soooooooooo............

I haven't been blogging for quite a long time, simply because I haven't been comping for a long time. I last reported the win for the kitchen makeover. Unfortunately it didn't happen, the local company started to ask for extra money, it didn't state anything about needing to pay extra in the terms and conditions so we decided not to take the prize. We were gutted about it but we just had a 'bad feeling' about it. This experience put me off comping for a while, I've won the odd prizes here and there since then.

Aswell as that experience we also got married in the summer, at Lake Garda in Italy, so planning of that has taken quite alot of my time! So i'm back to it now and plan to seek out some comps to enter today and start again. Now that we haven't taken our kitchen prize, I still need to beat my total from last year. And with only 4 months left of the year it's going to be hard!

I've found my mojo!

I have really lost my mojo recently and i haven't been putting my heart into it at all. I think it was because  my wins had started to slow down I lost motivation. However i have had some pretty cool wins that have lifted my spirits and restored all faith in myself!!

My first one is an amazing £6500 kitchen makeover. I can't wait to share before and after pictures with you. I had my first meeting about it today and it sounds amazing and very exciting. This is definitely my biggest win to date!

Today I have had notification of 2 wins, well the first one not as such. But a picture of my son will be in next weeks Toy Story magazine issue. I must have sent this about 3 months ago and got a nice little letter today informing us of a present for Toby will be in the post! I think I will spend sometime emailing more pictures this week to other magazines, I've heard this is a great way to win extra prizes.

Also I got my first text win! I have never really dabbled in text comps until this months compers news had quite a few standard rate competitions in. I have a text today to say I have won a pair of football boots, which I think is paid in £50 sports direct vouchers! That will come in handy having two boys.

I almost forgot I have also won a £50 Topshop voucher in the recent video competition with Schwarzkopf LIVE. Now can you see why I have my comping mojo back? :)

Who would have thought there were so many ways to win.....

Just one moment in time.....

Recently I haven't been winning as much as I was last year.  Mainly because my life seems to be very bust at the moment and i don't have as much time! So I have discovered a new way a winning lots of little things just for a 'quick fix'! Yes... it seems I am well and truly addicted to winning and I get some what irritable when i haven't won for a while :)

So I have been setting my alarm for 5AM (!!!) switching the computer on and entering the 'winning moments' competitions. I'm totally addicted to rowntrees randoms and have won far too many packets!! But I have 6 entries so far to the grand prize draw.

Also I while ago nestle had the promotional packs of cereal where they were giving away 1000's of prizes. These don't seem to be in the shops anymore for some reason and I had quite a few codes saved from that. I entered two each morning and Have won every time! When the promotion first started I had entered late at night and only won the free gym or swim pass that everyone won! SO I have managed to bag, 2 footballs, a cricket set, a book, an exercise mat and ball, 2 pedometers and a pamper voucher!

I have entered sooooo many McDonald's vouchers into their cash competition but not had any luck. I have a feeling with this winning moment competition you have to hit the exact moment. So I don't think I buy McDonald's just for the competition.

I have had old actimel codes and won a £5 car wash which I swapped for a £5 cheque, packs of mints on the trebor competition. It seems like you really can win lots of things in the winning moments competition, they might only be little but they certainly fed my addiction while not winning bigger things. It only takes about 20 mins once I have entered all my codes and i turn the computer off and go back to sleep!!!!

Money Saving: Why buy things when you can win them?

I am trying to win a £500 investment with brit mums and virgin money.

We are huge money saving fans in our house, from using coupons, to haggling down the price of something, car boot sales and high street sales. But my favourite money saving tip is; if you want something why not try to win it first?

I have been 'comping' seriously for about 16 months now and I have won over £3500 worth of things, its not alot compared to some compers but its great for me!

Recently I have won a years supply of tea bags, which turned out to be thirty boxes, as I only drink 2 or 3 cups a day these will last me way over 2 years, saving me approximately £70. Another great prize I won was a years supply of persil and we all know how expensive washing powder is.

I have won lots of gadgets that I wouldn't use that have come in hampers or prize packages and I have sold them on ebay, I save the money and put it towards our holiday fund.

I have won weekend in London with £200 selfridges vouchers, new kettle and toaster, food vouchers, toys for the children (which I save for birthdays sometimes), dvds (I NEVER buy dvd's, my Dad takes the mickey out of me for this, because when I see one that I would like I always try and win it first and most of the time I do!! We have a great dvd collection), sweets, shampoo and conditioner and plenty more.

I always try and win the things I would use and everyday items such as toothpaste, small food items, we won a massive soup hamper around Christmas time, its great when you win food because the shopping bill really comes down.

I try to enter creative competitions just because it doesn't mean spending hours a day at the computer like a lot of compers do. I can get the children involved, my eldest who is 5 loves doing colouring competitions and he has won a couple, its fun going to special places and doing a little photo shoot! I did my first video competition this year that involved the boys, here it is :

Comping is a fabulous way to save money, not only that its great fun too. So.... why buy it, when you can win it?

My first EVER video and competition!

This is the first video I have ever taken and edited. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. It took about an hour and a half shoot and another hour and half to edit. It's for the kelkoo's culinary kids competition which ends today.

So what do you think for my first attempt? I have to say I am quite pleased with it and can't wait to do more!

pancake fun!

We had lots of fun making pancakes yesterday.I'm not the mst creative person so I asked the boys for their ideas and they came up with a pirate pancake! So here's what we came up with:

The boys decided they didn't actually like pancakes. However I love them so they ate the sweets and I ate the pancakes!!! The bandana was ade with jam and the teeth dolly mixtures, I think the rest is obvious!!

I noticed a few competitions that wanted pictures of you actually tossing the pancake, I had a few practise goes and the boys 'bet' I couldn't do it with a mask on. We all got so involved and excited I forgot to take pictures without the mask!!! So here it is:

This picture won me some goodies from Arm and Hammers facebook page. We are decorating by the way - hence the mess!!!!

Compers News subscription..is it worth it?

I decided to subscribe to Compers News back in November and I received my first issue in December. They were running a special offer £9.99 for 3 issues, I thought about it for a long time and read what people thought of the magazine. Most people were saying it was great and they won a lot of prizes through it. I thought for £9.99 its worth a go.

I received my first issue, I can not tell you how excited I was! I sat down with a cuppa when the children were in bed, at first I was slightly disappointed as I had seen most of the online competitions already. They have different sections in the magazine for each type of competition. The postal comps had quite alot that I hadn't seen and I entered a few.

What I do like about the magazine is that they have alot of competitions for subscribers only, puzzles in the magazine, stamp giveaways and other prizes. I have entered as many as these as I can. Also they have winners stories, and hints and tips of how to win competitions.

I think I was under the impression that if I subscribe to this magazine I would automatically win lots of competitions and I haven't, in fact I haven't won anything that Compers News have told me about! But after sitting down and reading that first, second and third issue that I have now received, I love it. I think it is so nice to sit down and have a good old fashioned read about competitions, before this all my comping was done online. I love reading the monthly letters, and the winners stories are great inspirations.

The last issue I received was the February issue, I worked my way through the magazine and ticked off every competition I had entered and crossed out the ones I didn't want to enter. I don't think anything is as easy as that online!! I can see in front of me what I have and haven't done. I just need to do the subscribers puzzles and send them off now! I have entered loads of postal comps that I would never have known about otherwise.

The magazine also has its own online forum that you can only access as a member, I have to confess I haven't really been on this much. i find the comps in the magazine, the creative ones from Superluckys blog and any facebook competitions I see is enough!

So I think if you are thinking about subscribing its worth it, just for the times you don't feel like going online. Or if you want to enter more postal comps, you can take the magazine with you, I write out all my postcards at work when I have a quiet period. If you want some inspiration, its great to read others stories, hints and tips. Plus you have all the different types of competitions in one place.

BEWARE- you may find yourself buying unnecessary things, for example, way to many apples because you want to win a pink car, or far too much chocolate to win one of a million moments, 5 boxes of cereal that your hoping the children will like because they are giving away thousands of prizes... but that's all part of the fun isn't it?