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

 

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