Mechanical Pencil

Another day, another instant win. I just won a Kuru Toga Mechanical Pencil from Uni-ball. Every small win gets me one prize closer to the big one... I'm hoping anyway! Keep entering and only good things can happen!

$10 Book Cash Certificate

I just won a $10 Book Cash Certificate from the Nestle Share the Joy of Reading Sweepstake.  What a great way to start out the morning! Hop on over there and try your luck, you will need a code but can get one emailed to you from the site. Good luck and happy sweeping!

Makeup Win...

I just found out I won a 1 Aqua Liner ($23), 1 Aqua Cream ($22) and 1 Aqua Smoky Lash mascara ($22) – worth $67 total from Addicted to All Things Pretty on Facebook. I'm not a HUGE makeup wearing person, but when I go out with friends or on a date I do like to put in a little more effort so this will be a great addition to my collection!

On a side note I also recieved my Pepsi Max t-shirt in the mail the other day, it will be great for working out in! I am happy to have a productive sweeping week! How are your efforts going? Tell me about your wins and/or dry spells in a comment!

$5 Target Gift Card

I just received notice that I won a $5.00 Target gift card from Faking Posh's Facebook sweepstake. I love winning gift cards to places I already shop, that will be an extra five bucks left in my pocket on my next Target run. Thanks for this GREAT win!

A Pair of Socks from Hanes

Well, I am glad to reveal another win for the month of July. Today in the mail I got a nice surprise, apparently I had won a free pair of Hanes Comfort Toe Seam socks. I remember entering the sweepstake on Facebook but never got word that I had won so I was very excited for this little gift. It also came at a very good time, yesterday I had a long hard day and by the time I sat down to do my daily entering I had started to feel like "what is the point?" so after 5-6 I just quit entering. This was a nice little reminder that even after a crummy day it can still pay to take a few minutes out of your day to enter some give-a-ways. Thank you Hanes for this little gift, you can never have too many socks!

HGTV Celebrate Summer in Style Sweepstake...

Well, no new wins to report right now. But I am still plugging away with the entries and keeping my fingers crossed. In the mean time, I thought I would share another sweepstakes with you all... how would you like to win $75,000? I know I would! Go HERE and enter the HGTV Celebrate Summer in Style Sweepstake daily for your chance to win now through August 15, 2011. Good luck and happy sweeping!!!

Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

I just won a 4.5-7 oz bag of Jelly Belly Jelly Beans from the Jelly Belly Cupcake Challenge. There is an instant win game associated with this challege and that is how I won. Although I am not a huge jelly bean fan I have a family member that is so this will be a nice surprise for them. Click the link and give it a try.

Disney Gift Card

I just got word that I won a $25 Disney Gift card from Fairytale Journeys Travel Agency. This was a Facebook contest so I am glad to see that entering on FB is paying off! This will be a nice addition to the vacation fund for our next trip!

End of Month Alert!

Today is your last chance to enter sweepstakes and contests that end tomorrow, June 30th! Carve out some time to enroll in the ones you would like to win before time runs out and you end up kicking your self for missing your opportunity. Typically more sweeps close at the end of a month by midnight than any other day. Good luck to everyone! Come back and share your June wins as a comment to encourage others that may have had a slow month!

New to sweepstakes? Here is a good place to start: http://www.online-sweepstakes.com/

200 Tuesday

Today (well I guess yesterday if you go by the time of the clock) I had a ton of extra time on my hands and pushed my self to the sweepstakes limit... I entered over 200 sweeps. The official number is actually a lot higher because I entered some unlimited entry sweeps more than once but only counted the first entry, and I stopped counting all together once I was entering the instant win sweeps (which many also have a grand prize drawing). I also caved and created a Twitter account exclusively for entering sweepstakes. Only time will tell if my efforts will pay off. What is the highest number of sweeps/contests you have entered in a day? Comment to share your magic number!

Pepsi Max T-shirt

Yet another instant win prize. This time it is a Pepsi Max T-shirt from the Pepsi-Co Max Vend and Win sweepstakes. This will be great to sleep in or wear to the gym, you can NEVER have too many t-shirts. Enter for your chance to win before the sweepstakes expires on June 30, 2011.

2 Six Flags Admission Tickets

I am the proud instant winner of two Six Flags one-day admission passes from the 125 Tickets Ever Day for 125 Days sweepstakes by My Coke Rewards. Even better is that I used the *free* entry method listed in the rules so I didn't even have to use any of my own Coke rewards points (I love Sprite so I might as well get free entries with my bad habit). Yet another instant win for me, perhaps I should stop hating them and start loving them. This will make for a fun trip for me and a friend this summer!

My Strategy

I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you a little about my sweepstakes strategy. It is pretty simple actually, enter sweepstakes that I know about, qualify for, and want to win when I have the time.  Some days I devote only a small amount of time to sweeping because life comes first. So in those instances I go to my favorite sweepstake website Online-Sweepstakes and review and fill out some of the "New Sweeps", "Expiring Sweeps", and "Top 100 Sweeps" and call it a day. This way I figure I hit each daily entry sweepstake I am interested in at least twice (new and expiring) and double check that I didn't miss out on any single entry sweeps.  The Top 100 Sweeps tend to be daily entry sweeps with large prizes (cash, gift cards, vacations, electronics, etc.) so that way I enter each day to increase my odds of winning.

On days when I have even more time to really get "swept away" I turn to my next two favorite sweeping websites: Sweepstakes Advantage (SA) and Giveaways & Sweepstakes (GS).  SA is great for finding the Facebook sweeps and I love the break down by price type. I have a separate sweeping email and Facebook account than the one I use socially. GS usually has a few interesting sweeps that I did not see on the other two sites but it does lack in that there is no break down of eligibility.

Many sweepers have downloaded or use auto-fill programs to speed up the entry process. Currently I do not do this because I share this computer with others in the household but if I manage to snag a new laptop or PC one of these days I will definitely start doing that! I happen to be a very fast typer though so right now it is not a bother. Plus many of the daily entry sweepstakes pre-populate my info anyway so I zip right through them.

As I mentioned I only set out to enter sweeps I actually want to win.  That means I either want the prize for myself, want to give it to a friend or family member, or think I could sell it fairly easy. When I have extra time I will sometimes enter a few single entry sweeps just for the heck of it to spice things up a bit. As for vacation sweeps if the prize does not include transportation and the destination is out of state I only enter if it is a 5 night stay or longer, otherwise I feel like I would be paying more in flight fees than receiving in vacation time.

Unlimited entry sweepstakes annoy me. I hate them. I treat them more like a daily sweepstake and enter the ones I really want to win only once a day and then move on. I could enter more but then I feel like I am putting too many eggs in one basket and not spreading entries around enough.

So that is my strategy so far, I would love to hear all about your sweeping strategy. Leave a comment and tell me how you find and enter your favorite sweeps!

20oz Pepsi Max

My first win is a free 20oz Pepsi Max from AM/PM's Too Much Good Stuff Giveaway awarded as an instant print coupon. I was waiting for my first win to jump start this blog so I'm glad it came. Sure, it isn't a big one but that is how sweeping is, lots of little victories and the very rare large one. I am glad to win this free beverage though because it came from an instant win game and I rarely win anything from them. They are not my favorite, as you will come to discover. So while this is but a small gift from the sweepstakes gods, it is a cherished one, as all prizes will be.

Welcome

Welcome to Swept Away. A place to chronicle my wins (and losses) in the sweepstakes world. Although I am not completely new to sweepstakes, I have entered a few in the past and occasionally won -- beach towels, books, etc. -- this is still a new adventure. I have just recently started entering as many sweepstakes as my free time will allow and crossing my fingers that my luck will lead some of those prizes to my front door. Join me in this endeavor and feel free to share your ups and downs as well!

Be sure to follow my blog and check back often!