I've done freelance before, but it has been a while since I did my last bit of freelancing. I only tend to do it when I'm in need of the money for whatever reason.
By advice to you is to get yourself settled in a few communities -
Sitepoint,
DigitalPoint and possibly
NamePros are 3 good communities for picking up work. NamePros probably not so good because it's more domain orientated, but it's still a nice community nonetheless.
Concerning the price, I normally charge $60 an hour. I have a fairly good reputation on the Internet in various communities and so it's quite easy, and fair, to charge that much for my time. It's entirely up to you what you charge though, but don't charge a stupidly low price just to get work otherwise you'll be swamped with it and you'll be working yourself to an early grave and not getting the financial rewards. You've got to find a sweet-spot that allows you to pick up odd bits of work, but have enough time to take a breather and treat each client like they are special.
I did, and could quite easily again, get a steady stream of work, but I did freelancing for a couple of years before I decided to work for myself, and then I did some more freelancing with Karl earlier this year and so it really got to me in the end, I needed something different to do, so I took up doing my own projects where I'm truly my own boss.
...But geez, I can't wait to move down to Cornwall now! This whole Internet stuff really gets to you after a while. That's why I wouldn't highly recommend working for peanuts, it will begin to work you down into the ground. Charge a fair amount for the work you do. Your time is precious.