Panic Attacks Just Thinking About Work/ Is There Really Any Work from Home Jobs?

Most people who have a good paying work from home job have negotiated it with an employer.
MLMs are legit. If you would like to know about mine, let me know. I have been with it for almost 17 years and it definitely gives the flexibility you are looking for. I hate going to or giving parties, so I don't do that.

The short answer is that no, there are very few legitimate work from home jobs and they all require that you actually work so you don't get to spend a ton of time with your kids unless you have something where you work for a call center during late night hours, etc.

I work from home 3 days per week because I negotiated this after coming into the office every day for 7 years. When my kids were younger I had childcare (a combination of daycare and my mother) and now that they're older, I have a mother's helper after school. With babies, you would still have to arrange for child care. On my work at home days, I log in early and stay logged in until late at night (after working a full day). The flexibility is a double-edge sword in that it's hard to unplug.

I bet you're just having a preggo-hormonal day today and that tomorrow will be better. If you really hate your job, then take steps towards getting something better but plan on changing after your baby is born and not now, when you will have a harder time finding something than when you're not pregnant. Best of luck to you!

Working from home is just that...working from home. You're WORKING, so you are NOT spending time with your kids. Anyone who tells you differently is not being truthful. It's actually HARD to work at home with kids because you're trying to get work done and you're constantly being interrupted.

There are some work from home type of jobs out there, depending on your skills. If you're good with proofreading you can sometimes get editing jobs. My mom used to do phone calls for the Amvets and she got paid. You just call a list of people and ask them if they have any donation, if they do you send them a reminder postcard.

There's also transcription jobs, grading papers, all sorts of different things. Most of them you need some type of training for. What are your interests? What are you good at?

Beyond that you'll have your Mary Kay, Arbonne, Pampered Chef, Lia Sophia etc. which you will have to do parties and build a list of people to market to.

Retail jobs do not pay well,. I know I have done them, especially mall ones! I wonder if you continue there or something like it, it would most likely not even cover daycare for two children anyways.

Is there any way you and/or your husband can go to school, even just a 2 year program? We had to do that, my hubs worked at fedex part time while going to college while I stayed home with two kids. We had to live off of student loans as well. Very tough, but it paid off in the long run. He still doesn't make that great of money, so I will be looking for work and even go back to school... but it is much better than what he would have done without his degree. Just something to think about.

As for at home jobs, I know they are out there, but hard to find legitimate ones. I hope you get some good responses!

What I do, is I have a jewelry business online, but it's pretty dead right now. I also do balloons at restaurants on the weekends and birthday parties doing balloons/facepainting on the weekends.

There's only 2 wk at home jobs that I'm familiar with that allow you to make your own schedule that's not Mary Kay, Avon, or Herbalife, etc & they're West Corp & LiveOps, but you still hafta work. I worked at West & heard about LiveOps & also Alpine Access from the news in Houston, they featured a story on it a few yrs ago. Alpine gives you a set schedule but you get to choose which schedule but you're stuck w/it for a designated period of time but it's hourly pay. West & LiveOps (as far as I know) pay per minute, per call but allow you to work when you want & for however long you want whether it's just 30 mins a day or 24 hrs a day. I know West did eventually enact a minimum 4 hour a month which is basically 1 hr a week so if you can handle that, you should be fine but it's great b/c you can work when the kids are asleep or when you have some free time & if money isn't an issue, you just want to bring some added income then maybe one of those companies will benefit you. All you need is high speed internet, landline phone w/headset jack & the headset. Any fees you might be required to pay is only for a background check & that's only like $40 & you can find out the info about that & any other info you may need on their websites. Hope this helps, good luck!

No. There really aren't any work from home jobs out there that will allow you to also care for your children. Except in home daycare. people ask this question all the time on Mamapedia and I haven't yet seen one idea for good steady income that will let you have kids at home.

Two call centers, West and Convergys, have work at home agents, but those are very competitive jobs and you need to have center experience. Plus, you have to show that your children are in some sort of daycare because you can't provide customer service with a crying baby in the background.

Edited to add: West is moving away from the per minute pay. They have too many stay at home home moms who only log in during the evening. Plus they have so many applicants there is now a six month wait for an interview.

Then there are random work at home jobs... All require specialized skills and you need to know someone. So, in home daycare is probably your best bet.

We beware of the get rich quicks and the people that will hit you up to sign on with them and make 6 figures, blah blah blah. It is possible to make 6 figures but it is work.

I'm not saying ALL direct sales are bad but most do require investment, you recruiting new members and selling things people don't need or want.

What are you good at? What is your passion? Many moms on here have an in home daycare... you are with your children, your children have social time with other children, many times this is a win win for families.

Think outside the box. We run our company from home. We deal with sales reps who work from home with trucking companies and we book our deliveries with these sales reps, we work with a bookkeeper who is a SAHM... she is a whiz at Quickbooks and she is my "tutor". I pay her $85/hour to make sure I am doing everything right on my books, etc.

Telecommuting is an option but most corporations do require that your children are in some sort of child care. No corporation wants a someone representing the company in customer service, etc and having the customer hearing barking dogs and screaming children in the background. You have to have professional space within you home to do this. Working from home is WORK and you must be self disciplined.

Good luck and I hope you find your niche!

When I was pregnant I went to work as a teachers aide in an elementary school. The hours were great and everyone was so nice and supportive of the pregnancy . I never had trouble getting off for drs appts, etc.

Hi Ladies,
I work from home, and I make very good money. But the key is that I've been with my employer for 10 years and when I started I was working in an office all day. I was part of the internal audit department, so I traveled about 2 weeks out of every month. They consolidated our operations with a sister company in NY in 2003 and shut down our local office. Since I was traveling so much, they said it didn't matter where I was based out of, and they kept me on reporting to a new boss in Chicago. I was fortunate that my job duties gradually transitioned out of auditing and more into management support before they consolidated the audit dept in NY.

I'd say unless you are prepared to open your own home-based daycare, you need to work in an office for a while so they get to know you and your work ethic. Once you've worked for them for a while, you can start working from home a few days a week (if they are open to it and have the technology to support it).

Good luck!

Check out odesk.com, hiremymom.com and biztant.com.

You will have to evaluate every job to determine what is real, what is not a scam, what will suit your needs.

I freelance, mostly tech writing. I work weird hours. I get up before my child is up to log in and move some electrons. It isn't an easy juggling act and I don't make 1/6th what I did before, and no benefits. I pay my own taxes quarterly. I am fortunate that my DH has a good job and while we do need me to work, I can work very PT and I take care of my child. I am able to work more when someone else is home to keep her out of the pantry, though I admit some days she gets in anyway. I've been freelancing in one way or another since she was 18 mo. If you have a technical background, you might want to look for something that allows you to work on your own time or online only (no phone calls) like web design or graphics or online only customer care. Good luck.

I am really anxious to read the answers. I had to quit working after our twins were born 8 months ago. My hubby had to take on a part time job and does lots of side jobs as well. we can barely make ends meet. I would love to have a work from home job, we could really use the cash and I would love to take some of the burden back off of hubby. Good luck!!! and congrats on the soon to arrive new baby!!