Friday, February 11, 2011
HUMA
Also know as the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources. Anyhow this was an interesting adventure. I received an e-mail late on a Monday afternoon and was asked to be in Ottawa by 9am that Thursday. Some scrambling took place to get there given the short notice, but luckily I can rely on parents to watch Rachel. Paula and I travelled together by train where we managed to get a lot of work done and had a nice supper in Ottawa with some of the other people who were going to present on Thursday. On the Thursday morning we got lost going to the meeting room but made it on time and we able to present our 7 minute speech. An hour later we were let loose on Ottawa and went shopping at a huge Chapters where Paula bought a number of French books for the girls. It was early to bed that night because we had to catch the train back home at 5:40 the next morning. Not a bad thing and we still got a lot of work done. Would I do it again? Not so sure...maybe I'd fly after all and be gone much less time.
Friday, February 4, 2011
Mailbox Mayhem
If you know me you know I enter a number of contest and request free products when the product is appropriate for our family! There was one week this summer where there was a new prize in the mailbox everyday ranging from a full Scrubbing Bubbles shower kit that I wasn't expecting to a lunch bag from Chapmans for Rachel. Basically our house that week was like Christmas or at least a birthday and some of those surprises have been put a way to use at a later date as gifts.
Mom Central
So I got hooked up with a group called Mom Central and the results have been fantastic. The club (virtual of course) offers all sorts of testing opportunities for mom's. I participate via the blog tours and regular surveys. Mom Central sent me the products to host a Cherrios party and I had a Mom's night complete with door prizes at little costs to me. Thanks Mom Central for letting me be a part of your club and testing panel.
Monday, August 23, 2010
Contests/Surveys/Freebiesetc
So I enter a number of contest everyday that I've found online. There are a few sites that I trust implicitly and some that I refuse to enter because I am not certain of the legitimacy of the contest. My success rate is variable but I firmly believe that if you don't try you can't win. That being said I only spend about 15 minutes a day doing this. I know there are several people you spend all day doing contest and that is just to much for me. However, I do wish I could find more child friendly contests.
Do you do surveys? I do, usually 2 online per day and one or 2 written ones per week. The online ones are pretty straight forward with some offering point rewards that you save up for cash or material rewards. These are the one's I prefer. As for the written ones, they are interesting but a lot of work. I also find the rewards are not reflective of the amount of work involved. Lastly I do one that is done using a scanner and some on-line activity. This one is probably the easiest. I enjoy providing the information but doing surveys is not a way to get rich quickly.
I take advantage of almost any freeebiew I can get. In the trunk of my car there are too many enviro bags to count and yet all but one of them was free. I use bins from the Loblaws chain of companies to organize and again these were free. I find that freebies, often sample , are great for when packing for trips, filling in gaps in a gift bag, entertaining my daughter or just because. Freebies can come from almost anywhere including the toothbrushes at the dentist office or the small trial sizes you get with coupon packages.
Now coupons are probably the one thing that can benefit you the most if used properly, but they can be the most elusive. I know it doesn't make sense to buy something just because you have a coupon, however,, cutting coupons just to have them expire before you use them doesn't make a lot of sense either. I'm not perfect and tend to do both regularly!
Recently, I've started to use online coupons, better know as deal codes, when doing online purchases. These have a benefit over store coupons because you know immediately if they work rather than potentially being embarrassed at checkout.
Do you do surveys? I do, usually 2 online per day and one or 2 written ones per week. The online ones are pretty straight forward with some offering point rewards that you save up for cash or material rewards. These are the one's I prefer. As for the written ones, they are interesting but a lot of work. I also find the rewards are not reflective of the amount of work involved. Lastly I do one that is done using a scanner and some on-line activity. This one is probably the easiest. I enjoy providing the information but doing surveys is not a way to get rich quickly.
I take advantage of almost any freeebiew I can get. In the trunk of my car there are too many enviro bags to count and yet all but one of them was free. I use bins from the Loblaws chain of companies to organize and again these were free. I find that freebies, often sample , are great for when packing for trips, filling in gaps in a gift bag, entertaining my daughter or just because. Freebies can come from almost anywhere including the toothbrushes at the dentist office or the small trial sizes you get with coupon packages.
Now coupons are probably the one thing that can benefit you the most if used properly, but they can be the most elusive. I know it doesn't make sense to buy something just because you have a coupon, however,, cutting coupons just to have them expire before you use them doesn't make a lot of sense either. I'm not perfect and tend to do both regularly!
Recently, I've started to use online coupons, better know as deal codes, when doing online purchases. These have a benefit over store coupons because you know immediately if they work rather than potentially being embarrassed at checkout.
Chapmas Kids Club
This is a phenomenal site that doesn't costs you anything. It is a fun and interactive website run by Canada's foremost Ice Cream Company, Chapmans Ice Cream. You play games at kidsclub.ca and you can earn up to 600 points per day playing jigsaw puzzles, memory, etc. The point values vary by game and some depend on how far you get before you lose. At the start of the month there is a quiz with 200 points. You can start exchanging your points for Chapman's Branded Merchandise at 500 points for a Fridge Magnet Photo Frame to 9500 points for the Chapman's Ice Cream Delivery Truck. There are several prizes in between and many can be requested multiple times in a year. Rachel has enjoyed this site and in particular loves going to the mailbox to get mail for her. Out experience has been that gifts arrive about 2 weeks after ordering and there is no cost for shipping. The only "cost" is the time to play/assist/supervise the game. Yes, they do run out of prizes occasionally, but I've seen everything restock. We haven't been playing for long so I haven't seen many new prizes but I'm sure it happens. Go Chapman's Ice Cream and thank you for the free gifts.
Tag Tails
My little girl is three (she just turned 3) and doesn't necessarily get the idea of tag. To her the game is called "Get You: and it is the person she is playing with you is supposed to catch and tickle her, then do it again until she gets bored. For her third birthday my friend Paula and her gamily gave Rachel a set of Tag Tails from Playskool. This is a set of 4 coloured belts with 4 detachable tails (monkey, lion, zebra and tiger). Now when Rachel wants to play a chose game she ask to play Jungle Me (she's the tiger) and Jungle Mommy (the monkey) and Jungle Daddy (zebra and lion). The great thing is that she knows not only does someone chase her and steal her tail, but she has to get the tails off of the other players. This makes for hours of fun in our yard. There are other versions of the game for between 2 and 5 players. Sometimes with Rachel we change the game up a little and there's a chase to put the tails back on their owners.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars.
Rating 4 out of 5 stars.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Value of Communication
Do you ever wonder why bother writing to a company? Let's be honest do the big companies really care what we think? Well I've never been afraid to write when something isn't quite right or something really exceeds my expectations. This is probably from my courses at school that drove home if you don't know why your customers are leaving how can you fix it.
I've had a couple situation where I've written because a product hasn't lived up to my expectations and have been pleasantly surprised by the results.
The first was Leapfrog! Rachel had a fridge farm, but one of the magnets was always weak. Eventually it wouldn't stick at all. I wrote to Leapfrog and they responded that they would replace the piece at no charge. Actually they had to replace the entire animal set. The set didn't arrive as expected so I sent a followup e-mail. The response was quick and since they ran out of the animal kits they sent a whole new farm.
The second email was to Lego about a cracked lid on a Christmas git. As it happened Lego called me for more information and since the stet is no longer made they sent a $20 gift card to replace a broken lid!
Back in April we purchased Rachel an Innate Bottle at Mountain Equipment Co-op in Burlington. I was looking forward to using it, because it seemed virtually indestructible. Howler in early June we noticed the drinking oval was starting to rip. I sent an email to Innate asking how to prevent further damage on a Sunday evening and as of the next Monday afternoon they apologized for the problem and sent a new lid in the mail.
These quick responses make me more inclined to deal with these three companies in the future!
As for Disney however the response was very different and I am very disappointed.
We purchased an Ariel Under Water Garden water bottle for Rachel at the Disney Store in Hamilton. Whithin a month of having the bottle issues surfaced. The bottle has a purple lid and a large chunk is missing as well as a crack up the side. Since the product is aimed at children I was really disappointed by the lack of durability. I emailed the Disney Store and the response was basically we can't do anything and you need to travel to Hamilton to resolve the issue! Not a positive interaction with a large well known multinational organization.
My disappointment extends beyond this to include frustration at cash. See the Hamilton store doesn't except Mastercard and you didn't find out until you get to cash. The last time I was in the store the sign was obscured by shelf displays. While I realize the store has a right to make decisions I would like to know before I am caught off guard at cash!
I've had a couple situation where I've written because a product hasn't lived up to my expectations and have been pleasantly surprised by the results.
The first was Leapfrog! Rachel had a fridge farm, but one of the magnets was always weak. Eventually it wouldn't stick at all. I wrote to Leapfrog and they responded that they would replace the piece at no charge. Actually they had to replace the entire animal set. The set didn't arrive as expected so I sent a followup e-mail. The response was quick and since they ran out of the animal kits they sent a whole new farm.
The second email was to Lego about a cracked lid on a Christmas git. As it happened Lego called me for more information and since the stet is no longer made they sent a $20 gift card to replace a broken lid!
Back in April we purchased Rachel an Innate Bottle at Mountain Equipment Co-op in Burlington. I was looking forward to using it, because it seemed virtually indestructible. Howler in early June we noticed the drinking oval was starting to rip. I sent an email to Innate asking how to prevent further damage on a Sunday evening and as of the next Monday afternoon they apologized for the problem and sent a new lid in the mail.
These quick responses make me more inclined to deal with these three companies in the future!
As for Disney however the response was very different and I am very disappointed.
We purchased an Ariel Under Water Garden water bottle for Rachel at the Disney Store in Hamilton. Whithin a month of having the bottle issues surfaced. The bottle has a purple lid and a large chunk is missing as well as a crack up the side. Since the product is aimed at children I was really disappointed by the lack of durability. I emailed the Disney Store and the response was basically we can't do anything and you need to travel to Hamilton to resolve the issue! Not a positive interaction with a large well known multinational organization.
My disappointment extends beyond this to include frustration at cash. See the Hamilton store doesn't except Mastercard and you didn't find out until you get to cash. The last time I was in the store the sign was obscured by shelf displays. While I realize the store has a right to make decisions I would like to know before I am caught off guard at cash!
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