E: 14/04 Compers Comping Contest... win £50, 2nd place £25

katylittlelady

It may be sad to admit it but entering competitions has become second nature. Everything about it embraces money-saving but even more than that the opportunity to lead a five star lifestyle on a three star budget.


The concept of entering competitions to aid my budget was first introduced to me at the national wedding show. On listening to a talk on budget weddings the lady suggested entering wedding competitions. She used her friend as an example stating she had saved several thousand when she had won her honeymoon! Wedding competitions had fewer entries so your chances of winning were greater.


The concept of entering competitions was not foreign to me as when I was a student my flatmate and I went through a faze of entering them and had reasonable success with my biggest win being a barbecue. The difference now being the internet had really taken off and whereas previously it had been postcards the internet had now taken over!


I quickly come across competition porthole websites where there were thousands of competitions listed. The idea struck me that although they may not be specifically wedding competitions other competitions would also help towards thank you presents. So I started entering and within a few weeks I won my first prize of Vitality show tickets. My second prize of garden furniture followed shortly afterwards.


Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined my third prize win would be a HOLIDAY TO AUSTRALIA with tickets to see Gwen Stefani! It truly is a fantastic way to kick start a hobby and I have won hundreds of pounds worth of prizes since.


Entering competitions I have quickly migrated onto money saving expert forum as the best and most effective way to enter and track competition entries. That first big win was in 2007. 2008's biggest win was a long weekend in Russia and this year has been an i-pod touch.


I have always approached competitions as a bit of fun with the knowledge you have to be in it to win it! The biggest downfall is the junk mail I receive in my inbox but I feel this is a small hardship for everything I have received! It is important not to get to complacent and wonder why everyone else seems to win if you are having a dry spell!


As for the wedding, no big cakes or dresses were won but I did win £200 worth of laser treatment and I am having my top lip treated! It's a slightly obscure win but most of the time the more obscure the better your chances are.


Competitions afford me all of life's little luxuries – it's just now everything comes as a surprise!

redstararnie76

As my husband will attest, comping is an addiction. Be prepared to lose many hours to this pastime, and do not expect instant rewards.
Having said that, it's great fun and your postie is bound to think you are stalking him as you greet him at the door on a regular basis.
Despite being initially cynical, I started comping at the end of August 2008 and was completely obsessed by the start of October.
On my birthday, at the start of September, I received a parcel containing a gift set of Piz Buin tanning products and a letter telling me that a cheque for £250 was winging its way to my door. A couple of days later, I received a letter telling me that I had won £200 from a magazine Sudoku competition. On the 1st of October I received a phone call from a radio station, informing me that I had won £1000. Obviously the next call I expected would be one for around £250,000. Not altogether surprisingly, that call never came. In fact, so far, that was my best winning streak. However, I live in hope and the occasional prize makes you feel delighted, regardless of whether it's a small win or a large one.
This year, the best prize (and most surprising one!) was a shower which just turned up on my doorstep. I still have absolutely no idea how I won it and which MSE member to thank. So I thank everyone.

madmonster

My husband is a comping widower, my housework is not up to scratch anymore and my kids don’t ask me to buy them stuff anymore but to “win it!”. I have to admit like many others on this forum, I am an addict. The buzz from receiving a winning telephone call, the rush from an email that announces "you're a winner" or the thrill of a knock at the door with the postie holding a goodie bag or parcel is seriously addictive.

Nowadays so many people dread the sight of the postman, cringe when the door bell rings or shy away from answering the phone, not so the comping addict. I welcome these, even the spam that goes along with it, after all that spam may be advertising a new undiscovered competition.

I started slowly, like most, I entered a few competitions never really expecting to win, and with each win entered more and more comps. Now I spend a good hour or three every day entering all the comps that I want to win on the MSE forums, probably entering 200 a day. As a job it doesn't pay, but as a hobby and release from the drab of day to day living it's great. Gambling, cigarettes, alcohol, bingo all cost money, this is a free rush of adrenaline with the opportunity to get something nice at the end of it all - if you're lucky.

I win probably about once from every thousand comps, but that means at least a prize a week. I've won a laptop, two weekend break holidays, electronics, dvds, books and numerous gadgets that I couldn't have afforded to buy. My son got to spend a couple of hours with the Saturdays, which to a teenage boy was absolutely priceless. Any win is appreciated but never expected. I am sure that I will encounter dry patches when I don’t win much, although so far, touch wood, I’ve been really lucky. My worst month so far has been about £345 in prizes, my best £2620. This month I pocketed over £1500 worth of goodies including a horse riding holiday for my daughter. I’ve been busily entering competitions for eight months and am running at just over £7000 in prizes.

It takes a lot of hours for not much reward, you will be laughed at by your friends, do some stupid things (yes I joined the audience at Ant and Dec and was a lunatic!) and if you have a husband like mine, moaned at for always being on the computer tapping away and then spot them minutes later happily sipping on the wine that got delivered. Best advice; if you’ve got the time to waste then go for it. Comping isn’t for everyone and don’t expect to get rich quick. Competitions that require effort give the better odds and just like when you did exams at school always read the rules and answer the question correctly.

lb364

I started ‘comping’ as it’s affectionately known almost a year ago. It all started when I noticed the daily giveaway for the month of May on the front of Glamour magazine. I was unemployed and struggling to keep positive. On my return home I thought sooner than pay for the magazine I’d search for details online and that’s when MSE popped up. All the details were listed along with several friendly comments from the other users who I later asked for information on all these ‘other competitions’ I was hearing so much about. A few days into May I got up early (the prizes were for the first entrants after 8am) and entered for the SK-II face masks. The thought soon left my mind and I continued my unenthusiastic job hunt. But two days later I got an email, ‘Congratulations’ it read, I had won the face masks. I was so excited, I had won a prize for simply entering my name and address into a web page.

Every day after that I was up and online, even at weekends, my unemployed laziness had disappeared as I received more and more winning emails (which are known as WEM’s on MSE). Then it hit me, I entered for a posh lipstick the one prize I really wanted, I had entered by about 8.01am, surely it was in the bag? But no email came. Other people on the forum won that had entered later than me so I was annoyed but that was when I realised you can’t win every competition, no matter how certain it seems.

I was still grateful and decided to spend half of my job hunting time entering competitions instead. I soon found myself applying for more jobs than before because my mind was more focused. I didn’t win much throughout June but then on the 1st of July, I received an email, I had won a pair of Jimmy Choo’s to the value of £360! I couldn’t believe it. In the months that have followed I’ve found myself meeting Kylie, having Aldo Zilli cook for me and seeing the Feeling perform at a private gig not to mention the trip to Paris and film premieres.

But it’s not about what you win, I love the thrill of winning anything and even just reading what amazing prizes are on offer – it’s amazing to know it could be yours. So come join us on the competitions forum, I guarantee you’ll feel like a winner.

Pros
Friendly atmosphere
Chance of winning
Gives focus if you’re unemployed/bored

Cons
Timeshare ‘prizes’ (ask on the forum if you’re not sure a prize is real)
Time consuming (Don’t let it take over your life, it’s addictive!)

Most of all Have Fun and whatever you do Don’t bump the threads!!!

fire**fly

:hello: hello, does anyone know if the winners have been drawn yet

madmonster

korkythekat wrote: »

:hello: hello, does anyone know if the winners have been drawn yet

ummm surely there must be someone we can contact for a winners list by now :rolleyes:

Also just an aside, but is it just me or are we a really lazy lot, so few entries from a dedicated compers forum.

Munchkim

madmonster wrote: »

Also just an aside, but is it just me or are we a really lazy lot, so few entries from a dedicated compers forum.

:rotfl:20's not bad you know, at least it does prove that you have a better chance of winning if there's effort involved, I bet there would have been hundreds if it had been like most comps and only taken a couple of clicks to enter!:p:rotfl:

wokkies

As there were so few entries maybe Martin could award all runners up with a small prize aswell as they were all very good entries:D

ThinkingOfLinking

madmonster wrote: »

ummm surely there must be someone we can contact for a winners list by now :rolleyes:

Also just an aside, but is it just me or are we a really lazy lot, so few entries from a dedicated compers forum.

I was thinking the same thing....

ThinkingOfLinking

wokkies wrote: »

As there were so few entries maybe Martin could award all runners up with a small prize aswell as they were all very good entries:D

I'd settle for a kiss or a shiny new star on here.:rotfl: