Make money online from home as a full time mom and blog income report

Are you wondering how to make money online? How to make money blogging maybe? Looking for ideas for a new side hustle? I’ll be breaking down how I was able to generate an income at home in my spare time as a full time mom last month. As well as my first ever blogging report!

**This post contains affiliate links to items I absolutely adore and am pretty sure you will too. Please read full disclosure here.**

Make Money Online From Home

This post contains affiliate links. Please read the full disclosure here.

There are seemingly endless ways to make money online these days. Some take the time of a 9-5, others you can do while watching TV. I’ve tried an awful lot of them lately as the budget is really tight! I even tried my hand at doing surveys online. Cringe. I’ve seen so many pins on Pinterest claiming that to be a legit side hustle but either those folks have some amazing secret they aren’t sharing or they take A LOT of time taking surveys!

Needless to say, that didn’t pan out. What did work for me as side hustles last month were:

Blogging
Ebay
Ibotta
…and a bake sale

Ok, so the last isn’t exactly online but it was Christmas and a fun way to spend time with my kids and show them how a little creativity and hard work can go a long way.

**UPDATE** My month 10 blogging income report is out now! See what tools and changes helped get me to $1900!

RELATED: Do you wish that you really understood what pinners were looking for on Pinterest? And exactly what to pin and where and how to keep track of it all?

Check out The Pin Cycle Strategy book series to have all your questions answered!

Blogging Income Report:

Why write an income report?

I find these reports really inspiring. It’s probably one of the biggest turn-ons to becoming a blogger! I love to see how others generate an income online. Getting new ideas along the way. Most of my favorite reports to read are those in the very beginning of a blog. No matter how small the amount.

We just wrapped up our fifth month of blogging here at Vigor It Out! It was actually one of our slower months, I blame the holidays. Traffic has picked right back up to where it was again in the new year.

We’re still very new on our blogging journey and it’s all a wonderful learning experience.

Here is a breakdown of exactly how I was able to generate blogging in my fifth month:

Ad networks: $155.12

-Google Adsense

-Gourmet Ads

Affiliates: $98.87

–Pinteresting Strategies

-Amazon

TOTAL = $253.99

It’s not the big bucks but for a brand new blog I’m really excited! I was exclusively with Google AdSense for 3 months and then transitioned to being with both companies once I reached my payout threshold with Google.

Pinteresting Strategies Rocks My Socks Off!

My 2 main affiliates right now are the most amazing eBook by Carly Campbell called Pinteresting Strategies and Amazon. Carly’s book was a total game changer for my Pinterest game. I did a lot of research before that about how to utilize Pinterest to promote your blog but nothing compared to the advice she gives in her book for a really affordable price!

You can read all about how I got my first viral pin (on the last day of my second month of blogging!) if you’d like to learn more. I now actually have a game plan and strategy for my promotion with her help. Plus I learned a heck of a lot about Pinterest SEO (search engine optimization, which basically means using the right keywords so your awesome content can actually get found!)

You really do have to invest in your business (at least a little bit) to gain some really amazing knowledge. Her manual pinning strategy works well for thousands of people! Plus the investment is minimal for a blog changing product.

The other affiliate is Amazon. I created a few amazing Christmas list roundups and was able to generate some sales that way.

Do You Want To Make Money Online?

Are you on the fence about starting a blog? It is completely a viable way to earn an income! It does take a lot of time to build up but a lot less than starting up another type of business. AND you get to do it from the luxury of your own home, on your own time. In fact you can keep up your blog from anywhere these days! You can get your own WordPress blog right now from Bluehost for under $4 a month! It’ll be the cheapest business you ever start.

I really recommend going through Bluehost if you plan on starting a money making blog. Their customer service is wonderful, their tech team is so helpful (which is amazing because I know ziltch about that techy stuff), and the price is amazing!

You have the choice of buying 1, 2, or 3 years upfront and of course the price gets substantially better with each tier. (I picked up the 3 year.) I detail more of their awesomeness in How To Start a Money Making Blog From Day 1!

What worked and what didn’t?

Since I’m only wrapping up my 5th month of blogging I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t. I’ve found it really helpful to make a calendar, lists, and goals.

For the first 3 months my goals were all focused on traffic! And I was able to get to 20,000k page views in our third month! Not too shabby.

Then I switched my focus for the next 2 months toward seasonal posts and networking. When you start your blog through Bluehost you’re going to want to know that seasonal posts perform really well. Think about what the stores are pushing that time of year, what holidays are coming up, and seasonal changes.

You’ll need to plan and post 6-9 weeks in advance. If it seems like a lot it’s not. Just look around any store you go into and their merchandise is sure to be aimed AT LEAST that far in advance.

I finally began networking with other bloggers. I was featured in a promo page, a blog hop, and was awarded a couple Liebster Awards. My traffic went down a bit because I was focusing on other aspects of my blog growth but I achieved all the goals I set and substantially grew my network and social media accounts.

Blogging Goals In The New Year

My main focuses for this month and the next (I tend to break my goal setting and planning into 2 month increments) will be email list growth and beginning working with amazing sponsors that I know my readers will benefit from.

With blogging the list of to-do’s and things you hope to create are always far more than the time you realistically have. I would love to create more resources including an eBook but that will be for future goals. Definitely this year though!

Other Side Hustles To Make Money At Home!

Ebay:

I’m sure you’re familiar with Ebay: sell your stuff online!

My husband and I were able to generate $180 on Ebay last month flipping items.

It works out really great for both of us. He is an absolutely amazing tennis player who is totally obsessed and extremely knowledgeable. He can literally describe every aspect of a racket: dimensions, composition, when and where it’s made, which pros use it… the list goes on and on. So needless to say flipping tennis rackets is a perfect side hustle for him.

I on the other hand, love thrift store shopping. Imagine my delight that when we moved to Washington a few years ago we are less than a block away from a Goodwill Outlet. Have you ever seen one? I only had on TV before we moved here. It’s basically a huge dump bin where you purchase items by the pound. I’ve found some pretty solid name brand things and have Eddie list them up on Ebay for me!

Ibotta:

Ibotta is my absolute favorite couponing-like money saving app!

I used to coupon. You know, scrounge the papers, clip coupons, sort and store them in a giant binder (that used to house my Pokémon cards… whoops am I dating myself?), scan all the local ads to price match, closely watch the register and transaction, and make or save money doing it!

These days things are so much easier!

With Ibotta you choose the store you are going to shop at, browse the rebates, and answer a poll or watch a short video to load in the rebates of your choice. After shopping you scan in your receipt and the barcode of the items on your list that you purchased and money is loaded into your account in 24 hours! You can sign up for Ibotta right now though my special link and get an EXTRA $10 when you collect your first rebate!

I’ve been using the app for a couple years now and the best time to collect is around the holidays. We really went for it with our Ibotta purchases this month to make money at home and earned $73.50!

That’s $73.50 extra for doing nothing that I don’t already do except making a detailed list and scanning a few dozen items.

If you’re interested in learning more about Ibotta and exactly how to use it to make the most money I wrote a detailed post guiding you on exactly how to begin and use your newest and simplest side hustle!

Bake Sale:

With the holidays upon us and budget being tight I decided to get a bit creative. We purchased an insane amount of boxed cookies (half using Ibotta rebates!), my 7 year old and I baked our little hearts out one afternoon and ended with at least 100 cookies.

We split them into dozens and half dozens. Packaged and priced at $3 and $5 respectively. We were planning on our sale spanning two days but the nap (or lack thereof) of the 2 year old didn’t allow us to go the first day!

However we were still able to get rid of all but 2 dozen cookies (which we were able to then holiday gift to our friends) and earn $33!

It was fun, festive, and a great learning experience for my oldest daughter. With creativity and some hard work you can create a business!

The Make Money Online Add Up

BLOGGING = $253.99
EBAY = $180.00
IBOTTA = $73.50
BAKE SALE = $33

TOTAL = $540.49

Not too shabby for a side income in my free time as a full time stay at home homeschooling mom if I do say so myself. These are all quite simple and easily achievable for you too!

Just For Review:

To Make Money at Home:

Get Your Own Blog NOW! (If you don’t, you’ll look back with a sigh and wish you had finally taken that leap to starting that business sooner than later!)
Get Selling on Ebay! (Give new life to your old things, flip items from Ebay or a thrift store!)
Sign Up for IBOTTA (It is the easiest app for a stay at home mom! Extra time is minimal and you’re already grocery shopping anyways!)
Get Creative!

I hope I was able to help and inspire you on your side hustle journey. If you have any questions about any of the ways to make money online I suggested please let me know in the comments below.

I’d also LOVE to hear your side hustles! Always looking for new ideas. 🙂

UPDATE I am so passionate about Pinterest for blogging and have had such success with it:

a reach of 4.4 million on Pinterest
170,000 page views from Pinterest last month

that I created a book series to share my knowledge. I was sharing tips with blog friends, selling services on fivver, and doing Pinterest coaching so I combined all that into a 3 part book series.

You can check it out now for s solid step-by-step guide to a successful pinning strategy!

Get The Pin Cycle Strategy NOW!

How To Make Money Online + Blog Income Report

Make Money Online From Home

Needless to say, that didn’t pan out. What did work for me as side hustles last month were:

RELATED: Do you wish that you really understood what pinners were looking for on Pinterest? And exactly what to pin and where and how to keep track of it all?

Check out The Pin Cycle Strategy book series to have all your questions answered!