I Love Free Stuff

I belong to a multitude of survey companies. I don't remember how I got into it but it has been several years now. I of course only do it for one reason...free stuff. There are several different types of companies out there so you just have to know what you are interested in to decide which ones you want to try out.
Some companies mostly just give chances at their many drawings as rewards. I don't like those as much and will usually not take long surveys from them. It's not worth my time. They will occasionally have surveys that give away actual money but they are few and far between and usually fill up quickly.
There are ones that give away money for every survey but there are not too many of those out there that I have found.
Most of the companies work on a point system. They award so many points for each survey you complete or partial survey. They then have a reward catalogue that you can redeem your points through, some of which offer actual cash, usually through Paypal.
Quite often I will get items in the mail to try for different corporations who want opinions on new items getting ready to debut. Sometimes it's things that have been around for ages and they want to try a change in the formula. We've been the recipients of cereals, crackers, cookies, shampoos, and garbage bags to name a few. It's usually pretty fun.
Over the years, I have accumulated various points with the different companies and enjoy trading them in every so often. It's so fun to go through the catalogues and see the new items that come in every so often. One year I cashed in with several companies for cash and ended up with some extra spending money for our vacation. They are all different in regard to how many points per survey and per reward. Some deal in the fives and tens and some in the hundreds.
One company in particular is called Homescan powered by ACNielson, which I think is also involved in the tv ratings. They have an ongoing shopping tracking program that I am involved in too. I have been doing it for about 3 years I think. It is a bit more involved that some of the others. Everything we buy is supposed to be scanned into the scanner they sent me using the bar codes that everything has. Doesn't matter what it is, groceries, clothes, gas, fast food, film, prescriptions, etc. I forget occasionally but I have been doing it for so long that it is really just second nature to scan everything while I am putting it away.
They are the best at reward points. I usually earn about 500 points a week from them depending on how many surveys they have at any given time. They do not exchange their points for cash which is too bad but they have some pretty great rewards so it's not too bad. I am not very good at saving up for big items. I usually cash in once or twice a year. We have gotten a small vacuum/sweeper that works great in the kitchen, a baking stone to make pizzas on, a T-ball set for Becca and most recently, a Lasso Golf game (ladder golf to some).
This is something I have been wanting for ages. We first played a few years ago in Wisconsin and really enjoyed it. I found one in a different survey companies rewards catalogue and I was saving up to get it but I knew it would take ages and they change their rewards often. I was so excited to find in the Homescan catalogue. It just came in the other day and I can't wait to set it up and try it out.
Anyhow, now that I have completely bored you, I will wow you with some amazingly cool pictures....ok not really.