Let's talk reviews

If I added all the reviews I have done over the past few months (I have been doing DVD reviews for kids for a longer time) we would literally be talking thousands of dollars, that is how much Estimated Retail Value of the free stuff I am getting is adding up to.  I really kind of just fell into it, I saw a post on NCircle that they were looking for Mom's to review kids DVD's and I responded, then i started getting a free kids DVD once a month.

When I started to follow Coupon Clipinista I noticed all the talk about reviews and getting stuff free in the mail and needing Amazon Prime.  It's all mostly true.  I belong to two review sites, because those are the ones that work for me, and I also am a member of several exclusive type sites that you have to work a little harder at but that get you really nice big stuff to review.  For example here are a few of the big things I have gotten:

$200 Star Wars Toy
$80 Elmo Toy
$800 Vacumn Cleaner
$100 Soda Stream
$300 Bullet type blender
thousands of dollars in small items
hundreds of dollars worth of beauty supplies

the list goes on.

These are the two I use daily:

AMZ Review Trader (You really need to have prime to save on shipping, you also need to have a good Amazon reviewer score, you should be posting pictures and videos whenever possible to get picked for the types of things you want)

iLovetoReview  (They randomly email you when free items become available, you need o be super quick on responding to that email)

These are the sites you can sign up for and they require you to really work at getting chosen, but they can pay off big:

House Party (awesome free stuff, you need to complete tasks and usually email 10 friends to sign up for your "party" within an hour of an acceptance email)

BzzAgent (Great free stuff to try, sometimes big, sometimes small, the better your score the more you get picked, your score determined by your participation in missions)

Smiley 360 (test out free stuff and share with the world, just complete missions and get picked for more stuff)

CrowdTap (take mini polls and earn entries into monthly gift card giveaways, also partake in missions to get samples of toys and items)

So that's about it, you could also work directly with brands, I have been a brand ambassador for NCircle, Fabreeze, Snuggle, and more.

Win #303

Allure magazine opens daily giveaways up for an hour daily and all you do is submit your info and then there is a certain amount of winners that are drawn, I have done this several times, usually when Coupon Clipinista tells me to (She still has me blocked on Facebook, which is the most god awful frustrating this in the world, F*CK!)

Anyway, you don't really know that you won until it just comes in the mail, I actually scored the awesome mascara shown above!  I have all really good things to say about it too, my new faorite makeup item for sure.

So why not go check it out, it's super easy!

Win #302

Small victories can sometimes add up.  Win #302 came in the form of pizza, and locally as well, I hate to leave out a win just because it's small.  My local Pizzeria (I live in a tiny town with a pop of like 2,000 people) does lots of Facebook contests, I have actually won before and I think i didn't document it, oh well... ANYWAY, I guessed the NFL Football teams final score within 3 points, which from what I understand is actually a very hard skill to come by.  Because of that I scored a free pizza night!  

Win #301

I do tons of reviews and it isn't everyday you get to review something that you truly LOVE and know like crap tons about.  Sorry, I am not wordsmithing like I would like to be today.  Thanks to BzzAgent I received a new Star Wars toy that costs over $200 to review.  Not only do I love Star Wars more than life itself but I also used to work for a toy company that made Star Wars Toys and I also wrote their Star Wars blog.  This wound up being the perfect review gig for me and I am chalking it up as a HUGE win!  I finished all my reviews but here is what I had to say, in case anyone cared:

I am a long time Star Wars Toy Collector, I even worked for the Lucas License designing action figure packaging many years ago. I think of myself as both a Star Wars Expert and also a Toy expert, I am also a mom to a six and four year old who share my love of both. The Star Wars Jedi Master Yoda is impressive, I know what it takes to create a toy like this and the amount of time that goes into it, im sure this was years in the making. He is a great size, he’s about quarter scale to what I imagine he would be in real life, his skin and eyes are lifelike and akin to an animatronic that would be movie/television quality. I love and appreciate his facial expressions and the movements you get in his eyes and mouth.
His clothing and accessories are realistic and true to the movie, my kids enjoyed putting his hood up and down and playing with his cane and lightsaber. His sound quality is amazing, the voice projects and sounds clear. His voice recognition system is great, he even understood both my kids who have terrible childhood lispy accents. We have the R2D2 with voice recognition and they get very frustrated with him. I would say he is more for older children given the amount of skill in using the key words to interact with him and also the importance of placing his accessories in his hands without damaging the connections.
His light saber skills are awesome, he really moves in 360 degrees, he swings his saber around and the noises he makes crack the kids up, it’s as lifelike as you can get with a toy. I enjoyed all three modes of his phrases and interaction, one is force training, the other is lightsaber, and then wisdom mode (use the cane). Out of all three modes the lightsaber Jedi training mode was the most fun, watching him dance around is delightful. My children enjoyed the force mode because you can actually put your hand up and he will walk backwards as if you are using a force push on him. In all the modes you can ask Yoda yes or no questions and he will answer you, this was a huge hit with me, my husband and our kids, we are all apparently going to be rich and famous someday, according to Yoda.
There are a few things I was displeased with. Our lightsaber did not function correctly for about the first 15 minutes of play, I really thought I was going to have to return it, then all of a sudden it started working. Because it didn’t work at first I reverted to the instructions for help and there is no trouble shooting whatsoever. The instruction manual left a lot to be desired, I would have like maybe a nice color trifold that really got in depth explaining what he can do. He also take 6 C batteries which are not included, so be prepared to drop about $20 every time you want to replace his batteries. I also got a lot of repetitive answers from him, I know I have to interact more and then he should up his game, but I hated hearing him say the same thing several times in the first 5 minutes of play.
In conclusion my whole family loves this toy, it will be a hit at Christmas for anyone who purchases him and saves him that long! I think he’s a great addition to any Star Wars collection and a must have for the serious collector.

WIN #300!!!

THIS IS THE WINNERS CIRCLE!!!

Far be it from me to miss the opportunity to make a nerd joke.  I am at 300 wins and counting, Fitting of a monumental win it comes from a blog, and one I have read for a while too!

My 300th win comes from Being MVP, it was my choice of any LeTop outfit.  I chose a very cute pink ballerina type dress for my daughter who is very into dance right now.

Win #299

I love instant win games!  I do them early every morning and they only take like 5 minutes to complete.  I use this list: Instant Wins to keep track everyday.  So all I had to do was vote and I scored a free bag of English muffins!  Not to mention my grocery store does buy one get two free, so I pretty much got three for free.  Thanks to Thomas and thanks to Coupon Clipinista for keeping all the instants logged for me.

Win #298

Crowd Tap is a new thing I have been trying all last month to try to win gift cards.  You basically go and take little mini survey and polls and earn points to monthly drawings.  Some people in the forums I belong to wind up winning TONS of gift cards each month, mostly Amazon.  I didn't win any this month, which made me sad because i participated a lot, the cool thing though is I qualified for a mission on the site and got a free $80 interactive Elmo Toy that my kids love!  I wound up donating it to day care too since we are over run in toys at my house, that way he gets played with all day everyday.  It's an easy site that can pay off big, I don't ever give up the first time I try one of these things, they sometimes pay off big when you stick with them, and who doesn't love free toys!

Win #297

It's been a while since I did a Twitter Party.  I started back up because Coupon Clipinista posts them each day.  I go to the list and usually pick one or two that I can do during the day and I aim for the ones that are giving away toys or gift cards.  I joined in on the TTPM Live Twitter party and via an intense round of trivia questions was able to come out victorious with a 4 pack of Barbie Rock and Royals Mini Dolls!  Twitter parties are easy, they are just time consuming, and it's pretty much all chance, although the more you tweet and re-tweet the more you are entering.  I hope there will be many more Twitter wins in my future since I am taking the time to do them again!

Winning all the cash by taking surveys

I usually take online surveys for cash or gift cards all year long, I had a few months this year that I went dormant, for personal reasons.  When my son started talking about wanting a play-station for Christmas I got a little bit of sticker shock because those run $400.  So I made it my mission (Since August) to make $400 in survey money to cover the cost of the play-station, that way I spend nothing out of pocket and Christmas will be fun and not cost that much.  Right now I am up to $287, I think I am going to be able to do this.  I take them in the morning and when I am on lunch, in all my spare time.

It took a while to weed out the really profitable sites and the ones that are easy to work with and have the best surveys and cash out options.  I do have to credit Coupon Clipinista, even though she banned me for no reason and I can no longer like or comment anything there, for the guidance to be able to choose the right sites.  She also has excellent tips on how to make the most from them.

So without further ado, here are the sites i use and the money I have made thus far this year (With a huge break)

Valued Opinions - I have made $100 so far, they do not offer too many survey's, but they do send you an email when they are available.  They have good rewards and you can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon.  They do charge a lot for redemption, on my $100 I will only get $75 in gift cards.

InstaGC - Endless, endless surveys and offers.  Adds up fast and you can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon.  Some of the offers can be spammy but for the most part it's awesome.  I have about $45 for 2 months worth.

Opinion Outpost - Lots of easy surveys, can cash out Pay Pal or Amazon, they send you emails, Easy to rack up money on here.  I have about $60 in two months.

Ibotta- This is an app I use on my phone and if you use it you can cash in on groceries you already buy.  Im up to $35 in two months, can cash out directly to Pay Pal and this is free.

There you have it, I hope you make a ton of money, wish me luck that I make my $400 for my sons Play-Station in time!

Win #295 and #296 Movies!

I actually won two Instant wins that were for movies!  The first one was courtesy of Dasani, thanks for allowing me to Sparkle on!

  

I also won two free movie tickets from Sun-maid instantly!  They are promoting Pan but it says on the slip I printed out that it is good for any movie at all!

Im going to grab popcorn and hit the theater soon, thanks instant wins!

Win #294

Second Facebook win comes from commenting on Mastrads Facebook page, I won a delightful little ice cream scooper that works wonders, again i tossed my old busted one, at some point I'll just replace everything in my house with something I won!

Win #293

It's been a while since I won a Facebook Giveaway.  Thanks to Quill.com on Facebook I was able to score a brand new cookware set, I requested blue and they did send me the blue ones!  They are ceramic on the inside and so non-stick I love them!  I actually threw away a bunch of pots and pans after I got this from them.  All i had to do was like and comment, it's just that easy sometimes!

Win #292

Another tobacco related win, thanks to USA Gold I was able to score a $25 gift card!  I'll take that any day of the week!  They run instant win games all throughout the year just like the other companies.

Win #291

Thank you to the Pleated Paisley and The Funky Monkey blog!  I was able to choose any earnings I wanted from her Etsy store, it was a hard choice actually!  I got a pair of anchor earnings for my best friend and they are fabulous!

Win #290

This is my second Bouncy Box giveaway that I won, this mat that I use for at my kitchen sink is a life saver and an awesome win!

Win #289

Thanks to my daily instant win list, I was able to score an awesome Gerber Chew U care package that will contain baby clothes, food and coupons!!!

Freebie

Is a freebie a win? Im not sure but I figured I would share this one because I get a ton of freebies all the time, thanks CC.  This one came from the Skoal website, I also got a water bottle from Camel that was free that I am drinking from right now.  Coming in the mail shortly is a monogrammed ash tray from Marlboro.  You don't have to smoke to join these sites, and they give away tons of stuff.

Win #288 First Bouncy Box Win

If you don't know what bouncy box giveaways are you are missing out... on a lot of disappointment, and also a lot of fun.  They are easy giveaways from Amazon that anyone can host.  If you had been following Coupon Clipinista you would know what these are, they are all over her page.  This is the first one that I won, they are hard and require no skill, it's all luck lol.

Win #287

Thanks to my holy grail Coupon Clipinista I was able to easily score a full size pack of Oreo thins sent right to my door.  If you want to win things all you have to do to start out is follow her on Facebook and do what she says, im not kidding, it's really easy.

Win #286

The Win of Bacon

I enter all the tabacco related sweepstakes, they do great instants, lots of prizes and it's very easy.  I won another from the Skoal site!  Bacon Jerky, who doesn't want to win Bacon?

Win #285

Im not sure exactly how to classify this win, I signed up for the Smiley360 site, this site allows you to create a profile, then retailers who want you to essentially mystery shop, or try products can offer them to you.  I took on the mission of going to a sleep number store and trying one of their new products, then by sharing on Social Media I qualified for a free pillow that is worth about $75.  I worked at it so i call this a legit win!  Here's a link to smiley if you would like to try it out!

Pinch Me Sample Boxes

It isn't a win technically so I won't be putting it up as one, but the Pinch me sample boxes are lot's of fun, I got one recently and just ordered another.  You sign up for the site, you take the surveys about the products you like (takes like ten minutes), then you get samples to claim, add to your box, and get sent right to your home for free!  This sample of cat treats is coming in my next box, my cats will be pretty stoked.  Here's a link if you want to give it a go!

Win #283 and 284

The Corona Sweep is still running, I won an awesome flip flop bottle opener and a coozy that is like a giant slap bracelet!

Win #282

Funky Money Blog is one of my favorite, as I am sure you well know.  I win from her a lot, I enter all of the contests and they are very easy.  I scored a beautiful With Good intention Necklace that turned into a set with a matching bracelet because the seller took so long.  Thanks to Susannah at Funky Monkey and the folks at Good Intention.

Win #281

The posts will be short as I was on a hiatus, not from winning, because there has been lots of that going on!  I was just working really hard at work and now I can take a deep breath and play catch up on all these crazy wins!

So without further ado!

This awesome Hoo-Rag will look super cool whilst I drive around in the fall.  Plus I am a collector of all things creepy and Halloween related, welcome to my brain, sorry I didn't mean to scare you.  Thanks to Texas Mommy Savings

Win #280

Small victories lol.  I have rekindled my love for instant wins, I am back on a roll!  I used to have to pay money on OLS to get access to the instant win lists and now I can get them for free so I am entering them all daily!  I hit this free Twix win after about 6 times, so thems good odds!

Win #279

I always feel weird classifying House Party items as wins, because technically I have to work to get them, I have to host the party and do all the Party Pact Activities etc...  I still feel like this one is hella amazing, I am so freakin' excited for this to come, plus the party pack they send is LOADED with cool free stuff for me to have and share!  House Party is a website where you can apply to receive and review things, you have to host a party where you share the product and the freebies with family and friends, check it out!

Win #278

The Coupon Clipinista posted in her instant wins section this awesome Skoal Sweeps where you can win new prizes each week.  I scored an awesome waves forever water bottle.  This is really an awesome and expensive bottle, I can't wait to get it.

Win #277

I has been a fantastic week of wins for me.  I have to thank The Coupon Clipinista for posting all of the instant wins that I wouldn't have access too with her help!  I scored a whole bunch of stuff and this one is part of the summer Corona Sweeps.  I won a pair a bottle opener sunglasses, they are a bit cheesy but my son will enjoy them I am sure!

Win #276

Literally immediately after the last post I went to check up on the Coupon Clipinista on Facebook and found a new instant win, she claimed it was "HOT HOT HOT".  I went, I entered my info, I tried and I instantly won on the first try!  You need to go follow the Coupon Clipnista and then you can enter all the instant wins too, and get daily reminders from her!

win #275

It may be a small win but I need to tell you the big way that I am finding these sweeps.  I have started following Coupon Clipinista on Facebook and I can barely keep up with the Sweeps, Instant Wins, Free Samples and Promos that she posts all day long.  I used to sign up to a premium membership to OLS to help me find the instant wins and special high value sweeps from various companies but the Clipinista gives them away just for trafficking her website.  I just have to say you'd be a sweeping idiot to not follow her, like her and enter the contests and sites she recommends, it's truly like having a little sweeping angel to help you along!

Win #274

Thanks to the Fashion Maven Mommy and her love of all things, Fashion, style, Hair and Makeup, I was able to score a bottle of Style Edit root concealer and dry shampoo!  I just received this one in the mail too, I will update as soon as I get to try it out.  Thanks to the Maven for another great win!

Win #273

The Wanderer Soul (Willowbey) is a new blog I just discovered!  She does a ton of giveaways and they are mostly low entry and all listed really easily on her side bar!  I won a cool Spiral Ninja and Im going to use it to eat healthier and try new recipes!!!

Win #272

Real Mom Reviews is a great blog for reviews on clothing, food, and gadgets!  She's another one that I visit often!  I was able to snag two smartphone pockets from one of her giveaways and im excited to put them on my gym shorts that don't have pockets and test them out.  What a cool little gadget!

Win #271

Koupon Karen is a great blog that I feel like has been around for so long!  I have seen a lot of review and giveaway blogs die over the years and this is one that I have been following for years.  Thanks to Koupon Karen this bad boy, LugaLake portable speaker system, (In silver) is now the best thing to happen to my kitchen since taco Tuesday.  I listen to my music on it and it holds my ipad so i can read recipes!  I love this one so much, I am super happy, thanks Koupon Karen!

Win #270

Kikkoman has a special social toaster part of their site you can go to if you want to be an "Insider" to the brand, they offer points per social media event you participate in etc...  It's fun and I get special coupons and discounts for participating.  I randomly won a free rubber ducky for being logged into the site and earning points!

Win #269

It's a little win from Texas Mommy Savings blog but it still gets cataloged and it still makes me super happy!  Thank you to Texas Mommy Savings and Reviews for the great Deckopedia game for my kids and I to play on our net road-trip!

Win #268

Number 268 is brought to you by the Funky Monkey Blog!  It's always a favorite of mine, I visit everyday and enter all their contests, they give away adorable Etsy shop merchandise all the time, lot's of jewelry!  They also have low entries!

Thank you to Funky Monkey and also to Letter and Sphere for the hilarious cute sign which now lives in my kitchen, where I get a lot of shit done.

Win #267

I only grocery shop at Weis.  It's the only grocery store in my area, besides Wal-mart, but that doesn't make a difference.  They truly do have the best of everything I could want.  They have the best customer service, the best employees, the cleanest store, best produce, more amazing gas rewards program and a really good coupon policy.

That all being said I was super excited to see that Weis was hosting a fun social media marketing campaign and sweepstakes.  Weis gives you 10 cents off a gallon of gas for every $50 you spend at the store and there is no cap, meaning I can get my gas for free if I spend enough.  You also get your points pre coupons and discounts so if my total is $200 (which it often is feeding a family of 4), I get 40 cents off every gallon of gas (up to 20 gallons) even if after my coupons and discounts I can get that total to $95 bucks.  

So Weis asked us to take a selfie at the pump (participating gas station is Sheetz) and share it through their Facebook sweepstakes page.  They do a weekly drawing for a $25 gift card and the single grand prize winner win a year of free gas.  I entered for the free gas.  But I was super happy to get an email from their marketing coordinator that I had won one of the weekly $25 gift cards.  This is why I love my hobby, it's fun and rewarding.

Thank you to my awesome grocery store chain for hosting and making my day!

Win #266

Mitch over at Gay NYC Dad is great!  I have won from him multiple times and I have always advocated for him being a great Dad and a great blogger.  He has weekly giveaways, does reviews, loves Disney and even gets to meet famous people!  I was lucky enough to take home a sweet Starbucks gift card from Mitch this week, and I will save it till Christmas, hopefully, I do love a good Starbucks.  So go check him out, you won't regret it!

Random Wins

I have been pretty lucky lately.  There are some things I consider to be wins but I don't necessarily count them towards my total here.  I am a member of the NCircle Mom's review team and I get a DVD to review every month.  The kids love it so much and it's like a win every month getting a new selection and getting to keep my video library stocked and last month I even donated a few DVD's we hadn't watched in a while to my Day Care.

I also was selected to Host an iRobot Roomba House Party.  So I was able to receive a free Roomba ($700 ARV) to review and big party pack to share with my friends and family who come to check out this awesome product.  If you don't know about House Party go check it out.  I've been a member a long time and have been host to many fun parties where you get to sample fun stuff.

I won a very funny and exciting adult product on the radio show I listen to on Sirius XM in the afternoons.  It's a pretty shameless talk show and while I will in no way be admitting to what I actually won it is hilarious and I am looking forward to un-boxing it, not in front of my kids, lol.

Lastly My friend held an online jewelry party this week and I won two of the three drawings so I actually won more product than I actually ordered, I totally made out!  I bought a bracelet and I won a locket and a charm.  

So on the non-blog wins it's been pretty amazing lately, I haven't lost my horse shoe and I will continue to enter, keep your fingers crossed and maybe I can just hit the lotto next.

Win #265

Chic Luxuries is a contest you enter through email that I have been participating in for a while.  It's easy to enter and they come up randomly in my newsletter feed.  You just email back with your info and a special subject line and you get to pick any prize from a long list!  This is the first time I have won from them and I am super excited, all the prizes were great and it took me a while to pick, I chose the Bemo Social Camera and I can't wait until it gets to me to try it out!

Link to some of the prizes Here.

The camera was removed after I chose it :)

Win #264

It's been a bit but I have been winning like crazy over the last week or so!  The first win I want to log is another great win from the Sweeps4bloggers site.  I have won from them many times in the past, Valerie is awesome and runs a tight ship and hosts a ton of great giveaways, that have easy entry methods.  

I was able to win a Stoneridge Orchards Cherry product and I look forward to trying them, her review was great and makes them sound awesome!

Thank you to Valerie as always!

Win #263

It had to be the Funky Monkey, lol.  

I won this this morning, which reminded me that I was behind and had to get on top of posting before I just never got around to it and needed 80 posts to catch up.  Funky Monkey features a ton of adorable Etsy shops and this time it's Landon Lacey, an incredible jewelry maker and I can't wait to get this beautiful necklace to sport around the office, I know I will get lots of compliments on it.

Win #262

Yet another Funky Monkey win.  

I just can't get enough of the Funky Monkey blog and all of their super cute reviews and giveaways, there are lots of fun and unique Etsy shops that are featured there and I really love that.

I won a sign from the Paola Brown shop, I received a lovely sign with someone's dogs names on it, then promptly had to print out a shipping label to the actual person that belonged to and then they sent me mine.  Gotta love a mix up!  We hung our sign in the kitchen and it really ties our room together, im so happy with it!

Win #261

I love Gay NYC Dad, I have won from him multiple times, he's an amazing Dad, Husband, and person.  Thanks to him I was able to score this big Pikachu plush!  I saved him for a birthday present and he was a huge hit.  If you love gaming, Disney, toys, reviews, parenting, and giveaways than go visit Mitch and read his awesome blog.

Win #260

Kelly Stilwell is an amazing blog writer and the author of Virtually Yours, another fantastic blog where you can read reviews and get some great info too!  I won a $20 Amazon gift code from her Facebook page and actually just used it for some Christmas gifts last week!

Check out Kelly Here on Facebook.

Win #259

I am a winner from Susan's Disney Family Blog again!  She has a great blog and posts on any number of topics, more importantly she's a huge Disney fanatic and you can read her blog if you need to know ANYTHING Disney related.  Thank you to Susan who made it possible for me to score a blue-ray of the Lego Movie for my home.  Everythign really IS awesome!

Sorry!

I just wanted to apologize for disappearing for 6 months, man time flies.

I actually was laid off from my job for three months, while most people think that leaves more time available for sweeping, it's actually less.  Finding a job is a full time job.  I managed to score an amazing new job making WAYYYYY more than I had before.  This also means I have like zero time lately for any contests or mommy blogs.

The god news is, now that Christmas is getting closer my load is lightening and I am able to enter hear and there, I do have to post a bunch of wins that were never posted and that's what I will do today!

Win #258 Another Dandy Win!

Dandy is one of my favorite blogs, obviously I win from them constantly!  I won any pair of KidOFit shoes and I picked out a pair for my daughter, they are so awesome!  You can see right through the bottom to see when their feet outgrow them!  I picked the gold Vivianne shoes for her and I think she'll love them.  Thanks to Dandy as always!