Any ideas on ways to earn money on the side? [View all]

Like just about everybody not in the 1% nowadays, we've become somewhat underwater with our bills and miscellaneous expenses and my wife and I have been trying to figure out some ways to earn some extra money on the side without having to actually work a second job which, for the most part, is pretty impractical given that we have 3 kids and I work for CPS which is almost somewhat of a double job IMHO. I have some talents that I think that I could parlay into a side job but am somewhat unsure how to get started. For one, I enjoy writing. I'm working a book though it has been somewhat of a slow process but I also enjoy blogging about things political (here and elsewhere) and people seem to enjoy my writing. I would like to find some way to get paid for it, though. I had a perch on Examiner.com for awhile but I earned virtually nothing and, frankly, felt that the content rules were too restrictive. I have found that most newspapers hiring for columnists for real writing gigs seem to prefer people with journalism degrees.
I'm also pretty well acquainted with computers but mostly the basic stuff. I can troubleshoot a lot of software problems and can crack open a computer do some minor installation work.
Anybody have any ideas about side work? Is there anybody out there doing stuff "on the side" that is working out for them and if so, how did you get started? Any ideas and/or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!