*Living off competition wins!!!!*

moneymakestheworldgoround

Hi

I think I know which lady you refer to - she is lovely, really has won all those things, has written a book, and is really helpful.

I dont know if I can mention her name here, but if anyone wants to PM me I will let you know her name and the book.

chriswatts

well between those sites coming into existence and competitions appearing on the internet I must have had at least one win a month (some small some big), when they appeared it probably dropped down to about one or two a year.

moneymakestheworldgoround

I love competitions !! I havent entered any for a year or two, but for a year I was on first name terms with the postie, and I had parcels everyday.

My biggest win was a fridge freezer for £1300, but I had lots of little/medium prizes. I didnt buy Xmas or birthday presents for the year as I won so much, and I kept 3 local playgroups in business with prizes for raffles etc...

Mainly postcard wins, but some internet and phone call ones. I had a great trip to the Comedy Awards with a night in the Hilton hotel. It was more about getting the luxuries that I couldnt afford ordinarily, and treating the kids with things that werent from the Pound Shop !!

3 months worth of biscuits went down well at my ex's building site !! Champers went down well with my aged granny, etc...

The only draw back was having food in the cupboard that I had cut labels off of to enter comps, so it was russian roulette for what we had for tea some nights !!

If you have a knack for writing slogans I think it is possible to win enough to live on for the year.

rrickyuk

moneymakestheworldgoround wrote: »

If you have a knack for writing slogans I think it is possible to win enough to live on for the year.

It's amazing how few comps require a slogan or tie-breaker nowadays - they scare a lot of people off, and thus give the marketing people a smaller pool of people to contact.

That said, if I do see one I enter it (if the prize fits with me) - the odds are good.

gingernights

baffledsalmon wrote: »

Firstly, sorry if this is in the wrong topic, didn't know where to put it!

I heard a few years ago about a woman who simply lives off the money/stuff she wins from competitions. She does nothing all day but apply to competitions and wins numerous cars, holidays etc, most of which she sells to pay her rent etc!! Has anyone heard of this or does anyone else do it?! I'd be interested to see if it works!!!!!!!!

HA cant see me doing that:money:

i never win anything.:rotfl:

gingernights

HAAAAA i tell a lie i did win a tenner on the lottery a few months ago and that was the first time i ever played so well chuffed and only put pound on it.

Think after reading this i will start to enter more, but not those premuim line ones on this morning or those scratch cards.

My mate playes on poker online every noght and he wins nearly all the time sunday he won 1500 iv told hiom to give up his stressfull full time job and do it for a living, he would if he didnt have kids to support.

Beaker1

rrickyuk wrote: »

One more thing: do not discount postal entry comps - my biggest win was from a second class stamp and a free postcard!

http://www.postalcomps.co.uk/newpost.htm

And, of course, the postal thread on the MSE board!!

I went through a stage of entering a lot of competitions (I don't seem to find the time now) and although I didn't win any big prizes, I had some luck with things like kitchen equiptment and smellies which was fantastic. I have to say that I won very little through internet competitions and much more through postcard entries.

andi9666

Hi

My mum enters loads of comps plus crosswords, she wins fairly regularly but only small amounts but did win £1000 in newspaper and a new bathroom suite in a magazine. The best ones to go for are the skilled ones, crosswords and slogans as not as many enter these. I enter a few without much success but only free or postal ones, never text or premium lines even the ones on tv i go to websites and do it for free!

New years res to do more! will keep you posted.:j

Loquax_Company_Representative

Very slimly it could have been possible ten years ago but sites like Loquax and to some extent even MoneySavingExpert stopped this.

On the other hand you could argue that they've also given would-be compers a greater opportunity to access more competitions - of which there seems to be a never ending stream - and therefore more chances to try and win - which wasn't there 10 years back.

It's often said there's loads more people entering comps, but why are there 1/400 chances to win a Sony PSP, 1/190 chance to win a Dell PC or a 1/50 chance to win Star Wars goodies still around then? These were low entry comps in recent months - listed on comp sites too (not free prize draws btw, but not difficult to enter really).

Comping has changed over 10 years (i know of at least one comper who firmly lays the blame at our door - which is absurd) - the tiebreaker is no longer king (whether that's good/bad I don't know) - and that does mean that often luck is the main factor. However, with the internet - entries become more accountable - data becomes more important - and the bean counters could quickly assess whether a "win a car with a tiebreaker" competition is more valuable than "win an ipod nano send in your details" draw.

To that extent I think that's why you see a lot of competitions, but not so many big big prizes nowadays (e.g car competitions always tend to be with the data collection sites like MyOffers).

But to answer the original question - could you live off competition wins? No, but it'd be fun having a go - and even if you can't it might pick you up some nice bits and bobs along the way.

Jason

BBTHREE

Hi all

This is a really interesting thread, and I just wanted to post my thoughts on all this....
I don't think that you could live purely on comp wins, because A) it is all down to luck, and it wouldn't be much of a life it you are just comping 24/7 and not seeing friends and family etc.
But.... I do enter comps and I have won some nice prizes albeit small ones so far.

The reason why I enter comps is because it's nice that when you see the postman, he might not be bringing you yet another bill or junk mail, he might be bringing you a nice surprise to brighten your day. : )

Good Luck all with comping for 2009 xxx