no doubt about to become one too. Go mama!

I work from home part time and stay home with my two boys (3 years and 9 months) full time. I am an adjunct professor and teach online Psychology and Sociology classes. Most colleges will allow you to teach solely online (online courses are getting more and more popular), but you need to have a minimum of a master's degree. I only teach one class per semester, so I don't make a lot of money, but I could teach full time from home if I wanted. I do not, however, have any sort of hired child care help, so most of my work is done in the evening or on weekends when my husband watches the kids (or during the ever-elusive naptime). Also, since most online teaching is part time, you likely will not receive medical benefits (we use my husband's). Anyway, good luck with your decision...

Great question! When I pregnant with our son, I tutored homeschooled students whose parents wanted an outside teacher in English. They set up a co-op and I was hired for that. The classroom time was short (no more than 4 hours a week) and most of the work was done at home. I loved it and would strongly consider doing the same thing again.

If you're interested in teaching, tutoring or running classes in your home or a nearby location would work great, especially if you have good credientials or experience. Maybe see what's in your area and then figure out if you can join or start your own? Just some thoughts.

Great question! I am a stay-at-home mom who would love to return to work, but I find freelancing from home to be extremely difficult. I had my my first child when I was straight out of university so I had no chance to get established in a particular field or company before leaving the work force. I have an undergrad degree in English literature. It's a great general education, but didn't prepare or qualify me to enter any specific field. So I laugh when I think about "returning" to work - what is there to go back to? There do not seem to be ANY legitimate careers advertised in the newspaper or online that allow you to work from home and earn decent money. All of them seem to either be scams or like work I just wouldn't want to do as a career (telemarketing, stuffing envelopes).
When my second child was a little baby, I was asked if I wanted to do some freelance editing and book review work. I had taken courses in copyediting and done a few freelance projects and a friend of a friend needed someone to become the editor of a little magazine that's distributed in bookstores. I do just about 100% of the work late in the evenings after my kids are in bed. During the day I can check my email or do a little online research or a short bit of reading, but anything more than that requires concentration and uninterrupted stretches of time. It's not at all glamourous and the pay sucks, but it's great experience and I like the work. I would make more money taking a few evening shifts at a restaurant, honestly. When I have more experience I will be able to seek out more freelance work and demand a higher rate.
So, editing, journalism, book reviewing, writing articles for blogs, producing newsletters and correspondence for small businesses, and other forms of technical writing can all be done freelance and from home. Some pay better than others, but you probably won't get rich doing any of them unless you can find a steady stream of contracts and you are able to devote full days to work.

I have a pretty terrific racket! I am a theatre teaching artist. I do voice over work on the side - hey honey, can you watch the baby for an hour while I make a couple hundred bucks? - and I privately coach kids for auditions in addition to my core work of directing after school for an independent school here and there. I have carved out just about year round work for myself and still have time off on all the big holidays - thanksgiving, christmas/new years, july 4 etc. I also do contract work with a corporate training firm in NJ (I live in Boston) and travel almost the complete month of June each year doing trainings for staff at high-end summer camps.

I found something I truly loved, a husband with good health insurance, and we have never looked back. I actually get more work than I can handle and I turn work down as we haven't hired any childcare up until the last month as my husband has to scale back the hours he watches our son b/c his job is getting more intense (he works at an MIT thinktank with flexible hours).

I'm not saying I make a lot (I wouldn't even be able to rent a studio apt in the area we are living by myself, let alone eat!) But I make enough to make it all really rewarding both for my sanity and for our family.

So find something you love and decide to make it work.

I go to a vocational school and a lot of the people there are in Medical Billing and Coding because it can be done from home.

Basically you file claims to the health insurance companies using a series of codes you learn in school. Its a two year degree and many places offer night and online classes.

Im only 20, but most of the people at my school are older with children.

oh and i also know someone who sells Shaklee (vitamins and organic cleaning supplies) and i think she does fairly well with that. At least you could start immediately and avoid tuition, but it would require networking and leaving the house once in a while

You could also do in-home daycare. I does not require much training and you'll just need to pass licensing. You can stay at home and work. My neice has done this since her baby was born and has now grown to include two employees and a bigger home. There is ALWAYS a need for good child care.

in home daycare is NOT for everyone. Other people's kids are not your own - you will not like them as much! I promise!

good daycare centres have people who are passionate about child development and working with families running them; if this interest co-incides with you wanting to work from home, great! If not, leave it up to the pro's.

I think it's a better idea to figure out your skills and interests first, and then see how that could translate into an at-home job. It helps to have some aptitude for whatever it is, before you go back to school.

Take a look at lists of possible at-home jobs, and see if any sound interesting to you; then, get the training you'd need to make it happen.

I first made arrangements to make my old research/writing/design job into a partially work-at-home situation, and then was offered a part-time graphic design job out of the blue, during my maternity leave. I have it pretty good: I only pay for one day per week of childcare, and work at home the rest of the time.

I love design, but in-home daycare or tutoring would probably drive me nuts (mcheerio is RIGHT - it's not for everyone). I would be TERRIBLE at sales jobs, too.

Good luck!

I have tried working from home with small kids twice, and both times I ended up choosing to go back to being a SAHM. Fortunately I had that choice. First I worked half-time as a librarian doing collection development--most was online and some on-site 2 evenings a week and Saturday mornings. The second time I worked as a copy editor for a magazine and I loved the work but it didn't pay enough to cover childcare.

Either could have worked out ultimately if all the stars had aligned. In the first case, my employer really needed a full-time person, so it was all or nothing. In the second case, I just didn't have the time without a sitter, and I couldn't afford to pay someone to watch my kids when I wasn't earning enough to pay the sitter. My kids didn't nap as long in the afternoon anymore, and I would find myself ignoring my husband in the evenings as I crammed to meet deadlines. I realized I was only doing it for myself at the expense of my family.

Ultimately if you can suck it up at first with childcare while you establish relationships, I would think that's the best way to go. Otherwise I'm not sure how you'd network unless you are one of the lucky few who randomly meets just the right person in line at the grocery store. Or, you can wait until your kids are in school but work on sharpening your skills in the meantime. Go to conferences, comment on blogs, write articles, do freelance work, whatever will help you keep at least one toe in the game, particularly if it's something you can do with a baby in a sling or while your kids are at preschool.

All that said, if I had my druthers right now, I'd love to find a gig that allowed me to work about 10 hours a week, just for the change of scene and using my brain differently. If it was a job I loved, I wouldn't mind if it only paid for childcare. (but it would have to pay at least that much.) Hopefully when my kids are in school I'll have racked up enough continuous experience to find something I can do for a few hours during the day. If that doesn't work out, I will have to find something else to be an outlet.

Best of luck with your search. I'm sure you'll find whatever works best for your family.

I guess ultimately what I wanted my comment to say before it degenerated into a recitation of my entire momhood, was: I don't know anyone with small (not yet school-aged) kids who works from home, without childcare, who simultaneously loves the work and also doesn't feel like she's neglecting her kids or husband or personal downtime. And that is my personal experience too. A very strong woman could manage it. Maybe that is you!

Hi all, I'm the question-poster. Just wanted to say thanks for the great insight here – both for and against at-home work.

I hesitated to include my interests in the question above, (since I wanted unbiased info about a variety of options) but for those wondering... I'm a self-taught artist, with an unused education background in science/pre-med, while previous career was on-site non-profit management (and now you see why I'm confused about where to go from here).

I'm thinking long-term, trying to just lay the groundwork for a plan that will work out when my kids (1 and 4) are both in school.

Thanks again, everyone!

Just a little mention about in home day care, this can sometimes have an adverse effect on your own children, especially if you thake them to Nursery/pre school and then take someone elses children back home with you. Home is a safe place for children and having it invaded can be quite upsetting!

Jessica, while my kids now are in college, I quit my job after my first was born and immediately began freelancing (my background is public relations.) I had one client for 13 years. Eventually I got a p/t job but now I am living the carefree retired life. Given your skills, I'd suggest a few options:
1. go back to school to become a teacher in math or science (or even art.) Elementary ed. is an option and you can work p/t as a kindergarten teacher. Preschool teacher is another idea but the pay is terrible (but you don't need a master's).
2. Become a tutor for SATs. Start with a known group (Kaplan?) and then branch out on your own from there. I know people in NYC that charge over $100/hour for SAT tutoring. You can also go by subject for HS students if you were pre-med. Physics, Organic Chemistry, Calculus tutors are all in high demand.
3. Do something with your art; sell your creations on ETSY. Start an art class through your local rec center. Or even work as an art therapist in a local nursing home during the kids' school hours.
4. Substitute teach in your school district or become a paraprofessional in your local school. The vacations and hours will match with your kids' schedules.
5. Consider becoming a nurse; you could work only a few evenings a week (sometimes only once a week) and some hospitals are so short of staff, they may help pay your tuition.

Just remember, making money is one thing but you can NEVER get back those years with your kids. I am a feminist but thankful I was able to be home with my children when they were little. I had so much fun.

I'm a SAHM with 15 month twins. I used to work for a toy company doing illustrations and design. Now I just do the occasional freelance illustration for the same company. I don't think I could have done that if I didn't already have a foot in the door and was established in that field as finding time to network and get new clients is difficult with two toddlers.

I do find it hard some days as I'll suddenly get a request for 10 illustrations just when the kids get a cold so there's some juggling involved. I'm lucky that I've got a p/t nanny who can come in when I need her.

The money's not enough to pay the mortgage (that's where hubby comes in) but some months I'll make enough to cover utilities and other bills plus it keeps me sane and I get a chance to be creative.

I work from home and at first this was a terrific solution with an infant. I had a nanny take care of him at home while I worked, but was still able to come out of my office and nurse him, etc. But eventually I had to send my kid to daycare because even with a nanny at home it got to the point where he would just bang on the door and not let me work or speak on the phone.

There is a big upside of generally being in control of my time -- so Dr visits or other things that come up are easy to handle, and the time and money saved not commuting. But I can't take care of my kid and work at the same time.

I am a nurse. I work part time away from home. I think health care is a great area to work as a mom. Not only as a RN, but scrub tech, ultra sound tech, respiratory tech, coder, etc. There are lots of opportunities for part time work that pay decent. It's an option if you don't want to work at home but be home 4-5 days a week with your kids. I've learned to appreciate my time home more and so do my kids. Just a thought.