Raising a family these days often requires both parents to work. This can be challenging when your children are small. Here are a few business ideas that stay-at-home moms can do to earn a little extra money while taking care of their children. 

Here are a few of many business ideas for busy moms, to help with making a little extra money and give your family finances some extra breathing room.

1. Start a Childcare Service 

Consider starting a childcare service program. Depending on your financial needs and the number of children that you have, you can offer a full day program or a part-time one after school. The benefits of starting a childcare program is that your kids are likely to be happy when they have other children around to keep them occupied. Earning a little extra income by watching other people’s kids may give you a bit more work flexibility. You get to choose your hours and what days you want to work. The downside is that taking care of more children will surely challenge you.

2. Become a Virtual Assistant 

Many companies hire virtual assistants to take care of administrative tasks. Virtual assistants work from home, and they usually schedule appointments, make travel arrangements, handle email accounts and make phone calls for a company’s director or VP. Some virtual assistant jobs include blog writing, bookkeeping, graphic design work and social media management. This type of job may give you the flexibility to work when your children are taking a nap or during the hours when your partner is home and available to take care of the kids. 

3. Freelance Writing and Editing 

Freelance writing or editing is another job that you can do from home. Dust off the grammar and punctuation rules that you learned back in high school and put them to work writing text for companies, magazines and travel agents. You’ll appreciate the hour flexibility of writing and editing. You will likely have deadlines, but you can easily manage your work hours around when your kids need you. A major benefit of this kind of job is that you can work as many or as few hours as you want or need. 

4. Grant Writer

Once you become a mom, you must learn how to pay attention to several different things happening at the same time. In other words, the ability to multitask comes in handy. Grant writing is similar in that it requires you to focus on various elements simultaneously. For instance, you must be able to assess the grant’s audience and the purpose behind what is being proposed. You must also write, format and edit a grant proposal. If you dive into this line of work, be prepared to revise and submit the grant requests. 

5. Making Handmade Items 

If you’re the person who gives handmade items to family members and friends for holidays and special occasions, then consider transferring that skill into a small side business. You can sell handmade products on Etsy or eBay. You can also buy a booth at a farmer’s market or craft fair for more monthly income. This side job is great because you can include your kids in the crafting process. Like the other at-home business suggestions, making items is something that you can do around taking care of your kids.