After the Storm

The month end sweepstakes extravaganza is over. There were no casualties that I know of yet. Now we are in the waiting phase of the sweepstakes. This is the only phase that causes me any stress in this new crazy hobby of mine. It's not that I mind waiting, it's just that I like to have an idea of how long I have to wait. Tell me that it's going to be 17 years until I hear something and I'll be just fine and mark it on my calendar. Don't give me an idea and an hour seems like months. Opening the spam folder seems more and more like a chore because you never know if one of the messages are going to tell you the good news or if it's going to be 185 actual spam messages.

I counted up and out of the 1205 possible sweeps that were ending yesterday, I only entered into 37 of them. You'd think that I could find more contests that ended that I could enter into but, again, I only enter for things that I would like to have. Yesterday, in the winner's circle forum, I saw this person who had won a case of some drink as part of their yearly wins and in parenthesis it said "eww gross". Before you can digest that, the show we watched on TV that sealed this fate of sweepstaking showcased two sisters that lived across the street from each other and were both sweepers. They had both won a lifetime supply of beer...delivered. (Wow). Neither of them drank beer. I believe in Karma and try to only deliver good things to the Karmic cycle. That's part of why I only enter for things I would like to have. I see these people who enter to win everything and anything, which for some it is their full time job, and just think of the prizes that other people really wanted to win and probably entered every day for. What if there was someone (not be because it did sound gross) that loves that flavor of drink? I like beer as much as the next person but wouldn't enter to win it for life unless it was the beer that I like. I have even gone so far as to not enter a sweepstake because there would be someone more deserving of the prize. Sure that doesn't help my winning any but it helps my balance.

Yesterday being the start of a new month of sweepstakes starts the one-entry stakes which are my favorite. That way we all have the same number of entries and the odds are just one on one (x 1million). Those are also the ones I enter more frequently. So, here we are, two days into the month of May. This month is starting out to be a performance engine month so I have the potential of having a new auto shop in the garage along with enough tools to make my own Snap-on truck. Also, this month is the last month before they give away a really nice camera that I would love to win. Problem with that is that there are also another 350,000 people that would love to win it also and have had three months to enter. Hopefully I win based on Karma alone but I am still really happy for whoever does win it. I just hope it doesn't go to someone who thinks it tastes gross.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday!!!!

Not too unlike those monster truck commercials for utter annihilation, Sunday is the d-day when it comes to sweepstakes. Sunday brings a massive amount of drawings for new winners tied with another large amount of one or two day entry period sweeps that pop up. The great thing about those are that the short entry times don't allow for a lot of entries, increasing the chance of winning. Needless to say, Sundays are the only days I really dedicate any amount of substantial time to sweeping.

What makes this Sunday different, however, is that Monday is the last day of the month. The last Sunday right before the last day of the month is a combination of all the monthly, weekly and monthly contests converging. Last time I checked, there are over 1200 sweepstakes ending on Monday. Now, don't get all hysterical, I don't actually enter that many. If I had to venture a guess, I'd say that I'm close to ten percent. Some of the other people that I see on the sweepstakes pages are closer to 90. Not saying they're crazy or anything, just that having seven kids and a family that I love to spend time with prevents much more time than I currently commit. So, in normal people terms (those people that don't sweep) today is equivalent to Black Friday. Well... not exactly because I think I rolled out of bed this morning around 10am and am not bloated from eating too much turkey and pumpkin pie. ..and it's not Friday. The level of busyness and severe need for organization to make it through, however, is exactly the same. Ah, the price we pay for trying to win something that we only want bad enough to spend the time and energy it takes to fill out a form online and have an increase in our spam folder.

If you're a sweeper and your here reading this, GO BACK NOW AND KEEP ENTERING FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SACRED!! Also, I didn't call you crazy, just less sane than me in the sweepstakes area of the brain. And before you get mad about that, just keep in mind that me being more sane gives you better odds of winning all those prizes. WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?!? THERE ARE SWEEPS ENDING AS THE WORDS KEEP FLOWING!!!