How do you all do it?

missprice

well my kids are grown now and I only work part time so I have hours to do comps
and yet I don't!
theres really not that many I want to win so I maybe do 5 dailies and 40 comps a day.
I don't do FB and I am sometimes on TW and do loads then I wont go back to TW for a week.
Its the winning thats addictive and I do love even the small prizes because I entered only for me or someone that would love the prize.
fixed date hols are out as I cant guarantee I could go
Spa breaks are out cos I just do not like them.
hols for 3 days in a far off place are out cos I do not travel too well and its a long way for just 3 days e.g.
I don't know anyone that has babies at the moment so baby stuff is out.
I don't currently know any fishermen so those comps are out.
but on the other hand I won some tractor DVDs and made a kids day.
love to win books as I am a voracious reader
obviously cash always welcome:D
so I am a very picky comper I reckon:)

doodygirl

I just enter the ones that are ending the next day as I don't have a lot of time because I have a 8 month old son so i enter comps when he naps during the afternoon and sometimes at night before I settle down for the night with the other half

abigailflo

I have a full time job and a kids although my youngest is 12 now, I comp on an evening for a couple of hours whilst watching tv, I enter all the days comps, never really bother with the daily ones only the Glamour comp, I usually have big wins, won about 6 holidays in total so far, its a hobby for me and if I win its a benefit.:)

Becky0306

abigailflo wrote: »

I have a full time job and a kids although my youngest is 12 now, I comp on an evening for a couple of hours whilst watching tv, I enter all the days comps, never really bother with the daily ones only the Glamour comp, I usually have big wins, won about 6 holidays in total so far, its a hobby for me and if I win its a benefit.:)

you're doing pretty well on wins, aren't you, how many years have you been comping for, if you don't mind me asking....I only just started about a month ago, but no any serious wins so far....trying to win designer welly with Ribena, with no luck...:(

Madrabbitgirl

Kaelea - Wow, a 4K win! Well done! :T I suppose it is mostly just down to luck more than numbers, happening to enter the right competition at the right time. (although as they say, you do have to be in it to win it!). I can't wait to have a big win and be able to report it on here!

nonnatus - I only enter comps from here as I know that they are checked out by other members and they avoid any sites that are dubious. If anyone is having any problems with a comp or a particular company it is usually reported pretty quickly and everyone seems quite keen to help each other out. There are hundreds of comps to enter, the people that post comps work so hard. :T

Zombieslayer- I have also started using a spreadsheet to try to keep track of which ones I've entered and their end dates- I read that you used one on another post that you wrote and thought it was a good idea. So thanks for that! I was just roughly scribbling it down in a notebook but it's much better on the computer (and easier to read!).

carol2712

As I am retired I do have a fair amount of time that can be used to comp, however I don't enter anything and everything, the show/festival tickets and the Olympic tickets as much as I might like them are always too far away, having no small children in the family no kids prizes so family holidays are out too.
As someone else pointed out it's having a win any win that spurs you on to doing more, I do some daily ones and then cherry pick the ones posted, at the moment doing a lot more as I have been watching the Tour de France solid and now the Olympics from start to close.
I also keep a spreadsheet of those entered and after my first month knew that I was spending far too much time comping but in three weeks, off for a long holiday so that will be it until I get home, and plan to get a proper life/comp balance I keep saying win an iPad and I will quit we will see.

catmiaow

Been comping over 4 years, no big wins. Sometimes it does p me off as a lot of effort goes in to entering. There's a ton of the same people winning, especially on Fb comps. I guess I don't have much luck :-(

timmmers

Last time I counted I had about 90 regular (mostly daily) comps on the Fb page that MSE doesn't like the name of ...most of which are quick links to ones on here to save time and doing the lot takes me about an hour...that varies but it's pretty much average. Some places like Great Competitions...lots of comps can be entered in a very short time once logged in...the same applies to lots of places like Shortlist and Stylist to a lesser extent...so I do them all together (by listing the poster threads on here .. Painkiller kindly does the Shortlist ones for example), that saves lots of time.
I imagine I enter 20 or 30 FB comps a day, I rarely touch twitter but that's the easiest place by miles to quickly enter loads ..I find the prizes aimed at women and kids and/or piddly so I leave most on there.
I rarely enter stuff that tales oodles of time for a small prize, that kind of thing can be done when there's nothing better left to go for. While you have better prizes on offer for less work it's daft to spend time on things like blogs and rafflecopter which are complex and have become high entry these days.
Email comps are fast and easy IF you have a template set up and just need to fill in the address and subject etc. , your details in the sig are enough and a killer to retype every time ...Often there are a large number of comps via email from one place, one address and different comp subjects etc. open a series of emails, copy and paste the address into them all then go back and complete each one as needed...very fast.
IF you look at the easy to enter comps and think about entering...well you could have entered in that time you just spent. Time wasted.
I do best early or late in the day...less distraction, get more done.

Like everything, practice makes perfect. You'll get it.

Becky0306

I suggest you have a look on 'Comping for Cash: Insider tips to find & win competitions' article on main page, here's the link http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/Competitions-comping-win, it gives a lot of useful information on how to quickly enter comps, i.e. sorting threads by comps that are expiring soonest and enter them first, another tip as many here pointed out, choosing which ones you want to win, using Roboform also makes it so much easier, saves loads of time, I also only just started comping about a month ago, and installed Roboform only yesterday (I find it much better than Google autofill).....I'm still learning how to quickly enter them and choosing the right ones, but feel that I'm getting the idea ...:)....

PS. That article i refer to, gives very useful insight, have a look when you've got time.....unless you've already seen it....

HushPLC

I do them in my lunch hour (it was that or read a newspaper online). I put extra hours in at the end of the month because so many comps close then. I've been having 2-3 small wins a month. Works for me and I love going home in case there is a win waiting :-)

Just waiting for a phone call win now!!