Unemployed in a floundering economy

The Bear Stearns meltdown and bailout yesterday was a wakeup call to investors and policy makers, and shareholders lost everything. To me it seemed kind of surreal to watch a bank fail before my very eyes.

How it relates to the big picture I'm not sure, but pumping money into the economy weakens the dollar and could lead to inflation, which would be a bad blow to the consumer.

Meanwhile, I have my own financial situation to worry about. I've been out of work since I quit my job in December to stay at home with the baby. The funny thing is that although it was probably a stupid thing to do, I don't regret it at all from a personal standpoint.

The financial side is another matter. I would really like to work from home, but it's easier said than done. The trick is to find that legitimate opportunity among the many work-at-home, multi-level marketing scams out there.

I've been looking into freelance sites like Elance, Sologig, iFreelance, and VirtualVocations, which charge a fee to gain access to contract work in writing, design, translation, etc... So far I've been reluctant to put any money up, but I'm beginning to think it may be worthwhile.

Does anyone have experience with freelance sites and freelancing in general?