Best Jobs for Stay at Home Mums in the UK

Do you want to find the best jobs for stay at home mums in the UK?

Making money from home has been an absolute joy for me these past five years. It’s given me more time with my kids and meant I don’t have to worry about making ends meet every month.

When I was made redundant in 2018 I was faced with a choice. Search for other office jobs or take the chance to carve out a new role for myself that meant I could stay at home with the kids.

At the time my daughters were aged one and three. I wanted to seize this opportunity to spend more time with them.

But in this day and age it’s tough to survive on just the one income as a family. So I set about turning my blog into a business that could make me a decent income working in my own time as a stay at home mum.

I also branched out into freelance PR – which utilised my skills from my old job as a journalist – and continued to do freelance work for my old employer.

Having a stay at home mum job has meant I can continue to develop my skills and feel that I am moving forward career-wise.

But I’m also there for my family every single day. There are no mad dashes back from an office or worrying about what my boss will say if I ask for another couple of hours off so I can attend sports day. I can also choose to take a day off if I want to. Thanks to my blog, even when I do take that day off I still make money!

So how can stay at home mums make money? Here are some brilliant (and genuine) jobs for stay at home mums.

You may also like my post on how to make an extra £1,000+ per month.

What jobs can be done from home?

There are a ton of money making ideas for stay at home mums that fit around your family.

Many involve working online, but if you’re a bit of a technophobe there’s no need to panic as there are plenty of choices that are not highly technical. Some even involve creativity.

Jobs that can be done from home include:

Freelance writing or copywriting
Accounting
Bookkeeping
Proofreading
Internet research
Product testing
Making your own products
Online surveys – this one will not make you a full-time income but you can make a few hundred pounds per month in cash and gift cards if you put the time into it
Tutoring – either online or face-to-face in your home
Photography – taking beautiful stock images at home then selling them on sites such as Shutterstock is a great way to make cash
Social media influencing – something that doesn’t become established overnight but can be a rewarding way to earn money through advertising and affiliate sales.

Many work at home jobs will involve using a computer, so if you are going to seek out freelance work it’s a good idea to first have a home office set up.

Your home office does not have to be fancy – mine is a corner in our bedroom with my laptop set up.

You may also like: Best side hustle ideas

Best jobs for stay at home mums

There are an absolute ton of things that you can do to to make money from home, but the purposes of this list I’m avoiding scam jobs and things that veer more towards being something that makes you pocket money.

These are all things that can make you proper money. Of course some jobs will make you more than others so I have included a rough guide for what you could expect to earn.

How much you can earn from any job will depend on how many hours you have to put into it.

And remember getting your business off the ground may take a little extra work at the beginning.

Any of these jobs could bring in £500+ per month.

Blogging

Making money with my blog has to top my list because it is now making me a full-time income while I work from home!

I am able to drop the kids off at school and nursery, pick them up again and my youngest daughter is still at home with my most of the week.

It has enabled me to really enjoy their early years at home together.

But making money from a blog does not happen overnight.

I think it takes around two years to make a full-time income from your blog. It could be done quicker, but you would really need to focus on learning what you need to know fast in the early days.

A money-making blog that starts generating an income quickly is not going to be somewhere you share your thoughts on stuff. Very few bloggers make real cash this way.

That’s not to say that it doesn’t happen. Many bloggers do make a full-time living through simply being a personality that people love to follow. BUT it is far easier to make a living through blogging about stuff that is going to help people.

Mum working from home with her baby on a computer

That does not require you to become semi-famous overnight!

When starting a blog here are the key steps to follow:

Pick a niche. Immediately. If you want to make money from a blog then a niche is essential. What’s your niche? It could be gardening, baking (very saturated market so you may want to try and pick a specific area of baking), gadgets, the best vacuum cleaners. There’s a market for everything. But being specific about what you write about will help you build an audience and get Google traffic faster.
Buy a domain name. Be sure to get the .com.
Choose a hosting package. I recommend SiteGround to people who are just getting started. I’m now with Lyrical Host and they are amazing, but SiteGround worked well for me in the first three years of blogging.
Set up your website. This is a tricky step but don’t let it overwhelm you. You need to choose a theme for your site that sets out the look of your blog. Then you need to customise colours and fonts. You will also need to set up Google Analytics so you can accurately track traffic to your site.
Get some content online. Now is when the real work begins. Once your site is there you need to start writing content. Some people start making money after writing just 50 articles. But these are long, well researched and answer a question that people are actively searching for on Google.
Understand SEO. Search Engine Optimisation has been critical to my journey as a blogger. If you can understand how Google works at sending traffic to your blog, then you will find it so much easier to grow your traffic.
Monetise. Once you are getting decent traffic to your blog you can start to monetise it with affiliate links, which are links to brands such as Amazon that then pay you a cut of any sales made. I make most of my money with advertising on my website from Mediavine. You can join Mediavine when you have 50,000 daily sessions on your website.

Potential earnings: £0 to £100,000+ per annum (it really depends on the individual). I make £4,000+ per month from my blog.

Childminding or nanny

Childminding can prove to be a very convenient job as the little ones you care for become playmates for your own children.

Many parents only want wraparound care – where you would drop kids off at school and/or pick them up and care for them for a few hours.

It’s a great job if you want to fit your hours around your kids.

The difference between a childminder and a nanny is that a nanny tends to focus on just one, or two if families decide to share the cost, families. A nanny will generally do more regular hours for just the one family.

A childminder will look after a group of children.

To become a childminder, or nanny, you will need:

An enhanced criminal record check
First aid training for the age group you will look after
Childcare training – this will involve taking a home-based childcare course via your local council that covers the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Speak to your local council for details.
A health declaration booklet

Potential earnings: £3 to £10 per hour, according to the professional association for childcare and early years.

Online tutoring

Tutoring students online is a brilliant flexible job.

If you worked as a teacher in a school but now want to work from home then it’s a wonderful option to continue using your skills.

But you do not have to be a qualified teacher to get into online tutoring. You may be a current university student or a graduate.

To be a tutor you may need a degree in the specialist subject you are planning to teach. For example if you want to teach A-level physics then you will need a degree in physics.

Of course the more qualified you are then the more clients you may attract when marketing your services.

All reputable online tutoring companies will want you to complete a criminal record check before connecting you with students.

Websites where you can find online tutoring jobs include:

My Tutor
Educastream
Superprof
Scholar Hub
Apprentus

Potential earnings: £10 to £60 per hour depending on qualifications and location in the UK.

Freelance writing

Freelance writing is a fantastic job for stay at home mums who have no qualifications.

The best way to be profitable at freelance writing is to choose a niche and focus on marketing yourself to clients in that area.

But when starting out you could cast your net wide if you want to attract early clients.

I make extra money from freelance writing every month in addition to my blog money and it’s a great flexible job. Plus it’s something that is really interesting too, as I work on a variety of topics.

To become a freelance writer you will need:

To build up a portfolio of writing. This may include starting a blog where you can showcase your writing and/or writing for free for other websites. This gives you some examples of work that you can show to prospective clients to prove you are serious.
To get good at pitching. You will need to put yourself out there and tell companies that you can provide some great content for them. Brainstorm companies or websites you would like to write for that are in your writer niche. Email them with a polite and short message featuring links to examples of your work.
To be persistent. There may be a lot of rejection, especially in the early days. Stick with it and keep on going!

Places to find freelance writer jobs include:

UpWork. I am not a huge fan of this website as the pay is really low, like with Fiverr. But the jobs are genuine and it may be a good place to get started.
LinkedIn jobs board.
Indeed jobs website.

Potential earnings: Average salary for a freelance writer is £87.88 per day according to Indeed. I earn around £100 to write a 1,000 word article.

Make things to sell on Etsy

You do need to be creative to make stuff, but you don’t have to be a craft expert like you may expect.

It’s possible to make money with things like digital printables.

The type of printables you could make include:

Budget planners
Checklists
Gift tags
Table numbers for parties
Baby shower games
Sewing patterns
Activity sheets

The great thing about making printables to sell online is that the software you need to create your products is totally free.

You can make excellent quality printables on sites such as Canva. There is a cost involved in the premium version of Canva, which unlocks extra graphics, but you can make great products with the free version.

I recently launched an Etsy store and have already made a few sales! Check out these tips for making printable products to sell on Etsy.

Potential earnings: This Etsy seller makes as much as $800 a week selling printables on the site.

Sell stuff on Amazon

Amazon is an enormous marketplace and many people make money from purchasing large amounts of particular products and then selling them on with their own Amazon store.

You may have your own products to sell, for example if you have written a book many self-published authors sell on Amazon to reach a large customer base.

Personalised products such as water bottles and gifting items like t-shirts and keyrings also do really well on Amazon.

You can find out more about how to sell on Amazon here.

Potential earnings: £1,000+ per month.

Seamstress

Many people need clothes adjusted to fit them or fixed to patch up holes and tears. If you are skilled at sewing then you could sell your services!

People would bring or post clothes to you and you would adjust them to fit.

You could set up your own business that you advertise locally on local Facebook group boards or a local magazine or newspaper. Alternatively you can find freelance seamstress on job sites such as Indeed.

Potential earnings: £5 to £20 per hour.

Hairdresser or beauty technician

You will need qualifications in beauty or hair styling to do this job. But once you have those it can be a brilliant flexible job.

You pick and choose how many clients you book in on any given week and you can either visit them at their homes or have them to your house.

It’s a brilliant option if you want a lot of flexibility. There’s also the potential to make really decent money from big one-off events such as hen weekends.

A hair stylist will generally have an NVQ (National Vocal Qualification) to give you the basic training in hairdressing.

If you want to be a beauty therapist, offering services such as facials or manicures, you will need to complete an accredited course.

You will also need to invest in equipment so that you can carry out the work.

So there is some initial investment you will need to make in your training and kit, but once you’re ready to start earning you can recoup this.

There are great tips on the London Beauty Training Academy site.

Potential earnings: £10 to £50 an hour.

Ironing clothes

Ironing clothes for cash at home is a great way to earn money if you don’t have any qualifications.

You could start your own business or work through an agency.

Clothes would be sent to your home and you would iron and fold them before sending them back.

Some ironing agencies provide other services such as alterations and repairs too.

If you want to strike out on your own then you will need to advertise your services locally as widely as you can. Use local Facebook sites and advertise in local media.

Word of mouth may be the key to getting your business off the ground so encourage your clients to share your services around.

The cost of getting set up to iron clothes for cash is low. If you have an ironing board and an iron then you are well on your way.

You may also need to consider the cost of fuel if you offer a collection and delivery service for your clients.

Potential earnings: £8 to £12 per hour.

Parenting consultant

For this job you would specialise in a particular area such as sleep, behaviour, or breastfeeding.

You will need to get a qualification for this, especially in the sleep or breastfeeding category.

But these are qualifications you can get through distance learning. You will need to pay for a course and set aside time to study.

However this type of work is really rewarding, as you get to work with families on a face-to-face basis and help them with big challenges.

Once you’re qualified you could work for yourself and advertise your services online. Setting up a website for your business will be important to get the attention of potential clients.

Read more about how one mum started her baby sleep consultancy business from scratch here.

Potential earnings: £20 to £50 an hour depending on experience.

Amazon Flex

Amazon offers another great way for stay at home parents to make cash with Amazon Flex.

This involves delivering parcels for Amazon to people’s homes. You sign up to the Amazon Flex app or website and then take on shifts where they are available.

The only downsides are that in some places shifts are hard to come by and Amazon limits the number of hours you can do for Amazon Flex. However if you have a car and some spare time here and there it’s a great, easy way to earn extra cash!

Potential earnings: This person earns between £100 and £130 a week with Amazon Flex.

Other ways for mums to make money from home without a job

If you are looking for ways to make extra cash without setting up a business then there are plenty of ways you can bring in extra cash without a job.

Some ways to boost your income every month include:

Survey sites. They won’t make you millions but can help you bring in a few hundred pounds a month if you devote time to multiple sites.
Sell your stuff. Have a big clear out of your loft and garage. Selling your stuff on Facebook Marketplace is simple plus there are no fees.
Resell other people’s stuff. If you have an eye for furniture or know a bargain when you see one, why not try buying stuff from car boot sales, online on marketplace websites or in charity shops and then selling them on for a profit.
Mystery shopper. You can do this type of task work in your spare time as and when you can fit it in. Mystery shoppers visit shops and restaurants or call help centres to review the service and then report back. Many agencies will pay you to do this, plus you can get vouchers to spend at the places you visit too.
Dropshipping. This involves selling products on behalf of suppliers. You don’t actually keep products in stock, you just handle the sale with the buyer. You can read more about dropshipping here.