How to Make Money on Maternity Leave
If you’re looking for how to make money on maternity leave, then you’re in the right place. Taking the leap from a full-time or even part-time income to managing on statutory maternity pay is a daunting prospect, particularly when you’re going to have all the extra expenses that a new baby brings.
When I was pregnant with our daughter, both myself and my husband lost our jobs within a month of each other. That was a really tough time for us. But since then I’ve vowed to always have multiple income streams, so managing our money when I was on maternity leave with our youngest child was much easier.
The key to all this is not to panic. There are plenty of ways you can make extra money whilst you’re on maternity leave, and although it may be tough at times, you will survive.
[lwptoc]How to make money on maternity leave
When the time comes to go on maternity leave, you’ll inevitably take a drop in your monthly or weekly earnings.
In the run-up to taking your maternity allowance, it’s a good idea to save up as much money as you can so that you have a bit of a cushion to fall back on once you finish work. This can be tricky though as you’ll inevitably have extra expenses due to all the bits and bobs you’ll need to buy for your new baby. If money is already tight though, don’t be tempted to buy things you don’t really need. Your baby really doesn’t need all that much in the early days, so stick to your budget and just buy the baby essentials.
If you are worried about how you’ll cope financially once you’re off on maternity leave, then I’ve put together a huge list of different ways to make money on maternity leave.
Matched Betting
I’m not exaggerating when I say that Matched Betting is the only way we got through my maternity leave when I was having our youngest child back in 2015. I had read lots about Matched Betting online, but I was very sceptical and incredibly nervous about taking the plunge. I’m so glad I did though!
Matched Betting is a technique where you use a betting exchange to guarantee a profit from the free bets and offers that bookmakers like to throw around. Some people are concerned about it as they think it’s gambling. It really isn’t. With Matched Betting, you back and lay your bets in a way that guarantees you make a profit. It sounds tricky, but it really isn’t!
When I first started out, I was easily making £500-£700 per month from Matched Betting and that was when I had a newborn baby plus two other children.
I have always used Profit Accumulator to find Matched Betting offers and followed their step-by-step instructions in order to guarantee a profit. You can do it on your own, but it’s much easier if you use them as they find the offers and tell you how to do them.
Blogging
Blogging isn’t an easy side hustle to get into, but it is a lucrative one over the long term.
I first started blogging around the same time as I started Matched Betting. In the very early days, I was making maybe £200 per month. But now, I’ve actually managed to quit my job and blogging is my full-time income. This was a huge and scary step for me, but it’s definitely been the right decision. It means I can be there when my children need me as well as having a better home-life balance.
Blogging isn’t a quick way to make money, but it’s definitely worth getting into if you have some time before you plan to have a baby. It can bring in a passive income when you need it most.
How do bloggers make their money?
Bloggers make their money in various different ways. For me, the vast majority of my income at the moment comes from guest posts. This is when a brand or individual pays you to publish a pre-written blog post on your website. It takes a few minutes to upload the post and they can pay anything from £50 to a few hundred pounds depending on the age of your blog and its statistics.
As well as guest posts, I also make money from sponsored posts. This is when a brand pays me to write an article linking to their website. Again, the payments vary but are usually £100 upwards.
One of the areas I’m working on at the moment is increasing my ad revenue. You will notice that there are adverts on my sites, and I make a small amount of money every time anybody clicks through on one of the adverts. You do need a decent amount of traffic in order to make lots of money from this, and I’m working on a new site at the moment purely with a view to earning a decent amount of money from adverts.
Then there is affiliate income. I’m signed up to a few affiliate sites and I earn a commission every time anybody clicks through my link and makes a purchase. I’m very careful about who I recommend though and only sign up as an affiliate for sites that I genuinely use myself or value.
Become an influencer
During Covid-19 lockdowns, we saw a huge increase in the number of people sharing their lives online. For some, this actually led to them earning an income as an influencer.
There are a few different paths you can go down to do this. Typically, influencers usually have a presence on either Instagram or TikTok. As their follower numbers grow, it opens up the door for them to earn money from brands who want to use their platform in order to advertise their products. Brands may pay a one-off fee, or the influencer may sign up to their affiliate program and earn a commission on any sales.
Becoming an influencer can take a while. In the early days, you may just get some free items in return for you sharing a product, this can be great if you’re able to get baby clothes or maternity items to help you with your new baby.
Surveys
You’re never going to earn a fortune from surveys, but there is one site that I regularly recommend. Prolific Academic pay a really great rate for their surveys and it works out at a pretty decent hourly rate. Each survey will pay a set fee and you can see before you start how long the survey will take.
I’ve regularly earnt £25 per month from this, and whilst that’s not life-changing, the extra cash can definitely come in handy when you need to buy nappies, or just put food on the table whilst you’re on maternity leave.
The beauty with surveys is that you can just dip in and out as you please which makes it the perfect side hustle when you need to work around your baby.
Respondent
Respondent.io is a site where you can earn money simply by sharing your views as an online participant in various studies.
You can log in to see the studies available, and pick and choose whichever suit you.
RedWigWam
RedWigWam is an agency that matches you up with short-term or temporary jobs in your local area. They also sometimes have online jobs to complete which is perfect if you want to earn money from home.
I have completed a few different jobs with RedWigWam, including checking and sorting price tags in a local Currys store. They also have shifts in supermarkets during the summer months and especially over the busy Christmas period.
These kinds of jobs are perfect for parents who want to be able to pick and choose where they work.
Freelancing
The beauty of freelance work is that you’re your own boss. If you have a particular skill such as writing or working as a Virtual Assistant, or you have skills in Graphic Design, then you can sell your services as a freelancer. It’s a great way to bring in an extra income that fits in with your lifestyle.
Here are just a few places you can list your services:
- Fiverr
- Upwork
- People Per Hour
Selling on eBay
If you’re looking for how to make money on maternity leave, then simply selling your unwanted items on eBay is a great place to start. Not only will it help you to declutter in the run up to having your baby (and let’s face it, babies need space for all their stuff), but it will also bring in some well-needed cash on maternity leave too.
You could also look into reselling on eBay. This involves buying items at a reduced rate and reselling them to make a profit. Some people trawl the charity shops to find bargains, whilst others will look on places such as Vinted and Facebook Marketplace. There are other online marketplaces too but Vinted, eBay and Facebook tend to be where I list things when I’m decluttering.
Transcription
Transcription work is perfect if you have a good grasp of the English language and you have decent typing skills.
You can find transcription work as a freelancer on places such as Fiverr, Upwork and People Per Hour.
Tutoring
Making money as a tutor is ideal if you have a specific skill that you could share with others. This could be teaching a musical instrument or providing maths tuition.
Even if you can’t think of a skill you could teach, there is always a high demand for native English speakers to teach English to foreign students. Online tutors can make anything from £20 upwards depending on their skills.
Cashback Sites
Whenever I shop online, I try to remember to check cashback sites first to see if they have any cashback offers. Cashback sites simply pay you cashback for clicking through to a retailer and making a purchase. The main Cashback sites are TopCashBack and Quidco.
I get that as busy parents it can be easy to forget to do this, but it is really worth going through a cashback site.
Swagbucks
Swagbucks is a site where you can points called Swagbucks in return for completing various tasks.
I’ll be honest, this site isn’t going to make you rich. But it is a great way to pass the time whilst you’re feeding your baby or stuck on the sofa whilst they sleep on you. You can also install the SwagButton. This is a free browser extension which will give you alerts when there are new surveys or free Swagbucks up for grabs. It will also reward you for using the button to search the web.
OhMyDosh!
OhMyDosh! is another site that rewards you for answering questions and taking free trials.
Task Apps
Task apps are pretty much what they say on the tin. You download an app and complete tasks in order to receive a payment.
Task apps tend to be more lucrative in busier areas. I live in a small town and there’s rarely much around here, but where we used to live was closer to the city centre and there were far more opportunities. However, it’s still worth checking in regularly as new tasks pop up all the time.
Task apps work in a similar way to mystery shopping, except you generally don’t actually need to purchase anything. You’ll be given a specific task to complete which might involve checking that a promotional display is visible and taking a photo as evidence.
These are some of the apps you can download:
- Field Agent
- BeMyEye
- Roamler
- Streetspotr
- Clic and Walk
- Streetbees
- Premise
- Mobeye
- Microwork
- Clickworker
Print On Demand
Print on Demand has become a popular way for people to make a little cash from home by selling products but without actually holding any stock.
All you need to do is create a design, upload it to a Print on Demand site, advertise your products and the Print on Demand site will ship your products as they sell. There are no minimum orders and no expensive initial outlays. You can create designs really easily, even if you’re not that creative, by using a site such as Canva.
You can sell your designs on hoodies, T-shirts, mugs etc.
Selling printables
Printables are a great way to make extra money to help towards your baby budget. All you need to do is create your printable and upload it to a site such as Etsy where you can start to make your sales. Then, once you’ve made your sale, you just send the document digitally to the customer who then prints it off themselves. There are very few overheads and once you’ve created the printable, there’s very little ongoing work involved too, it’s perfect if you’re wondering how to make money on maternity leave and wondering how you’re going to juggle everything.
You could create anything from planners to artwork, printed artwork is really popular at the moment.
Getting crafty
If you’re crafty, then you’re sitting on a great little income booster. Homemade and personalised items are really popular at the moment as they make such unique gifts. I’ve noticed that my teenage daughter has taken a huge interest in homemade products and she’s recently asked for a couple of crocheted items for her birthday!
Sell your photos online
If you’re a keen photographer, or just like to take snaps when you’re out and about, then you could make money by selling your photos online.
Once you’ve taken your photos, you just need to license them and upload them to one of the many stock photo sites. There are just a few to choose from.
- Getty Images
- Shutterstock
- Stocksy
- Adobe Stock
- iStock
Once you’ve done this once, you can get a nice bit of extra cash trickling in as people pay to use your photos.
Sell unwanted clothes
When you’re a pregnant woman, your maternity clothes don’t last you all that long! It can seem like a real waste of money to spend such a lot on items of clothing that you’ll only get a few months’ wear out of. It’s the same with baby clothing, they wear it for a few weeks before promptly growing out of it!
Sell your maternity clothes and baby clothing using a site such as Vinted and you can make back some of the money you spent. It’s a nice way to top up your statutory maternity pay and you can use that money to buy the next size up for your little one.
Babysitting
Babysitting can be a great little income booster and you can ask to take your little one along once they arrive too.
Test websites
You can be paid to test that websites are user-friendly. The work is really simple and you can do it as and when you like, it’s great to fit in around a baby.
You will usually be asked to follow a set of instructions to navigate around the website whilst talking through what you’re doing and how easy it is to find things.
There are a few different sites you can sign up to:
- TryMyUI
- PingPong
- Intellizoom
- User Testing
Get baking
Baking is a great way to make extra cash from home. Busy parents will often look to buy a birthday cake for their child rather than make one themselves, so if you’re good at baking or cake decorating then this could be a real money-spinner.
Mystery Shopping
Making money as a mystery shopper is a great way to both make extra cash as well as getting you out of the house for a while and often you’ll bag some freebies too.
Some mystery shopping jobs do state that you have to go alone, so just be sure to check that before you sign up to a job if you need to take your child with you.
The beauty with all of these ways to make money on maternity leave is that you can do as much or as little as you like, and you might actually find that you end up doing one of these full-time on a self-employed basis, that’s pretty much what happened to me with blogging. Just be aware that if you are making extra money whilst also receiving statutory maternity pay or maternity allowance, then you might need to declare that income.
