In short
- A stay-at-home parent can earn from home by packing orders for online shops in short blocks: 20 small parcels a week at the suggested €2.25 nets about €175 a month for roughly 85 minutes of work a week.
- You choose the days you take parcels on, set a daily maximum and can go inactive in the school holidays. The drop-off fits on the school run.
- There is no fee to start: the shop sends the stock and packaging and pays every label.
- In the UK, registering for Child Benefit for a child under 12 gives you National Insurance credits even if you do not receive the payment. On Universal Credit you report self-employed earnings every month.
- AirPost is a peer-to-peer fulfilment network: online shops have their orders packed and dropped at a parcel point by verified people near their customers, who earn a fee per parcel from home. No warehouse, no minimum order volume.
Most work-from-home advice for parents assumes you can block out a few quiet hours. With small children you cannot. What works is work that comes in pieces of a few minutes, can wait until nap time or the evening, and stops when a child is ill.
This guide looks at one option that is built that way — packing parcels for online shops — with the numbers from the code the app runs on, and at what UK and Irish rules say about benefits and tax for parents at home. The general set-up is on earn from home.
What can a stay-at-home parent do to earn money from home?
The options that fit around children have three things in common: no fixed hours, no calls you cannot take with a toddler in the room, and no money upfront. Here is how the usual suggestions compare.
| Option | Fixed hours? | Quiet needed? | Money to start | Interruptible? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer service or VA work | Usually | Yes, for calls | A laptop and headset | Hard |
| Childminding | Yes | No | Registration, checks, insurance | No |
| Selling your own things | No | No | None | Yes |
| Freelance writing or design | Deadlines | Yes | A laptop | Partly |
| Packing parcels for shops | No; you set your days | No | None | Yes, in blocks of minutes |
Childminding earns the most but is a regulated job with set hours. Selling your own things is the easiest start but runs out. Parcel packing sits between: little money per parcel, but each one takes minutes and none of them needs a quiet room. The full comparison of UK options is in side hustles from home in the UK.
How does parcel packing fit around children?
An order arrives as a notification on your phone. You pack it when you have five minutes, print the label and drop the parcel on a trip you were making anyway. Most shops want it out the door the next working day, so the rhythm is small and daily rather than one long session.
| Moment | What you do | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Morning notification | See the product, size and region of a new order; take it or skip it | 1 min |
| Nap time or after bedtime | Pick the item from the shelf, pack it, print the label | 3.5 min per parcel |
| School run | Drop the parcels at a locker or parcel shop on your route | 15 min a week |
- Tick only the days that work. You choose which days you take parcels on. Shops can filter senders by those days, so nobody expects you on the others.
- Set a daily maximum. When you are full, shops skip you for that day.
- Skip what does not fit. A sick child or a busy week: you do not have to take every order.
- Go inactive for the holidays. One switch takes you off the lists until you switch back.
Stock and small children
The stock stays the shop’s property and you are responsible for it while it is with you. Keep it on a high shelf or in a cupboard children cannot reach, away from damp. How much space a batch needs is in how much space you need to pack parcels.
How much can a parent earn packing parcels from home?
At the suggested fees, 10 to 30 small parcels a week nets €87 to €262 a month. You set your own fee per size; the app suggests €2.25 for a small and €3.00 for a medium parcel.
| Parcels a week | Time a week | Net a month at €2.25 | Net a month at €3.00 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 50 min | €87 | €116 |
| 20 | 85 min | €175 | €233 |
| 30 | 120 min | €262 | €349 |
Try your own numbers
What does it pay?
Slide to the number of parcels you can handle in a week.
| Parcels a week | Your rate per parcel | Estimated per month |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | €1.50 | €116 |
| 50 | €2.25 | €437 |
| 250 | €3.00 | €2,910 |
An estimate based on four weeks. Your orders decide the real amount.
Your balance grows when a parcel is dropped off. A fee becomes payable 3 days after the carrier’s first scan, and you withdraw whenever you like from €10.00. The full arithmetic is in how much you can earn packing parcels from home.
Does side income affect benefits for parents in the UK?
It can, so check before you start. Three GOV.UK rules matter most for a parent at home:
| Rule | What GOV.UK says | What it means here |
|---|---|---|
| Child Benefit and NI credits | Parents registered for Child Benefit for a child under 12 get Class 3 credits automatically, even if they do not receive it | Your State Pension record keeps building while you are at home |
| Universal Credit | Self-employed claimants report earnings and business payments at the end of every monthly assessment period | Report your parcel fees each month, even when they are nothing |
| Minimum income floor | If you are "gainfully self-employed", UC may assume earnings at minimum-wage level | Ask the UC service how they class a small side income |
| Trading allowance | The first £1,000 of gross trading income a year is tax-free | Below it you usually do not tell HMRC |
Above £1,000 of gross fees in a tax year you register for Self Assessment by 5 October after that tax year ends. How that works for small side incomes is in the UK trading allowance explained.
What about Ireland?
In Ireland, married couples and civil partners taxed jointly, where one partner cares for a dependent person such as a child at home, can claim the Home Carer’s Tax Credit: up to €1,950 in 2026 according to Revenue’s tax charts. It is a maximum, and the home carer’s own income can reduce it, so check with Revenue before you add a side income. Side income itself is covered in how much you can earn tax-free in Ireland.
Outside the UK and Ireland the work is the same; the tax rules are your own country’s. The live list of sender countries comes from the rate card:
- Austria
- Belgium
- Canada
- Croatia
- Czechia
- Denmark
- Estonia
- Finland
- France
- Germany
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Italy
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Netherlands
- Norway
- Poland
- Portugal
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Slovenia
- Spain
- Sweden
- United Kingdom
- United States
How do you start?
Sign up with your email address
No password and no money down. Choose a username; shops see only that and your region.
Set your fee, days and daily maximum
Tick the days that fit your week and how many parcels you can do a day.
Tick the drop-off points on your route
The locker by the school, the parcel shop by the supermarket. You only get orders for carriers you tick.
Verify your identity and add a bank account
A one-off ID check with a selfie, and a payout account in your own name.
Agree a batch with a shop
Say how much room you have before stock arrives. If the shop wants it back, you return it within 14 days.
Before you share your ID with any "work from home" offer, read is packing parcels from home a scam?. Real work never asks for a deposit or asks you to forward parcels abroad.
Frequently asked questions
How can a stay-at-home parent earn money from home?
Pick work without fixed hours or calls. Packing parcels for online shops is one option: each parcel takes a few minutes, and 20 small parcels a week at the suggested €2.25 nets about €175 a month.
Can I do it with a baby or toddler at home?
Yes. Nothing needs a quiet room or a set time; you pack when you have a few minutes and drop off on a trip you already make. Keep the stock out of reach.
What if my child is ill and I cannot pack?
Skip new requests or set your account to inactive. Orders you already took should still go out as agreed, so take only what you can handle that day.
Will it affect my Universal Credit?
Self-employed earnings count for Universal Credit and must be reported every month. Whether the minimum income floor applies is decided by the UC service; ask them before you start.
Do I need a car?
No. Small parcels fit in a bag or pushchair basket, and you only tick drop-off points you can reach on foot or on your usual route.
Does it cost anything to start?
No. The shop pays every label and sends the packaging. The only deduction is 3% when you pay yourself out.
Sources
See whether a shop is looking for a sender near you
Earn from home