I seem to have this NEED to waste time online. End of the day, I’m “bored” (says the woman with the mile long to do list), and I just want to ‘play’. So, I used to do the mindless Facebook games like Farmville or Treasure Island or Candy Crush or…. or…. Yeah, so I was a little addicted at times. I’d go in spurts.

Well, I found a new addiction! Giveaways. I love the Rafflecopter or Giveaway Tools ones as they are easy to enter. I started doing them in mid December and have won over $600 retail value of stuff already! Including a $50 Nordstrom’s gift card, a yoga mat, a box of organic gummy candy, organic chocolates, baby wipes, boards game and lots more.

I like to mainly enter the mommy blogger type ones as those have fewer entries and better odds. But, I’ve won a few that had over 2,000 entries too. A $100 pair of headphones I won had almost 4,000 entries. So, you can get lucky on those too!

Here are my “tips” that have been lucky so far for me:

1. Try to find low entry giveaways.
2. Do as many entries as you can on each giveaway to increase your odds–like Facebook, follow on Twitter, pin on Pinterest, etc.
3. Always read the rules so that you aren’t missing out if you do win. Some have mandatory entries–commenting, liking, following, etc.  Do what they ask and show the proof if needed, otherwise you name may be drawn and disqualified.
4. Spend time doing commenting only on things you’d really like to win. Commenting as a required entry takes up too much time in my opinion, so unless it’s cash, gift card, or something I’d really like, I don’t comment. Or, perhaps if it’s a really low entry giveaway on it’s last day, I might comment too. It also depends on what kind of comment. Do I have to follow a link, browse a site, then comment? Or, do I simply have to tell you a random thing about me or what I’m doing when I comment?  The browse ones take much longer!
5. Find a few mommy bloggers whose giveaways you seem to always like, and follow them via e-mail or their RSS feed so you can be notified of their new giveaways. Some I like are Viva Veltoro, Everything Mommyhood, Dividing by Zero, and Greatly Blessed.
6. Find some ‘hops’ to enter. They usually have 30-50 giveaways linked from one page and are generally a ‘theme’. If you like the theme, enter them all!
7. Learn how to economize your ‘movements’ when you’re working your giveaway form. I usually open the main giveaway in one tab, and then CTRL-click to open any things I have to check for following–Pinterest, Bloglovin, etc.–in another tab, so I can click over and check and then come right back to my giveaway form.
8. If it’s a Giveaway Tools raffle, you can click to open all the entries you’re interested in and let them load. You’ll quickly find out how many of the required Facebook/Twitter/Pinterest you may already follow. Then you can submit those all at once and decide if you want to try some other entries or if those are enough.