Why buy what you can get for free?

As many of you know, I love to enter contests.  I live on free Starbucks.  I love winning things for me, my kids and my family.  My motto is why buy what you can get for free? I have won things big and small.  People have often asked me how I win the things that I do.  I laugh and tell them its kind of complicated.  It's become natural to me, but to explain it to others can be difficult.   But here is the story I try to share with them:

It all started with Twitter.  The local top 40 radio station was giving away tickets to the Tech N9ne concert coming to town. This was one of the first big concerts to come to our town so I was dying to go.  All I had to do was wait for the tweet from on of the DJ's telling the followers where he or she was.  The first one to find them and say a phrase would get a pair of tickets.  The venue hosting the concert also held the same contest on Twitter. I won 4 pairs of tickets to that concert and took my husband and friends.

Then one day on Twitter I discovered someone doing some kind of contest.  I don't know what it was, may a "RT this and win" or "The 5th person to Tweet wins" kind of thing. Whatever it was, I won.  And the funny thing is I never win anything.  So I was getting pretty stoked that Twitter was helping me win stuff. Pretty soon I was learning some of the phrases people typically use on Twitter when they are giving away a prize. I would use the search feature to find a contest and started winning all kinds of things.

Eventually I entered contests on Facebook and blogs and other sites.  I have won things like a year's pass from Livenation, a Radio Flyer Comfort Embrace Wagon, gift cards to all kinds of places, and lately Starbucks. I have somehow managed to win so many gift cards that I rarely ever  pay out of pocket for coffee.  I am working on my 4th free drink on the gold level and I started in December.  That has been my focus lately since I have less time for contesting.  I try to win gift cards from other places and Visa cards and the like.  It has been a great way to have extra money to get the things I want and need.  Contesting has made me a lucky person.  I believe you can't win if you don't enter, so you need to start entering!

So in the end, I put in the work to make my own luck. I don't win everything I want and of course it sucks to lose but it is fun to see your friends win.  I have talked to great people just like me who love to get a few extra freebies in a time when money is tight.  If I can save money each month than why  not? When people ask if I'm lucky, I shrug and say not really. It's not about luck-it's about the work I'm willing to put in to get what I want!

"I wrote this blog post while participating in the Bookieboo and "Earthies Wants You to Feel Lucky" blogging program, making me eligible to win a pair of Earthies shoes and American Express Gift Cards. For more information on how you can participate, click here."