WAHM

For those of you looking for more serious work at home opportunities, something more like a real job, the WAHM (Work At Home Moms) forums are the best place to start. They list legitimate companies that hire telecommuters and at- home workers with a variety of different skills. I got my first at-home transcriptionist job through WAHM, for which I will always enthusiastically recommend their site.

To conclude, by making use of a multitude of these sites, it's possible to bring in a significant amount of money each month. Since many of them also have paid referral programs, you can increase your income by inviting other users to join. As with most pursuits, you'll get out of these sites what you put into them. A little extra work in the beginning can pay off handsomely in the end. Have fun trying them out!

Daytipper

Daytipper is a site that pays $3.00 each for brief descriptions of useful tips. If you know a way to get wine out of carpet or to sleep when you've got insomnia, write up a blurb on it and send it in. The site accepts and publishes about 1/3 of its submissions, so you'll want to take the time to write well and clearly. Still, even with care to grammar, structure, and spelling, it doesn't take long to write a tip. The downside of this site is that it can take months to get the payment from them, but the upside is that they do actually send it.

clicksense

Clix Sense is just one of several sites that will pay you to look at ads. On Clix Sense, you get a penny or two per ad, which you need to leave open in your browser window for at least thirty seconds. I've found Clix Sense to be rather painless, since I can do it while I'm online doing other things, but this is not a big money earner for me. I'd say I'm making about ten cents a day. By using several of these sites and taking advantage of the referral programs, it's possible to make more. If you want to check out some other reputable sites, try Adbux and WordLinx. There is also Myster-e-mail for those who'd like to get paid to read email, and Cash Fiesta for those who want to get paid to surf.

Zotspot

If you're like most of us, you search the Internet daily, usually several times a day. Of the sites that pay you to use their search engine, Zotspot is the most straightforward and has the most potential for earnings. You won't amass a fortune doing this, but you won't lose much time to it either. This site, like many of the “get paid to” sites, also has a referral program where you can exponentially increase your earnings by inviting others to join, which makes the pennies add up more quickly. One important note: Don't be concerned when your account shows 0 for a long period of time. There is a delay of about two months between when you do the searches and when your account is credited, just like a pay lag. But once you get that first credit, you can cash out monthly for as long as you continue searching. For those of you who want to try some of the other legitimate paid search engines, check out Slash My Search and Agloco

Cash Crate

There are a ton of sites that pay you to complete free offers online, but from my experience nothing beats Cash Crate. I made almost thirty dollars the first night I tried it and got a check in the mail the following month. It's possible to make a lot more than that if you're very comfortable giving out your personal information. I recommend getting a separate email address for these offers, since the junk mail they accumulate is overwhelming. Also, although there are a lot of free offer sites and many of them are good, I haven't personally found much point in fully participating in more than one. They all have the same offers, and I'd rather get one big check than several small ones. If you're still interested in trying several, two of the better ones are Treasure Trooper and Swat Cash.