You are a single mother on constant speed dial to all the daily demands of household chores and attending to your kids. In addition, you also are overcome by financial stress. Taking up a full time job is out of question, as you just cannot afford a babysitter nor are you lucky to have relatives to look after your kids while you are at work. So what can you do to earn some income and be financially independent? Here are some ideas…

• You can be a freelance writer for the local newspaper, writing about sports meets or popular events in the area. Another option, if you have reasonably good computer skills and are interested in writing, is to spend 2-3 hours a day writing for websites that offer to pay for your work. You can even do simple data entry jobs if that appeals to you. Look at websites offering home based jobs for more options.

• If cooking is your forte, you can start a small catering business from home. It need not necessarily involve cooking on a large scale. For example, if you are an expert on making coffee biscuits, you can bake them in small batches and start selling them to earn income. You could even conduct a baking class from home.

• If you have your own car, you can offer to drop your neighbor’s kids to school and pick them up everyday. Or you can offer to do shopping errands for people in your locality.

• If you can handle pets, you can offer to look after them at your home while the owners are away and take them for much-needed exercise outdoors.

• You can start a playschool for toddlers from the basement or garage of your home.

• You can ask small firms in your area, such as the local real estate agency, if they require any routine typing work to be done, such as making a database of their clients.

• You can organize theme-based parties for birthdays.

• You can earn income by providing a carpet vacuum cleaning service.

• If you are knowledgeable about plants, you can do garden maintenance work.

• You can conduct classes from home on cross-stitch work, embroidery, and the like.