Looking back at over thirty years of sweeping

deerwalker

deerwalker

New member
:wave: People are always talking about never forgetting your first win. I really do not remember what my first win was. I am not sure when I even started sweeping. Was it when I started looking under Pepsi caps and won free drinks? Was it when I would fill out a refund form that also entered me into a sweep every few weeks? So I finally decided to make it when I started to enter on a regular time frame. So my first offical win in 1974 was a T-shirt.

The biggest mistake I made starting out was not keeping records of my wins. Once I started doing that the wins seem to come more often or maybe I would just forget more small wins without records.

I do know when I won my biggest win, $5,000 from Excedrin on April 3,2001. The Affidavit came in the early afternoon. Happy dance started 8 minutes later (hey it took my eyes and brain awhile to agree on what I was reading) ending 20 minutes later (just before the guys with the nets were called). The check came 2 million days later (okay it might have been three weeks but it seemed longer)

My second biggest win was my first computer win. That allowed me to find the best sweepstakes site Sweepstakesadvantage. Looking back over the years the small wins sometimes mean as much as the big ones.The CD and music downloads that scored big favorite uncle points,the caps that made the day of a collector. During the time I was unemployed the gifts card meant so much.

I no longer win as much but I don't enter as many either.I rarely post anymore but I still read the forumns.I think I need to change both of those maybe even making a few post about the old days of sweeps.

My question for you is why are you reading this when there are sweeps to win.
Bruce
 
:laughing: Ok, you got me! We always enjoy hearing from you Bruce. My first win was almost 50 years ago. I entered the Funny Face coloring contest. (Funny Face was a flavored drink mix like Kool-Aid) Maybe some of you remember Goofy Grape, Lefty Lemon can't seem to remember the rest of the flavor names. I won a Funny Face watch. It had a pic of Goofy Grape on it. Tell you what that watch lasted me longer than any watch I have had since then. I remember how excited I was when the mailman delivered it. My brothers were so envious! It sure made me feel like a winner. Oh the good ole days.
 
I won bingo and the closest to the pin {golf} at the country club we were members of when I was a kid.

I started doing snail sweeps in the 80's, when I was stationed at GITMO. I think I won 3 things for the hundreds, possibly thousands of entries I submitted. And 2 of them were for stores in the states, so they were wasted :cry:

In the 90's, I mostly played Bingo, but I saw a call-in in the sunday ad insert and won $100 - told my friend/neighbor, hooked her up with a UPC code {I'd gone to the store and written down *every* UPC I could find for that company - nestle maybe?} and she won too!!!

FF to 2004 - I was online for about 1 1/2 years by now, practically living at G4TV's forums, learning how to de-cootie my comp {son was a teen at the time :crazytongue: } and saw a promo on Showtime for a $10,000 sweeps.

I found and entered it, kicked myself for not looking sooner, found a sweeps site and dug in and entered any & everything!!!

It took 6 months of hard charging to finally win, and I've kept going and love this hobby!!! I doubt I'll take another break from it, but when I finally did hit a biggie, I slacked off, lol :crazytongue: :whistle: :laughing:
 
so im really new to this. ive only been doing the online sweepstakes but ive been hitting it really hard for the past month or so but since i havent won anything yet sometimes I get discouraged. But someone told me not to quit until at least 6 months. Do you think that is true too. That it takes at least 6 months to see your efforts reach fruition (sp?)... I feel like Im winning... every day I check the mail box but its empty... LOL
 
MEMORIES... of winning stuff, as i call it...are great. Ive had a stroke, so i know i cant put my thoughts together in a way that always makes sense...but i do remember in the 70's reading an article in a womens magazine about contests....and i was officially hooked.... through the years i have slacked off, then when we retired, i figured sweeping could be my official hobby. over the years i have won fun stuff and funny stuff.....and i still get a kick out of even winning a candy bar. i love to encourage new people because its pretty harmless, inexpensive entertainment.....and this SA site is nothing short of a miracle to me, taking away the hard work {searching } and giving back hints, ideas and encouragement...............please keep it up. thanks
 
This is a great post. I remember my 1st win. I started sweeping in 2006 and started with snail mail entries. Then my mother bought me a desktop computer and I would be home surfing the internet and seen a banner for "the other sweepstake site". I clicked it and signed up. From there my days of 3x5 cards/envelopes/stamps, etc. were done. I strickly enter online. My days at "the other sweepstake site" didn't last long because those b****es are rude and treat anyone new like dogs. I spoke up A LOT and that got me "banned". which is still a joke in my eyes. BUT, someone from there sent me an email saying to check out SA and that SA has ALL the same sweeps, you don't have to pay, and you are treated like a human being. They were right. I've been here ever since.

Oh my 1st win: Conair Deluxe Foot Spa.
I was sooooo excited. My husband (boyfriend at the time), called me at work and said some lady from MORE Magazine left a message saying I was a winner and to call back to claim my prize.

I LOVE SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA :thewave: :thewave: :thewave: :thewave: :thewave:
 
I started out with snail mail sweeps also. My first prize was a computer and monitor for my grandson ... you entered in the childs name and he was my only grandchild at the time. (I now have 9). He was 18 months old at the time of the win .. he is now 17 and a senior in high school. I used "Contest Newsletter" as my source for sweeps and would sit and watch TV, fill out 3x5's and envelopes. When the "newletter" came each month I would go thru it and decide which sweeps I wanted to enter, how many entries I would send and decide how to spread those entries out over the life of the sweeps. After a few years, lots of postage and very few wins I lost interest. I found SA in Nov. of 2005 by clicking on a banner on an online lottery site ... and the rest is history. I have some great wins, the largest a couple of years ago of $35,000 cash and small ones like candy bars, etc. My grandkids think grandma is the greatest because she always has something neat to give them when they come, even if it is as small as a coupon for candy for a CD or DVD... one told me I was the "bestest grandma she has". :laughing:
 
This is my second week of sweeping and I've already won a bookset of three huge books and keychain/hat. My question is....is this the norm of sweeping or am I setting myself up for a disappointment?
 
mikkie5606 said:
This is my second week of sweeping and I've already won a bookset of three huge books and keychain/hat. My question is....is this the norm of sweeping or am I setting myself up for a disappointment?
Click to expand...

Good question! Actually, there is NO norm of sweeping. You will have hot spells and dry spells and in between spells. Just remain positive, consistent with entering, patient while waiting for wins, and happy for others when they win (makes for good karma :) ) I love entering sweeps daily, winning occasionally and being happy for others on a regular basis ... even when they win the prize I really really wanted.
 
ok, been sweeping about 4 or 5 years, and the way found sweeps won a t-shirt to WWE. googled sweeps and got real lucky to find SA and been here since. have won 100s of gift cards, 53 hats,29 t-shirts, countless cds, a few books, 2 candy cranes. mops,broom,scrup brushes, dishes,pans, cups, coffee, candy for 1 year, $500 to travelosity, $500 avon of my choice. Sony laptop, so many downloads never could count, my sweet boat in the aviator, just won a troy built tiller,riding mower, trimer, push mower,hand tools ect, and $7000 to Lowes not to long ago, after that for about 2 months or little longer took brake due to family business, now back and starting to win again, never have taken it to serous, have fun and if I enter great, if to busy, well such is life, Dance everytime win, Don't pray to win, but always thank God when do win, as He gets all the credit for anything good in my life, Lots and lots of other wins, but no memory and noone wants to read all that anyway, good luck to everyone
 
adiazgirl yes I do believe in at least a 6 month trial. I wish I could tell you that yes you will have won in 6 months but like judge said there is no normal in sweeps. At the end of 6 months not only look at your wins but look and ask yourself is this fun? is it relaxing and something I look forward to doing each day? or is it just another chore I have to do?

If it is something that you still look forward to doing but your just not winning then look closely at the sweeps you are entering. Are you limiting your chances to win by entering only sweeps that have super grand prizes but no other prizes? Are you overlooking blogs and facebook sweeps? are you turning daily sweeps into one time sweeps because you enter them one time and forget about them? this site has some of the best tools around to help you enter use them.

Remember the smallest prize in a sweeps is as important as the biggest prize when deciding on whether to enter or not.
Do not be scared to play around with sweeps you enter. Example you only have time to enter 100 daily sweeps a day one day maybe enter 100 sweeps you have never entered before, next time maybe enter 50 new ones and 50 that you have entered before next time enter 100 sweeps that you have entered before. JUST DO IT YOUR WAY.

Be sure to read and ask questions in just the handful that have posted on this topic you have combined wins way in the thousands and there are lots more here in SA that love to answer questions and give tips. so go have fun and WIN

Bruce
 
What a fun thread! I definitely haven't been at it as long as some of you... I still have a door prize I won at a church function when I was 6, I suppose that was my first win :) I'd earned a reputation of "luck" long before I got into sweeping... I'd won various door prizes and raffles (centerpieces, gift cards, a laptop) before I stumbled onto SA at the tail end of a couponing jag a few years ago. I played with the site for 3 or 4 months then, and my biggest win at the time was a $250 Rite Aid gift card. After a couple months, I got busy with other stuff and wandered away for a while.

Around April this year, we were a couple months out from our wedding and in the process of buying a house, and I came back. Making big scary decisions that will affect the rest of my life is hard, deciding whether or not to fill out a form or play a game is easy. And repeatedly filling out the same stuff over and over again is mindless and theraputic (it was also really good practice for all the mortgage paperwork and a really good way to easily learn our new address).

So, I started sweeping again and kept it going through the move and through the wedding and beyond. I've had some decent luck and some good timing, a couple wins over $1k (a resort stay and a check), some wins that will make great Christmas gifts, a lot of free food, movie tickets, gift cards, some nick-nacks, and lots of other miscelaneous stuff. It all adds up.

Anyone can win, I have just as good a shot at it as any of the other hundreds or thousands of people who've entered, it's not that painful to toss my hat in the ring and see if this time it'll be me. Rinse and repeat with some consistency and the odds move a tiny bit more in my favor.

And any time I do win something and give myself a little brag session on facebook, those friends who believe I have a "lucky" reputation always ask me "What don't you win?" and I always reply with "About 99.9% of what I enter". It's not for everyone, there is some work involved and the rewards may show up right away or they may show up after years and years. They may show up as one collossal win or they may show up as a lot of little wins. They may show up the first day you open a form, or after several months of form after form. But that randomness of the unknown is part of the fun too.
 
my first win was a video game from nestle, we did not even own a gaming console.that was 20 years ago.i stated really sweeping 15 years ago.my first year i won $5000 worth of stuff and i was hooked every since.of course things have slowed down since then. i won so much stuff: video camera,digetal camera,gourmet food,52 coupons for video rentals,t-shirts,gift card,books, gift bag from lucky, a wii,video games,food coupons.my adult kids really enjoy the surprises that i win. they always have b-day gifts and stuff at x-mas. now with 9 grandkids my little hobby really helps to keep the expences down.with the modern age of computers i don't spend money for evelopes, postage,the most it cost me is $2.50 to fax winning papers.i enter when i can and if i can't oh well there's another day.
 
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