How to Win the Lottery Without Paying a Penny

You hear all the stats about winning the lottery – you have more chance of having identical quadruplets (imagine the confusion) or winning an Oscar (if Leo can finally do it, we all should have faith). So why spend precious pounds for the incredibly slim chance of winning some back? Would you not be better to invest some TIME rather than money into some free lotteries?

The internet is full of these free lotteries that may have smaller prize pots, but a much much higher chance of winning – I know a few lucky winners myself! So here is a breakdown of some of the best free daily lotteries out there:

(Links to each of these can be found by clicking on each title)

1) The Free Birthdate Lottery

This is one of my favourite free lottery sites, mainly because it is a little bit different and, as this site is relatively new in comparison to the others, you have an even better chance of winning!
As well as the lure of a possible £5 or £10 win with their 2 daily draws, you can earn something called Penguin Points - named after the super cute Penguin mascot of the site. I mean, who doesn't love Penguins?

To earn these points, simply visit the site each day, play games, comment and explore the site - with extra points if you read the blog and FAQ's. You can then spend these points on games like Bingo and a Scratchcard which give you a chance to win credits. These credits translate directly into money, and once you have built up £50 of credits, you get paid. Don't worry though, if you win the daily draw, you get your money straight off!

There is also a section for live chat with other members - another great way to make friends with other like-minded compers. For more on this, check out my post on making comping friends.

Simply sign up here and enter your birthdate to register and check back each day to see if you're the lucky winner. Definitely worth a visit, even just to see the cute Penguin holding cake!

2) The Free Postcode Lottery

Do you live somewhere with a postcode? Yes? Well it's as easy as that to enter the free postcode lottery! As this free lottery is more popular, the prizes are also bigger. There are 4 daily draws which reset at 12 noon (apart from the Stackpot which resets at 9pm) and each have varying amounts for prizes.

Every day that you visit, you get a 1p bonus. This adds up so that if, no WHEN (positive mental attitude people), you win, this gets added onto the amount that you won. Also, once your bonus get above £5, you are entered into the 'Bonus Draw'. Although this isn't as big a prize pot, every little helps!

3) The FreeEmoji Lottery

Launched as a sister site to The Free Postcode Lottery (above), the free emoji lottery is the new kid on the block.

With emoji's becoming a daily part of life, why not win a little money while we indulge our addiction in sending little pictures of monkeys covering their eyes in embarrassment (a personal favourite of mine). Simply pick 5 of your favourite emoji's (you can tell a lot by a person by their emoji's!) and each day at 7pm a combination will be chosen at random and you have 24 hours to claim, or the prize money generously rolls over. Although prizes are in $ (as it is an international site) it is still open to the UK and the money will be converted when it is paid via PayPal within 7-10 working days, or sooner!

If you're forgetful, fear not as you can sign up to daily email reminders to check your draw when out and about! Sign up using my referral link here.
   

4) The DOB Lotto

For this lottery, you just need your date of birth. Unlike the other lottery requiring your DOB (see the birthdate lottery above) there is only one draw open to everyone, but as of the 1st of April 2016 (not an April Fool's I swear) there will also be a Survey Draw, where you have to answer a quick survey before getting to see the winner. There is also a referral draw where, for every person you introduce to the lottery each month, you get an entry.

5) Ashleigh Money Saver

Ashleigh Money Saver is blog that gives great money saving tips and plenty of competitions. It also has a daily giveaway where you have the chance to win £50 every day - just log on to see if your name has been chosen that day! Also, if you manage to refer someone else, you get an extra chance to win £25 every day! Follow my link here to get started.

6) The Street Lottery

I have only recently signed up to this, mainly because I originally thought it was just for people in the US, as it talks about dollars. But no fear, it is also open to people in the UK and so I quickly signed up. Just enter your street name (similar to the Post Code Lottery) and keep your fingers crossed!


7) My Lucky Patch

This one is new to me but I love the idea! You simply find a 'patch' that is near you and claim it. You can get more patches if you walk about and find another orange square available to make into a 'patch'.

Each day, one patch is chosen to win. BUT, unlike so many other sites, if you are one day late, it doesn't matter - they allow you to claim yesterdays too! A great wee site, sign up with my referral link here.

9) Badger The Button

This is one I have only discovered recently, and although the prize pot is lower than some others, this makes me think it may be lower entry. And anyway, a wee free tenner is never to be sniffed at! You get one token a day (every token is an entry into the draw) just for signing up, and then another if you hit the button on the page! Simple! Sign up here.

10) Win Wonga

Win Wonga is relatively new, and it's a little bit different because you don't need to sign up! Simply visit the site, and if there's a Golden Ticket at the top of the page you're a winner! Not a winner the first time? Refresh the page and you could be! Explore the site for other competitions and free games!

There are others out there such as the Number Plate Lotto, I Love Cashback and the Lucky Phone Draw, but I don't have any experience with them, so wouldn't want to comment. If you have used these before, drop me a comment below or Tweet me @LaurieBeat  As there are so many lotteries, I would recommend signing up to the email reminders, so that you never forget to check. After all, wouldn't it be sickening to check the next day and realise you were yesterdays winner?

Have you ever won on these? Let me know below and let me know if you get lucky!

Luck and Love,

Laurie

A Beginners Guide to Comping: My Top 5 Tips

A Beginners Guide to Comping

I have been comping on and off for a few years now, and more seriously for the last 9 months or so. In the first three months of 2016 alone I have won over £1,700 worth of prizes. This includes numerous tickets to shows, make-up products, 16 boxes of tea (you can never have too much) and an iPad among many more. So what’s the secret to my success? Am I just really really jammy? Well, luck may be a small part of it, but there is also a lot of time and effort that goes into comping, making it all the more rewarding when you do win!

Want to jump on this winning bandwagon? I don’t blame you, it's a fun and addictive hobby. Here are my top tips for new compers:

1) Have dedicated comping accounts

Be prepared to receive loads more emails. Seriously. Loads. By entering your email address to find out if you are chosen as the winner, you are also often signed up to newsletters automatically. These can be great as you instantly find out about new competitions from the promotor, but it can also mean barrels of emails you really have no interest in. By setting up a new email address, you can still keep on top of your important emails among all the promotions - gmail are a great  free option. 

Similarly, I would recommend having a separate Twitter account. Almost all Twitter comps want you to retweet the competition to your followers to the spread the word. This could result in your non-comping followers quickly becoming annoyed and unfollowing you. I had a friend accidently follow my comping Twitter account ( @LaurieBeat ) and unfollow me within a couple of hours because he wasn’t interested in comping. He did tell me though, that if he was into comping it would save him a lot of effort having to look for comps, as I was retweeting them all! On this note, it also helps to be sociable - for more on this check out my comping friends blog. This is a great way to find new giveaways and keep motivated during a dry spell.

2) Be specific

Some compers out there will enter everything and anything – even if they don’t want the prize. On one hand, I can see their logic – you’ve got to be in it to win it after all. However, if you’re winning things that you don’t need or want, what’s the point? Unless your main aim in life is to have a garage full to bursting of random cookbooks and posters for a film you’ve never heard of! Also, I feel that it's a bit unfair to win a rare Star Trek memorabilia prize if I'm not a Star Trek fan, when it could make someone else very happy.

By making a wish list and seeking out competitions to win these certain things, you will find the hobby much more manageable and also so much more rewarding. When I heard that the Yoga Show was coming to Glasgow later this year, I sought out as many competitions for it as I could and have managed to win 2 pairs of tickets - perfect for me, my mum and my sister! To find specific competitions, search Google and Twitter for the prize followed by the word ‘win’. Superlucky Di has a great blog on it which can be found here.

3) Look for that magic winning word everywhere

You will be surprised just how often the word ‘win’ is emblazoned on things when you’re looking for it – magazines, crisp packets and TV screens are just some of many examples. When you’re out shopping, always look out for promotions (and check the closing date – some shops can be lazy), and if you see a free magazine ALWAYS pick it up. These often have free competitions as part of the advertising that helps pay for the mag. I like to flick through these magazines and cut out any competitions to enter, or jot down the details in a notebook. A giveaway to enter, and the chance to learn some random facts to use in a pub quiz - a win-win for sure! 

I am constantly entering competitions - whether on my phone when I'm on the bus, out in the shops or at an event. There is always an opportunity to comp. It really is such a versatile hobby! One of my friends summed it up brilliantly for me the other day when she said that ‘comping is a way of life’. It’s a way of thinking, from coming up with slogans to knowing where to look, and it is something that you just do as part of your routine. I can’t imagine myself not comping any more – it’s part of who I am.

4) Be organised

I love lists and pretty notebooks, and so It would be rude not to have a little notebook just for comping. In this, I write down competitions that I see when I am out and about or browsing the net. Then, when I have more time later, I can sit down and work through the comps. Be sure to note down the closing date too so that you aren't wasting your time!

Bookmarks online are another great way to be organised. This can be found at the top right of the screen, at the end of the address bar. You can create folders and sort the competitions further.  For competitions that require daily entry, this can save a lot of time and effort hunting them down each day.

5) Put the effort in

Whenever someone tells me how lucky I am to be winning so many prizes, I struggle not to roll my eyes. Yes, luck is a big part of it, but comping takes effort. Whether that’s re-tweeting hundreds of tweets, or seeking out those low entry comps, it will take a bit of time. Similarly, don’t expect the prizes to start flooding through the letterbox the second you start submitting those entry forms, it can take a while to get the hang of it, but stick at it and you will be rewarded! :)

The other aspect of effort is the type of competition that you enter. The vast majority of compers will just fill in online forms or enter simple ‘retweet to win’ Twitter competitions. This means that those giveaways that take a little bit more time and thinking will have less entrants – increasing your chance to win! Great examples of this are photography and slogan competitions. I write down slogans that I think of in my notebook, and I am forever taking snaps on my phone when I'm out and about of unusual things that would make a great entry. I then save all these photos to an album on my phone so that it's easy to access them - remember that organisation is key.

So now that you are fully equipped with your beginners comping guide, all that's left to do is get entering! Good luck, and comment below to let me know how you get on or share your own tips. You can always learn more in this wonderful hobby.

Luck and love, 

Laurie

Update: I now have a Youtube Video on my Beginners Comping Tips. Check it out here! 

Compers Are Lovely People: Why Comping is the Best Hobby

When I first got into comping, I was overwhelmed by the amount of people who also love this hobby. And who wouldn't? The idea of getting little presents in the post is enough to make anyone #RTtoWin.

I first came across a comping friend in the form of a girl named Hollie. I went onto her Twitter profile and found that she was also a fellow blogger (check her blog out here), and so started to ask her about her comping tips, as I was new to the game. We continued to chat and to this day months later, we still tag each other in competitions, ask about each others day and comment on just how cute her dog Hugo was looking in her latest tweet (very cute I'll have you know).

When I first began to Google tips on comping, I read skeptics who said that compers were greedy people who refused to share their tips, and would'nt reveal how they managed to be so lucky. I do admit, I have come across the odd person to block me for retweeting their tweets, but never have I found a nasty comper. The 'Queen of the Compers', and a superlovely and superlucky lady who proves this, is Di Coke.

This woman is a miracle - not just because she wins so many competitions, but because she is so generous with her knowledge. She has a fantastic book called 'Superlucky Secrets' (review to follow in an upcoming blog), a YouTube Channel, and an amazing blog: superlucky.me. More than this though, she has set up a Facebook group called Lucky Learners that brings like-minded compers together to share stories of wins, tips and current competitions to each other. So much for selfish and greedy compers, eh?

Being part of this group has increased my joy of comping: I am aware of more competitions (and more obscure competitions), and I have met some really great people. The other day, I was handing out free tea at uni (why not, everyone loves tea, right?) when I spotted a girl I vaguely recognised. Then it hit me, she was a comper. I had seen Chloe on Lucky Learners, retweeted her Tweets and read her blog. She is so full of enthusiasm, winning spirit and creativity just flows from her. We chatted for a good half hour in the freezing Glasgow weather about competitions and life in general, and have agreed to meet up for comping sessions and brainstorming. As soon as we knew who the other one was, this shared link of such a wonderful hobby made us friends straight away. What more could you ask for in a hobby?

The other day I had a wonderful experience of just how nice the people of Lucky Learners are. Having entered a radio competition to win £500, I was sitting anxiously by my computer screen, willing them to read out my name. Before they could, I get a Facebook notification from Di: 'Lorna Beattie is this you?'. My name had been read out but, as I was listening on the app, I was a minute behind. I replied a quick 'ARGH YES' before snatching up my phone and punching in the numbers. Beep, beep, beep.... the phone rang, and rang, and rang... I paced the room...the phone rang....I paced the room faster...the phone still rang....

Throughout the whole 26 minutes that I was on hold, the compers in the group gave me support. There were no grumbles of 'Why wasn't I chosen', simply floods of luck, excitement and nerves on my behalf. People were pausing their day to hear if I had won (sorry if you were late on the school run guys) they were happy for me to be this close to a win and then, when I didn't get through, they were gutted for me, They supported me, told me to chin up and that I was clearly destined to win something else.

So that day I didn't win £500, but I still won. Because that support was the best feeling in the world.

There are so many ways that you can find comping friends. Twitter is a good one because you can see who else is retweeting the same kind of competitions as you. Be aware though, that not everyone on Twitter will want to make this a sociable hobby, as they may just like to comp on their own, and this is fine too.

To find people that are more likely to be group friendly, try doing a Facebook search for comping groups - local ones are great as then you will have access to competitions that are more likely to be lower entry. There are also forums for comping on sites such as Money Saving Expert, and you may even be lucky (no pun intended) and find a real life comping group in your local area. Try Googling comping groups, or put up a poster on a noticeboard to see if their is anyone else who wants to start one.

Comping is an amazing hobby, full of amazing prizes and, most importantly, amazing people. Come and say hi on Twitter @LaurieBeat: feel free to add me and tweet me any questions. I'm more than happy to have a chinwag and hopefully make another comping friend. You can also join my Facebook group here.

Luck and Love,

Laurie