I dawdle on the computer when I’m not doing other things, I’m a little addicted to it. I’m a bit cheap and often scrounging for extra cash, as well. I heard Mechanical Turk mentioned in passing on a GeekSpeak podcast and checked it out. Mechanical Turk is a fun distraction from housework and worrying about finances, and it earns (a little) money, too. What’s not to love about it. I once earned a good salary, then had kids and found that I didn’t want to put 50 to 60 hours a week into a job. Now I work “full time” at a job that pays about a fifth of my previous salary, but allows me to be available for my children a great deal of the time. I have to be more creative with the money we have now. It’s nice that when I have free time I can dawdle on the computer and get paid for doing it. It beats playing pointless games, and, instead of spending money on this habit, I earn a little. I haven’t been at it very long, but it has already helped me to acquire a new computer. I can start or stop working at a moments notice, and I can decide whether or not I want to do a particular task. My family finds it humorous that I “work for pennies”, although my son wanted to know if he could also do Mechanical Turk (sorry, he’ll have to wait a few years).