Why Do I Squidoo?

I have been away from home for six days. I did not have a computer to use; I did not get to watch my TV news shows; I was babysitting three of my grandchildren (4yrs, 2years, 1yr) and was pretty exhausted or occupied most of the time.

I did not get to work on my Squidoo pages for the entire time. No withdrawal symptoms-nothing. I was quite surprised at myself considering that I tend to fritter away my days on these lenses.

What am I doing when I am frittering away my time working on Squidoo?

Well, I update any information that may need it. I check and recheck the spelling and phrasing. I update ads that I run for companies with whom I have an affiliation. I do research for new pages. On and on.

So why is Squidoo so important to me and why is it worth it to spend my days working on the lenses (pages) I have created? Well, for the answer to that you can visit my lens Hugs and Kisses to Squidoo".

But TODAY a portion of my perspective about being involved with Squidoo has changed. Why? Because I read an article(on Squidoo, no less) about lenses that do nothing but sell stuff. They have no purpose except to sell. There are TONS of these kind of lenses on Squidoo. They offer no information, no real opinions, nada, nada, nada.

Recently, I have created a few lenses that seem to have the purpose to just sell stuff. One is about Ride-On Toys, another is about Playhouses, two others are about my favorite music. All of my lenses have Amazon links related to what I am writing about (IE, books, Christmas cards, pumpkin carving, candy corn), but recently my focus has been on finding ways to earn some extra mad money. Is making money the reason I do Squidoo now? Kind of.

The two lenses I created about toys evolved because my daughter wanted to save money on toys for Christmas. She wanted me to do research about the best ones out there and find the best prices. So I did. I shared the results of this research on Squidoo. I also thought it would not hurt to make a little $$ for my efforts.

Is there anything wrong with that? No and Yes.

We all are looking for ways to improve our finances during this crazy time; so, no, there is nothing wrong with trying to sell a product.

Initially, my Squidoo lenses were just a creative outlet for me. A way to express myself; to learn; to grow. Some of my lenses are just awful; some of the lenses are OK; some have turned out fine. I am still working and changing them--frittering.

Is the almighty dollar in charge of my life? In some ways, it is. Is the $ what life is all about? NO. So, yes there is something wrong with my newest lenses. Making money has edged its way up to the top of my reasons for doing Squidoo.

I need to get back to the real reasons I started Squidooing. Expression. Learning. Growing.