How can stay at home mom's earn "real" money? Are there any home jobs that are legit?

I've tried the surveys, no money there. I've tried mystery shopper, no money there. I've had garage sales, no good. I thought the virtual assistant would be a good way to make some cash. Never anything available. I don't want to make "sales" calls. I have 6 months to figure something out or I will have to put my daughter in daycare and go back to work. I'm taking like $150.00 a week. Nothing big, no benefits, and something that can be done at home.

What my aunt does is she writes articles for the newspaper from home off of her computer. It seems to work for her.

Go work for companies which allow working from home.

The best home business will depend on what you want, how you define to be interesting. A person may consider a pet sitting business to be the most exciting work in the world, while you would rather watch TV than take care of dogs. You said you tried VA already and it did not work for you, while others are making good money from it

The key is to determine what your interests are, what you want to do, what is suitable for your lifestyle and your overall goals, and what can fit with your resources.

Dan Ramsey in his book "101 Best Home Businesses" has a chapter on how to find YOUR best home business. He suggests these 10 steps:

1. List 5 things you do best
2. List how others would benefit from what you do best
3. Find out how to give people what they want
4. Learn the value of your services to others
5. Find out who else offers similar services
6. Learn from the successes of others
7. Learn from the failures of others
8. Plan your own success
9. Make low cost mistakes
10. Enjoy what you do and how you do it

He then made suggestions on the best home businesses according to type. Here are a few of them:

Best Businesses Using Craft or Physical Skills
- antique restoration
- auto detail service
- carpet cleaning business
- errand/delivery service
- housecleaning business

Best Service Businesses
- bed and breakfast operator
- caregiver
- catering service
- senior day care center
- tutoring service

Best Professional Businesses
- desktop publisher
- magazine writer
- import/export service
- income tax preparation service
- event planner

Some other home business ideas:

Top 10 Home Businesses with Rapid Break-Even Time http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol33/breake...
10 Profitable 鈥淕o-Out" Home Businesses http://www.powerhomebiz.com/vol31/goout....
Low Cost Startup Businesses http://www.entrepreneur.com/lowcostbusin...
6 Hottest Businesses on the Web http://www.powerhomebiz.com/052006/web.h...

You can also check out the following books:

Turn Your Talents into Profits: 100+ Terrific Ideas for Starting Your Own Home-Based Microbusiness
The Best Home Businesses for the 21st Century
121 Internet Businesses You Can Start from Home
The Best Internet Businesses You Can Start
101 Ways to Make Money at Home

There are many.

I'm glad you keep trying. Don't stop! Keep trying. Eventually something witll work out for you.

Here's one idea: start a Day Care service.

Marykay, Avon, Tuperwear, Pampered Chef, there's a ton of stuff that you can do from home and make a great living doing and be able to spend time with your daughter.

there are some things that are legit.

i found a great business opportunity with Herbalife.

it is legit, the company has been around for a long time and my sponsors (the people who are teaching me the business) are WONDERFUL to work with!
now, if you search for Herbalife, you will obviously, find some bad stuff about it and some good stuff about it.

i can only tell you that it's worked out really well for me and i enjoy it.
i cna tell you that i put a good bit of money into it to get it started, but i saw a return on my investment very quickly.
i can tell you that you only make what you put into it. if you want to do little, then you might be able to make some money with this, if you want to put in a good effort, then you will do well.

i believe with this business system, though, it's all about your mentors and how they help guide you, and your business sense going into it.

this is the only home business i can speak of, b/c i'm personally involved with it.
please don't take this as spamming, i'm just trying to answer your question!

i've heard of some people who work from home as incoming call centers. they take orders for infomercial products...i don't know how they got into it, but i know it's a normal job from home and the company pays YOU---so there should not be any upfront fees with this job.

take care and i hope you find something that works.

Go to www.mailingprogram.com maybe you'll like that idea. I'm going to try it too. And if she doesn't like that try www.surveyscout.com I think they seem pretty reliable. Good luck!

Become an Independent Wine Consultant. I work P/T make great money & I have fun.

Have you thought about Arbonne International? It's an excellent opportunity, but it's NOT a get-rich-quick scheme! It DOES take work. But, if you work it hard, it's very possible that you could make very decent money in 6 months and be able to stay at home with your daughter. It's a European Health & Wellness company that's been around for 26 years, but is just now starting to take off. It's taking the country by storm! The products are phenomenal...herbally and botanically based, never tested on animals or contain animal products or by-products (vegan approved), no mineral oil, and MANY more unique characteristics. My team's marketing strategy does NOT include giving home parties (who has time?). We are simply teaching our friends and family to redirect the dollars they are already spending to purchase awesome pure, safe and beneficial Arbonne products. It's worth your time to check it out. Check out the link and e-mail me if you鈥檇 like more information. Good luck with whatever you choose!