Sweeties Sweeps 2009 Year in Review

Each year I like to look back to see if this hobby is paying off for me or if I am just wasting my time – no, not really. I have been doing this so long that I KNOW that it is paying off or I wouldn’t have kept doing it all of these years. But, of course, paying off is different in everyone’s eyes. Some might think that their time is valuable and if they are going to pursue a hobby it needs to pay them back with something tangible; and in this case it would be prizes. If you enter mail-in sweepstakes then you definitely want a return on the money you spent for stamps. Others might think, hey, it’s a hobby and I don’t expect anything back exception joy and the satisfaction of doing something with my time.

Looking back over this past year is just a way of reflecting on all that has happened both good and bad. Memories are what this life is all about and in our family we love telling stories so when I look back over 2009 I see a bunch of good stories that will continue to be told over our dinner table when we all get together.

In 2009 who could forget these sweepstakes, winners, and prizes?

The Marlboro sweepstakes with over 1 million prizes. We were all entering daily and some of us only ended up with a bottle opener but some others won kayaks and pool tables.

Willy Wonka and his famous hourly giveaway that I was crazy enough to post winners for each hour. Somebody stop me next time! Those prizes are still being sent out I think.

Cash for Cat Care that ended in July and you can still find here – this was the sweepstakes disaster of the year for sure. Every body and their brother, uncle, mom, and dog won a $50 gift certificate that I bet no one ever received. Run by The Clorox Company and promoted by Promo Depot MatchPoint Marketing, they need to think long and hard before they pull a stunt like that again. I’m surprised that someone hasn’t caused a stink since they are bound by official rules to at least send out prizes that were won legitimately — and that is all I am going to say about that.

As with many sweepstakes, Dollar General ran their Fresh Start back in January of 2009 just like they are running it again this year with lots and lots of great prizes.

In March I wrote my famous article, Don’t be a Whiner, Be a Winner, and soon after I won $5,000 from Burger King instantly along with another reader. In April my site was featured on CNN and MSN and that is when many of you found out about sweepstakes. In May the episode I was in of the Tyra Banks show aired and more readers appeared.

Reader, Barbara won $15,000, Melanie won a car instantly and Elle went to Hollywood to get a makeover. Adrienne won the $54,000 Airstream trailer from Mike’s Hard Lemonade and we have yet to see pictures of it. An especially interesting giveaway I hosted was a Breezy toilet seat. Later in the year another reader won a $30,000 camaro and many, many readers started winning $1,000 cash and trip prizes, and of course, Shaw rugs. There was Free Chocolate Friday, and MyCoke gift cards, movie tickets, Swagbucks and lots and lots of Pace Salsa. At the end of the year Jennifer was the single grand prize winner in the Oprah Favorite Things Sweepstakes and she tells me her prizes are still coming in.

And who could forget winning Bolle sunglasses and lip balm from Miller Chill?

And, the most annoying sweepstakes had to be the Subway Land of the Lost game. What do you think?

As I did last year, here is a summary of the prizes I won in 2009. I consider myself an “average sweeper” if there is such a thing. I enter some sweepstakes everyday. I enter instant win games, sweepstakes, Twitter contests, Facebook contests, text to win contests, and I send entries in the mail. I don’t enter anymore than 20 to 30 a day and some days I don’t even get that many done now that I blog full-time.

I have come to the conclusion that there is a tiny bit of luck in all of this. But I still feel that 99% of it is hard work and consistency. I don’t stop entering when I am not winning, I do whine 10% of the time and, I win consistently — although not as much as some sweepers I know but maybe just a little bit more than other sweepers. I am somewhere in the middle – average.

Prize highlights from 2009:

• $5,000 cash from Burger King (instant win game)
• Trip to Florida which included $250 AMEX card, airfare, hotel, $100 ShopRite grocery gift card, and a year’s supply of water from Nestle Pure Life (restricted, local sweepstakes)
• Trip to the SEC Championship Game at the Georgia Dome for my son and husband included: swag (hat, t-shirt, etc), welcome party, pre-game party, free food almost all weekend, hotel, airfare (restricted, local sweepstakes)
• HP XPH Mini Notebook (CompUSA online sweepstakes)
• Nintendo Wii and Wii Fit (restricted to military)
• $100 Nexxus Spa gift certificate (restricted to military)
• $100 Target gift card (Oprah online sweepstakes)
• Seven $20 (which ended up being $25) MyCoke MasterCard cash cards
• $100 AMC gift cards
• $100 AMEX gift card (restricted to military)
• $100 Stop and Shop grocery gift card (instant win game)
• Playstation 3 (80 GB) system and a copy of Firefly on Blue-Ray disc (local sweeps)
• 12 movie passes from MyCoke and 4 from another sweeps I didn’t record
• $200 Best Buy gift card for daughter-in-law (Wonka)
• And the coolest prize, the Hamburger timer

This is just a summary. I also won at least $80 in Pace Salsa coupons when they didn’t have much of a limit on the game, some t-shirts, smaller gift cards with $5, $10 and $20 values, an oil change, Pizza and cokes from MyCoke Rewards, 3 pair of Bolle sunglasses and 5 Miller Sun Chase kits, 4 Six Flags tickets, coupons for candy, Febreeze, and even more smaller items.

My total came to around $14,000 with everything included. I won around 130 prizes altogether which is in my range of 100 to 200 a year.

Let’s put all of this in perspective. It looks like I won a fair share of prizes this year but consider how much I enter. Let’s say I consistently enter 10 sweepstakes every single day of the year – that takes in the account the days I might enter 30 and days I might not enter any or maybe a couple. That would be 3,650 entries for one year with a net of approximately 130 prizes. Now someone can do the math to figure out the percentages but from this you can see that I lose more than I win and this is the same for anyone who enters.

I am not sure how much I will win this year because this blogging lifestyle is cramping my sweepstakes lifestyle but, whatever I get I am sure I will be pleasantly surprised and happy with. It’s a great hobby that always changes and keeps you looking out the window for the UPS and Fedex truck, glaring at the mailman when he doesn’t have a special envelope for you and helps you to dream a little when life gets rough and mundane.

I hope everyone has had a very good “sweeping” year and I want to hear the highlights from your 2009 sweepstakes year.