Daily Schadenfreude

How I became "lucky" in 2013

"You are so lucky, I never win anything," this is often the response I get from my friends when I tell them what I have recently won. I really don't believe I am especially lucky I am just more likely to win a holiday then they are. Why is that? Well because I entered the competition in the first place! 

January last year and I am feeling like crap. I am recovering from a complete breakdown and I really was a grumpy guts! Oh woe was me! 

My sister tells me that her friend had won a cruise and it was the second holiday he had won that year. All I could think was "oh I wish I got a free holiday but it would never happen to me, because nothing good ever happens!" Boo hoo. sob sob sob. 

I was sat at home and that holiday was in the back of my mind. I was super skint and thought the only way I was ever going to go on holiday was if I win one. You've got to be in it to win it after all. So I did what I always do when I want to change something in my life. I turned to the keeper of all of life's answers, Google. 

After a quick search I picked a website I was familiar with wwww.moneysavingexpert.com and started reading up about "comping" and soon I was entering a tonne of competitions. I thought I would try it for a month, if I win something great if I don't then never mind. 

Two weeks later I am racing to get to work, my alarm didn't go off again and after taking a month off due to stress I wanted to come back to work with a finger clicking, I got my shit together attitude but was failing miserably at this! As I was flying to get to the front door I look down and see there was an envelope on the floor. It didn't look like the usual spam or bill. I picked it up and opened it up, walked outside and closed the door behind me. Still walking briskly to catch the bus which I was late for I opened it up and read the contents. I stopped walking this time giving the letter my full attention as I am sure I made a mistake. According to this letter  I had won £200! 

Suddenly I really couldn't give a toss about being late for work! I squeed! I squeed really loudly in the street. A high pitched squeal of joy, possibly the happiest noise I had made for a few months prior to that point. Someone walked past me with a concerned look in their eyes. I composed myself, took a breath and immediately called my boyfriend to spread the joy. He was also happy about the news. Towards the end of that conversation I remembered that I was running late for work so rushed once again to get the bus. 

That was my first win of 2013 and my wins for that year would accumulate to the total of £ 2956 worht of prizes!  Some big, some small. The complete list for you nosey buggers out there is as follows, 

• £200 Cheque
• Chocolate
• Back to the future trilogy on bluray
• lingery
• cat toys
• case of wine
• tickets to a fashion show
• a wii u 
• magnet
• manicure
• tickets to the gadget show
• book
• printer
• £75
• a crate of energy drink
• bastille mp3
• a stella chalice
• another book 
• 4 tickets to see an opera at glyndebourne house with a champagne picnic
• a cuddly toy!
• 2 weekend camping tickets to Rockness
• 2 tickets to feast festival 
• lip gloss
• more chocolate
• 2 vip tickets to the world super bikes 
• 120 200ml cartons of juice
• a mens razor
• 4 day glamping holiday in sussex
• 2 babies dummies 
• tickets to a performance at the leicester comedy festival
• and a tiny squishy pumpkin thing

I never paid a penny to win these things and I even had whole months where I was not able to enter competitions! It's one of the best ways to procrastinate on the internet ever! 

Comping has been a game changer for me. I get to experience things I may never get the opportunity to experience. The best prize so far was the Opera at Glyndebourne House in Sussex. I was able to take my partner my sister and her best friend and see into a different world of posh frocks, champagne and beautiful singing. IT is something I will remember for the rest of my life. Am I lucky, Maybe but theres nothing stopping you from being lucky too. 

If you would like to learn more about comping I highly recommend this guide on the money saving expert site http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/Competitions-comping-win just stick with it you could end up one of those lucky people too! 

Self Experimentation without the guff!

So I suppose I am jumping (rather late) on the blogging bandwagon. Hopefully this will be a kind of lifestyle blog without the guff! I even cringed writing the word lifestyle! I believe that one of the best ways to live life is to experiment and keep the things that work and remove the things that don't. Of course you should listen to your elders and the wise sage advice of those who have trod the path before you but what if they got it wrong? I mean they've been wrong before. 

Hopefully this will become a journal of my successes and fails of my life hacking and experimenting from health to lifestyle. Those little tips you find on Pintrest to the life altering stuff you hear about and think, "well that sounds great but does it really work?"

I will turn myself into some kind of human guinea pig of self improvement. My word, it's starting to sound guffy already! I promise you I am not a hippy. Perhaps a bit on the hipster side but not a hippy!