Freebies and Swag

The Fed Ex guy came to my house today with a box for me. I signed for it and tried to remember what I had ordered. When I opened it, there was a package of Chips Ahoy cookies! (Maybe a $4.00 value?)  I forgot I had taken a survey not long ago and had indicated that. yes, I would be willing to try out some cookies and report on my "findings"! What a nice surprise! We opened them, did our taste test, filled out the short survery and now can enjoy the remaining cookies. For FREE!

A little later, the postman delivered our mail and another box for me. This time it was a selection of products from Hydrasense (probably a $40.00 value)  - again for FREE. I had signed up to receive coupons and was chosen as a Hydrasense ambassador. They sent me a large sampling of products as well as a code I can share with other moms for significant savings (more on that at the end of this post!)

In the past few months I have also received free full size laundry detergent ($8.00 value), cereal ($5.00 value) and cleaning supplies ($6.00 value). How you ask? It's easy! Surveys & Product Testing! And I have also recently discovered another nifty site where I can earn items for free just by using the internet. Read on my friends!

Surveys:
I have done a lot of Focus groups in my time - the pay was good, but you had to leave the house and spend at least an hour or so answering questions and discussing products or services or ideas with a group of strangers. Then recently I found out about TNS  - a huge marketing research firm which does online surveys through http://www.mysurvey.ca/. You can sign up for an account and have surveys delivered to your inbox. Each survey gives you points which you can redeem for CASH, Air Miles or other products and services. Sure it takes a while to build up enough points, but the surveys are usually quick and easy, and you get the odd little perk like those free Chips Ahoy cookies! Money Saving Mom also has a list of survey sites you can check out, but many are for US residents only. Although you won't get rich completing surveys, I think you can makea few extra bucks or get some nice little perks and gift certificates this way.

Product Testing:
There are a variety of product testing opportunities you can easily sign up for. A while ago I signed up on http://www.urbanmoms.ca/ as a Go2Girlz product tester (that's who I tested Sunlight Green Clean laundry detergent and Affresh cleaner for). My recent delivery of Hydrasense was courtesy of  http://www.momcentral.ca/. In exchange for the prodcut, you are asked to answer a series of questions and provide your opinion on the product. Ifigure we as moms do that anyway...we are always telling each other about our latest find, or to stay clear of such-and-such a product becuase it's no good.  

You can also check out this posting that lists current and upcoming surveys and product testing opportunities. It's nice to get a freebie once in a while, especially when it's soemthing you already use or are interested in using, and usually the products are family/children oriented!


Swagbucks:
Intrigued by a post by Jen of Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, I investigated and signed up for Swagbucks. Swagbucks is an online portal dedicated to helping you earn digital dollars called "Swag Bucks", which can be redeemed for exclusive swagbucks.com merchandise. For example, you can redeem 450 swagbucks for a $5 gift certificate at Amazon.ca. I have been using the swagbucks toolbar as my search engine for about 3 or 4 days now and already have 285 swagbucks. At that rate I can probably earn and redeem for a GC by next week. And I haven't even scratched the surface of this yet...I know you can earn more swagbucks by completing special offers etc., and also by referring people. SO...if you are interested in getting a few freebies just by doing what you normally do when surfing the internet, click on the banner below. I will earn a few swagbucks by referring you and then you can pass on the info to others in your own circle of friends and family and earn points for yourself! 


I will keep updating you with how my accumulation is going as well as any tips and tricks I may find out in the process!

Hopefully you will get a few freebies based on this information! So, now I am off to have a free cookie and suck the yuckies out of my 22 mo. old's nose! What fun!

(PS...I will be posting the information on how to get an $8.00 coupon for Hydrasense in a separate post later tonight so it can be esily referred back to! Check back later on! (or, become a follower of mine so you get all the info easily. Hey I haven't done too much about getting followers...should I? That's a decision for another day I guess!)

Have a great weekend!