Fellow Stay-at-home Moms (or Dads)

I've been a stay-at-home mom for a couple years now. The circumstances of my status weren't exactly, um, pleasant. But I won't get into that. Even though both of my kids are in school, I love being here when they get home and when they're on vacation. Sometimes, however, I feel somehow less accomplished. Despite reassurance from family and friends that I'm doing something good and I'm fortunate to be able to stay home, I feel like I should be doing something more; like I'm being lazy. Furthermore, when money gets tight, I feel like I should be contributing financially. When the kids want something, if something breaks, when holidays come around, it would help if I were working too. That's why I started making jewelry and blogging. I love doing things that challenge me mentally and creatively. Unfortunately, my necklaces don't really sell and I don't get paid to write the silly blogs I have.

So, probably like a lot of other moms or dads in my situation, I look for ways to "work at home". There are a ridiculous amount of websites out there that target us. And even more ridiculous is the amount of money they promise. I have become quite skeptical of any site that says you can make money at home. I've found that if you change the way you look for things, sort of indirectly, you can find opportunities to earn a few extra bucks. Nothing, of course, that would earn you an actual hourly wage. But I figure something is better than nothing. There's a couple of email click/survey/shopping sites that I do okay on. One I'd mentioned before, Inbox Dollars. My favorite is MyPoints. I just got my 4th $50 gift card in the mail the other day. I've tried some other survey sites but I haven't had much luck. I never seem to qualify for the surveys.

Then there's affiliate sites...
Affiliate marketing is a type of performance-based marketing in which a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought about by the affiliate's own marketing efforts. The industry has four core players: the merchant (also known as 'retailer' or 'brand'), the network (that contains offers for the affiliate to choose from and also takes care of the payments), the publisher (also known as 'the affiliate'), and the customer. -via Wikipedia

I tried Google Affiliate Network awhile back, didn't do much with it, and deleted the blog I was using it on. I hadn't really thought about it since. Then, the other day, I came across another network called ShareASale. So far I like the looks of it. It seems to be less formal than Google Affiliate Network and more user friendly. Which is a good thing if you're not a computer genius. The application was easy and I was accepted in a day. I haven't placed any ads yet, but I'm fairly optimistic. Of course I'm being rational and I know I won't make tons of money. But it couldn't hurt to try. Check out ShareASale.

Have you tried to make money online? What have you tried and has it worked?