December and how I did....

December was manic! 

I had all intents of being super duper organised and had cleared lots of MSE and Competition Database in preparation. I'd set folders up. I was really looking forward to December and Advents. 

It didn't work.. this has probably been my most disorganised and chaotic December of comping since I started a decade ago. Instead I spent time making igloos and Christmas grotto's in my spare bedroom, crafting cardboard snowmen, visiting what feels like 1700 different Santa's with Jacob and watching him in his first ever nativity at school and it was lovely.

My stats on Competition Database say I entered on average 16 competitions per day on there and my advent folder held about 40 that I would check each day although did skip a lot of comps that I wasn't interested in and then I used the MSE Advent Over £100 thread and Instagram for my comps this December. Previous years would see me trying to enter hundreds upon hundreds every day but I had neither the time, energy nor inclination this year. However being picky served me well..... 

My first win of the month was won via a friend who ran a Facebook Competition and was for an Aldi Parsnip soft toy, it's rather strange looking but J loves it! 

Anybody who does advent competitions has probably got it ticked off that they won with In The Night Garden. I've previously won a cd, fridge magnets and a calendar and this years offering was a 'book' which is a term I use loosely as I think it was 8 pages and more like a leaflet. 

My first proper advent win of the year was some Konditor and Cook Mince Pies for the hubby which I won on Facebook. 

Viners were running their advent competitions on Facebook and I made sure to enter as I love their items. I have pans and cutlery that I got for Christmas a couple of years ago that I love (I asked for them specifically they weren't given as a duff present) and I was really pleased to win a set of their Silver Serving plates. There are 6 plates in total and they are worth £96. I've given a pair to my gran but kept four for myself. 

My first Instagram win of the month was a selection of facemasks and some charcoal toothpaste which I'm slightly scared of so haven't tried yet but have heard great things. 

Miffy run regular competitions on their social media and I won some audiobooks for J from one of their Facebook posts. 

I was lucky to win early on with the brushworksuk advent because by the end of the comp they were asking for 10+ tags. I won a Kabuki make up brush. 

I was really pleased to win Sherlock Gnomes DVD with Muddy Puddles on Facebook. There is nothing better than a family film day on the sofa snuggled under blankets. 

Our first children's mag win of the month was from Animals and You and is a Smooshins Surprise Playset where you make your own Smooshins which are like squidgy doll type things - I'm really selling this aren't I? Anyhow they are quite popular with kids although parents probably just think uh! 

I received an eyeshadow rainbow pallet from Glittertubes - so many pretty colours! 

J received a sweep puppet through the post from a children's mag. Like last month it said about his masterpiece being published but it turns out it's actually from an Eagle Eye competition and the certificates are just generic. 

The moo collective gave away loads of cookie cutters on Instagram and we won one. 

We as a family love Lego so I was really pleased to win with Lego Watches on Instagram. We won a Jurassic World Lego watch and a Lego Santa bauble which is super cute! 

Our next kids mag win was a Unicorn Feisty Pet from an entry form competition. They are strange little things. We got the unicorn who looks all cute then seriously peed off haha. 

Amongst Lego other loves of mine include Harry Potter and Itty Bitty's so I was really pleased to have a win which combines the two and receive a Dumbledore Itty Bitty. Who is currently living on my fireplace with my other Harry Potter Itty Bitty's that my hubby bought me :) 

Last year I won an advent prize with Discoveration's for a family pass to Thackeray Medical Museum and this year I won the same prize with the same company again. I wonder if they run it next year I can score a hattrick?

I received a parcel in J's name which contained a Power Rangers Lion Morph, there was no letter to say where it was from but after searching I found it was from an entry form we sent to Kraze magazine! 

My next prize gave me a bit of a chuckle. After a lot of nagging the hubby just wouldn't go get the Christmas Tree down from the loft for me, and knowing full well I can't/won't go up he thought he had gotten away with it. Till I won a new Christmas tree from the Fireplace World Advent which came in 48 hours and was put up whilst he was at work.... I wonder if I can work similar magic with other things I need his help with? 

Another Christmas item I won on Instagram was this lovely cushion as modelled by SnuggleBuddy Bear. 

A couple of small wins of fake tan, a star wars keyring, posh hand cream and fancy notelets from Instagram competitions. 

I won a fab selection of different chocolate bars, and small gift items from Chez Maxima's 12 days of Christmas blog competition. I put a lot of the chocolate bars in a Chocolate hamper I made my grandad for Christmas. 

We have been talking about redoing J's bedroom for a while and he really wants a bed with a slide and a den underneath and a tent over the top. I'd seen a space themed dream tent in Smyths which I liked the look of as it goes with the Space theme he has on one of his walls I spotted a low entry competition for one on Instagram and was made up to receive a message a few days later saying we had won! Although we haven't got the new bed yet I've put the tent on his current bed and he loves it. 

I won two local hamper competitions in December. One was a Christmas Eve hamper which had a minion toy, loads of sweets, pens, pencils and other art stuff inside and the other was a hamper from a local posh food place that had yummy biscuits, relish, cheese, gin etc inside. I do love a good hamper! Especially when they come in boxes/baskets that can be re-used.

Lands End were running an hourly comp over all their platforms to win an item of their children's clothing and they pick a winner per hour per platform. I noticed twitter was quite low entry and was lucky enough to win a fab top for J. 

After purchasing some bottles of Oasis at the Co-Op after a post on the Lucky Learners Facebook group I was pleased to win 2 pairs of Cinema tickets for our local cinema. There are some fab films due out that I can't wait to go see! 

Speaking of films I had wanted to go see Christopher Robin at the cinema but it wasn't Ant's kind of film so I'm really pleased to have won a copy on twitter from 110% Gaming as it means me and J can watch it when he's not in. 

My next 10 wins were all from Instagram - 

3 Paddy Wax Christmas candles 

A Latest In Beauty Subscription Box

A Playmais Farm House from DKL Toys

A Teddy from STN Airport (you have to add a screenshot of their post to your stories and they always send you a heart emoji in reply and I was losing the will to live the amount of hearts they sent before I won lol) 

A Christmas Stamp

A bundle of children's books

A Teddy Mountain UK Candy Dog Kit 

Love Honey bundle from CoppafeelMCR

An advent prize from WeBuyAnyCar 

£50 Love2Shop voucher

My last few wins of the month (and year) were a lovely bathroom set from We Soak on twitter, a £25 cinema voucher for a local cinema and a digital copy of the new Crash Bandicoot game for the PS4. 

A total of 44 wins and a very successful end to the year! 

I'm not sure of the exact value as some prizes haven't arrived yet as they were won late on so I'm not sure of the exact value. I've also not managed to add a pie chart but will hopefully come back to add that later. 

I hope December has been fabulous for you and you all have a brilliant 2019! 

Danielle

You can see my recap for the whole of 2018 here.

What I won in November.

So it's now December, the Advents are upon us and Christmas is near. 

November was spent trying to get ahead to the best of my abilities to try and lessen the mania and stress that Advent's can bring. I think I did pretty well.

I had a message on Instagram on the 1st of the month to say that although I hadn't won the main prize with my Harry Potter pumpkin they'd like to send me a runner up prize of some Tiffin which was rather yummy. 

My 2nd win of the month was also from Instagram, I've really put a lot of effort into going back on there again. This was a tub of regenerating stem cell cream that costs £95 to buy! I've given it to my nan as she loves her lotions and potions. 

We've tried to do a few more effort comps recently and one was with Tetra where they asked your child to colour in a picture to win a 'My First Aquarium' on further inspection the tank wouldn't have been suitable for us at all so I'm glad we didn't win but we did win a runners up of an Activity Book. 

A Sooty DVD was won from Fun To Learn on Facebook and was a simple comment and like competition.

Our first children's mag win of the month was a rather fantastic Spiderman Go-Kart from the Beano. It's been hidden for J for Christmas and I can't wait to see his face when he opens it. 

Staedtler run regular competitions on their facebook and we won some funky glittery crayons from them. 

I also received a surprise win of Noisy Animals although I think it may have been from Primary Times. 

Another win with our Harry Potter pumpkin picture for a £20 Amazon voucher which added to the £100 from last month helped to buy a few Christmas presents. 

4711 run regular competitions on their social media accounts and I won their full range. It smells really nice and is unisex too which is great. 

I got notification that I'd won a runner up prize of some Aura Oil with our pumpkin again. I was hoping for the main prize which was a little Black Cube Burner but was happy they appreciated our efforts anyway. 

One win which I'm really pleased with is 10 Party bags from Oglee Poglee they aren't your typical plastic filled party bags but individual themed craft packs. I've chosen 10 different themes and they are due to be delivered on the 15th December just in time for the Christmas holidays to give us some activities to do. 

This month I seem to have done quite well with wins for me and somebody else I tagged. 

The first one was a pair of fit flops sneakers for me and a pair for my friend Rebecca. I've got mine for my gran for Christmas. 

I won a Rocks Off Bundle with Bondara on Instagram.....

Directions hair dye chose me as their Freebie Friday winner so I got some Rose Red hair dye which I can't wait to colour my hair with as I used to have that colour about 8 years ago and loved it! 

Mega Mag chose us as a winner of March of the Penguins DVDs. 

I won a fabulous book on Instagram from jimek_draws about Superheroes and drawing your own. It's a great book and you should definitely check him out. 

The next up of a prize for me and someone else was from Regatta. I won 2 jackets of my choice and tickets for ice-skating at the NHM. I got me and hubby a jacket each and my friend will be making use of the ice-skating tickets as I struggle to stay up right on land never mind ice. It's strange to have a jacket, I haven't owned a coat in about 5 years.

I won the entire collection of Nanogen products on Instagram which is perfect for me as after having an operation in 2016 my hair started to fall out and this stuff is supposed to help hair regrowth and thicken so I'd love to see how it goes. 

I won a personalised cake from SpongeCakesLtd on Instagram I got a Christmas picture of Jake put on it and it's cute. We haven't eaten it yet though so I don't know how it tastes. 

Another Instagram win is a massive map for J's room. It's from Underfoote and ArchiboldClutterbuck and is perfect as my Grandparents are going to Oz for several months soon so we will be able to look and see where they are. 

A lot of people on the Lucky Learners Facebook group have posted about a competition with Pioneer Paper. It's supposed to be a purchase comp but they have the option for a free code and I won a L'Oreal Gift Set with them. 

I have been trying to win some Grinch goodies for J but only managed a shopping bag and some popcorn so far. 

I received a voucher for a Treat Box from Patisserie Valerie which we are hoping to get this weekend. 

On the Wednesday I was talking about Children's Magazine wins with a comping friend and I said we had only had the one this month which is unusual for us. 

Then on the Thursday some Silly Squeak toys arrived that make silly noises and play different music. J loves them but they are driving me potty!

On Friday some Christmas Blindbags arrived from one mag for a picture J apparently sent in but I don't remember sending in so have to wait a month till the mag is in store. 

On Saturday we received a Puppy Pals Playset which is from one of two magazines but didn't have a note in. 

I certainly made up for the lack of Children's Mag wins. I'm thinking of mentioning tv's or cash next haha! 

I received an email on Monday to let me know I had won a Drone in a Black Friday competition which will be getting wrapped up for the Hubby for Christmas! 

I also won 3 Klean Kanteen bottles and some reusable straws on an Instagram competition. I've wanted a Klean Kanteen for so long as we always end up buying drinks when we go out so this will hopefully help us be less wasteful. 

I received a chocolate bar from Cadburys from their Secret Santa twitter competition. 

My phone decided to crash on Monday night and needed plugging in to the laptop and restoring. My email account has a filter on to put winning emails into a folder but for some reason once my phone had revived itself I decided to do a search for 'winner' and it showed I won a Geomag Colours set from a blog so maybe my phones brainfart did me a favour! 

I've been desperately trying to win an advent calendar for me after winning J a LEGO one last month and I managed it at the end of the month winning not just a No 7 Advent Calendar for me but one for my friend too! 

My last two wins of the month were some posh ladies socks on twitter and a bundle of Zimpli products from Instagram including slime, gelli baff, snoballs and much more so brilliant for sensory play!

I haven't gotten around to adding pictures or a pie chart but will come back to it, I'm posting this for reference mainly before I forget because it's been typed up and sat in my drafts for a month!

Total prizes won: 33
RRP of prizes £1262

September is done, look out October here we come!

Hello!

September was a real mixed bag for me in both comping and real life. While most people were looking forward to their kids going back to or starting school and gaining some extra time in their day, the start of my month was spent battling to get J into his new school and into full time education. He's been there 2 weeks now, with the first week being a transition week but he's doing really well. It did mean though that for the first two weeks of September he was only accessing 2 hours of education a day and I was spending a lot of my time making phone calls, emailing people and meeting people and then on his transition week until he went full time on the Thursday I was travelling to his new school with him and then waiting there before coming home so comping really took a back seat as I just didn't have the energy or inclination. I did think when he went full time I'd start really putting the hours in and comping lots but I found it really alien to have time to myself and not just the occasional hour so I did other things around the house, got dragged to garden centres and the vets by relatives who worry that my agoraphobia would take hold again now I have nothing to force me to leave the house like the school run (J gets transport) and then when I did finally feel like comping, my laptop went Pop!

All that aside, I did manage some wins, not my usual quantity but there are quite a few bits I'm really pleased about.

So lets begin.

The first win of the month was a Cadbury Bag from the Match & Win promo. I've not really bothered with it since, I'm not a football fan at all and don't really need a keyring which a lot of people seem to be winning. I also don't need any excuse to eat more chocolate.

I won a pair of Cineworld cinema tickets in a text competition. We haven't used them yet as I didn't want to waste them on any old film and so I'm hoping to save them for date night and go see the new Halloween film when it comes out.

J loves the Hotel Transylvania films and with the new one out there were lots of comps to win goodies. I'd seen a few comps to win a copy of the game and one of the new dolls on twitter so I made sure to enter them all. With every tweet I added a video of J reciting a scene from the second movie. One of his quirks is that he has full films, songs and adverts memorised and can repeat them effortlessly. We were lucky enough to win the Wedding Mavis and game for the Nintendo Switch.

We had two kids mag wins on consecutive days. One was a Tractor Ted floor puzzle and wooden tractor that drives over it and the other is a Power Rangers Steel Morpher. Both Will be going in the Christmas cupboard one for J and one for my nephew.

I won a fantastic childrens book on twitter from Sploshy about Transport. It's a brilliant book with each page dedicated to one type of vehicle which is named and the book asks questions and gets you to sing nursery rhymes too, its lovely.

Baker Ross have been doing loads of daily giveaways of little childrens art project kits on both twitter and Instagram. I was lucky enough to win a Dinosaur Fridge Magnet Scratch Art set. Here are some of our dinosaurs.

Aldiss run regular freebie Friday comps and I won a light box from them. I've bought some extra lettering and icons on eBay and it will be used as a Halloween prop.

I also won an overnight stay at a Jury Inn in their Freebie Friday competition.

I finally after trying from the beginning managed to win on the Freddo competition. I was hoping for LEGOLAND but ended up with a small adventure which wasn't suitable for us so I swapped it on the Virgin Experience website for some fancy chocolates.

New York Bagel Company are giving Bagel Tins away on their Bagel Thins. The odds are really good on this one.

I don't know how I came across it but Holland & Barrett did a big giveaway where they gave loads of Dr Organics Snail Gel products away on twitter and I won a face cream. I'm actually terrified of slugs and snails and the thought of using the cream weirds me out but my nan is really looking forward to using it.

I won a competition with Claudi and Fin of a goody bag and some Usborne book learning books which will be perfect for J. The goody bag has arrived and was a tote bag, pen, ruler, note pad, frisbee, rubber etc but unusually no coupon for some of their ice lollies which is a shame.

A couple of years ago during a mad moment one night I drew a poop emoji on my face. A kind of sh*t has hit the fan and I'm still smiling moment. It's been used in a few comps since and this time won me one of KD's new SNOT IT games which looks gross but great fun. I've put it out of the way till J's birthday.

Tesco and Nestle are doing a giveaway with lots of prizes from free sharing bags to TV's. You have to buy a bag of chocolate and put your code in to win, you can only win once but you can keep reusing your code till you do win. We won a £10 Sky movies voucher on it so it will go towards a new DVD or something.

After telling my grandma on the phone I was missing my postie and hadn't seen him for a while and hadn't had a win either I had 4 wins in the space of around half an hour! AMAZING! 

A yummy looking jar of Autumn Chutney is on it's way to me from Cartwright & Butler after I commented on their facebook competition with what my favourite thing about Autumn is.

I won a book for J from Carlton Books about Pirates on Talk Like a Pirate Day.

One of my favourite wins of the month is a No More Worries Kit from the Irish Fairy Door company. Not only did I win one for J but I won one for my friend Rachel whose son also has ASD. Anxiety can be a big thing in children on the spectrum so I'd love to see if it helps them any.

Then I decided to enter the Dairylea Super Cool or Super Cheesy comp which just like Freddo I had been entering with zero luck! You can imagine my shock when it came up saying I'd won! I've won a Polaroid Snap! camera. I can't wait for it to arrive.

I had an email from School Run to say I've won two Thames and Hudson Art books for children.

Then I had a surprise delivery from a kids mag of a Thomas the Tank Engine foam puzzle which is perfect for my nephew for Christmas or his birthday.

With Carabao cash due to end I put my last two codes in and won £5 on both of them.

So there you are. Despite a not very good start to the month, things picked up towards the end, and whilst a lot of the wins were on the smaller side sometimes it's the smaller prizes that keep you going.

I'm now all geared up for October. It's my favourite month of the year. It's J's 6th birthday which I can't wait to celebrate and also Halloween. I love me a Halloween creative comp. I've been working on ideas for me and the boy as well as pumpkins and really hope they work out how I envision them and win us some prizes. We've also got our Disney on Ice trip planned this month.

Here is for a smooth sailing month for everyone and the only frights to end with Halloween Delights.

Danielle.

Month review:

Total Prizes Won: 23

Total RRP of Prizes: £568

 

The Difference a Week Makes.

What a difference a week makes.

Last time I posted I was upset, I was angry and I was frustrated. I was struggling to get answers as to when J would start his new school, I was being promised phone calls and emails and I was hitting a brick wall. I got so much support from so many people. I needed that. It genuinely helped.

Things were still stagnant and getting no further. Even J's Speech and Language Therapist got involved in trying to get answers and usually medical professionals don't get involved with school admissions. He got me a number for the admissions officer who was dealing with J and told me what days she worked. I rang her up and was promised a phone call back. Guess what? It never happened. The Old School had tried chasing, I'd tried chasing, now medical professionals were trying to chase too and still no answers? It wasn't good enough. It would be really easy to get annoyed with the new school but they had no proper knowledge of J or our situation and that's why they couldn't provide answers. Apparently our case worker who dealt with the EHCP and assigning us a school doesn't have the best track history. The SENCO and a learning mentor  from school had had enough and went to the new school. This was on the Wednesday. They wanted to get things sorted and were willing to wait as long as it took. They meant business. They came back with answers.

On Friday we said goodbye to the old school for the second time.

Monday came and I dressed J in the uniform for the new school and my grandad picked us up. As we didn't know how long the journey would take we set off in ample time and were too early. A lot of waiting around didn't help with J's anxiety and he was a little disruptive and I filled with dread. Mrs W his one to one from the Old School came to help with the transition and I left J there for an hour. He had a great time. The next day my grandad again drove us to the new school. I was told this time do collect him up at 11am this time. Again they reported another great day. Wednesday he had lunch there and I collected him at 12:45 and then on Thursday he went full time!

After over a year at being in mainstream and only doing 2 and a bit hours a day he had managed to transition to a SILC and full time in just 4 days! Not only that but now he was full time he was going via transport so was picked up from home at 8am and dropped back home at 4:30pm - a long day for a 5 year old but he took it all in his stride.

So now he's in full time school. His class has 4 or 5 staff members to around 7 or 8 children. They have their own dedicated sensory room and their own rebound room with a swing and trampoline and other physical equipment as well as a private outdoor space. School say he is doing brilliantly for someone who has had no real access to learning as he was never in a classroom they've really surprised him by how well he's doing.

The difference in him in a week at home has been amazing too. I've never made it a secret that he can't read or write, or that we struggle with phonetics or even getting him to commit. Yet on Thursday he went and got a pear and came back in the living room.
''Mama, what letters are in pear? P. E. R - PEAR''
Now I know he missed a letter out and it would be so easy to correct him but I was just so pleased that he had sounded out the word as it's something he'd never done before. He can now spell out his name and the word CAT from memory. He's constantly asking me what letters are in words and is really interested.

He's also shown an interest in the time - digital not analogue and asks to check the time on my phone to tell me what time it is. This again is a massive thing as he's reading the numbers left to right whereas he would read them backwards before.

These may sound like small things but in the grand scale of things it's amazing .

An Awesome August Recapped

August is the month when school holidays are in full throttle and you've already exhausted all your fun ideas in the last week of July. So with that in mind I was determined to try and win some fun things to do, or if possible win some of the back to school things we need in order to lessen the to do list. It also meant comping time was limited so I did more social media comps and purchase comps this month that were quick and easy to enter although we also spent a bit of time on an effort comp or two but they were ones where my son was involved with helping me or taking part too. 

Anyway on to the wins.... 

The first August win was for J from a kids mag and was a Lost Kitty blind box. J is obsessed with anything 'surprise' he loves watching the opening videos on You Tube so was excited by this. (I however didn't realise they had playdoh in them and had a mad panic when he opened it on my rug ha ha) a small win but a nice one to keep the boy busy for a few minutes. 

I also was lucky enough to win some Kidtropolis tickets which was an accidental win as I tagged a friend to let her know to enter and they took my tag as an entry. My friend is happy to be getting to take her son though so it's all good! 

I've mentioned last month and also on talking to people on Facebook groups etc how I've wound down the amount of Instagram competitions I've been entering. Even though it has previously been where I got a lot of my wins from I found it quite draining so I've only been entering the odd few I come across on competition listing sites rather than searching my own out. However if you need someone to tag feel free to tag me - danigraves87 just please don't be offended if I don't respond. I'm still adding pictures so my account is still active and I may get back into entering a lot again when the boy is back in school. We shall see. After all that I actually had an Instagram win of some fantastic Stem Quest books. They are brilliant and I've actually really enjoyed looking at them myself, they are a bit advanced for J yet but will put them aside for him for when he is ready. 

I then had a second Instagram win of a runner up prize from thegroovyfoodcompany which had a jar of coconut oil in as well as a make up bag and some lovely wee treats like Urban Decay make up. A nice treat for me. 

On the 3rd August I got a WTC to say J had won tickets to CBBC Summer Social Festival in Liverpool, it was happening that weekend so we decided to head over on the Sunday. We had an amazing time, J got to go on rides with his daddy, see favourites such as Mr Tumble and Hey Duggee perform and his absolute favourite CBBC star Andy Day performed with his band the OddSocks. J loves watching Andy and the Dinosaurs and so was amazed to see him up close and personal, this was only made better by the fact we managed a meet and greet with him and J got to give him a high five and tell him how he always watches him on TV when he goes to Grandma's house. He then rang his grandma to tell her he'd met Andy and he was real and it was such a precious moment for him that he is still talking about weeks later. 

On the way back from Liverpool we popped into a services station. Hubby got a can of Carabao and J got a fruit shoot. We won £5 on the Carabao and then there was a text comp attached to the Fruit Shoot and we won a family bowling game. 

One of the effort competitions I mentioned was to do with Disney and their 24 Hour Challenge to encourage children to be more active. You had to sign up to the challenge and try it out and then give your feedback on a post on Mumsnet. Now J is a very active little boy anyway but my mobility issues mean me not so much however we signed up and gave it a go and I left feedback and thought nothing of it. So I was super surprised on the 6th to get an email telling me we had won tickets to Disney on Ice, train tickets and a hotel stay! We've chosen to go to the Manchester show on the 14th October which is the day before J's birthday! The PR who organised it all has been amazing and we have our hotel stay the night before so that we can make the most of a weekend in Manchester. 

I received a tweet from Here Come The Girls to tell me I had won a Baby Jack-Jack plush. I mentioned last month how I had been eager to win goodies for J and had searched lots of comps out, this one was found with a quick twitter search and had only 3 entries!! 

Apparently there is a day for everything now, and August included Yorkshire Day. I was notified on the 9th of August I'd won the Seabrooks Yorkshire Day competition. 48 packets of crisps and a large bouquet of white roses. The crisps were sweet chilli and a bit too much of a kick for me so hubby took them to work and popped them in the staff canteen and was very popular, and I had to borrow a vase from my Grandma as I've never been bought flowers before so didn't have one. 

I received a winning text message from a Freddo competition to let me know I had won a Giant Jenga game. It's a Jacques London one and is fab quality. I never usually have much luck with text comps but I keep trying. The set is fab and although we've not played Jenga with it yet J has been using them as building blocks to make forts for his figures and things! 

J received a parcel of some Peter Rabbit puzzles from a kids mag win. They'd had to switch one of the puzzles out for a more classic Beatrix Potter version rather than the film version so that's been put to one side but J has had great fun doing the larger puzzle and he's getting quicker and quicker. 

I had entered a competition with Nigel Clarke TV for an Incredibles bundle and had an email to say I was a possible winner but there were a few stipulations - I couldn't post on social media, had to reply in a set time, had to agree to post photo's etc. I replied within minutes and agreed to all stipulations but didn't get confirmation we had won until the 9th! It was such a long wait and I was checking every day on Facebook and emails. The toys have arrived and J loves them! 

My next 5 wins were £5's on Carabao. I have seen some people buy excessive amounts to chase a win on this comp and it kind of puts my 2 at a time to shame but I still seem to be doing reasonably well with it so whereas I'm not actively chasing to look for the comps if the supermarket has stock when I am doing a shop or hubby pops to the petrol stations we will grab 1 or 2 cans. 

J had another kids mag win delivered of a little Tonka Tinies playset. 

I won an Access All Awkward book on twitter from TeenBookHoots. 

J then had another kids mag win! This time a LEGO Friends bundle! We love LEGO in our house. 

OUPChildrens publishers on twitter did a comp for a bundle of their new releases which we won and received 4 fab books. We are really enjoying reading Bee Boy Attack of the Zombees. 

Another National Day was National Tell a Joke Day. I recorded Jake telling a joke and posted it on a couple of comps. He has a few favourite jokes but the one we used most was:

''Knock knock.

Who's there?

Narnia

Narnia who 

Narnia Business''

It won us a runners up prize from Brother Max of a Bath and Room Thermometer. 

I had a notification to say I won a picnic hamper from Aunt Bessies on Facebook. Perfect for days out with the boys and J is obsessed with picnics thanks to an episode or Mr Tumble. 

I subscribe to Compers News magazine and was really pleased to spot my name on the in-house winners list this issue. I've won a £30 H&M voucher from completing one of their puzzles. Although I've won competitions on their forum this is the first time I've ever won from the magazine puzzles. It's definitely given me the incentive to keep trying and I really enjoy doing the puzzles. 

Another Facebook win from Swizzels Love Hearts. You had to fill in the blanks of a song lyric they posted using only emojis. I wasn't sure what I would receive but got lots of sweets, a tea towel, lip balm, trolley token, coaster, and a tin of sweets. It's a really nice prize. 

I take part in the Disney Junior tea party every week if I can. They have a lot of different prizes based around themes or new shows. They were doing a back to school one. I won a Tangled Lunch bag set which I am going to give to my friend for her daughter. 

Speaking of lunch bags I really wanted one for J. We aren't sure how he will manage school dinners as he always used to finish school before lunch time and come home and he's such a fusspot with foods only eating certain things that I wanted to have a lunch box/bag ready just in case so when Di Coke posted about the Anchor Dairy purchase competition and that you could keep entering I made sure to buy a tub and enter and after a few days I received an email letting me know I had won one. 

Another thing I wanted for back to school was a car seat or a booster seat. We have one in our car and my grandparents have one in theirs but J will be going to a school nearly 9 miles away and although he will get transport (hopefully) there may be times when I have to taxi it to get him there or get him home so having something I can use in those instances was really important to me. So I was really pleased to receive a message from Muddy Puddles on Facebook to let me know I had won a Mi-Fold portable booster seat. This was won from a competition where you had to give a back to school tip and I posted a picture of a chest of drawers we use that are labelled Mon - Fri and have a full days uniform in each one. 

I received an email from another kids mag to say J had won another set of Peter Rabbit puzzles. The picture in the mag shows the same as what we should have won from the earlier set but which were substituted so we will have to wait and see if the same happens again. If we get the same puzzles they will go in the Christmas/Birthday cupboard. 

Cully and Sully Soup are running a competition for Souper Ambassador's and they said the more creative and fun the entry the better so I really pushed my boundaries to enter. I don't like pictures of myself much less video's as I get worried about what people will say about me or think of me and it causes me massive anxiety. However I decided to be brave and try something I had in my head. I rewrote a version of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air's theme and made it all about Cully and Sully soup. I set a tripod up in my living room and I did my recording. I had to do a few takes - crap memory (mine not the device I was recording on), J being loud during it, him blasting bubbles into my face and me nearly choking on a bubble, the usual. However I got an edit I was happy with and posted it on to the competition post and was really pleased to be notified a few days later that I had won a Fitbit Charge 2. 

I won a pint of Lager on the Carling football comp. I'm not a drinker but hubby enjoyed a cheeky beer while we were out for my birthday. 

I had 5 more carabao wins spread over a week and a half totalling £30 

A text comp win for cinema tickets came in at just the right time on the 28th as it was my birthday on the 31st and we always go to the cinema for my birthday so these combined with free drinks thanks to the leftovers on a cineworld voucher i won months ago meant we got to go see The Meg for free and my birthday night out cost nothing but petrol to get there and back. 

I had a fab email from Encore to say I've won 2 Merlins Magic Passes meaning me and Ant can go to London for a few days in November and have tickets to the London Eye, London dungeons, Sealife Centre, Shrek Adventure and Madame Tussaud's. We are going to try fit in a Harry Potter trip if possible.

I had an email from the Acorn books blog to say I've won a collection of Dinosaur Adventure books for J. You had to comment saying what your favourite dinosaur was. 

Jackson Reece do a regularly freebie Friday competition on Facebook. I won for the 3rd time this month and won their toiletry range which looks fab. We love their nose nuzzlers.

We closed the month on a couple of small wins. 

A delivery from a kids mag for J of some activity books. They both look really good having flicked through and will give us something to do on an evening. 

A crate of 12 bottles of Mango drink from Pago on twitter. 

Finally a Bikybiky vest on Facebook which I'm super pleased about as we are trying to teach J to ride his bike. 

Overall a pretty awesome and amazing month! I'm looking forward to September but at the same time I'm apprehensive as J will be moving schools and it's a big deal for him so it won't be just a case of back to school, feet up and comping, plus I'm hoping to sign up a learning course of my own to learn BSL. 

Monthly recap: 

Total prizes won: 45

Prize RRP: £1790

I hope everyone has had a fantastic summer.

Danielle x

 

July - the month where we all melted

As I mentioned in my previous post July was a bit of a battering ram on the whole head and body for me, added into it the heat which wiped me out and saw me permanently sat next to a tower fan I'm really pleased with how July turned out for me in terms of wins. 

My first win was for J of some MLP Top Trumps cards from a kids mag, these have gone in the birthday box to be used as birthday presents when/if he gets invited to parties. 

Hallmark ran a competition for people to nominate their children's teachers as superheroes. I nominated Jake's one-to-one Mr Smallwood for everything he has done for and with Jake. He really went above and beyond and it was because of him and Mrs Winestein that Jake actually started to enjoy going to school. So I was delighted to be contacted and told that we had won and Mr Smallwood would be receiving a Superman Itty Biggy toy and a card to thank him. Alongside this they asked how many children were in Jake's class and sent them an Itty Bitty each. This was a wonderful prize for us because Jake has now left that school and will be attending a specialist school in September so it was lovely to give the friends he will be leaving behind a little gift each. I did go out and get Mrs Winestein a Wonder Woman Itty Bitty as well so that she knew how grateful we all are. 

I won a Salcura bath milk on a Facebook competition and they sent a big box full of samples as well so we can try their other products. 

Preloved ran a competition on twitter about recycling so I sent them a picture of Jake and an alien he'd made out of a toilet roll tube and won a copy of book called Rag Doll Lost. 

I think I've previously mentioned J's love of glasses so he was really pleased with a win of some Real 3D Dinosaur glasses from the new Jurassic World movie. 

I haven't really been entering many Instagram competitions this month so I was really pleased to win some beautiful byri earrings and a coconut cream Muri candle in a colab they did. 

I follow quite a few sensory toy pages on Facebook and Sensory Treasures did a giveaway for a bath turtle where the last person to comment won, I kept the post open in a tab on my browser and just popped back to comment every now and then and won. 

I'd seen a couple of my friends win the weekly competition with ThePyjamaFactory on Instagram and I'd spotted they did Incredibles pyjamas and I really wanted them for Jake so I set it so I would get a notification every time they posted and I made sure to comment and like every post and I won yay! So Jake got his new pj's which he loves!!! 

Cheeky Chomper did a colab with TotsBots to win a swim kit which is super handy as we've started going swimming regularly and the wet bag and mat will be super useful! 

I won a 'goody bag' of Screwfix goodies on Instagram from GetHerTrade. I use the term goody loosely, I will be honest I only entered as I wanted a drill shaped stress ball as shown in the original picture. I didn't get one. The hard hat key-ring is cute though and the post it notes have come in useful. but yeah - beware of random goody bags! 

When I was at the cinema seeing Jurassic World Fallen Kingdom one of the promo's was from Oasis for a double ended bottle which looks like a fun way to get soaked or no drink but I won one from a Facebook comment competition and I'm looking forward to seeing who gets drenched most. 

How It Works do regular competitions on twitter and I won a Dinosaur Bookazine from them. 

Another twitter win was a selection of Posca pen goodies from Uni-ball. I'm looking forward to attempting to do rock painting with J which is a big craze at the moment. 

Aldi are another company who do regular comps and I always enter them and I finally won with them. The prize was a £20 voucher and it came during a skint week so was super useful! 

I took Jake to see the new Incredibles 2 movie and he absolutely loved it so I set myself a challenge of winning him some Incredibles Goodies! As well as the earlier pj's I did quite well. I managed: 

• a baby Jack Jack plush from @Supermommy83 on twitter
• a baby Jack Jack plush from Dear Bear and Beany blog 
• a Personalised Incredibles 2 book from Pukka Gifts on twitter
• An Incredibles2 Bundle from our local cinema on Facebook 

All were found just by doing a simple keyword search every day. 

I had a sudden influx of prizes for Jake

Two Fireman Sam puzzles from a Kids Mag 

A Dino Wars book from twitter

A SlimeBlaster and zimpli kids slime bundle from a Kids Mag 

Computing for Kids Books from Miles Kelly on Instagram

Animal Ark book from Toppsta 

Then it was back to my turn to win again. 

I won a beautiful silver peony necklace from Kate HH Studio on Facebook 

A super heavy solid wood chopping board from Worktop Express on twitter. They run a competition every week. I've been using mine as a lap tray in the living room rather than a chopping board though. 

In my mag group a lovely lady ran a draw for a prize she was no longer able to use - a family ticket to Madame Tussauds in Blackpool. I was really happy to win and I'm looking forward to taking Jake at the end of the month. 

I actually won with B&M on twitter. They run a lot of comps but they always have loads of entries so I was really pleased to get the message telling me I had won a bundle of Silverline tools and £50 of vouchers. Something for both the hubster and me and Jake! 

Jake had another kids mag win of a Sea Monkeys Zoo. I always wanted one of these as a kid but my parents said no so I am super excited about them and just hope they hatch and work haha. 

A quick comment on Facebook saw Jake receive a pen-pal letter from India. This is actually really cute and came from Our Little Globe the letter is full of interesting facts about India and comes with some cute fact sheets, recipes, a packet of spice and some stickers. 

Two more book wins of How To Be a Lion and Pirate Baby - both from twitter comps. 

I managed to win the Popcorn Shed ShedSharingSunday competition - they asked what you couldn't live without and I replied ''Sleep. I don't get much as it is but if I got any less I'd be intolerable, although my hubby says I already am!'' I can't wait for it to arrive! 

My last wins for the month are from the current Carabao cash promo. I've so far managed to win 10 prizes of £5 on that comp! The money has already hit my bank balance too which is awesome! 

Month recap:

Total Prizes: 42

Total Prize RRP £922

 

Hope everyone has an awesome August. 

Danielle xx

June in a Nutshell, how it panned out.

It's the end of June already! We are already six months through the year and it's zooming by.

June has been my worst comping month so far this year. I've had 30 prizes so stuck to my average of 1 per day which is great but value wise it's my lowest value month and there are a few reasons for that.

The first week of June hubby was off work and we finished decorating then had lots of lovely day trips to places like Yorkshire Wildlife Park and Harrogate Valley Gardens and Grasshoppers in Tong. It's great when he's off as he can drive so we can go further afield but it also makes taking Jake out easier as I struggle alone and I can't do all the things he wants to do.

We've upped Jake's hobbies! He was doing gymnastics once a week at special disability classes but we are looking for other avenues for things he loves and enjoys too. So now I take him swimming one lunch time a week with the help of my Nan, leaving us both quite tired afterwards but he's showing such progress after just a month of sessions. He's also started quad biking, if you follow me on social media you will have probably seen pictures and videos of him in his full motocross gear zooming around my Dad's factory, it's a bit heart in mouth sometimes but he loves it so is doing that a couple of times a week.

Other reasons involve breaking my laptop screen - it's still a complete mystery how it happened but it rendered me unable to comp on the laptop for a week unless I hooked it up to the TV and used the TV as a monitor, although it's fixed now. The final reason is it's been so sunny we've been playing in the garden or in the paddling pool and snoozing or just too warm to be bothered to comp. I've gone from doing a couple of Instagram comps a couple of times a day at interim periods to doing a couple of Instagram comps once every couple of days and my wins definitely show that.

Anyway, enough waffling.

Here are my wins:

The 1st of June saw my first win from Annabel Karmel of a micro-trike, this was a purchase competition where you had to buy a children's ready meal and they had 50 a month to give away I think it was. I only entered in the last month but was pleased to win as it's perfect for my niece and nephew.

Jake had his first kids mag win on the 2nd. A Poopeez Toilet Launcher play set. It is as grim as it sounds. Poopeez are the new collectibles rage at the mo, delightful little figures in the shape of different poops, wee
s and even trumps such as Silent But Deadly! The Toilet Launcher came with two figures and you put them inside the toilet and then after a few seconds they pop up and jump out.

Lots of World Cup promos on this month and Coca Cola have a few including win a FIFA FUT code for the FIFA 18 game of downloadable content. I wouldn't usually class this as a win but as between us we've won about 8 I've decided to class it as 1 solitary win but I'm not valuing them highly.

I won two bottles of Fizzics Apple drink on Instagram it came in a lovely wooden box.

Finally after years of trying I cracked it with the Sun Puzzles and won £50 in their weekly wordsearch competition. They pay via BACS so do need you to send your bank details over which I know a few people are wary of doing but the payment hit my account and I've had no issues. Cash always helps!

John Adams was running a comp asking about peoples favourite flowers on Facebook and everybody was saying the typical ones such as Roses, Daffodils etc. My favourite is Senetti which is a beautiful white purple daisy. We won an Ezee Beads Garden Bugs and Flowers set which was a fun little activity for Jake to do.

Another copy of Maze Runner: The Death Cure arrived with no note or anything so I have no clue where from. I had entered a few before I won a copy last month.

The lovely Kate Eccles on twitter @KEEccles ran a giveaway for a copy of Monster in My Wardrobe and I tweeted a picture of Jake sat on top of one of my wardrobes saying we hadn't found a monster in the wardrobe but we had found one on top. It was a lovely read and the publisher wrapped it like a present which was a nice touch.

Another twitter win was a Femme Cup from the Powder Room. I was the only entrant and it was just a case of retweet and reply with a hashtag tagging a friend.

Jake won some Shopkins Cutie Cars from a children's magazine.

Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE Harry Potter. Bloomsbury Publishing have brought out some new special editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and they ran competitions on their social media to win a house special. I entered for Gryffindor and you had to say what password you would give for the Gryffindor house. I said Voldemort - because most are too afraid to say his name, but Gryffindors are brave, courageous and daring!

A Win It Wednesday twitter win of Halibo children's vitamins from twitter.

Frubes have a no purchase necessary competition to win colour changing goodies - I keep forgetting to enter (I am rubbish at dailys!) but managed to win a colour change wristband.

Jake had another delivery! (He's done bloody well this month from children's magazines!) This time it was some Mickey Mouse jigsaw puzzles. 

On Instagram I won a Sister gift box. I actually found this when looking for twitter comps that were ending soon, you could enter on both twitter and instagram and it was ending soon with low entry numbers. It's a nice gift box with necklace, hot choc, notebook, bath bomb and chocolate mallow treat in.

Another twitter win this time from KBB Ark of a Kohler speaker that goes inside a shower head! Super cool!

ANOTHER win for Jake from a kids mag of a DC Match game, there were 10 prizes up for grabs and my mag group managed to win 8 of them so I was super pleased, although a clean sweep would have been lovely!

I won a lovely stationery bundle on Instagram that I can't wait to receive as I love stationery and all the bits look super cute.

A local shopping centre ran a competition for Love 2 Shop vouchers. I always enter their competitions but this is the first time I've ever been lucky with them. I won £25 which we had to collect in person, they originally wanted to take publicity photo's but when I explained my anxiety of having a photo posted publicly and people being able to criticize me due to my physical appearance etc they were lovely and said I didn't have to. I used the vouchers to buy The Greatest Showman and Coco on DVD as despite lots of trying I never managed to win them. We've only watched Coco so far but it was so good! The other £5 I used to buy ice lollies in Iceland - much needed in this heat haha.

I also won a Darkest Hour DVD from a web comp.

Oh look, another win for Jacob, this time some Paw Patrol books.

I won a MojMoj toy on Instagram these seem to be along the likes of L.O.L Dolls and the type of opening a surprise.

I won a copy of No Guilt Pregnancy Plan  from Mumsnet, here's hoping me and hubby get the chance to use it!!!

Milkshake magazine had a twitter competition where they wanted kids to make a mask and send a picture with a hash tag, there were hardly any entries and we got ours in last minute and won a copy of Chicken in the Kitchen.

2 Scrub Daddy sponges and a stand were won from Instagram. I love how they are smiley faces but I've been sat using one as a stress ball all afternoon as I love the way it feels when you squish it, it's hard but soft at the same time.

Every Tuesday on Facebook Disney Jr have a 'Tea Party' with multiple prizes where you have to answer questions. We won a Mickey's Racers bundle on it this week. Two soft toys, a cup and a toy driving license.

You can tell I started to get back into Instagram a little bit towards the end of the month as I had two more wins on there. Some gorgeous leather sandals for Jake from Chipmunk Sandals and an Aquabeads set from one of their daily comps.

One last kids mag win for Jake of an Ookiverse book, we already have this so when this arrives we will pass it to my cousin.

My last win of the month was a fab bundle of DVDs from Movie Weekender. There are some classics in there and a couple I've not seen before.

So there you have it. In a nutshell my June has consisted of DVD's, Books and Children's prizes haha. It's almost as if the comping Gods know the summer holidays are on the way and we may need things to keep us busy!

Have a great July everyone, I hope the lovely weather holds up for us all.

Danielle x

 My stats for the month are:
Total Number of Prizes: 30
Total RRP of Prizes £664
Breakdown of Prize type: