I was recently listening to a Dave Ramsey show where he had a woman on who confessed to blowing their emergency fund on food because her family of three is living out of a hotel and it’s expensive to eat without a kitchen. It turns out that the woman and their three year old daughter accompanied her husband on a work assignment in California and that the husband does not get enough per diem to support all three of them. The woman claimed to be helpless as far as making money because she’s with the three year old all day and the Dave’s solution was for the husband to deliver pizzas at night.
I wanted to reach through the speakers and shake them both. There absolutely are ways to make money while toting around a three year old. Not huge money. Not money that will support you. But when you’re beating yourself up because you’re dipping into your emergency savings for a meal, there are ways to pad that meal budget.
I already wrote about Field Agent, which is a great way to monetize grocery shopping. Field Agent actively encourages you to blend in with everyone else, so having an annoying three year old in tow is a great way to distract from the fact that you’re taking pictures. There are some side hustle apps that are appropriate for toting a kid along. There are others that are not because you are representing a company and have to be presentable. Gigwalk is another where it is acceptable to have a kid.
Gigwalk has a nicer interface than Field Agent and the main client seems to be Amazon. Most of my gigs on Gigwalk are conducting an audit of Amazon kiosks, whether they are in a mall, Whole Foods or Best Buy. These quick jobs pay $5-6. I have also done a few $8 audits on the Gigwalk platform at for other clients (a sandwich shop and a couple optical stores).
As usual, I don’t go too far out of my way and I often have my kid with me. He’s generally well behaved because he is getting paid (by me) for each gig. The gigs require taking a bunch of photos and answering questions about whether or not products are functional or if they’re even present.
Gigwalk pays pretty quickly on most jobs (within a couple days) and send money straight to your Paypal account. Some jobs take longer and it could take up to 14 days.
I know it might sound silly to make $6 here and there, but if you’re taking that money and putting it straight into your food budget, a fun money budget, or perhaps using it to squirrel money away, then this is a great way to accomplish that. Being a stay at home (or hotel) mom with a three year old should not make you feel like you can’t contribute.
