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A (Mostly) Stay-at-Home-Mom
Welcome to A (Mostly) Stay-at-Home Mom, where I share insights about finance and family. I'm Charmaine-- a wife, mom, writer and obsessive home baker, and I hit record each week to share about adding to household income as a busy mom.
We'll laugh, we'll cry, we'll discuss strategies for navigating both the home economy and the world economy hand in hand. Braiding each other's hair not included (yet).
Looking for more? I've got a ton of resources, including blog posts to match each of the podcast episodes, on my website: https://bycharmaine.com/
So glad you're here.
A (Mostly) Stay-at-Home-Mom
WFH, Part-time and MLMs: Tips and Tea-Spilling
In the last of the Money Making Mama series, Charmaine gives ideas and tips for Work From Home jobs for busy moms, as well as some practical part-time job pointers.
Stick around, and you'll hear Char spill the tea about MLMs and a recent motherhood and work article circulating social media.
You won't want to miss this informative and slightly spicy episode! There's only one more episode to round out the season after this, so click "Subscribe" and hang out!
Sources:
U.S. Department of Labor Blog: "Mothers' employment has surpassed pre-pandemic levels, but the child care crisis persists."
Women's Bureau, U.S. Department of Labor: "Childcare Prices in Local Areas"
Washington Post: "Mothers are leaving the workforce, erasing pandemic gains"
Federal Trade Commission: FTC staff report analyzes 70 MLM income disclosure statements
Federal Trade Commission: Business Guidance Concerning Multi-Level Marketing
Hi there and welcome to another episode of the Mostly Stay-at-Home Mom podcast, where we chat about entrepreneurship, mom life and earning a side income as a busy mom. I'm your host, charmaine, and I am so glad you're here. Today's episode will wrap up my series on money-making ideas for moms. The first one was five episodes ago, published on July 4th, and that gave inspiration from the Amish and Mennonite community, where a lot of moms stay home but have side hustles. So if that sounds interesting to you, listen to that episode. Then I covered the crafting and handmade business whether that's worthwhile to pursue as a mom. After that I covered writing and self-publishing, and, and then the last episode, I talked about content creation as a way to earn income as a mom. So check those out if you want my honest experiences because I've tried a lot of these side hustles and my thoughts on whether it is all worth it as a mom, because I feel like not a lot of people out there telling you and I to try these things really are taking into consideration all of the responsibilities we have in our home. So check it out if you want, and I'm going to wrap up the series today with some work from home job ideas, some good part-time job ideas and some extra thoughts on working and being a mom.
Speaker 1:First, I must request, if you have enjoyed this podcast at all, to give a rating or review. If you go on Apple Podcasts, go to the main show page mostly Stay At Home, mom and if you scroll down past the episodes, you will see a line of stars and it says rating and then it says write a review. So I just did this for another show that I really appreciate Takes one second to give the stars and a few more to write the review. So please stop and do that. Unless you're driving, please don't do it then. But if you're one of my like fold laundry and listen to podcast people, do it then. But if you're one of my like fold laundry and listen to podcast people, then, yes, please take a second to go. Do that. I would so appreciate it.
Speaker 1:So let's talk working from home. In my opinion, this is the gold standard, the ideal for anyone who wants to stay home with their children but also want to earn a little money on the side. But is this a fantasy? In 2023, about 24% of mothers reported working from home at some point in the prior week, and this is according to the Women's Bureau, which is part of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This seems high to me and it might be riding the pandemic wave a bit In 2023, so many jobs opened up online or from home in 2020 because of the pandemic, and so I could see how by 2023, that was still continuing this kind of tidal wave of work from home opportunities but now a lot of businesses are requiring in-office work again. So I wonder if this percentage is lower today. A Washington Post article, which I'll dive into later, cites this phenomenon as workplace flexibility shrinks, so is the percentage of working moms. In any case, I think moms still do it.
Speaker 1:So here are the top 10 most in-demand work-from-anywhere jobs according to Forbes Customer success manager, executive assistant, data data scientist, software engineer, social media manager, operations manager, account manager, visual designer, data engineer and product manager. I don't know if any of those sound appealing to you, but you might want to go for it if it does, if you have experience in those areas. But that was a general list. It wasn't a list for stay-at-home moms in particular. Let's look at a list of the best work-from-home ideas specifically for moms, compiled by virtual vocations. At number one, we have virtual assistants. Then we have customer service rep, online tutor or teacher. Four is writer or editor. Five, social media manager, graphic designer, data entry specialist, bookkeeper, project manager and transcriptionist. I do prefer this list of ideas personally. A lot more of these roles sound appealing to me personally.
Speaker 1:What's your experience? I've dabbled in looking for work from home jobs. I've applied to a couple here and there but didn't hear back. It seems to be a lot of the hiring landscape these days like you just submit an application and you could be in a pool of hundreds or even thousands of applicants that doesn't really get looked at. So it seems competitive and I get it. I think a lot of moms want to stay home, but they want some option for extra income, and to do it from home would alleviate the need for child care. Sometimes some people manage to work from home and care for their children totally by themselves, either just working during naps. But even if you don't work and watch the kids completely all yourself, working during naps. But even if you don't work and watch the kids completely all yourself, you could hire a babysitter to come a few hours and, you know, combine that with nap time. Or, you know, having a spouse there, you might be able to fit in quite a bit of work, making it doable to stay home and work with kids. So, in general, yes, I find these positions to be competitive and hard to find and secure good positions, even with credentials.
Speaker 1:I'm a part of an awesome Facebook group. It's called the Work at Home Moms Club. I'm not, you know, associated with starting this group or anything, but I just think it's one of the most pleasant groups I've been in and they really take turns posting different work-at-home job opportunities and they're really careful to guard people against scams, because this is an industry that is rife with scamming. Unfortunately, as moms just looking for a way to contribute to income, a lot of us get scammed and it's sad. But anyways, in this Facebook group it seems like it's the case from several members and commenters I'm hearing a lot of times that it's hard to get these jobs, these work from home jobs.
Speaker 1:So if you've been trying to secure a work from home job and it's hard, know that you're not alone and it probably feels hard, because it is hard as far as the work-from-home jobs that I think are the best, because I couldn't find data online about you know which ones hire the most or pay the most. There's probably so much variability with that. It just it's hard to find data on that, but from my personal viewpoint and experience seeing other people do this, I think one of the best, most balanced work from home job is being an assistant for a small business. Like you could find just one local business and take calls for them or do invoicing, respond and write emails. I mean, if you learn bookkeeping, even better. Every business needs bookkeeping, so they could either do it themselves or outsource it, and a lot of the times people prefer to outsource that. They want to focus on the work of the business. There are so many tradesmen, business owners like just self-employed business owners that don't have a huge, you know, panel of. They're not top CEOs or anything, they're just one man shows or one woman shows, who just want to focus on their trade work and not the administrative stuff. So you could free them up for that, you know. Yeah, I think that to me is probably the most attractive and flexible and also in-demand work-from-home job.
Speaker 1:As far as how to find these sort of virtual assistants, I guess you would call it jobs. That would be tricky, but it really is boots on the ground, getting to know people in real life type of thing. I think it's all about the connections you make with people and just sort of asking business owners, after you've, you know, broken the ice or even developed some sort of friendship or relationship with them in your community, some sort of friendship or relationship with them in your community asking them if they could use your help in that area. I mean, it's not like they're having to take pity on you or anything. It's taking work off of their plate. So it's work that needs to be done anyways. The question is whether they'll do it themselves or they'll outsource it. And who should they outsource it to? But you, so give it a try.
Speaker 1:I think this idea is probably the most flexible option, but you would be sort of like self-employed. You could either act as your own self-employed assisting business I think would be easier for all parties or you could ask to be employed by this business. But I think it's better to be self-employed because then you could take several businesses. If it's too light of a workload to take one, you could take two or three, right, and that amount is up to you. So that is what I wanted to mention for my ideas for best work from home options. The rest you know. It just varies. I've heard people trying online teaching. I've heard various things about that good and bad so I really don't know where the consensus lies.
Speaker 1:I think if you had a career before having kids, you had a career before having kids that you can scale down to part-time or work from home. I think that is the most obvious, the least stressful, least resistant path that you could take to earning an extra buck. I mean, why start over in a completely new field or start a whole new business when you already have expertise and experience in, you know, whatever job you were at before and you can simply scale that down or adjust the location? So I think if you have that option, that's a great option. If you want, you should visit my previous episode. It's from season one called the best part-time job ideas for stay-at-home moms. Season one called the best part-time job ideas for stay-at-home moms and I cover not really work from home ideas, but part-time ideas just because I don't think they should be discounted. If you can get the childcare whether your spouse is watching the kids or or some other relative then I would definitely advocate for part-time if you need the money.
Speaker 1:I think we tend to hear a lot about a lot of different business endeavors and kind of get that shiny object syndrome. We get excited when in reality, the things that work the most and that bring money in quickly and help support our families are kind of just, you know, it's the boring, the non-sexy, if you will, ideas I mean. So I talk about that in that episode. But but you know, to sum up some of my favorite ideas I would say, like restaurant serving two nights a week. I mean that could bring in meaningful income to your family. Not substantial like you're not going to make buku bucks off of that but I think you could make meaningful income just working two nights a week serving at a restaurant and still have your primary focus be in the home. And so that's one of the reasons I created this podcast. Really, it's so hard to find that balance and it's not always going to be a 50-50 balance. I'm not saying that I really would prefer to focus on the home, have that be my primary domain and focus, but there is this reality that sometimes we do need to bring in a little extra. So that's why I talk about all this.
Speaker 1:And then another idea I had is if you have your husband or your spouses, if you're able to somehow increase his income through whether he has his own business, your own family business, or by helping him achieve further credentials in his field, where he would earn more. I would also suggest that Because, again, starting your own thing from scratch might work, but it does take a lot of time to get the ball rolling and to see the effects of that. And if you're not working but your husband is and you can help increase that, then I would say that is a good path to go to because you'll have the least resistance there too, and if you have a good marriage you're on the same team with finances it's a good option. I would not advocate doing this if things are rocky or you think you're going to part ways, like, obviously you don't want to invest in your husband's you know business or whatever, if you don't see this pinning out. But I'm talking to people who are on the same team as their husband financially and things are really good there can you help him with either his business or his field. So those are my non-sexy options, but I think they truly will get the most bang for your buck and allow you to focus on the home. There's so much things you can do at home just between raising children and keeping up the household, making meals, doing laundry, like I know. There's so much you can do just being a homemaker. So these ideas, in my opinion, are the best for fitting that lifestyle in.
Speaker 1:I wanted to give a quick mention to MLMs or multi-level marketing, also network marketing, these kind of jobs are they legit? Work from home options for moms Are they worth the work? Quick mention because I do feel compelled. I do feel like I see other moms going into these MLMs so you might be wondering too if it's worth it, if it's legitimate, et cetera. Here were some stats I pulled from online. The Federal Trade Commission analyzed 70 different income disclosure statements from a variety of MLMs in 2024, and they found that most participants made $1,000 or less per year, and that may not even include expenses, and in 17 of the MLMs participants made no money. So those statistics are pretty bleak and honestly, just from observing it doesn't seem like the people I see online doing this that it's even worth the time or the energy or the burned relationships, because it does make things awkward in your social circles.
Speaker 1:I mean, I first heard about MLMs and was introduced to them in college and I don't know if you have a similar experience, but. But you know that intro is being invited to a quote unquote party, right, and it's just, it's so hard because you might really enjoy this person and you want to hang out and develop a friendship with them, but they're also trying to sell things and maybe you legitimately want to support them, you know financially and you're ready to throw them your support, but you just don't need that particular shampoo or vitamin or makeup. You know so and I try to be budget conscious, I try to be minimalist, so it's even more so like, okay, I don't need these things, no offense, I want to support you, but like how? Yeah, it's just it makes things kind of awkward when you mix this friendships with trying to buy things, and not only buy things, but usually they try to recruit other people like you to also sell. So it makes things awkward and I just don't think it's worth putting that tension on relationships. So how do you know if something is an MLM?
Speaker 1:If a company is, they probably will not call themselves multi-level marketing. It's pretty well known now. People know the term and kind of know to look out for it. They might call it network marketing, and you'll know it because usually you have to pay first of all to become distributors To sell this product. You might have to buy the product or a certain line of products, you have to buy inventory, and then you'll also know it if they distribute products through a network of participation. So having downlines, having recruiting other people to sell, you are incentivized to recruit these people so that you can make your money back that you already put in by making money from your downline, the people you recruit. So those are the ways to know if it's a multi-level marketing. It might rebrand as affiliate marketing and I don't like this because I've seen MLMs try to rebrand themselves as affiliate marketing and affiliate marketing is just like being a salesperson for a product and then you get a commission of that when people click your links and whatnot. I mean I have affiliate links for Amazon on my blog, for this podcast, so you know, is that shady in any way? I don't think so. But if there are other signs, like recruiting people, going to conferences to have a rah-rah cheerleading session for your product, I would say definitely consider that it's an MLM that you're involved with and not really just affiliate marketing feelings of anyone who does these MLMs or network marketing, but it seems like the negatives far outweigh the positives and a lot of people end up losing money in these endeavors, so I would recommend steering clear of them.
Speaker 1:And last but not least, I just wanted to touch on some news regarding women and working and motherhoodhood, because I like to follow that kind of thing. The headlines concerning those stand out to me, and so one headline that has been going around social media was from Washington Post. The headline is mothers are leaving the workforce, erasing pandemic gains. I don't really like this headline. I don't like the framework.
Speaker 1:The assumption here is that women returning, or women going back to work more so in the pandemic, was some huge victory, and now that women are returning to the home to take care of their children, that that's some sort of tragedy. I reject that framework. So, yeah, it's coming from this paradigm in which work is the most important thing. I mean, I consider it a gain to our overall life, happiness to be with our families and to stay home with children, right, but it seems like there's sort of this tunnel vision glorifying the workforce, and we know that the Washington Post is owned by Jeff Bezos, who is the Amazon founder. So it is no surprise that this article and many that it puts out are part of this sort of I call it sort of a working consumption framework. They want you to work all the time and spend all the time, it seems.
Speaker 1:In this worldview, what were some of the reasons that the article listed that women are returning home? Well, because many offices are instituting return to work, they are getting rid of the working from home options that they put in place during the pandemic, which makes sense, because some of them were doing so as part of an emergency and it wasn't the best situation for whichever work situation it was. And then another reason is child care costs, which have become significant for a lot of families. There is so much to quote here in this article. One quote says in some cases, mothers say they are giving up jobs, happily in line with MAGA culture and the rise of the quote-unquote traditional wife, hashtag, tradwife on social media, which celebrates women choosing conventional gender roles by focusing on children instead of careers. So let me get this straight If you dare take yourself out of the workforce where you are, by the way, expendable, disposable, replaceable and you dare to stay home and raise your children and take care of the household and your family a role that can never be replaced by anyone but you and years with your children when they are young that you will never get back If you dare. You are now associated with MAGA and trad wives. Come on, I reject that completely and I encourage you to as well. You can see I'm fired up about this.
Speaker 1:The Women's Bureau of the US Department of Labor issued a 2023 brief looking at child care costs. Us Department of Labor issued a 2023 brief looking at child care costs and they report that costs are substantial all across the country, which seems to be in line with what I'm hearing in my community. The costs I even researched on my own. It is pretty substantial. The younger you go, the more expensive it is. So for, like, daycare for infants, that's going to cost more For some families that in some parts of the country it was like 25% of their income was going towards daycare costs. And then you have preschool costs, which get a little lighter as we have allowances for VPK and things like that. But the report says quote as a share of family income.
Speaker 1:The NDCP shows that child care prices are untenable for families across all care types, age groups and county population sizes. So that would probably be a big reason why women are leaving the workforce, because once you calculate in the child care costs, you know, is that paycheck that you're working so hard to accomplish is that paycheck even covering the child care costs in extra? And a lot of families determined that it's not really worth it in the end with these high costs. The article did go on to say that it's not really realistic to expect child care costs to go down or for them to lower their price, because they already operate on very thin margins and the workers are not paid very much. They actually are paid very one of the lowest paying jobs in our nation. So I didn't suggest that these child care centers try to lower their costs. What ends up happening in other countries is that they subsidize the child care costs. So, you know, is that something that our country wants to take on? We just have to look at the trade-offs of this and realize the situation now and what's the best we can do with it now. And so the reality is, yes, that child care costs are very expensive and that's a consideration.
Speaker 1:But I hope here, if you're listening on this podcast, I can encourage you that staying home with your children and raising your children, keeping care of your household, is very important and valuable work, even if you don't have a boss hovering over you congratulating you and giving you gold stars. It's hard to see your accomplishments when you are washing the same laundry day in and day out and wiping the same counters and reading the same bedtime stories. But I think it's so much more a long-term and an unseen benefit to you, your family, the society too. So, to sum up, motherhood is a vocation. It is fundamental work. If you feel the call to quit full-time and stay home with your babies, that is a natural and good call, no matter what the articles say, no matter if they say that you are a MAGA trad wife. You don't have to listen to that, lean into it, that calling, even in a society that pressures you against it.
Speaker 1:Like I said, this is an entire worldview where they want you to work more and buy more stuff. But you can opt out of that hamster wheel and that is what I'm trying to do in these discussions and totally understand if you can't drop an income completely. I get that. Costs are high, things are expensive and there are needs for you and your family. Let's try to work on creative solutions together, maybe part-time, maybe trying to find some sort of side gig or side hustle where working outside the home or inside the home is not the main focus and you can work a little bit and focus on your family and your household a lot. So those are my thoughts. I know I got a little spicy today. Let me know what you think. The email for this podcast is mostlyhomemom at gmailcom and again, if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend, rate and review, and we have one more in the season before we wrap up the season. So thank you so much for joining us at the Mostly Stay At Home Mom podcast.
