14 Side Hustles for Single Mums to Earn Money From Home

As a single mum, earning a bit of extra income can be a huge difference maker for you and your kids alike. Sometimes, side hustles for single mums, stay-at-home or otherwise, can be more of an essential than a bonus. Thankfully, there are options galore to allow you to work from home and help you get that cash flowing.

Freelance Writing - $15-150 per article

Freelance writing is a great way to earn decent money in your own time. It’s easy to start up, flexible when it comes to timing, and you might just tap into a creative skillset you never knew you had.

You won’t get paid a lot to begin with, but once you have a good client base set up and repeat customers for your work, it’s not uncommon to get paid over $100 per article. In corporate copywriting, this can be even higher!

I’d suggest starting with a blog on Medium or Wordpress. Write about topics you care about and show your depth of knowledge, before pitching unique ideas to publication editors or companies. You can also head over to Fiverr or Upwork to potentially build up a paid portfolio, but keep in mind that rates can be a bit lower over there.

Completing Surveys - $1-3 per hour

Completing surveys is an easy side hustle you can do in your free time on sites like Freecash or YouGov. It’s not the highest paid option, but when it comes to flexibility, surveys are unmatched.

You don’t have to have any skill to get started, and all you need to do is answer easy questions based on your existing knowledge and experiences.

I’d suggest signing up for a few platforms to maximise your potential survey earnings, and comparing surveys to find the ones offering the best time investment to income ratio.

Playing Video Games On Your Mobile - $5-15 per hour

If surveys on Freecash aren’t quite entertaining enough for you, how about getting paid to play some mobile games? Again, it’s hugely flexible, as you can play as much or as little as you want, but you also gain the possibility for far higher earnings in total.

The variety of games is enormous, too. All you have to do is:

It’s perfect for the busy life of a single mum, and you could even get the kids to help out with some of the games. That’s a two-in-one - entertained children and money in the bank!

Selling Delicious Baked Goods - $30-150 per event

If you’re one of those mums with a penchant for baking, there’s all manner of opportunities to turn this hobby into cash. Next time you make more bread than your kids can possibly eat, or they decide they no longer like lemon drizzle cake despite that always being their favourite, just know that all is not lost.

Your local area will have groups on Facebook, but you should get in contact with local schools, community groups, and neighbours to see if any bake sale events are happening nearby. If not, set one up yourself!

It’s not a super high-earning side hustle, but it’s incredibly rewarding, and you’ll be able to make connections with people that might lead to further opportunities in the future.

Working as a Virtual Assistant - $15-35 per hour

Being a virtual assistant can be a hugely satisfying and scalable role. Managing children’s schedules on your own is the hardest VA role around, so running a business’ schedule should be a piece of cake!

It’s a remote job that you can scale as much or as little as you like. Once you’ve identified your skillset, whether that be admin, email writing, calendar organising, or all of the above, set it out in a rate sheet.

Then, get in contact with local businesses and set up a gig on Fiverr to begin looking around for your starting work - with good work, you should find repeat clients coming in.

Looking After Pets - $10-25 per day

Pet sitting isn’t the highest-paying job on the market, but it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than actually owning a pet. Think about it - the kids will love it, you get a bit of money in, and you don’t have to foot the pricey vet bills whenever Mr. Mittens decides to pretend he has a toothache!

Head to sites like Rover if you don’t know where to start. Even better, get in contact with pet owners in your local area to see what kind of help they need! You’re much more likely to succeed if you already have a connection with potential clients.

Selling Clothing and Other Items - $2-20 per item

If your closet is getting overcrowded, or you have too much tat lying around, shifting it on sites like eBay and Vinted can be a brilliant way to get a bit of extra pocket change. This’ll be especially useful for single mums with growing kids, as it can feel like you’re constantly having to get new clothes only for them to grow out of them! Get them listed for someone else’s little ones to enjoy.

There’s a fair bit of admin to do, including taking quality photos, packing, and shipping the items, but Vinted does its best to make the process as easy as humanly possible. You don’t even need a printer for some parcel carriers!

Recording Voiceovers For Brands - $30-150+ per gig

This won’t be for every single mum. You know better than anyone that finding a quiet location can be a near-impossible task. Still, if you have a quiet space and a decent mic, you could earn well through voiceover work.

Sites like Voices.com and Voice123 regularly post opportunities, and the more you complete, the better your rates can get! A Blue Yeti mic or something similar should be all you need, and the free audio editing software Audacity is pretty easy to get to grips with.

You won’t get fancy high-paying gigs right away, but after building your portfolio of great work, voiceover work can scale very well indeed.

Selling Handmade Crafts on Etsy - $5-500+ per item

If you’re a mum who likes to create, this could be the perfect side hustle for you! Whether you knit or crochet, paint or candle-make, there’s a market for your unique product on Etsy and similar platforms. I love getting handmade gifts for friends and family, so hey, I might be one of your first customers.

Of course, you have to have a high level of skill in your craft, and it can be time consuming compared to the money you end up getting. It’s such a fulfilling hustle, though. In fact, I had strong success with this one - I sold homemade jam which I made in batches and used unique flavour combinations you couldn't get elsewhere. They were a hit, and honestly, I might get back into it!

Translation - $15-30 per hour

If you’re multilingual, why not use this skill? A lot of people I know who speak multiple languages don’t seem to realise just how valuable translation is. Translators are incredibly important, and are growing in value in today’s increasingly international world!

It requires a high level of skill and fluency, but the demand is high. On platforms like Upwork, Gengo, TranslatorsCafe, and ProZ, you’ll likely find plenty of requests for your language pairing, so head over and make a profile!

The deadlines are often quite tight and you don’t have a lot of time flexibility, but if this can fit around your schedule, you can earn a good amount, and fast.

Podcasting - $0-100+ per episode

You know what a podcast is. Have you ever thought you could make your own?

Whether it’s insight into your passion and hobby, or tips for fellow single mums, you might just have what it takes to build an audience with your authenticity and knowledge. Best of all, you can start with a cheap mic, draft a few episodes out, and go from there.

It’s a scalable model, but at the start it can be time consuming and literally pays nothing. Not ideal. Still, if you’re passionate about the subject and able to take this time, along with marketing the show on social media, you might just have a fast-growing brand on your hands.

Creating Organisation Templates - $10-35 per template

The phrase ‘passive income’ is banded around a lot. However, if you’re a software whiz with a uniquely-efficient way of working, you can genuinely get paid to do nothing but upload a file to the internet.

Whether that’s on Notion, Excel, or Google Sheets, there are plenty of ways you can sell your templates. Gumroad is a solid option, and Etsy has a Digital Products category. Notion even lets you sell on-platform with the Notion Market. 

If you already have a way of making your life easier, say a calendar specific to single mums, or a meal planner for the kids, that could be turned into money in the bank with a bit of self-marketing on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. 

Mystery Shopping - $5-20 per job (not remote)

You might as well make your kids’ needs work in your favour, somewhat. Mystery shopping is when you pose as a customer at a shop, but take notes and evaluate the quality of the shop’s service and offering. It’s helpful for businesses to learn their areas of improvement, and that’s something only a mystery shopper can offer.

The jobs aren’t always going to be perfectly matched to what you’re looking for time-wise, but if you’re in an area with plenty of shops to test, you’ll likely find jobs where you have to go to places you’d have shopped at anyway.

To start off, sign up to a few mystery shopper apps like Market Force and ESA Retail, and ensure your profile is set up accurately and fully. Then, just log in daily to check what’s available!

Rent Out Your Space - $200-1500+ per month

If you have space you don’t use, there’s no reason to let it gather dust! It’s a way of earning money semi-passively, with a bit of initial work to get everything organised. Cleaning the space up, taking good photos, and setting up your listings are all a bit of a pain initially, but once that’s done, things get a lot easier.

Rates differ depending on the type of space. A driveway in an urban area might make you $40 a month. A driveway near a big football stadium might make you nothing until an important match is on, when you can get $200+ for just a couple of hours. A room for a lodger could bring in anywhere from $300 to over $1000, depending on your location.

Of course, it’s important to ensure you continue to offer privacy and safety to your kids, so I’d only jump at this opportunity if you have the space to live separate lives as much as possible. If it is for you, there are tons of potential options, from SpareRoom for lodgers to JustPark for parking spaces.