Stay At Home Mom Jobs

Covid-19 had made many working mothers look at stay-at-home mom jobs.

The U.S. Census Bureau reports that in January 2021, around 10 million U.S. mothers living with their school-age children were not actively working. Covid-19 has had a brutal impact on employment concerning mothers.

The pandemic has had a negative influence on the service sector and this is exactly where many mothers work.

Is there an answer? Can a mother take care of her children and also work from home?

I talk to Rachel Mills who blogs about working from home and many other options regarding stay-at-home mom jobs.

We are in the third year of the pandemic. A lot of moms want to work from home. Walk me through the process of becoming a work-from-home mom?

Becoming a work-from-home mum can be a challenge for some and easy for others. There are many factors to consider when choosing what jobs to do at home. The first thing I would look at is the age of your children. If you have a young baby who sleeps a great deal, then you will have plenty of time on your hands to sit quietly at a PC but if you have a toddler then this is a different story. Having a child that needs your attention on a full-time basis can be hard work so finding a job that requires little concentration is ideal. It also needs to be something that can be picked up and put down as and when you have the time. My children are in their tweens now and are at school full-time with nice long school hours. This has allowed me to start working longer hours at home doing blogging, where being in the zone and being able to concentrate is key. The second thing I would consider when deciding to become a work-from-home mum is your interests and skills. Choose something you enjoy doing. If you have training from a previous career, you could look at freelancing or working for a company in that industry that is willing to let you do part-time hours from home. They are rare, but there are some if you look hard enough. Recruitment agents could help you with this. I find the best jobs for work-from-home mums are sometimes evolved from a hobby. For instance, if you are creative and enjoy making jewelry then setting up an online shop to sell your handmade jewelry could be a really good way to make money. Using a website such as Etsy gives you all the tools you need to be up and running in a matter of days without the need for investing too much. Other great ways to earn money from home could be to sell second-hand items on websites such as Facebook Marketplace, Vinted, or eBay. These types of jobs are great if you have young children as they can be done as and when you have the time. There are a plethora of ways to make money online such as filling in surveys, tutoring, transcribing, or social media management.

I am a big believer in being positive in everything and in becoming intentional. Talk to me about being positive?

I was lucky enough to be raised by a very positive mum and it is engrained in my soul. I always look on the bright side and find the positive in everything and everyone. I teach my children to do the same and I feel it helps us to be kind to one another. Constantly focusing on the positives doesn’t leave any room for nasty negative thoughts to filter in. I believe maintaining a positive attitude helps us to be successful, as it nurtures our inner belief in ourselves and our abilities. We try harder because we believe we can do it. Giving way to negative thoughts only hinders our ability to achieve.

I have spent a quarter-century in the financial services industry advising people on how to save money. Give advice to women on how to save money?

I have no experience with the financial services industry but my knowledge of saving money comes from my own life experiences before I had a family until now. I think many of us get caught up in the routine of life and sometimes we need to take a step back and assess what we are doing on a daily basis and how we are choosing to spend our money. One example I recently gave in a post on my blog called “How to become a work-from-home mum” is the daily cup of coffee. How many of us visit a coffee shop for at least one cup of joe a day? The prices of these takeaway coffees are extortionate if you break it down. The mark-up must be insane, yet we all keep buying them. My regular cup of coffee is a tall latte from Starbucks at £2.25. I tend to buy one of these approximately 3 times per week. In a total year, I spend roughly £351 on lattes! Cut out the regular luxuries and you have some instant easy savings.

I would advise anyone who wants to save money from home to take half an hour to write down all their regular expenses from groceries to utility bills. From this list, you should be able to easily reduce your bills from some quick and easy changes. For instance, change your supermarket, shop for no-name brands instead of big brand names, switch your utility provider to a cheaper one. Developing good energy-saving habits at home will also help such as turning off lights when you leave a room, setting your heating thermostats to low and closing curtains at night. These are all simple things that in the long run could make quite a difference to your energy bills.

In 2022 we need patience, kindness, gentleness, compassion, hope, unconditional love, and gratitude. Help me understand how women can enrich their lives by using these universal qualities?

To be honest, I think these are qualities we all need and can use, however, I feel women may have a slight advantage over men on this one. As a species, we are naturally more patient, gentle and compassionate. They say “Patience is a virtue” and I strongly feel this is true. Being able to wait for something without becoming stressed is good for our mental health and the health of others around us. Stress is such a negative state to be in and can damage us both physically and mentally. This negativity will repel others away from us over time and we may find we lose friends and loved ones purely due to our lack of patience.

To possess kindness, gentleness, and compassion makes us giants in a world of hate and toxic emotions. People are drawn to these positive qualities in a person and women find they make friends more easily and never fail to receive help from others when needed. Adding hope into this mix puts another positive spin on a woman’s outlook. Being able to stay hopeful will keep her driven and focused on her end goals. She is much more likely to succeed with this frame of mind. I can’t speak for all women however, as a mum, I can say that for our children we have unconditional love, and every day we are grateful that we have them. This enables us to appreciate the gifts life has given us and feel the joy that comes with that.

The older I get I am so grateful for friendships. Give my audience advice on how to be a great friend, how to have positive and nourishing friendships?

Friendship truly is a gift. Like any gift you should be grateful you have it and make sure you look after it so that it isn’t taken away again. Being a good friend is not necessarily easy and like any relationship takes work. The foundations of a good friendship are understanding, patience, and being prepared to listen without judgment. Every human is different, both mentally and physically. To be able to make friends and hold onto those friendships it is essential that you accept who those people are and love them for what they are and what they believe in. You should not try to change them, and you must always show them you have their back in hard times. You should support them and do everything in your power to keep them from harm. When friends take our support for granted and do not show that same level of love, trust, and understanding, this is when cracks start to appear. This behavior can leave you feeling sad and hurt. Addressing the issues when they first arise is very important to prevent them from escalating. Through communication you can solve many issues however unfortunately not everyone is capable of expressing themselves through words and this may cause further problems. If any friend makes you feel angry or hurt over long periods of time then I am afraid they are not your friend and it is best to walk away, as they will only create a negative focus in your life.

I want to know about self-care. How can we take care of ourselves emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically?

Gosh, that’s not an easy one to answer in one paragraph, but I’ll try. We as mums are the glue that holds everything together. The majority of what we do needs to be focused on achieving the best outcome for our personal wellbeing. This probably sounds a little selfish and to be honest, if taken literally then yes it possibly could end up that way. As a mum, I know how important self-care is. If I am not feeling 100% then everyone around me suffers because I cannot fully provide them with the support levels, they need. Being a mum and taking care of yourself emotionally, mentally, spiritually, financially, and physically takes skill and involves finding a balance. Our busy lives very often don’t easily allow us time to focus on ourselves so it is important to make time where you can. Schedule it into your diary if need be. You make time to eat and sleep, so make time each week to focus on your other needs. Something simple like taking a quiet walk or going for a jog a couple of times a week gives your body a boost and can help to clear your mind. Setting yourself personal goals and actually writing them down will help to keep you focused on looking after yourself. Set yourself weekly self-care targets and tick them off as they are achieved. Looking after myself financially is usually one of the easier ones as I just book an appointment to see my account 😊.

What does the word women empowerment mean to you?

I’m going to do my best to answer this one without going into a rant (ha-ha). So, this is something that I feel is getting better as the decades go by. For so long women have been treated as the inferior sex in so many ways by misogynistic men with superiority complexes. We have had to fight hard to get our voices heard and many industries are still very male-dominated environments. The problem is prejudice towards women has been around for so long that it is continuously passed down from generation to generation. However, every time someone stands up to it, I feel it decreases a little, for instance, the suffragette movement was a massive turning point in female history. We are seeing more and more female politicians and every time we have a woman elected to a position of power, women’s empowerment is boosted just a little bit more. Women have so much to offer, and although, not necessarily as physically strong as men, women are definitely mentally stronger and should be given every opportunity to use this strength for the benefit of humankind.

Give my audience some tips on dating, finding the love of your life, marriage, and motherhood?

It’s been a while since I was on the dating scene so can’t report much on that I’m afraid. I’m not familiar with the swipe right swipe left scenario. One thing I will say though to anyone who has not yet found “The One”, don’t settle for second best. Kiss a few frogs until you find your prince. When you find him, you will just know. I had a few serious relationships in my youth and broke a few hearts but one thing I did learn was that when you find the one you are meant to be with you will just know. When they propose, the answer “yes” should come out without any thought. If it takes time to think about then it’s probably not meant to be. When my husband proposed to me, I didn’t have to think at all. I just knew it was right. I’ve been happily married now to my wonderful husband for 15 years and although like any marriage, we’ve had our bumpy times, we have a solid loving relationship with two gorgeously amazing children who I adore. My top tip for a happy successful marriage is to pick your battles carefully and don’t sweat the small stuff. Patience, understanding, consideration, and respect are very important also. If you haven’t yet decided whether you want to have children, I would say it is the most difficult job you will ever have. It’s exhausting, worrying, stressful, and tiring, not to mention the extreme mind-blowing pain you go through with childbirth. BUT creating a human is the most magical experience of your life. The child that arrives makes it all worth it and you will feel love like nothing you have ever experienced before.

Tell me about the city you live in? I want to know the food scene, the restaurants and why we should visit it?

So, I live on the fringes of London in a town called Woking. I live in the suburbs and am lucky enough to have very green leafy surroundings with only a short walk to town. Twenty-five minutes on a train straight in the heart of our capital city London is definitely a bonus of living here. London is amazing with so many diverse ethnicities. The culture varies from area to area and there is always something to see and do no matter what the time of day or night.

One highlight of living in Woking is that Gordan Ramsay has just opened one of his Street Burger restaurants near us and the burger is to die for! Just a 10-minute drive takes you out in the stunning countryside of the Surrey Hills where the views across England go for miles. Picturesque canals run through our town and long riverboats can be regularly seen navigating their way through the locks.