In store promotions and competitions - UK

When I am walking round my local supermarket, I not only keep an eye out for bargains, I also look for the word WIN! You would be surprised how many times you see it - and it usually catches your eye on some bold colourful packaging. When I am in the shops with my little cousin, we play a game to see how many times she can spot that winning word - keeps her occupied and her little eagle eyes tend to spot comps that I miss!

On this post, I will be regularly updating it with comps I have seen in store, along with the occasional unbelievable bargain. I will post pictures of the product, so you know what to look for, along with some key points of the T's & C's such as closing date. If these are on sale anywhere, I will try to point that out as well!

If you see any that you would like me to feature (I'll be sure to give you a shout out thanks!) tweet me (@LaurieBeat) or comment below! Happy hunting!

Bodyform - Win a trip to New York

The Prize: Prize Fund: Trip for 2 persons to New York including return economy flights from London, transfers from the airport to the hotel in New York where the winner will share either a twin or double room in a 3* hotel for 3 nights, including breakfast. The trip includes a two day sightseeing hop on-hop off tour bus pass for two and a choice of either two tickets for the Empire State Building Observatory or two tickets for the Top of the Rock Observation deck. Trip also includes either two ferry tickets to visit Liberty Island (Statue of Liberty) and Ellis Island, or a 1-hour boat cruise.
How to win: Find a pink ticket in the pack
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: 10 pink tickets in total
Closing Date: Claim by 30/6/16
Best Place to Buy: Currently £1 in Superdrug

Wilkinson Sword - Day in the Life of Lucy Watson

The prize: The prize consists of a trip to London for the winner and a friend for a luxury day and night experience. The prize includes:

• A personal shopper experience at Harvey Nichols, London with £1,000 spending money
• A spa trip for two people including a treatment to the value of £100 per person
• Lunch for two at the Bluebird Café, Chelsea (availability permitting) which Lucy Watson will attend. Not including alcoholic beverages.
• Dinner for two at a top London restaurant (availability permitting). Not including alcoholic beverages.
• Return train travel to and from London for the winner and friend up to the value of £50 per person.
• One nights stay in a double room in a minimum 4 star hotel designated by the Promoter.

How to win: Enter code found on pack online
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: 1 winner
Closing Date: Enter by 31/03/16 claim prize by 30/6/16

Best Place to Buy: Currently half price in Tesco - £3.50

Crunchy Nut Bars - Win £5

The Prize: £5
How to win: Enter code found on pack online
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: The original draw for this is closed, but any codes entered from now on will be entered into a catchall draw that ends on the date below.
Closing Date: 02/08/2016

Note that Kellog's Crunchy Nut Cereal also have a promotion on to win 2 months of Now TV - just pick up a promotional pack in store and enter the code online. Open until 31/08/2016

Walkers - UEFA Champions League Prizes

NB: This one doesn't open until 01/02/2016 but is worth pointing out so you don't throw away any packets!

The Prize: UEFA and crisp related prizes and a draw for UEFA tickets
How to win: Enter code found on pack online
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: Winner every hour for smaller prizes one big draw for tickets
Closing Date: 25/04/2016

Bueno - Fashion Prizes

The Prize: Variety of fashion Prizes and a 20% discount for entering
How to win: Enter code found on pack online
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: 1 of 10 prizes every day
Closing Date: 31/03/2016

Tangerine Confectionary - Sweet Beats Promotion

The Prize: 

• 1 x Beats Studio Headphones.
• 1 x £25 / €25 iTunes Giftcard.
• 1 x £100 / €100 Ticketmaster Giftcard.

How to win: Enter code found on pack online
Purchase required: Yes
Chance to win: The original promotion is closed but there will be a mop up draw where one winner wins the prize mentioned above.
Closing Date: 19/04/2016

Actimel - Take on the Day

The Prize: £10,000
How to win: Find a black alarm clock on lid
Purchase required: Yes (and keep packaging, lid and recieipt)
Chance to win: 5 prizes available
Closing Date: 30/06/2016

Other Promotions to Look Out For:

Bernard Matthews: Every week from 22nd January to 4th March a family has a chance to win £100. Just pick up a promotional pack, keeping the label as proof, answer a question on the website and keep your fingers crossed!

Any more, let me know. I just found these on a wee shopping trip when I had an hour off at uni. Shows what you can find when just browsing!

Luck and love

Laurie

(note that prices are all correct of date of posting and all opinions are my own)

Snap Chat Competitions: Low Entry and Fun

I get loads of questions about snap chat competitions. The annoying thing about these competitions is that they are really difficult to find...but this is also the best thing. A bit like Instagram competitions, the fact that they are really hard to source means that only dedicated compers will be able to find them and low entry means that there is a much higher chance of winning! Also, as snapchat is on your mobile, it's so easy to enter. For other mobile comping apps, check out this post.

The Basics

So how does snapchat work? For many people it is a fun way to stay in touch with friends, and I myself have sent many a silly selfie to my friends who have moved away, and some to my friends on the other side of the room! To set up, simply download the app, and come up with a username and password. Try to make the username easy to remember as it is what other people will search for when they are looking for you! Here is a screen shot of my homescreen once I have taken a cheesy selfie:

The number 1 is notifications I have of private snaps and chats. Simply swipe to that side to access. The 6 is peoples stories that I haven't viewed yet. This is where the promoters will post their competitions. When you add a photo to your story, it will be accessible for people to view as many times as they want for 24 hours. To do this, when you take a photo and press send, make sure you tick the box that says 'My Story':

To add friends simply touch the ghost icon at the top of the page. This will lead you to a menu screen. Here you will see your own ghost icon or 'Snapcode' (which other people can use to add you) and a few options. 

Click the 'Add Friends' icon where you will be lead to a new screen. 

Promoters will usually give you their username, so click that option and type in their username and press the little plus button. Simple!

Examples

I have so far entered two snapchat competitions, and won twice, so it's safe to say I quickly became a fan. For the first competition, I had to add the promoters (Maze Runners) on snapchat and then take a screenshot of the relevant picture on their story, which was of a maze. I then had to edit the picture so that I completed the maze and upload the result to Twitter. My prize was a brand new iPad mini 4, which will be amazing for taking notes in uni...and a dedicated comping portal of course!

The second competition was more interactive. Again, I had to add the promoter and then view their story, which showed lots of lipsticks. I simply had to send a photo back (I did a super enthusiastic pout) saying which shade was my favourite and, hey presto, I won!

I have seen other competitions which require you to take a selfie in front of advertising and send it to the promoter and put it on your story. Unfortunately, I have never found the poster or billboard on time! Below are my top tips for finding and entering these hard to come by comps!

Search for the win

So how can you be one of the few to enter and perhaps win? Research is the key! The thing about snapchat is that you can't actually search for the competitions on the app, you have to look elsewhere. Twitter is great because you can search for more than one term, try things like 'win snapchat' or 'competition snapchat' which may tell you who is currently running snapchat competitions. My first snapchat win was found on Twitter and then needed me to upload a picture to Twitter. Sometimes, snapchat is just a way to further promote the brand, or perhaps to have less entrants - a bonus if you can get involved - but then requires you to share the results on another site such as Twitter or Facebook.

Google is another great way to source these comps, you can use a filter to search much like you do on Twitter. Superlucky Di has a great blog about this which I have linked here.

Be original

Like most effort competitions, snapchat requires you to be a bit different and stand out from the crowd. If you are taking a selfie, pull a silly face, wear a hat, or take it somewhere cool! It may be easier to take a picture of your feet in a public place, but the bravery of taking a selfie on a crammed bus is sure to earn you brownie points! Also, if the promoter mentions a product in the instructions, make sure that they can see it well and clearly. You don't want to be discounted for not following the rules!

Snapchat has a great feature that lets you edit your pictures by drawing on them. Use the little pen tool at the top corner and choose your colour to get creative and stand out from the crowd!

Along the same lines, you can add a caption to your photo. Maybe if you make them laugh, they may be more likely to pick you! To add text, click the T button (next to the pen tool) and you have a few characters to type something out. You don't have much space, so make each letter count!

Take Time

On Snapchat, you can chose how long the recipient can view your snap for. This is done with the little clock on the bottom left of the screen. Click on that, and choose how long you want. For competitions, put this at the maximum (10 seconds) so that they can really see your entry! Don't worry if you get a notification saying that they have replayed or taken a screenshot of your snap, this just means that they wanted a better look at it!

So there you have it, my beginners tips to becoming a snapchat comper! You can add me on snapchat with lornabeattie and at Twitter I am @LaurieBeat, and let me know how you get on with your snap chatting! You can even send me a tester snap or two, just to get used to it if it is all new to you. Either way, have fun and happy comping. 

Luck and Love, 

Laurie 

New Years Resolutions: Weight Loss on a Budget

Many people up and down the country and struggling into their second week of New Years Resolutions, wondering how they will make the next 50 weeks. The answer, shake it up a little. But stop. Before you go online and buy books, spiralizers, tablets and many other fad (and expensive) weight loss solutions, think - how can I do this on a budget?

To start with, fad diets are not the way to go. Personally I am very against them for a number of reasons. Not only are they aimed mainly at making money, they are not sustainable and, a lot of the time, they are NOT healthy. For me, if people want to lose weight, it should be in a way that is healthy (read slow and steady, not sudden weight loss) and shouldn't cost you the world. So, for those who are wanting to shed the pounds, without making their wallets lighter, read on!

1) Youtube is Your New Best Friend

Youtube is a wonderful place where I can spend many happy hours. Alas, it is not only cat videos that reside there (yes, really) I use it for maths help, comping inspiration (check out Superlucky Di) and fitness videos! Rather than spending money on fitness DVDs, simply go over to Youtube where you can find all sorts of different exercise videos! This means that if you are in the mood for yoga one day, boxfit the next and crazy dancing the day after, you have all the videos you need! This keeps your fitness more interesting and therefore you are more likely to stick at it! I love to type in 'learn the dance routine for,..' and then my favourite song that's currently stuck in my head (Sax by Fleur East at the moment)! That way you are learning a new dance routine (look out for me in the nightclubs of Glasgow!), having fun and keeping fit at the same time! What's not to like?

2) Bulk it up!

Vegetables are one of the cheapest and healthiest foods you can buy! As I previously mentioned in my baked bean recipes post, I like to bulk up my meals with vegetables. Rice can be bought reasonable cheap, but many people will be trying to cut down on the amount of carbs consumed so I create rice like texture from vegetables. A 'grate' way to do this is to cook slightly less rice and grate carrots or courgette in to bulk it up, or add some peas. This adds colour and flavour to the rice as well as making it less calorific.

Along the same lines, when making mince dishes like bolognese, try adding an extra tin of tomatoes and using oats to soak up that extra liquid, 1/2 a cup should do it but feel free to add more or less depending on what texture you like! This, along with plenty of veggies like carrots, mushrooms and peas will make your mince dishes stretch much further, allowing you to freeze extra portions for another day! Similarly, adding lentils to mince dishes gives it extra flavour without reducing the protein (note that oats have protein too). Both these additions have less fat and are cheaper than just the mince on its own, and bulking out with veggies is a great way to get your 5-a-day in!

3) Explore!

Walking beats the gym on so many levels - the fresh air, seeing new places, catching up with friends and IT'S FREE! Gym memberships can be expensive, especially if you end up not having the time or motivation for it later in the year! Why not try walking first to see if you can shed the weight without the gym membership? If you live in a city like me, there will be so many places you can go! Walking round museums, parks and old churches burns the same calories as if you were walking on a treadmill and the time will fly by so much faster as you will be interested in going to see things! It's a great thing to do with kids as it takes them away from the tablet or computer and can be very educational! If you live in the countryside, well all the better! Doing a quick google search can reveal loads of walks right on your doorstep that you maybe didn't even know about! Map my walk is a great free app that can show you routes other people take and you can log your own route! Call up a friend and see if they want to join you - away from the computer screens and constant wifi of coffee shops, you will be able to have a proper catch up without spending a penny (no temptations overpriced coffee and diet-ruining cake)! Even when its raining me and my friend donned the welly boots and got out there!

4) Soup-er Savings

A great warming lunch, especially over winter, is soup, with or without a good chunk of bread. It's very healthy and, if you use lentils and pulses to bulk it out a bit, it can be protein packed and therefore stop you snacking as much later in the day. Fresh soup can cost a couple of pounds in the shops but I managed to make 9 portions for just £2.57! I used a whole 1kg of carrots (45p), 2 Baking potatoes (25p), 500g red lentils (£1.10), and a bag of value mixed vegetables (77p) and some spices and seasoning to taste along with as much water as you like to make to your desired thickness. This worked out at just 29p per portion- cheaper even than the value canned soups and with much less salt! These other portions can then be frozen for soup any time! One way to make this even cheaper is to pick vegetables that are on the cheap because they are nearing their sell-by date or are going off in your fridge. Once its all cooked and blended together, no one will know! So go on, be adventurous and let me know any delicious budget friendly soup recipes you come up with!

Good luck with your new years resolutions - maybe this way you will be able to join me in my Money Saving New Years Resolution as well as getting healthier. Let me know how you get on by commenting below or tweeting me @LaurieBeat

Love and luck,
Laurie