5 Low Cost Home Business Ideas

Home businesses can be expensive, but there are low-cost home business ideas that don’t cost much to start.

Are you a stay at home mom who is looking for ways to earn money? And maybe all the work at home jobs don’t fit you well? I’ve been where you’re are.

I wanted to raise my daughter at home and homeschool, but I needed to earn money, too.

After trying out some work at home jobs, none of them fit my situation or my personality. I think I was born with an entrepreneurial gene, growing up with a mom who was and farmer grandparents.

And even if you don’t feel that way, you recognize the advantages of starting a home-based business.

5 Low-Cost Home Business Ideas

A home business has advantages and disadvantages. You have control over what you do, when you do it, and how much you earn.

You are only limited by how much time and effort you put into it. However, you have to stick to it and treat it seriously.

You, also, must be patient until usable income is there. And finally, it up to you to know what to do and when to do; you have to keep yourself accountable and be organized.

To me, the pros definitely outweigh any cons when compared to a job that limits your earning potential and could taken from you at any moment. Here are some low-cost ideas to get you started.

Start A Blog or Website

This is my favorite so I wanted to talk about it first. What I like about it is that just about anyone can do it. With all the free resources and training online, you can start a complete newbie to blogging.

For the cost of $10 per month, you can have a business started writing about a niche/topic that you love or a need you see a lot of people want help with. I recommend starting with Siteground for your hosting.

Don’t shoot yourself down thinking you can’t write.

All things improve with practice.

You don’t have to be a novelist, you just need to use decent grammar and spelling while sharing your insights about a topic. To learn more read this post: 7 Tips To Become A Successful Blogger

Sell Stuff Online

Another low cost home-based business idea is selling items you find at a discount and reselling them online. If you start small, the cost in both time and dollars is minimal.

Begin with items you don’t want around your house anymore, or buy a few items at garage sales.

Sell a product you make if that appeals to you. Or, you can connect with a wholesaler, and dropship items or sell in larger lots at a great discount.

I’ve personally done this off and on over many years on Ebay and Shopify, and more recently in Facebook Groups. Sarah Titus has a lot of experience selling on Ebay, you read her story here: 7 Tips to Making a Living on eBay.

To learn more about dropshipping, enroll in this dropshipping course for only $7 when you use the code DROP60

An area of this kind of business is booming on Amazon.

It’s called Amazon FBA, or fulfilled by Amazon. Sellers search products they can buy at good price, instead of packing and shipping orders the products are shipped to an Amazon warehouse.

The seller lists them on Amazon and Amazon ships the products and pays the seller the purchase price minus fees.

Babysitting or Daycare

Starting a babysitting or daycare service is lost cost and works well when you have own children at home with you. It’s lost cost and you can start small with just one or two children. If you find this a good business for you, you can expand by going through the steps of becoming a home daycare.

You can choose what ages you want to sit for. If preschoolers are your favorite age range, you can offer learning activities that parents will be thrilled about.

Or do something unique like being a mommy/daddy date night where you sit for a family one night a week to give the parents a well-needed date together.

Sites like Care.com and Sittercity.com let you register your services so you can reach family across your community.

Personal Wardrobe Stylist

Love clothes? Do people go crazy over your outfits? Are friends asking you to help them shop? You could turn it into a career as a personal wardrobe stylist! All you need to get started is business cards and maybe a brochure of your services.

Help clients sort and organize their wardrobe, then help them go shopping to find the outfits they need. You could add a service as a personal shopper and go shopping for them.

This is a potential well earning business as your best clients would be in a higher income range. Network with boutiques and tailors for referrals.

And having a friendly tailor is good to have when a client needs alterations done. Later you can start your own website and list your services; even create an online course on wardrobe and style advice.

Locally, you could do group workshops or mini fashion shows with those boutiques you got friendly with! Read more in this post at PennyHoarder.com, How to Become a Personal Stylist, and this one on how to become a mystery shopper.

Sell Your Handmade Products

Take your passion for a craft and turn it into a thriving business.

Who wouldn’t love to spend each day doing a hobby they enjoy while earning an income? There are more types of handmade products then I can list here.

A startup can be low by designing a small line of products. To keep costs low, you can also design them to be similar. An example of this would a line of stenciled wall signs. They all use the same supplies.

Your creations can be unique or mainstream, popular.

What’s important is creating well-made products, offering excellent customer service, and learning how to market your business.

Besides the cost of supplies, you will need a website. You can start on Etsy.com, but it’s recommended you have your own website, too.

This way you can market with blog posts and have more freedom from transaction fees and the style of your store.

Related: Why Your Etsy Shop Isn’t Making Sales (And How To Fix It)

In addition to selling your handmade items, you can use your website as you would a blog business, creating more income streams in addition to your sales.

Think of what you know and like to do best.

Then find a way to offer these services or information to the public. Find a home business idea on your budget and start doing what you want to do.