COMPETITION WINS JAN & FEB 2013

Well this year has started off really well (though not quite as good as November and December when I managed to pretty much win all my Christmas presents!), but some nice wins nevertheless.

I have continued to enter competitions on Facebook and Twitter as these are easy to do and require nothing more than a click of the mouse. Beware however, that you don't get too carried away as time can pass by very quickly.

There are problems with both of these methods though;

1. Beware you don't enter too many at once or you could find yourself banned from using either site for an hour or so or even longer. Facebook especially blocks you for up to 30 days if it thinks you are "spamming" and as many competitions require you to simply "like and share" the posts do all look similar.
2. With Rafflecopter entries on Twitter you often have to post the URL of the tweet. Don't simply copy the tweet as this will not be recognised. To find the URL, find the tweet, hover over the time elapsed since sent record (top right hand side of the tweet) and copy and paste this into the Rafflecopter entry form.
3. Winning posts - Twitter is much better at this and you either get a mention (which is easy to check on your profile page) or a DM. Facebook not so good and many sites just post a message on their wall. If you follow lots of pages for competitions, it can be difficult to check them all, so join The Winners' Circle group and you may find others post your name as a winner!

So what have I won.....Quite a lot of makeup and facial products which all come in handy with a teenage daughter in the house, the nicest being a three month subscription to BirchBox, which has given me the opportunity to try out products I might not think of purchasing; a few DVDs and books; bracelets (these seem to be popular prizes, but a girl can never have too many).

The best prizes so far this year - 10 balls of Louisa Harding wool that I intend to make into a cosy jumper (great prize for a knitter), three pairs of shoes that were hand-dyed to the colour I wanted (I'll post something separately about these when I get a chance to take photos) and £200.00 of loungewear from Skiny that has yet to arrive.

All I can say to other compers is don't give up if the prizes don't seem to be coming as they will. After all you have to be in it to win it!!