best thing for stay at home mom?

Get a full-time nanny position. I have one little boy during the week from 6:30am until 4:30pm at my house and make $100 a week. That's what the mom and I worked out but it's SO possible to make way more than that. You don't have to be licensed by the state. In the state of North Carolina, where I live, you can have up to 5 children in your home and call yourself a daycare without getting a license and getting inspections and needing an actual BUSINESS license and whatever. Obviously that's completely up to you how many you take and what you can and can't handle. BUT it can be very good money if you can hack it. I was an Air Force licensed childcare provider and was paid $125 a week per child and could take up to 6 children(2 under two, my own included in my numbers and 6 total) and I got subsidy for food for them too. So it can be a very good business. However, the start up costs can get you because you need os much more in toys, child proofing, sleep mats or pack and plays, plates, cups, utensils, sippys, etc. So being a daycare provider or a full-time nanny for one family is very doable. Also, cleaning houses is a great way to make some extra cash. You take your kids with you. I've done that too and it's not always easy but most of the time the kids seem to enjoy "helping" mom and if it's houses with kids, there are "new" toys out everywhere for your kids to be entertained with. Tutoring is another possibility if you have the inclination. Medical billing or transcription can be done during the kids' naptimes. It's always possible to make a little extra money at home, you just have to find creative ways!

meg

have you checked out the WAHM forum? They have great ideas, advice, etc. I do childcare (BTW - also in NC, and the iwannas paper ads for childcare services state you can only watch up to 2 kids that are not related to you at a time, without getting liscensed .. hmm.. ). Anyhow, i do it for 4 kids (3 days a week, 2 kids per day). With my own 2 boys, I would be overwhelmed and burnt out pretty quickly if I had other kids over every day of the week I charge $2.50/hr., but feel I should be charging more than that, and will probably raise it to $3/hr this Summer, just the hourly wage here is SO low, that most everybody is struggling in the first place!

I also sell on ebay things i get from thrifts and yardsales. The things I know most about are obviously children's items, so I do mostly kids clothes, AP stuff like breastpumps, slings, cloth diapers, etc.

The childcare brings in about $100/week, and ebay does the same. Not too bad. I've tried other stay-at-home jobs (mystery shopping, being a Maya Wrap distributor), but these are the ones I like most. Oh, I also used to do shipping for an author that had her own company to sell her books and artwork, but we moved from the state, so I had to quit that one (that was such easy money! I loved it!)

When I just had one son, I did nannying in someone else's home for $8/hr for her two kids. It was really hard to find that job, I had to just apply for every single 'childcare wanted' ad in the paper with my situation, and after a month or so, I found one that wanted to try me out (they were also an AP family which was the main attraction to me, since I put in my resume lots of AP traits), and we both ended up really enjoying it. But when I became preggo with DS#2, I did quit (well, I actually worked through my 8th month of pregnancy!)

But bartending is not for everyone. I personally loved it. I worked three nights a week, from 4- midnight and made over 25K with what I claimed that year. (it could have been as much as 40K )