My first foray into the online survey world came just after I lost my job as a paralegal at a major international company. I was getting unemployment, but the amount I was taking in was less than half of what I was making at my job.

While I had various headhunters looking for jobs, I scoured the newspapers and internet for a position. Nothing. While perusing the internet one day, I discovered a way I could make money while working from home. All I had to do was fill out simple surveys and they would send me a check! It seemed easy enough.

A friend recommended jobslover.com. I went on the site, read a little about it and signed up. I had to give my name, address, telephone number and e-mail address. Jobslover sent a confirmation to my e-mail address and a link to click. I did so immediately and was ready to star making money.

One of the things I like about jobslover was that you can choose which surveys in which you can participate. There is a pull-down menu and if you wish, you can do only the surveys that are 100% free. There was no "catch" to this. Jobslover even tells you exactly how much information you need to provide in order to get paid.

The pay for each survey is minimal. Most of them pay 50 cents to one dollar. But each survey only takes about 5 minutes to complete and as I was doing nothing at the time, I embarked on several surveys. Within one hour, I made $12. Not bad for sitting at home, doing nothing.

As with any online survey company, there are caveats. If you decide to do online surveys for money, make sure you read the "fine print" in some of the surveys. There are often "free" gifts associated with many of the surveys and you are often directed to various different websites. I noticed that some of the "free" gifts, although not elaborate, had a catch. They wanted you to try a product for a certain amount of time, after which, you could cancel. But your phone number would be billed for the product.

Rule number one in doing online surveys is to watch your phone bill. While most people are clever enough not to give out their credit card information online, not all of us read the "fine print." You certainly don't want to spend an entire day making $30 only to have most of it tacked on to your phone bill.

Rule number two is not to give out your credit card information. You want to make sure that the website is honest and that you won't be billed for any unnecessary charges. The whole point of doing surveys online is to give your opinion about products and get a little money. It shouldn't end up costing you anything.

Rule number three is to use your correct information. Many companies call to make sure that you have given them the correct phone number. If you are the type of person who really gets irked by telephone solicitors, this is not the project for you. But, if you are like me, and feel no obligation to listen to a telephone sales pitch, it's fine.

After only two days of sporadically filling out surveys on jobslover, I made over $30. The company pays once a month, by check and the checks are mailed out on the 15th of each month. I found that it wasn't a bad way to pick up a few extra bucks.

One of the things I like about the prospect of online surveys is that the sky's the limit. When I was a stay at home mom, there were several survey companies in the area. You had to sign up with them and periodically, you were called in to test a product. These tests often lasted about an hour and you made about $50. It was a good way to pick up extra cash, but the down side was that you were only able to participate in a survey every six months for each company.

With online survey companies, you won't make as much money, but you can participate as often as you like and bring in some money without leaving your house. It takes a little patience, a little caution and be prepared to receive an influx of telephone calls from solicitors.

Of all the online survey companies I tried, I enjoyed using jobslover the most. It was easy, fun and didn't take up a lot of my time. It's an ideal way to make a few extra dollars while staying at home.