Sort of debt-free but hope to be a super-scrimper in 2019

Sallyforth

Thanks for the nudge to restart comping CBC. I too have had some luck in the past but sad to say it came at the wrong time. I did win a car for opening an ING savings account with £1. I sold it to repay debt but those were in my days of spiralling downwards debt and stupidity.
I think we should both start again!

HairyHandofDartmoor

carbootcrazy wrote: »

Thank you, HH:T

I love your posts, you always talk such good sense and reassure me too. I'm so happy that you keep dropping in to my diary:)


I'll try to post a photo but I only have a basic mobile from years ago. It doesn't even have a camera function:o. When I do my eBay listings I still use a digital camera for taking the photos. No problem to upload them though:j. It's a really nice Panasonic Lumix that I won in a competition a few years ago. I was an avid comper ever since I won my first one in a newspaper comp about my home town football team when I was a young teenager. The prize was a 10 shilling postal order which was a fortune in those days:rotfl:. I really wanted this Panasonic camera and was absolutely delighted to win it. I often end up with runner-up prizes which I'm always grateful for but which can often be a bit random as far as usefulness goes. I either give them away to friends or family, donate them to local events for raffle prizes, give them to charity or sell them on eBay or car boot sales so someone always wins even if I don't:rotfl:.


That's something I've vowed to do more of this year, entering competitions. I probably like to make things difficult for myself:o as I really went off comping when so much of it went online. I keep hearing of fantastic prizes won on Facebook and other social media which I don't have accounts with. Some wonderful prizes like luxury holidays merely require a click or a 'like'. My best, and most fun, times were when it was necessary to seek out elusive entry forms in shops, buy the qualifying product, answer a simple multi choice question, write a tie-breaker/slogan in a limited number of words, and post it off. I hardly ever see tie-breaker comps any more:mad:. I won all sorts from tie-breakers including a fabulous holiday in a Red Sea resort; a trolley dash at a local supermarket; a set of alloy wheels for OH's car back in the day when they were really expensive and didn't often come as 'standard'; a trip round a famous brewery with overnight accommodation and meals at a top-class hotel and with lots of goodies to bring home; and, best of all, a trip to New York including flights on Concorde:j:j:j . I never managed to win a car although I was always entering comps with a car as the first prize:(. I had a friend who won 2 cars over the years both needing a lot of work to win. The more difficult it was to enter and the less entrants there were the more chance of winning for those who persisted;)

Thank you Carboot . I'll definitely keep visiting because I love your diary .

Aren't you clever winning all those competitions, especially the one to New York on Concorde :T. You must be very good at writing slogans :T. You should definitely start entering them again.

elizabethhull

I used to enter a lot of competitions, as you say when you had actually to use your brain cells to qualify. I never won anything of significance but I once entered one run by Robin's spray starch, asking for a slogan. Mine was,

'Robin's spray starch stiffens you for action' (!!)

I won a year's supply (12 cans) of something I never used and gave to my mother.

These days, I ALWAYS fill in feedback forms and have won £500 from Debenhams.

Karmacat

Wow, CBC, Concorde! Lovely stuff I'm utter rubbish at the slogans - I did quite a few comps over Christmas just gone, but didn't win anything, of course Strategising the entries is the way forward, as you say, I'm sure



Night night

jwil

Wow, some amazing competition wins from everyone on here!

[Deleted User]

I remember when Persil launched their new logo and the 'Dirt is Good' slogan. I was desperate for a new washing machine as mine was on its last legs and they were running a comp for a top range one. The tiebreaker was ' Dirt is good because......' to be completed in 5 words or less:eek:. 5 words was impossible. I've won things with a limit of even as low as 8 words but 5 was really taxing my brain. In the end I faffed about so much and missed the closing date:mad:. When I read the winners' list afterwards and saw some of the ones that won I was really annoyed with myself for not having a go in time:(. I'm not saying my efforts were any better but the standard was pretty poor and I would have stood as good a chance as anyone else. I think it all depends on the judges on the day and after that experience I made sure I always sent something in even if I wasn't too happy with it by the time the closing date approached.

[Deleted User]

teapot2 wrote: »

Did you see on a recent Martin show he interviewed someone about their comping? She'd won lots over the years but wasn't entering quite so many now. She suggested setting up a separate email account just for comps.

Thanks again for the reminder about martin's programme:beer:. I watched it on the ITV Hub as soon as I got up this morning:)


The comping lady's husband mentioned lots of holidays they'd won. I used to avoid holiday comps for years when we had certain cats as it was a problem to have them taken care of either because they were tamed rescued feral cats that wouldn't let anyone but OH and I near them or had medical issues etc. I'd love a nice holiday again now we don't have any cats. Might see if I can win one. A nice city break would be lovely:j

Puzzcat

Hi cbc,

This debt busting and competition entering must go hand in hand..

I too used to enter loads but have since stopped as they all appear to be linked with social media and although i do FB I don't want to enter comps through it..

I never won big mind, and like you sold things to pay debt...:mad:

or I won things I couldn't use because it would cost money like 2 free European flights.. I couldn't afford the hotels...!!

I did win 2 lovely bottles of snow leopard vodka.. I don't really drink vodka so they sat in my cupboard from 2008 until I gave one to my LF for his 70th in 2013 and one to my brother for his 40th in 2018....

Best win was a t shirt from schworzkopt, it never arrived so they sent me a huge box of hair products and a hairdryer instead.. much more useful...

Anyway enough of my waffle...

Have a good week.

Puzz. x

[Deleted User]

Puzzcat wrote: »

Hi cbc,

This debt busting and competition entering must go hand in hand..

I too used to enter loads but have since stopped as they all appear to be linked with social media and although i do FB I don't want to enter comps through it..

I never won big mind, and like you sold things to pay debt...:mad:

or I won things I couldn't use because it would cost money like 2 free European flights.. I couldn't afford the hotels...!!

I did win 2 lovely bottles of snow leopard vodka.. I don't really drink vodka so they sat in my cupboard from 2008 until I gave one to my LF for his 70th in 2013 and one to my brother for his 40th in 2018....

Best win was a t shirt from schworzkopt, it never arrived so they sent me a huge box of hair products and a hairdryer instead.. much more useful...

Anyway enough of my waffle...

Have a good week.

Puzz. x

I don't enter anything via social media either and that's where such a lot of the mega prizes seem to be nowadays. I was having a quick scout round on a couple of comp websites this morning and was amazed how many Twitter comps there are:eek:

It looks as if you won some nice prizes, Puzz, even though they weren't all that useful to you personally. The vodka would have been nicely 'aged' by the time the lucky eventual recipients drank it:rotfl:


I often entered to win specific prizes only to get a runner-up prize instead which was no use to me whatsoever. Not complaining but at one time the postman was forever bringing me boxes with a football inside:eek:. I think every charity shop within 10 miles of here ended up well stocked with footballs:rotfl:. And football shirts. It was in various World Cup years, everyone was running football-related comps where the main prize was a huge sum in cash, massive TVs etc.


Great result with the hair products:T

Karmacat

carbootcrazy wrote: »

When I read the winners' list afterwards and saw some of the ones that won I was really annoyed with myself for not having a go in time:(. I'm not saying my efforts were any better but the standard was pretty poor and I would have stood as good a chance as anyone else. I think it all depends on the judges on the day and after that experience I made sure I always sent something in even if I wasn't too happy with it by the time the closing date approached.

That's good advice, actually - maybe I'll have a go at that while I'm catsitting

carbootcrazy wrote: »

I don't enter anything via social media either and that's where such a lot of the mega prizes seem to be nowadays. I was having a quick scout round on a couple of comp websites this morning and was amazed how many Twitter comps there are:eek:

I'd be prepared to open an account, though, just like a dedicated email address ...

Not complaining but at one time the postman was forever bringing me boxes with a football inside:eek:. I think every charity shop within 10 miles of here ended up well stocked with footballs:rotfl:. And football shirts. It was in various World Cup years, everyone was running football-related comps where the main prize was a huge sum in cash, massive TVs etc.

By all means, complain :rotfl:

This is very interesting