How I make money as a ‘stay at home mom’

Along with the emotional and physical changes that come along with being a mom, I don’t think I was fully prepared for the financial changes that occur too. Not only is my income much smaller (I am still working the job I worked prior to getting pregnant, just less hours) but I constantly need to buy things for Kobe like diapers, wipes and food.

I returned to work part time 6 weeks after giving birth. During those 6 weeks prior to my return I was receiving TDI (temporary disability insurance) pay from the state. I also had another 6 weeks of paid leave from the company I work for but opted to use that leave later on. I had up to one year to take it and it could be split up into 3 increments of 2 weeks. I took 2 weeks off in February 2018 to see my husband, 2 weeks off in April 2018 when my grandma passed away 🙁 and my final 2 weeks off in August 2018 to see my husband again.

I vividly remember sitting at home alone with my newborn and my new tiny paycheck wondering how I would take care of my financial obligations. I spent hours googling “jobs for stay at home moms” and “jobs you can do with a baby” there were tons of results but nothing that seemed feasible for me. A few hits I got were to start a business (easier said than done), sell on Etsy (I’m not crafty), graphic design, freelance writing, realtor (something I’ve highly considered, will talk about this more later on!) and a few other things. None of these are bad ideas but I wanted something quick, easy, did not require me to put up a large sum of money upfront and something that allowed me to spend a lot of time with my daughter. It finally dawned upon me that I should try babysitting and bring Kobe along with me! I had seen commercials for care.com and finally decided to check it out.

I honestly had no idea if this was something that I could do or not but I decided to shoot my shot. I’ve never heard of anyone else doing this and feared families wouldn’t want someone with their own baby to care for theirs! Spoiler alert- tons of families don’t mind it and some families actually look for caregivers who bring their own baby along with them! Allowing your baby to socialize with another baby is a huge plus. There is a biannual fee 🙁 of $69.99 to make an account with care.com I was reluctant at first to sign up but was completely out of other options so I just went and did it. When it comes to the safety and security of me and my daughter paying to communicate through a third party (care.com) was something I didn’t mind. Plus, once you find a family you’ll make that $69.99 back real quick.

When creating my care.com profile I stated in my bio that I have a daughter/her age at the time and that I’d like to bring along with me. By doing so, the families I applied to work for wouldn’t be caught off guard if I were to mention it later down the line.

I started babysitting on care.com about a year ago and so far I have babysat for 3 different families. The first family I sat for consisted of 2 elementary school aged girls. They lived really close to their school and their parents were looking for someone who would walk them home from school and wait until one of the parents got home from work. Because the girls were older, their house wasn’t baby proofed at all. But, it worked out just fine because Kobe was small and I kept her in the Ergo the whole time. I sat for them consistently for a few months but after the school year ended they were enrolled in a summer program and no longer needed me. When the new school year started their mom gave me a list of random days that they would need me because the girls don’t have school. In fact, I will be watching them for the final time next month on a day they don’t have school! It’s super exhausting watching Kobe in a house that isn’t baby proofed so I’ll be sure to be extra caffeinated. 😉

When I stopped consistently watching those girls and needed to find something new I tried to look for a family with a baby near Kobe’s age. Once your baby is 6+ months it’s best to babysit for younger children for a number of reasons. 1) Their place will be baby proofed 2) They will probably have supplies you can borrow in case you forget something (utensils, bibs, baby food, wipes and more) 3) Your baby will be interested in toys (assuming their house will have some!) 4) They’ll be able to do similar activities (One of the elementary school girls ALWAYS wanted to play soccer with me, a little difficult with a baby on my chest but I did it and did it safely! Haha!) Fortunately I stumbled across a family seeking care for their son who is just a few weeks younger than Kobe! I started watching him in June of last year, it sadly came to an end when he got accepted into daycare in December. I knew he was on a daycare waitlist but his acceptance was very abrupt, even to his parents! That is one of the downsides of babysitting, the schedule can be unpredictable. I’ll go more into the pros and cons later on. And, I promise I’ll get to talking about the pay soon! If I had to pick any time of year to be out of babysitting work it would be the month of December so it all worked out fine. My husband and sister came back home so I was really happy to spend time with them. In addition to that, I picked up a few more hours at my customer service job since it gets really busy in December!

I spent the whole month of January looking for a new babysitting job and finally scheduled an interview for the end of the month. I got hired and started a few weeks ago! So far so good, the baby is almost one. Him and Kobe do similar activities and eat similar foods. No babysitting job lasts forever so I will keep you all updated when it comes time for me to find a new one.

Okay let’s get to the juicy stuff, the pay. I feel like it’s a privilege to be able to babysit and bring my daughter along with me which is why I am not particular about the pay. I typically let the parents decide how much they’d like to pay me. Childcare is NOT cheap and the last thing I want for families is paying their babysitter a financial burden. The pay is always the last thing spoken about during babysitting interviews because it can be really awkward but it definitely needs to be addressed. I don’t know too much about it but care.com has a feature to be paid through them. I think the main purpose is to receive health insurance and I’m pretty sure that income would be withheld. It’s not mandatory to be paid through care.com. The family with two children paid me $20/hr and they paid me at the end of every week in cash. The family of the son around Kobe’s age paid me $10/hr and the day I was paid was kind of random. I always did a good job of keeping track to make sure I was never over or under paid. There were times she paid me the day of, every other day, at the end of the week or at times she paid me at the beginning of the week (prior to the actual babysitting occurring.) There was one instance where I was paid at the beginning of the week, and Kobe ended up getting sick so we stayed home and skipped a day of babysitting. I was sure to tell her via text message that since we were already paid to not pay me the next time I come! I was able to keep track of it in my head but it never hurts to write stuff like this down! The family I am currently sitting for is paying me in a different manner. My hourly rate is $11/hr (it got bumped up from $10/hr because she wanted my take home to be higher) however I filled out a W-4/I-9 per her request so my income is taxed/withheld. Technically this is the “right” way to do things so I wasn’t stoked but I cannot complain either. Like I stated previously, I feel so fortunate to be able to babysit and bring Kobe along with me, at times it feels like a dream come true. So to answer y’alls burning questions of how I make money as a stay at home mom, well first I must clarify that I am not a 24/7 stay at home mom. I work a part time customer service job that only requires my presence twice a week. I honestly, really love my customer service job and look forward to working more once Kobe goes to school. But, when I’m not working there I am usually babysitting which is how I make my money!

Why I love babysitting and bringing Kobe along with me 

1. It gives her the opportunity to socialize and learn how to play with others. 
2. I love getting to know other parents. 
3. If we were at home, we’d be doing pretty much the same thing (staying alive, eating, pooping, sleeping) so why not get paid to do it?
4. It allows me to be with her most of the time. I’ve never missed any of her major milestones all while earning some extra money. 🙂
5. The schedule can be flexible. I’ve gone on two and soon to be three vacations while caring for families.

Cons of babysitting

1. When I was getting paid cash, I didn’t have “proof of income” meaning I probably wouldn’t get approved for a loan if I needed one.
2. The schedule (which includes pay) can be unpredictable. There was a time last year where the baby I watched had a really terrible stomach flu so me and Kobe didn’t babysit for 2 weeks. That was 2 whole weeks without pay which I wasn’t ready for. I was relying on that income. Shoutout to my sister who venmo’d me during that time, lol. I venmo’d her back later on!
3. This isn’t a real con but I will say the hardest part of it is nap time. When both babies are sleepy at the same time it can be a total nightmare. It takes a few days to master how to balance two sleepy babies/how to put them both down. There are so many factors that go into it like how old the baby is, how far their room is from where Kobe will sleeping, what the baby “likes” when tired, etc so I can’t give any real advice because it depends on so many different things.

Babysitting interview tips-

• For my first babysitting interview I wore makeup and a dress. I don’t know what I was thinking lol. Pre-baby that’s what interview attire was for me. I don’t think I needed to get done up but hey, you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression. For my following ones I wore leggings, t-shirt, sneakers and still got hired so I don’t think a fancy outfit is mandatory.

• For my first babysitting interview I didn’t bring my resume with me. They hired me on the spot so it clearly wasn’t an issue to them but I think bringing a resume is a great idea. I know it sounds really formal but it’s a simple, non-overbearing way for families to get to know you and your interests. This is all hypothetical because I am very adamant on never ever hiring a babysitter. I enjoy being her primary caregiver and don’t want her in the hands of anyone except for me, my husband and immediate family that I can trust. But if I had to chose between babysitting applicants and I liked both people equally/felt they were both great fits, I would probably go with the person who brought their resume because it shows they took that extra step to make a good impression.

•You should also ALWAYS include references. For my first babysitting interview I didn’t bring any references with me. I babysat in the past (for a family friend) but I didn’t bother to bring their contact info which was a mistake on my end. (Well, they still hired me but still…) like I said if I were to hypothetically need a babysitter, I wouldn’t hire anyone without references. Also, always let someone know you’re going to use them as a reference the last thing you want is to have someone get blindsided with a phone call asking about you, lol.

•If possible, time the interview around your baby’s schedule. All babies cry, it’s inevitable! But, interviews go much smoother when your baby is content! The best time for a babysitting interview is 30 minutes after your baby has woken up and is fed.

•Disclose any days you can’t work immediately and be open/honest about your schedule. When I applied to babysit the elementary school girls it was the end of January and I had a trip to Seattle planned for February 12-26. I honestly wasn’t sure if they were going to hire me because of my trip but they did and I was so grateful! When I applied to watch the baby near Kobe’s age in June, I had a trip planned for the end of August which I mentioned in our interview. She had no problem with it and was able to work around it. I interviewed for my current babysitting job at the end of January and I have a trip planned for March. I mentioned my trip in the interview because it could be really messy if I didn’t bring it up right away! What I’ve learned through all of this is that if a family likes your vibe, they will be willing to work with you and your schedule! So don’t be afraid to state what days you prefer/when you will be out of town.

I hope this sheds some light on how I make money all while being with my daughter the majority of the time. If you are considering doing this, do it! It’s awesome, exhausting but so worth while. If you have any specific questions drop a comment or email me at [email protected]