After being nominated as one of the Hubnugget Wannabes of the week, my mind flew to the time when I was just starting out, after being locked away by motherhood for a while, and finally realizing that I can work from home, while fulfilling my obligation.

The search was on for the perfect work-from-home job and here's my little sad story:

My fingers flew across the keyboard. My heart beat out an undulating rhythm -- a set of timpani in motion. I cannot believe my eyes or my luck. My head kept chiding--why didn’t I notice this before?

Take surveys from the comfort of your home. Big bucks for little work.

Wow! Finally, I can work at home and look at the testimonials of a host of people involved in this line of work:

One says: I can’t believe how easy this is. I can work anytime and make a few hundred dollars just by answering simple questions.

Another: It’s easy. I get to pick the survey I want to take and viola, I’m making more money now than I was working.

Easy bucks and a chance to find myself? Not that my life is not interesting enough.  Just watch this video and you'll understand why I badly needed an escape.

This is too good to be true. Now, I can work at home, take care of my kids and have that extra allowance to treat myself (or my kids or even husband) to Starbucks anytime, any day without cash depletion. No more talk about skimping here, there, no more 99 cents store. Wait a minute, there must be a catch somewhere. But no, look, these are testimonials with the faces of real people like me---well--it can‘t be that bad.

With sweating hands, I pounded out my particulars--name, age, address, phone number, even my favorite pastime. I even gave my family particulars away! That’s for a good cause, I assured myself. Pretty soon, I’ll no longer be a homemaker, a no glamour existence, trying to assemble some semblance of family life.

I was set. They emailed to tell me my surveys were on their way and I’ll be laughing all the way to the bank (excuse the cliché--their words not mine).

True enough, the very next day, I received a survey to fill. They promised 5 dollars for my time. Gleefully, I filled them up. Easy. Next, they informed me that to increase my income, I should join as many survey clubs as possible, all no costs, after all, I’m doing a valuable service, providing much needed feedback. So, what the heck, I joined them all. I’m becoming quite a businesswoman, considering I’ve been out of the job market since my kids were born.

My email blinked: Promise of cash for taking the next two surveys. I’m elevated. Just like they promised. In a snapshot, I’ll be rubbing my hands in joy, eyes radiating greed. I opened the first email with great expectation:

You get Twenty dollars if you sign up for a wireless network (will not mention name here). Just order the service, try it for a month and then fill up the survey.

Now, that means I have to sign up for the wireless service for a small fee? My head expands to grasp the task at hand. First of all, I hate ordering things and then returning them. I still have my garage full of car-wash solution that the gas station guy promised will remove all grease and that I can return it if unsatisfied. It has been four months since, and the product became a point of contention between my cash-conservative husband and I. I’ll not list other items, but suffice to say, that phone my end up in my piles of “been there, tried that.”

Well, I can still make off the second survey. Now, let me get to it:

Try out this new postage system and earn ten dollars after trial period.

But first, I have to install this program to enable me to buy the stamp, print it out on special paper; get a scale to weigh the package in order to determine amount of postage.

I ran my fingers through my matted hair (wet with frustration), blew my nose and tapped my keyboard to mentally weigh the feasibility of this “little” project. The scale will cost more than the income, I hardly mail anything (except for guilt trips to send packages to in-laws) and I really like real postage stamps, not ones with inkjet indentations.

Wisdom prevailed but work ethnics must go on. For the next two weeks, I filled out those surveys I could take and in the process disclosed every secret about my family. I might as well be charged with espionage. Earnings after two weeks: under ten dollars and the promise of a couple hundred of points for benefits I could barely use.

My short stint died just like that until another blink caught my eye:

Home Typists Needed. Easy Cash….

Now, that's just my sad story. Others have found fortune,and they have statistics to back them up:

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-get-150-000-visitors-in-150-days-or-less-10-Easy-to-follow-Hubpages-Tricks

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Make-Money-from-Paid-Surveys

http://hubpages.com/hub/5_Quick_Ways_to_Make_Money_Online

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-To-Make-Money-Online-Once-And-For-All

http://hubpages.com/hub/50--Ways-To-Make-Money-Online-soon

http://hubpages.com/hub/How-Can-I-Make-Money-With-Google-Adsense---Adsense-And-Google-Adwords

I found out I'm not a survey girl--so what do I do? I go back to my interest--I love to write and I love researching about topics that interest me, so naturally and inevitably, I turn to writing, but before that I took an online writing class, as online writing is slightly different from regular writing.

It was then that I was introduced to Hubpages and I've been here since. If you want to make some money, writing for Hubpages, check out the link:

http://hubpages.com/help/about/

Other writing sites:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/276394/the_6_best_websites_to_write_and_get.html?cat=35

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/your-expertise-is-worth-money-5-sites-you-can-write-for.html

I write for Helium and I especially like their Marketplace where you can write to requests of clients and if your article get picked, you can make anywhere from $20 to $200. They don't pay as well for performance (per click), so that maybe a setback.

Other sites I'm presently experimenting with include AssociatedContent--I would rate it 7 out of 10, and Triond (verdict is still out).

Read these too:

Recession-proof Jobs Give Paws: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/20/eveningnews/main4816818.shtml

Top 25 Careers to Pursue in a Recession: http://www.hrworld.com/features/top-25-recession-careers-022008/

The 30 Best Careers fro 2009 : http://www.usnews.com/articles/business/best-careers/2008/12/11/the-30-best-careers-for-2009.html