Us Dames work hard for our money, as I’m sure you do too. So when we come across an opportunity to bring in a little extra cash, we figure why not give it a try? Today’s money making opportunity? Sweepstakes.
I first thought about giving sweepstakes a try when I saw one of those TV specials on TLC called Sweepers or some such. It was pretty much a neighbor of the extreme couponers show. In it they followed three people who made their livings by winning sweepstakes. They each had their own strategies but basically spent about 6-9ish hours a day sweeping. Then they would sell their prizes and live off the earnings.
Now I wasn’t about to spend all night sweeping, but I figured from math that if I spent an hour or so each day working on it, I’d eventually have a little extra something to show for it.
And thus the experiment was born.
The experiment:
I would spend at least 5 days a week for an hour “sweeping for my future.” I decided to do this for a couple months to make sure I really gave it a try.
Hypothesis:
I would win a few prizes or extra spending money.
How it worked:
I pretty quickly picked up a decent strategy for getting through these sweeps quickly each day. I managed to enter anywhere from 20-40 separate sweeps in my alotted hour. I did this each day while watching something on TV. I found it pretty relaxing and didn’t mind it so much actually. I found a few websites that scoured the internet and posted sweeps in different categories. Each day I would check for new sweeps. I also was very careful to ONLY enter those sweeps with prizes I wanted such as cash or trips, or prizes that could be redeemed for cash. I also aimed at only online entries as I deemed anything else to much work to put into this experiment. I aimed for those contests with only one entry per period to up my chances of winning, and those that were daily entries I made sure to favorite on my web browser with the date the entries were no longer accepted. I’d pop open my laptop when I was ready to start, right click on the sweeps folder, select “open all” and boom! The pages would load and I would knock through those entries real fast with an information auto filler.
The results:
Alright, this is the part you’ve been waiting for. Did it all pan out? Did I make a lot of money? Is this your new job?!
And the short answer is No. Sorry to burst your bubble.
I did this experiment for 5 months and what did I end up with? 6 granola bars…
Yup. That’s it. The sad thing is I was allergic to an ingredient in them and I couldn’t even eat them. Stupid granola bars.
So my advice to you if you’re interested in sweeping for your future is that it’s just not worth the time. Unless you just really enjoy entering sweeps as a hobby or get some other gratification from it, you will most likely not make money with this.
Have any of you tried sweeping? How did it go? What other side gigs have you tried or are interested in hearing about?
As always, we love to hear from you!
-WCD
With these sometimes it is just plain pure luck. Sometimes I’m on a real luck streak and seem to win everything. I also like to focus on those smaller sweepstakes or giveaways with less entries too. At least you gave it a shot, eh? 🙂
Good luck to you! Thanks for the response 🙂
One of the things that might have hurt your chances in the Sweepstakes you entered in the 5 months that you started may have been that you entered through the links posted at the websites you found them from. A lot of companies will disqualify you if they see you entered a link from a Sweepstaking website.
good to know!
I think you have to do it for at least a year or longer to see fruitful results! I have been sweeping and entering contests for many years now, but recently my prizes started getting bigger and bigger (trips to exotic locations, expensive electronics, and thousands of dollars in cash). You have to stick with it to really see it pay off. That’s been my experience. Thanks for this post! I enjoyed reading about your experience.
You’re probably right! We’ll have to start doing it again and see what happens.