Free to Me!

Once again, I would like to revisit the concept of free stuff. I have always loved free stuff, and I love it even more now that I am a mom since it is guilt free "spending" on me. Even better, Moms are seen by marketers as a hot commodity in the marketplace, so they give you free stuff "just" for being a mom.

Some examples:
Vocalpoint: This is a site, created by Procter and Gamble, that solicits mom opinions on a wide variety of things. Even if you don't give your opinion, they send you coupons for free stuff in order to entice you to buy things you normally wouldn't. So far I have gotten free Kashi Cereal and free Special K20, which is some sort of protein drink. I haven't been able to actually locate this product to buy it, but I am carrying around the coupon. In addition, as part of their program, they sent me some free Olay products for Mother's Day.

Harris Poll: I continue to do the online Harris Poll surveys. This weekend was a really annoying one where I had to go on every night and tell them if and how I used paper towels. I should get lots of points for this one, which is the equivalent of a free CD.

Mommy Track'd: If you recall, I got my free mug through a RoleMommy contest a few months ago. Today, I won a free momAgenda from Mommy Track'd, another "mom resource" Web site. The hope is that this agenda will perform miracles and help me keep chaos at bay. I will report back and let you know if I achieve success.

I blame my Dad for my obsession with getting something for nothing. He has been responding to "Janet Hall" of the Home Testing Institute for as long as I can remember. He is also now a "secret shopper" where he goes into various businesses and restaurants and completes surveys on how he was treated. He typically gets to expense his purchases and small amounts of cash for his troubles. Hey - it keeps him off the streets....And sometimes he gives me some of his free stuff - even better.