Saturday 18 July 2015

Nielsen Homescan. Is it All They Say!? My Experience #Review



I wanted to share my experience with Nielsen Homescan. I heard about this company for at least a year. I would constantly see people raving about them online. People raved about how they reaped such wonderful rewards so easily, getting gift cards sent to them from this company every month. So, of course, I wanted in, who wouldn't!? But, there was always a wait list since it was in such "high demand." I got on the wait list, then, in November 2014 I got in! I was so excited. I got sent the scanner to scan and upload all of my purchases and I was on my way to easily, earning such wonderful rewards. At least that's what I thought.

All the comments I read online talked about how easy the program was and how it took no time at all and suddenly you would be sent all these gift cards for very little effort. I started scanning my purchases and let me tell you, it is not so easy. In fact, it is VERY time consuming. They want to know about ALL of your shopping habits. I found myself scanning things daily. Whether it was a coffee purchase, grocery, hair care, drugstore, clothing, beauty, gas, online purchase, whatever, you have to scan everything that you purchase! And, they expect everyone in the household to participate and scan their purchases as well. You need all of your receipts handy as most of the time you have to manually enter prices for each purchase that you make. Then, at the end of each week you upload your scanner to send them your information about all your purchases for that week.

I did this for over 7 months without fail, scanning daily and uploading weekly, from November 2014 to June 2015. And, what did I have to show for it in over 7 months? NOTHING! Nothing but 3000 points in my account with them and the lowest gift card of $10 requires 8000 points to redeem it. So, by my calculations it would take over 1 year of scanning all of your purchases and weekly uploading just to earn a $10 movie gift card (at this time it's a movie gift card, but that could change.)

Let me break it down:
You get 150 points each week IF you upload your scanner.
Multiply 150 X 52 weeks (1 year)
=7800 (just short of the 8000 minimum to redeem for the lowest gift card of $10!)

There are supposed to be surveys to earn extra points, but in 7 months, I got one survey that earned me a whopping 200 points!

I was so tired of scanning everything that me and my family purchased and having nothing to show for it, so I contacted the company and told them about my displeasure. They didn't even respond to me regarding this. So, I packed up the scanner and all the materials and bar codes for scanning and shipped it back. Good riddance!

I was so relieved to no longer have to scan everything me and my family purchased. But, I was also angry for being mislead and for wasting over 7 months of my life doing this for absolutely nothing! They got all of my hard work, all of my information for their research purposes and rewarded me with nothing! Nothing but lost time that I cannot get back.

So, why am I writing this? Because I want to save YOU 7 months or however many months of your life and time! This was my experience and I have a voice and I want to share this with you and save you some grief so all of my lost time, work and grief was not all in vain.

I'm not sure why so many coupon and savings bloggers rave about this service, maybe they are getting a kick back or maybe, somehow, they got their $10 gift card in less than 53 months!

This is just my experience and the facts and I hope that it helps someone out there!
It seems that blogging is contagious and I think I've caught it. Although, I've never been one who's really enjoyed writing, my sleepless nights and whirling mind have resulted in my first attempt to create a blog all my own.

Now, wouldn't it be great if this really became something for me!? Not only do I desperately need a new hobby, an outlet, but if I could actually turn this into something lucrative and fun, I will be one happy camper, and let me tell you, it's been a long time coming.

After years and years of customer service work and plenty of not-so-pleasant experiences, not to say it's a bad job, just one that I don't think people should stay in for a lifetime.  Needless to say, I would be delighted (to say the least), if this actually REALLY turned into something for me.

I have so many interests, from travel, to health (including nutrition, recipes, supplements, cardio/weight lifting, yoga, meditation) as well as a hefty passion for all things fashion and beauty!!  Not to mention my love of all the wonderful DIY projects I find here on the wonderful world of the interwebs. I love sharing all this information with others, the back and forth flow of information never ends and I love it!

I'm beginning this journey on a total insomniac night (despite all my efforts, the sandman isn't visiting tonight), so here goes nothing and hoping it becomes something! And hopefully, one day I'll look back at the beginning of this journey and know that at least I finally found one reason for my suffering.

Here's to the good times to come!

Cheers

Tuesday 10 March 2015

Paulas Choice- First impression

March 10, 2015
Paula's Choice- First impression

I received my first order with Paula's Choice the other day. I got a $10 off coupon that I found online plus they had free shipping, so I figured I didn't have much to lose- the $26 skin product I wanted to purchase only ended up costing me $16! I did have to pay a $5 customs/brokerage fee and tax however, but it was still a deal! 

Here is what came in my package:






 I ordered the Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer ($26 reg) and a nice size at 60ml! The other items are samples and some skin care booklets that all came free with my order.  When you checkout on the website you are able to add 3 free skin care samples of your choice. I'm excited to read the free skin care booklets too, since I'm a total skin care junkie! Here is the Skin Recovery Replenishing Moisturizer that I started yesterday:

 I used the Recovery Moisturizer last night with my Holistic Vanity Argan oil (from Pure and Simple Spa) over top and Pure and Simple's Algae Serum underneath. My skin stayed hydrated until I woke up... I couldn't stop touching my skin! Even with the Argan oil, a lot of my other moisturizers fail to keep my skin moisturized through the night, Paula's Skin Recovery Moisturizer did not disappoint.

This morning I used the Skin Recovery Moisturizer again, this time just over a serum, and without an oil overtop. It left the perfect finish to my skin, it looked and felt moisturized, but sunk right in and did not leave any greasy residue. It also left the perfect finish (almost like I had used a primer) for application of my daily BB cream (currently that is the Physicians Formula Super BB.)  Usually when I apply this BB cream my skin looks dry underneath, despite my previous moisturizers layered underneath.

It's currently past 5pm and I cannot stop touching my face! And it looks GREAT for a change! So I am excited to say the least, I love me some good skin care. I don't want to get too ahead of myself because I am very acne prone, but *knock on wood, so far so good, I don't see any signs of clogged pores, nor does it feel clogging, and the few spots I have from other skin care samples I tried still seem to be clearing up!

ps. if you are interested, I encourage you to sign up with them as they will send you info on sales as well as coupons for your Birthday etc..

If you want to try Paula's Choice, here is a $10 off coupon for your first order: http://goo.gl/2KaGBZ

(note: this is an affiliate link and we will both benefit if you use it. After signing up you can also get a $10 off coupon code to share with your friends and family.)

Happy Skin care shopping!













Monday 9 March 2015

The day after..

Well, today was far from fun, considering I never got a visit from the Sandman last night. It's very rare that I wont sleep at all, I may have trouble falling asleep or go through phases where I wake too early, but not an all-nighter! Geesh! Usually, at least one of my sleep tactics that I pull out of the proverbial "hat" will get me drifting off, but not last night. I tried some sleepy tea which didn't work, so I had another cup.. nothing. Then I tried a homeopathic remedy that often works; I took Arsenicum Album (great for restlessness and anxiety) nothing happened. After a few hours, I tried Coffea Cruda, another homeopathic remedy that can be wonderful for an overactive mind when one cannot sleep due to that. But not for me, at least not last night. Neither remedy worked this time, I guess they just weren't what my body needed at the time.

On the bright side, I did something productive last night, something I had never really thought of doing- I started this blog. I follow many bloggers and vloggers who share the same interests as me, but never thought of having my own blog or vlog, but here I am! Today, I really wanted to post an outfit of the day or something fun (if I could figure out how), because I recently scored some amazing finds at great prices at Old Navy! I was able to pick up quite a bit since the prices were so reasonable plus they had an additional 30% off (which is very common, just check their website for discount codes.)  You might not think of Old Navy for very fashionable finds, but they really have some nice styles right now, simple, but on trend. I got a couple pairs of boyfriend jeans in different washes and a ton of stylish but super-casual loose fitting, stylin' tops! I'm really happy with everything and hope to share some of my finds.

Well, tonight is a night to relax for sure. I kind of want to stay up and watch one of my guilty pleasures- The Bachelor... I mean I have to know who Chris picks, right!?  And, after that, I'm hopeful that I'll have a great nights sleep and look forward to finding something, hopefully fun, to blog about tomorrow!

OH! Here's a pair of boots from Old Navy the other day, they were on sale for around $15, but sadly they didn't fit.


Night all! xo


P.S. If anyone is interested in the all natural homeopathic sleep/anxiety remedies I mentioned, here are some links: if anyone wants to try them. I get them on Iherb.com, where shipping is as low as $2 and sometimes free, even to Canada!! The two remedies I mentioned will work for most people for insomnia and anxiety also, they can also be found at many health food stores. (my insomnia is extremely long-standing and quite complicated.)  These are affiliate links: If you use either of these links you will receive $5-$10 off your order if you are a new customer. Of course, you can always go to www.iherb.com and not use the links below...

*Link to "Arsenicum Album" http://www.iherb.com/boiron-single-remedies-arsenicum-album-6c-80-pellets/57763#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-us&w=arsenicum%20album&rc=31&sr=null&ic=2?rcode=agu725

*Link to "Coffea Cruda" http://www.iherb.com/boiron-single-remedies-coffea-cruda-30c-approx-80-pellets/57895#p=1&oos=1&disc=0&lc=en-us&w=coffea&rc=146&sr=null&ic=6?rcode=agu725