Side Hustles That Kept Me Home With My Kids: What Worked, What Flopped, and What I’d Never Do Again

I’ve been home with my kids for 19 years, and in an effort to be able to do that, I’ve tried A LOT of side hustles. Today I want to share with you what worked, and what didn’t so that hopefully you can avoid the mistakes I made.

But first, a little background information. I homeschool my kids. That means I don’t have much uninterrupted time. I could not rely on a quiet house while they spent hours at school. And so, I had to do things that I could squeeze into the crevices of my day.

I want to give you full disclosure here. My side hustles didn’t make me rich. There were times money was extremely tight and times where we had way more room in our budget. But the side hustles allowed me to put food on the table, pay the electricity bill, and even pay for extras like family trips and music lessons.

That being said, the current side hustles I do now (which I will get into later in this article) are ones that I will build on as my teens finish high school and so while it’s not a big income right now, eventually I hope to make a full-time income working for myself still.

So, let’s get into what I’ve done over the years to give you a fresh perspective and maybe some ideas on what you could do.

SIDE HUSTLES I’VE DONE OVER THE YEARS

Tie-Dye Creator

This was by far the most fun side hustle I probably have done, especially for the creative artist side of me. I Bought commercial quality dyes, and white clothing, and learning how to make some pretty fancy tie dye clothes. I then went to folk festivals and events and set up a vendor booth and sold my creations. Some of those festivals made me some decent money, and my husband and kids would come for a day to hang out and enjoy all that the festival had to offer. Sometimes other vendors would trade me their stuff for mine, so I scored some really nice pottery mugs and other things over the years.

Why I stopped: Unfortunately, I was not very careful with the dyes and did not wear a mask (10 out of 10 would not recommend.) I had a major health scare and decided I didn’t want to chance it since the dye in powder form is toxic. I gave it up shortly at that time.

That being said, had I properly protected myself, it probably would have been fine.

MLM

Okay, what woman HASN’T tried MLM? I jumped on the Doterra essential oils bandwagon. Listen, I know there are strong feelings about MLM and I have opinions too, but there’s no denying that some women are extremely successful in doing it. I was not one of them.

Why I stopped: Frankly, I’m not a very good salesperson. I actually still have a cupboard full of the oils because I actually really like them, but they ARE expensive and it was hard for me to try and sell them to others when I also try to promote frugality.

Rural Newspaper Deliverer

This one was born out of serious necessity. We had hit a rough patch and had to do what we had to do. So, I found a rural paper route that would take a total of 8 hours to complete each week. I’d break it up into two shifts. One of those shifts I’d go out on my own when my husband was home from work, and the other shift I would load all the kids in the car and we’d deliver the papers.

Why I stopped: The money wasn’t great, and the wear and tear on your vehicle is even worse. As soon as we were in a place where we didn’t need that extra small amount of money I ditched that job.

Before and After School Care

Home daycare was not an option for me since I was a homeschool parent, but I could do before and after school care. I babysat a pair of brothers for a little while.

Why I stopped: Even though it was just before and after school instead of the whole day, i still found it difficult to get done what I needed to with my own children with homeschooling and other things. That being said, it’s a great way to make some extra cash without a huge time commitment.

And this leads me to the side hustles I am doing now and will continue to for the foreseeable future because they are the side hustles so far that have been the most worth it for me. They really are my bread and butter.

Blogging

I have been blogging on this site for the past 10 years. I’ve been able to be my own boss completely, writing whatever I want to! I’ve received a monthly paycheck for almost 10 years because of it! Now, that being said, I’m going to be completely honest with you. The blogging world has changed drastically and I imagine starting out on a blog right now would come with it’s challenges. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but I’m definitely not making the big bucks on this site. That being said, it contributes to our monthly bills and as long as it does that I’ll keep writing!

Freelance writing

Because of my experience with my blog it has allowed me to write for other companies. Right now I have a retainer client that I’ve been writing for for the past year. I’ve also written articles for various sites and publications over the years to make a little extra cash on the side. My biggest challenge right now for freelance writing is where to find more clients but once you find a client that you can keep, it’s added monthly income.

Social Media Manager

This is something I’ve added to diversify my income just this past year. Right now I am regularly managing social media for a real estate agent, and in early spring I worked on a temporary ad campaign project for a fishing resort. This is definitely something I plan to build on (in a few months when I have a little more time as I’m currently in the middle of a move.) Again, the biggest challenge with this one is finding clients. But almost every business has a social media presence and so those jobs are out there, you just have to find them!

UGC Brand Deals

This is something that is new to me and I don’t plan to pursue it too much because it is highly saturated, but I do have my own social media and am just about to start my second brand deal. My first brand deal was paid in chocolate (I’m not complaining – I agreed to it for the experience and it was delicious) and my second brand deal that I am waiting for to arrive in the mail any day now is my first actual paid one. I am on a couple apps (Billo and JoinBrand) and I scored this one on one of them, but I have found competition to be fierce, especially when you are new to it so I don’t plan to spend too much time on this.

DIVERSIFY YOUR SIDE HUSTLES

The biggest thing I’ve learned over the years is to diversify my income. The truth is, you don’t know when something will work and when something will fail and if you have all your eggs in one basket you could lose all your income in one shot. That being said, there’s so many opportunities out there to make a little extra income. I hope the above ideas gave you some ideas of how you can bring in some income for yourself.