It's not as easy

as I thought it would be, to enter ten snail mail entries a day that is.  Like I've mentioned before, for this year I am trying to up my game a bit in regards to entering snail mail sweepstakes and figured I would enter at least ten snail mail sweeps each day when the mail went out, except for National Holidays of course. 

But you know what?  It's hard!  Snail mail sweeps are slowly disappearing and I hate that.  I understand why, since the internet makes it just so much easier and cheaper for the sponsor and whoever is involved with having a sweepstakes.

But I love printing my name and address over and over again.  I'm sick in the head I guess.

I've actually been working on my spreadsheet for my Sweepstakes Wins for 2010.  I came to the realization that all the wins for this year, have been won by only entering once!  This is just amazing to me, even though I do realize that it only takes one to win.  You can't win, if you're not in it!

So far, my family and I have won a total of ten sweepstakes/contest for 2010.  That's not a lot so far, and I am hoping to have that number increase.  We've also won by many different ways of entering. We've won by online sweepstakes, online instant wins, Twitter, Facebook, Game Pieces, Second Chance drawing and text entries.  You know how we haven't won?  By snail mail entries! Yep that right. It's making me wonder if I should rethink this whole thing, ya know?  BUT I am going to try and continue onward with it for at least until the end of June.  That means I've given it six months and hopefully I will have seen something from all my efforts.  If not, then I will not worry about making sure I hit the post office each and every day.

I have also worked on a template to share with those of you, who may be interested in keeping track of your wins as well.  You can find it by going here.  It's a Google document and it's actually my first time in sharing anything with Google docs.  I will say in advance that it's nothing spectacular, just a basic spreadsheet to help you remember what you've won and other important information regarding those wins.  My next spreadsheet that I will be working on, will be something to help me keep track and remember to enter Twitter Sweepstakes.

 I have all my entries made out for tomorrow and ready to go.  I am trying to get a little ahead and have entries made out for the following day, and at the moment, I only have eight entries for Tuesday.  However, I should be getting a new issue of Sweepsheet by sometime tonight.  I am hoping that I can find a few interesting sweepstakes to enter by snail mail and revive my interest.

Early this morning (since I couldn't sleep of course) I entered a few online/instant win sweepstakes and actually got this...

It's been awhile since I've seen a Congratulations on an instant win game.  My prize is a Mini Budweiser World Cup soccer ball!  Since my husband loves soccer Football, then it's kind of a neat prize.  I mainly entered this sweepstakes because the Grand Prize is a trip to South Africa for the World Cup this summer and I know my husband would love to go to that. So I will be keeping my fingers crossed that we win one of the ten prizes on this one.

Well, I guess I'm off to try and find two more snail mail sweepstakes to enter for Tuesday's mail day.

~Later~

Wanna Get Cozi?

Okay, so my title to this entry is a little mmmm..interesting. LOL but it is relevant I promise.

I thought I would post something that could possibly help you in this hobby of Sweepstaking, or maybe just help you in general.  And I promise you it's nothing to do with Google.  (At least I don't think so.  But give them time,  as I am sure they will come up with something very similar)

What I am going to share with you guys today is something that I find helpful when I am trying to keep track of certain sweepstakes. There is a website that is basically an online calendar.  It's called Cozi Calendar.  This can come in handy to help you remember when sweepstakes either start or end.  As well as it can be set up to send you daily/weekly/monthly reminders to either your cell phone as a text msg or to your e-mail in-box, to remind you of whatever it is you don't want to forget.

I used to be a big Yahoo Calendar user, but for some reason, when I switched over to the computer that I am using now (which used to belong to my husband) I kept getting error message and would have to log out and then log back in again.  It really became a big pain in the butt and I got so frustrated, that I quit using it.  I don't remember how I found Cozi,  but quite possibly it was by doing a Google search. On Yahoo Calendar I would set it up, so I would know when to possibly enter a weekly or monthly sweepstakes, or remember when to be by the phone for any particular sweepstakes.  Example: in case Val-Pak called my house (They are well known for calling you once, and if you don't answer, they just move on without leaving you a phone message on your answering machine)  And that's basically what I do with Cozi, among other things.

Another neat feature of Cozi Calender is that you can set it up for family members. I believe you can have up to ten members on one account.  This is great to keep all the family's important dates and social activities all in one place.  It's also free, did I mention that?  You can make list and color code them as well.  You also are able to write down memories or "journal" your thoughts and even add photo's like a digital scrapbook.  I believe you can also share those thoughts with anyone you choose, however I don't do this, so I'm not too sure how well that works.

Right now Cozi is also having a sweepstakes!  So now would be a great time to join.  All the information is there on the front page, so feel free to check it out.  It doesn't run for much longer though, so don't dilly dally sally!  I believe their sweepstakes end either March 10th or March 11th, 2010.

I actually thought to mention it here, because I just went to my own cozi calendar to put in a date that I don't want to forget, which is the open house at my child's school.  (I have to have something to help me not forget these important parental activites).  Then I realized that other people might not actually know about cozi yet, so why not share it with others.

If you have another use for Cozi, that you would like to share here, please feel free to e-mail me at LittleSweepers@Gmail.com or submit a comment to share with everyone!

In other news with this "Little Sweeper", I got a text message on Friday that I was a grand prize winner of a sweepstakes.  It was a text message sweepstakes and it was with Coors Lite.  Even though I am not certain, I believe I  won a super bowl helmet collections.  They were actually giving away 100 of these as well as 100 first prizes of $100 NFLshop.com Gift Cards.  I was kind of hoping for the $100 Gift Cards, since I don't collect any type of sports memoriabilla, but that's ok.  I am sure I can find a home for it.

In other non related sweepstakes news, I went to the movies today with my child and a couple of friends of ours. (Well, actually my daughter's friend and her friend's mother)  We saw Alice in Wonderland.  While it was an interesting movie, I guess I am just not a huge Tim Burton Fan.  We saw it in 3-D and unless my glasses were defective or I just didn't pay good enough attention, I really didn't see anything that made me go WOW!  I also honestly believe that whoever wrote the original story must have done some serious drugs during that time, as that story just kind of freaks me out a little!  And then when you add Tim Burton's vision of how he sees the Mad Hatter and other things in this story, well let's just say that it's probably a good thing I don't want to go to sleep just yet.

It's now almost 2 in the morning and I am still having trouble sleeping.  I do honestly hate being like this.  The only good thing is when it's late like this and I am all on my own, I can post to my blog and not be interupted as well as enter sweepstakes.  Which is what I am off to do now.

Until next Time!

Just had to share

A print screen of my biggest swag buck EVER!  The highest amount of swag bucks I've ever gotten before was $4.00.  Well this one beat it!

 

They just changed the web design of Swagbucks.com, and it's taken me a little bit to get used to it.  I am one of those people that does not like change.  (I don't know why that is, I just don't.)  I've recently turned in 90 Swagbucks that I've collected for two $5.00 Amazon.com Gift Certificates.  You can only turn in two at a time, per day.  I plan on turning in another 90 Swagbucks for two more $5.00 Amazon.com Gift Certificates, as I am wanting to purchase a couple of CD's for my little one, and since money is tight, this kind of makes it seem like I am getting the CD's for nothing.  Whoot!

(Edited to add:  I just found out that now swagbucks.com, has changed some of the way their program works.  Now instead of winning 1 swagbuck, it's now worth 10 swagbucks.  So I guess I didn't get anything special after all.  But heck, at least I felt good! LOL.  Oh well.  It still is added to the pot, and will get to be spent on something, I'm sure. )

If for some reason I have any trouble getting my order processed  or anything with Swagbucks, I will be reporting about it here.  I feel that it would only be fair.  But I am also really hoping and praying that nothing does go wrong with it, as I love getting stuff like this.  

I haven't been working on much today, except for a few sweeps this morning.  I got my ten snail mail sweeps put together and my wonderful husband took them to the post office for me today, while I got a couple of hours sleep.  I suffer with insomnia extremely bad, and my sleeping hours are all over the place!  So I've just been too tired to really do anything much.  

Before writing all of this down now, I was just messing around with some of google's neat things that they offer people to use.  I honestly love Google for the most part, and would love to work for that company.  The only thing that concerns me is the fact that they seem like they are slowly becoming more and more like Microsoft and seem to be getting a monopoly on everything, in regards to technology and the other thing that concerns me is Google earth.  While I am intrigued by Google Earth, I really worry about privacy and how small the world is nowadays.  I will go more into that in another post, I'm sure.

BUT one of the features that Google has, that I love to use with my sweepstaking hobby is Google Voice!  At the moment, it's only used by people that get invites.  I am fortunate to have gotten one, as I had been a member of the company that they acquired, which was Grand Central. I actually forgot I signed up with Grand Central, until I received notice last year, that Google acquired them.

I am sure I won't be able to explain fully everything that Google Voice can do, but here are a few important features that they offer.

• Transcribed voice mail online
• Low cost international calls
• Custom greetings for callers

With Google Voice, you can also request a Google number and get some nifty additional features
Such as:

• One number for all your phones
• Get SMS messages via email
• Block unwanted callers

So for this year, I've decided that instead of putting my home number and cell phone number on all my entries for sweepstakes and contest, which can change at any time in my life, I would only put down my new Google number.  It came with a local area code, and I love the number as it was easy number for me to remember.  Now it no longer matters if I move, or have any other reason to change my phone numbers, my number for all my sweepstakes will never have to change. This is so great, especially when it comes time to move from one place to another and I don't want to miss any important phone calls.

I also love Google voice because you can also block unwanted callers too.  Like Telemarketers, per say?  Not that I've ever gotten any of course, as I am on the do not call list.  But you can bet you bottom dollar, that if I ever got a phone call from someone I did not want to speak to, then I could block it.  Plus when the person that calls that Google voice number, it rings all the numbers that I have linked to it.  At the moment, it rings both my home phone number and my cell phone number.  It is just *so* much easier to give this one number to anybody or anything, instead of my home, work, cell or whatever else numbers I have and I know I won't miss a call! 

Now at the moment Google Voice is only by invitation.  I have 2 invites left.  The first two people that leave a comment here, get's them.  First Come, First Serve!  Only one per person, per email, per IP address please. 

These invites are coming from me, and not anything to do with Google.com.  I honestly believe that anyone that participates in entering sweepstakes, can use this to help them in their endevors.  I wasn't paid or compensated in any way for my opinions on Google Voice.  I truly love this service!

Twitter me this

Actually I don't know what that means, but it sounded like a good title for a blog article.  Mainly being because Twitter is a very popular social media interface that is being used in many promotions nowadays.  Thus in turn, meaning more prizes to win for the people that actually learn about it and participate in it.

A couple of days ago, an article ran from msnbc.com on how to win prizes on Twitter.  You can go to the article by clicking this http://tinyurl.com/ydd6a7r.

Now I will freely admit, that I don't really understand Twitter.  YET!  I plan on using twitter and learning what I can, while entering contest/sweepstakes and what promotion may come across my desk.  I also have my own twitter user name and please feel free to follow my tweets.  My user name is LittleSweeper :)


As you surf the internet, you will now see more and more often, big name companies that have Facebook fan pages as well as Twitter pages.  Sign up for those if at all possible, as it can lead you toward new promotions and hopefully win lots of great prizes.

So far, I've won two prizes from twitter.  One was last year, from a local Chrysler dealership and I won a stainless steel mug.  The second win was about a week ago from Marshall's.  In today's mail, I received a gift card for $50 to use at their store!  Whoot!

Now this gc arrived at my house in a fedex envelope.  In the correct size that an affy would/could be in.  My husband opened the door to the FedEx man  and showed me the envelope and my heart always seems to feel like it skips a beat whenever I see these envelopes!  I mean, there's no telling what it could be, right?

  I honestly forgot about my win from Marshall from using twitter.  So even though it wasn't a huge win, it was a win.  Plus this little sweeper can go and buy something new for herself, hopefully very soon.

So if you haven't hopped on the Twitter Band Wagon, maybe today is the day you should?  You can always cancel your account, if you find it doesn't work for you or just ignore it.  But there are so many contest right now on Twitter, that it's unreal.  If you do decided to join Twitter or have already joined and would like me to follow you, please just comment here if you want, with your user name and I will follow you as well.  If you are not comfortable putting that information here, please feel free to drop me an email at littlesweepers at gmail dot com.  (I have written it that way, so that I hopefully don't get spam at that particular email address.)

Another social media platform that is really hot right now, is Facebook!  I'm sure most of you have heard of it, and more than likely either have your own page, or have been told about it from someone you know.  A lot of people are reluctant to join and have their personal information on there, in case of identity theft and/or other reasons for safety.  Safety is a top priority for me, and I totally understand that. Maybe create a facebook account, just for you to enter promotions and keep in contact with big companies.  Don't add friends and family to it, plus read up on the privacy settings.  It makes a huge difference on what people can and can not see on your facebook page.  If you ever have any questions about facebook, please ask.  I've only been using it for about a year now, but I really enjoy it!  I've had to really try and learn about the privacy settings, so that I can protect my family the best way I possibly can. 

I am also now creating a facebook fan page for this blog.  Now I will also freely admit, I have no clue what I am doing on this! :)  But I look at it like this.  I am taking a chance to learn something new and hopefully connect with other people that share this same hobby and interest as I do, which is sweepstaking!  When I get it put together, you can be sure I will add it here, for everyone to check out.

I also haven't forgotten about my spreadsheet for my 2010 Sweepstakes Winnings.  I was trying to make one using google documents, but I've hit a bit of a stubbling block on how to share that with people on this blog.  But I am also going to hopefully work on it again tonight.

~Lisa~

This is what I won?

Sometimes when you enter a sweepstakes, you can win a prize that might not be what you wanted or hoped to win. However, don't let that stop you from entering, if there is a prize that you do like, in the prize structure.

For example, let's say a big well known company was giving away an all expense paid trip to Australia for one week as a Grand Prize. The First Prizes consist of (10) flip mini cameras. Second prize is (50) stuffed Koala bears. Third prize is a (100) coupons off for their product. Well, you might not really want to go to Australia, because you either don't like to travel or have a fear of their big butt spiders they have over there. Yet, those flip mini cameras look pretty neat and a stuffed koala bear, you could give to your child or maybe you collect them. As far as a coupon goes, well it's money you don't have to spend, on that product, if you purchased it.


Well, some people don't enter, because they don't want the main prize, which is a trip. The truth is that you are more than likely won't win the grand prize, since there is only one of them being offered. So, with that in mind, if you win anything from the lower end, you might enjoy it.  However, if your name is in the drawing, then you have a chance to win, so please don't be discouraged by what I just wrote.  I am mainly talking about the odds of it all.


Also, most Grand Prizes that have a large ARV (Actual Retail Value) usually involved paperwork needing to be signed and even sometimes notarized. If you are fortunate to win something that you don't want, then politely decline. You don't get taxed for it, and the prize usually goes to the next person that they drawn.


The reason why I am bringing this up, is because today I got a huge envelope in the mail. In fact, this envelope was almost as big as I was it seemed! I knew it was too big to be an affy (affidavit), yet I still wondered what it could be. Well I thought I would start taking photo's of my wins, and sharing them on this blog.

My Big prize for February 24th, 2010

This is a poster from the New York Broadway Musical "101 Dalmatians".  Now I was actually wanting to win the grand prize which was:  4-day trip for 2 to New York incl. airfare, hotel, ground transfers, breakfast, dinner, 2 tickets to The 101 Dalmatians Musical on Broadway, 2-day NY Pass and $275 spending money.

Now they also offered several other lower prizes.  All ranging from 101 Dalmation branded jacket, free dog food, 101 Dalmatians Cast Album and hat and dog leash, T-shirts, Hats and posters. 

Yep, I won the lowest prize in that particular sweep.  But you know what?  I won something!  Because I took a few minutes out of my day, my name was in the running for a chance to go to New York.  Granted, I only won a $3.00 poster, but I still love seeing in my mailbox, or at my front door a possible great win.  Every day is a new chance to win and I love it!

Now my wonderful husband held up my poster, so I could take a picture of it for this blog.  Now, for those of you who might not know my husband, well  let's just say he likes to have fun. So I am also sharing a few photos of him goofing off for my camera.

 

  

 

My wonderful husband! :) Gotta love him.  Well you don't per say, but I love him.  Very much so!

Until next time!

Long time no post

It's been over a month since my last post, and to be honest I just haven't been much in the mood to blog.  Mainly because about a week after my last post, my sweet favorite Aunt Evie, passed away from Lung Cancer.  She struggled with it for three months or so, and then it took her.  I still miss her and when I think about her, I catch my breath, because it hurts to remember that she is no longer on this earth.  BUT I do try and remember that she is with our heavenly father in heaven and is no longer in any pain.

 

this is one of my favorite photos of her.

I am going to try and get back into the groove of posting though.  I've won a few things in this past month, but dang me..I can't remember them very well. LOL.  I know I won a little clutch purse, I think from a magazine, which my daughter promptly took from me! Little Stinker.  This is why I should have started my spreadsheet with my wins listed on them.  I am hoping to make one tonight and it might actually encourage me when I am not winning consistently, and also to remind me to keep entering, because I do win and so you can you.  All you got to do is enter, enter, enter!

While it wasn't a win per say, I did get a gift card in the mail today.  I am so pleased too, as money is a little on the tight side for my family, and it stinks!  I got a $50 Walgreen's Gift card from being a member at MyPoints!  I've actually been a member there for probably five or more years. I've turned in my points, which I get from reading their e-mails and using their links, to purchase stuff from major Retailers online, like K-mart, Sears, Wal-mart, Target, etc etc etc.  It really isn't hard at all...just a little time each and every day, when the emails come in and click a link.  That's it basically.  After a few months, turn in points (similar to Swagbucks) and you have earned yourself a Gift Card.  They offer gift cards to well known places like Target, Walgreen's, Outback Steakhouse, and more.    

Another great thing about MyPoints.com, is that they have sweepstakes!  So it's kind of like killing two birds with one stone!

I am also going to try and add more photos here at "Little Sweeper's Little Corner".  Even though I am not a great photographer, like my husband and BFF, I will give it my best shot.  I will try to add photos of my wins, my friends and family and other interesting tid bits!  I love writing a lot more, can ya tell?  Actually, don't answer that! :P

Well, I am off to create my spreadsheet for my past and future wins. If I can make it possible, I will share it on here, so that you can get an idea if you would like to do it as well.  It makes tax time that much easier, when you have to list how much you've won for Uncle Sam.

Until Next Time

Swagbucks.com and more

Well it looks like I won't be getting my second win this week, after a Monday win.  I write this because the mail has already ran for today, which is Saturday.  The only way I could win something before Monday, is if I play instant win games, which I do enjoy doing sometimes, and get Congratulations You Won! pops up on my screen between now and Monday morning.

So I might be off to do some internet sweeps in a moment.  I have already made out and gotten ready my mail to go out, with my ten snail mail sweeps for the next mail day.  Usually this would be on a Monday since today is Saturday.  However, this Monday is a federal holiday. (it's the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr.)  So for all you snail mail sweepers, don't expect your post man or post woman to come to your door to pick up your entries, or get any surprises of wins in your mailbox.
The only thing I like about this, is that on Tuesday, I might get more mail and more surprises to me.

Now the question my DH asked me today was, am I going to double up on my snail mail entries for Tuesdays?  I don't know really.  At the moment I have 13 entries made out.  It remains to be seen, if I will add 7 more entries for that stack.

One thing that I am guaranteed to see a win from is from SwagBucks.com. I am attempting to add code to this web site/blog and see if I can actually add my own widget here. 

I guess I will publish this post and view it in my browsers (which I use Firefox btw) and see if it shows up. I will be coming back and adding more thoughts to Swagbucks.com.

Who Hoo it worked!  I am really pleased by this, as Swagbucks is kinda of cool in my opinion.  You use it like you would google, when you want to search for things that interest you.  However, ever now and again you win what they call Swagbucks!  After you get so many, you turn in those swagbucks into real items, like Amazon Gift Codes,  Resturant Gift Cards and more.  At the moment, I am at 161 swagbucks.  I haven't traded them in as of yet, but I am planning on doing so soon.  I am really thinking and leaning more towards Amazon Gift codes, as I have a tween daughter who is really into music at the moment.

I can usually count on 1-5 swagbucks a day, if I use it consistantly.  To my knownledge, they don't have a limit on how many searches you can do in a day.  I am always using swagbucks.  In fact, this last Friday I got my biggest Swagbuck of $4.00!  I've never seen one of those before.  I normally get only $1.00 and occassionally $2.00, but $4.00!  Talk about feeling like I've hit a jackpot!  I always love seeing "Congratulations" and Swagbucks.com never disappoints me.  Please check it out, if you haven't already and let me know what you think?

I am really kicking myself in the butt for not taking a print screen shot of that, as I would love to just gaze on it right now! 

You can also download a toolbar from them, for chances to earn even more swagbucks.  I actually hate downloading toolbars from anyone.  It seems like everyone has them now.  Amazon, Google, Yahoo, Mypoints, and more.  After awhile, if you have all these tool bars open on your browser, you won't have much room to read anything!  BUT this toolbar I do actually keep open.  I figure it never really hurts to try and win more from them whenever possible.  I've had it installed for about three months, and that's about how long I've been using swagbucks.com for my internet searchs.  I've never come across any problems with it or have ended up with any computer problems from it, to my knowledge. 

Anyway, that's all for now!