2012 Summary

So it's the 30th December today, which pretty much concludes 2012! I only started this back in late August, and can't believe how successful I have been! I've had some fab wins, especially the X Factor Tickets, and more importantly I've had a ton of fun entering all these competitions! Fingers crossed for a lucky 2013!

2012 Total: £575.27

Lifetime Total: £575.27

Lindt Chocolate

Picked up yet another voucher for a free Lindt Chocolate yesterday :) The same flavour as last time, my local Tesco don't sell any of the more exciting ones - boo!

Value: £1.83
2012 Total: £575.27

Kettle Chips

This win has been a bit of a nightmare to get hold of - I won 4 bags of their newest crisps in a facebook competition 3 months ago but they never turned up. After a couple of ignored emails I finally got passed onto somebody more helpful and I ended up with £8s worth of vouchers. Sainsburys currently have them on offer for £1 each (usually they're around the £2 mark) so I managed to get 8 bags for free! A shame that they didn't stock the new tortilla crisps I was originally supposed to receive, but I can't complain I suppose.

I bought them in stages so as not to annoy the shop too much XD So some bags got eaten before I took the photo! ;)

Value: £8.00
2012 Total: £573.44

Crabtree & Evelyn Lip Butter

Another win from the advent - a Crabtree & Evelyn Lip Butter, Vanilla Creme Brulee flavour. I'm not sure how much I like the smell/taste of it (it reminds me of some sort of nut, gross!) but it's very soft and feels lovely on the lips.

Value: £6.00
2012 Total: £565.44

Butlin's Umbrella

A surprise win from the Butlin's Advent Calendar that turned up a couple of days ago. It's a really pretty umbrella, I love the frilly bit at the bottom! It's a shame my photography skills aren't better, this pic doesn't really convey how nice it is!

Value: Can't find it for sale anywhere, estimate £3.00?
2012 Total: £559.44

Gregg's Sausage Rolls

Gregg's have been doing a daily instant win this past month for various food items. I won about 4 times, but only managed to claim 2 of the prizes as my printer decided to break for the others :/
Anyway, managed to get 2 free sausage rolls - a nice snack on the way to work!

Value: 79p each (£1.58 total)
2012 Total: £556.44

Funnily enough, the real sausage roll got eaten before I could take a pic.

M&S Christmas Mug

A Christmas mug won in a Marks and Spencers' competition. A snowman on one side and santa on the other. It's a very nice mug, quite heavy and feels well made. A shame I will look silly using it 11 months out of the year! ;)

Value: £5.00
2012 Total: £554.86

Lindt Chocolate

2 free bars of Lindt Chocolate, won via a twitter competition Tesco were running :)

Value: £1.83 each (£3.66 total)
2012 Total: £549.86

Discovery Set by Gazelli

A win from a massive giveaway the Telegraph were doing - A 'Discovery Set' by Gazelli. 2 small pots of anti-ageing creams - they are pretty tiny so must be good stuff given the price of them!

Value: £12.00
2012 Total: £546.20

Topshop Giftcard

A small win from Capital FM's christmas giveaway - a £5 giftcard to be used at Topshop, Dorothy Perkins and a couple of other places. I'll probably wait till the sales until I use it!

Value: £5.00
2012 Total: £534.20

Itunes Voucher

Another instant win from the pringles advent calendar - a £10 itunes voucher!

Value: £10.00
2012 Total: 529.20

GOSH Smokey eye palettes

When I got the winning email for this competition I was expecting just one palette, but then three turned up! :)

Value: £7.99 each (£23.97)
2012 Total: £519.20

Crabbie's Ginger Beer

A bottle of Crabbie's Ginger Beer I won in a competition :)

Value: £1.99
2012 Total: £495.23

Pringles Speakers

An instant win from the Pringles Advent Calendar - a pringle speaker!

 Value: Not available for sale properly, but people have stuck them on ebay for £2.99
 2012 Total: £493.24

One Stop Sweets

One Stop were giving out sweets to the first 1000 people who sent their address, I managed to get there in time so this small goody bag arrived today :)

Value: £0.75
2012 Total: £490.25

X Factor Tickets + Hotel

A fab fab prize!! Won tickets to the X Factor live final in Manchester! I am such a fan of this show  so to see it live was such a good experience, and was interesting to see all that goes on behind the scenes. Plus I also got a free nights stay plus breakfast at a 4* star hotel (the Renaissance Manchester). The hotel was great and our room was absolutely massive!! Very pleased indeed!


Value: Tickets are always free, just very hard to come by (so you could say they are priceless!) I never saw the bill for the hotel, but I think on average rooms are £99.

2012 Total: £489.50

A Half Forgotten Song

Won a copy of 'A half forgotten song' by Katherine Webb. Will update when I've had a chance to read it!

Value: £3.86 on Amazon (£7.99 RRP)
2012 Total: £390.50

Update: It took me a really long time to get round to reading this but it was worth the wait! I thought this was really good, I liked the way the two plots intertwined and the jumps between the past and present helped keep the pace moving along nicely (the past was more interesting though I thought, and actually I feel like I could have read a whole book just about that.) It really picks up in the latter half of the book, and most of the twists are very unexpected. I did feel that the overall ending kind of let the whole thing down as it was all a bit of an anticlimax, but I would still completely recommend the novel.

£15 Red Spotted Hanky Voucher

Collected two more Red Spotted Hanky vouchers, one for £10 and one for £5....very handy considering the win I'll be posting up after the weekend ;)

Value: £15.00
2012 Total: 386.64

Fred Perry Shoes

One of my biggest competition wins thus far :) A pair of shoes from Fred Perry. Probably the most expensive pair of shoes I now own (I'm such a cheapskate usually!) so a nice treat for me!

Value: £55.00
2012 Total: £371.64

1000 Boots Advantage Card Points

First I received an email saying I had won a trip to Barcelona. Then two hours later I got an email saying no you haven't!
Boots had managed to email all 9000 entrants to their competition and needless to say people weren't happy! As a way to say sorry they've given everybody 1000 points for their advantage cards - the equivalent of £10 to spend in store.

Better than nothing I suppose, and if they hadn't made the error then I wouldn't have a holiday or a free £10!

Value: £10.00
2012 Total: £316.64

Thorntons Continental Viennese Bar

Had a voucher for a free Continental Viennese Bar from Thorntons :) I love these, they are one of my favourite chocolates in the box so to have it in bar form is yummy :) So fluffy and light and the sugared coating gives it a lovely crispyness on top!

Value: £0.79
2012 Total: £306.64

Harrod's Chocolate Cupcake Giftset

This was a twitter win from nearly a month ago which has arrived at last :) A mini cupcake gifset from Harrods. They look very cute and are a nice treat as I would never justify the cost to buy them myself!

Value: £9.95
2012 Total: £305.85

Welch's Purple Grape Juice

Welch's were giving out vouchers for a free carton of grape juice which I snapped up immediately - love grape juice, and love Welch's especially, it's so refreshing and tasty!! :)

Value: £2.59
2012 Total: £295.90

Illuminated Cosmetic Mirror

The first 1000 entries to a bigger competition automatically won this little cosmetic mirror from Pebble Grey, and I have to say it's lovely! It comes in such a nice presentation box, and the LED lights on the mirror are so cute!

Value: £14.99
2012 Total: £293.31

Maoam Goodies

These goodies are the result of a very generous daily instant win game from Maoam. I won

1 x Headphones
1 x Drawstring Bag
1 x Bag of Maoam Sweets
2 x Giant Maoam Stripes

I love Maoam, the sweets are so yummy!

Value: Like...£3.00? The headphones and bag aren't for sale anywhere so I'm guessing again XD
2012 Total: £278.32

Bimuno Immunaid

Not the most exciting freebie, but quite useful for my health I suppose! A free pack of Bimuno Immunaid, supposed to boost your immune system as well as encourage good bacteria in your gut. Sounds lovely!

Anyway, I was thinking how good it was I received them just as my last pack of vitamins ran out. Until I tried one. And they are pretty disgusting. I was expecting a nice orange flavour like most chewy vitamins but I don't even know what I could describe these as! I will probably try and finish the pack and see if I am suddenly healthier, but  I don't think Bassetts have much competition for now.

Value: According to their website....£9.99!! This seems absolutely ridiculous when their main competitors sell for around £2.99. Blimey! They must have some pretty good ingredients in.
2012 Total: £275.32

Thailand Travel Guide

I think I must've entered for this in a mad competition frenzy, seeing as I'm not going to Thailand anytime soon. Although it is on my holiday wishlist, so it may come in handy one of these days!

Value: £5.99
2012 Total: £265.33

Velvet Soft Balm Tissue

A free pack of Velvet Soft Balm Tissue. Very handy in these horrid winter months! Nice soft tissue too :)

Value: £0.50
2012 Total: £259.34

Jeremiah Weed Jamjar

I wasn't expecting this, I thought they said they would email all winners so I assumed I hadn't won till it turned up at my door! Nice surprise and a nice big glass :)

Value: £3.49
2012 Total: £258.84

Chicago Town Pizza

Received a voucher for a free chicago town pizza - yummy!

Value: £3.99
2012 Total: £255.35

Cabin in the Woods DVD

Another surprise win! There was no note with it so have no idea what competition it is from, which is a shame as I normally like to try and thank whichever company sent it.

I saw this film in the cinema and LOVED it. The premise on the whole is quite original, and the ending is just so unbelievably ridiculous, it's amazing!! I really recommend watching it because it's so different compared to most horror films these days. (and the end sequence is just so EPIC. Not to give too much away but there is a UNICORN. I can't get over the Unicorn. I really can't. Haha.)

Value: £12.00
2012 Total: £251.36

Red: The Waterstones Anthology

This surprise package arrived a couple of days ago, an advanced copy of 'Red: The Waterstones Anthology' to review, a mixture of short stories, essays and poems based around the theme of Red and the events of 2012.

I'm about half way through it now, and although all the stories are interesting enough and easy to read, I don't quite 'get' them. In a lot of cases, once I've finished the story I'm not sure what point it was trying to make which leaves me feeling unsatisfied. I thought at first maybe I wasn't politically minded enough to understand them, but a few other reviews have cropped up saying similar things, so maybe it's not just me being stupid after all.

The stories are just a bit of a disappointment on the whole. There were a couple that I did enjoy, although they weren't really good enough to make me want to recommend the book to others, especially at it's current retail price of £10 which is pretty steep given the book is quite small. I feel kind of bad for slating it when it was a prize, but I suppose it would be equally unfair to start telling poor unsuspecting people to buy it!

Value: £10.00. Apparently. Eek.
2012 Total: £239.36

Revlon Makeup

Received two surprise packages in the post today! A Revlon Colorstay eyeshadow palette, and a Revlon Photoready cream blush! I think they are both from a weekly competition I entered, so I must have been lucky enough to win twice!!
The eyeshadow is exactly the kind of colour which suits me which is great. I've never used a cream blusher before but I had a quick play with it and it's really nice, goes on nicely and gives quite a natural blush to the cheek.

Value: £7.99 each
2012 Total: £229.36

Felix Cat Treats

I am going to have one very happy kitty when I open these!

Value: 40p
2012 Total:  £213.38

Benefit Hervana Umbrella

Another win received the other day - a limited edition Hervana Umbrella from Benefit Cosmetics! (I don't know what a hervana umbrella is, but apparently it's worth mentioning.) It's a lovely mix of pinks and purples, but it does have Benefit printed all over it so they've essentially turned us into walking advertisements! I do need a new umbrella though so I won't complain.

Value: Hard to find, it's being sold on some American websites for a little over $10 dollars, which is the equivalent of about £6.50
2012 Total: £212.98

£10 Red Spotted Hanky Voucher

Found yet another £10 voucher for Red Spotted Hanky train tickets - how they are making any money I don't know, but I'm certainly not complaining! That being said their website is an absolute pain to navigate, the stress almost isn't worth it. I would never use them to book tickets normally unless they sort it out!

Value:  £10.00
2012 Total: £206.48

£100

I won £100 in a competition! My biggest win yet!! :D

Value: £100.00
2012 Total: £196.48

I did mess around taking screenshots of paypal but it just ended up looking stupid once I'd put black boxes over all the names and email addresses and stuff XD

Curiously Cinnamon Cereal

I had forgotten I liked this stuff! Received a box in the post yesterday, it is YUMMY. I used to be addicted to it but then I ate so much I started to get sick of it!! Now after many years I have been reunited with the cinnamon goodness ;)

Value: £2.29
2012 Total: £96.48

I decided to scrap the lifetime total bit, it would start to get too complicated to add it up next year! I will add it on at a year end summary instead.

Revlon Colorstay Nail Enamel

Today in the post I received a Revlon Colorstay Nail Enamel. I got the email over a week so I have been excitedly waiting it ever since! The shade I got was 'Marmalade', which I was dubious about at first but it's quite a nice orangey-red colour, nothing like the icky food I refuse to eat!

Value: £7.99
2012 Total: £94.19
Lifetime Total: £94.19

Game of Thrones/ Dance with Dragons Part 1

£5 off any ebay purchase voucher = free book for me!
Very pleased, was due to buy this anyway - love, love, love this series of books!!

Value: £4.95
2012 Total: £86.20
Lifetime Total: £86.20

USB Hubman

Won a "mystery prize" in a competition, arrived the other day and it's a USB Hubman! I bought a cheap version of one of these from Poundland and it didn't work very well, so hopefully this one will be good enough quality to actually do its job! Very useful prize for me seeing as I wanted one anyway.

Value: I can't actually find this version on the internet, maybe he's ultra rare ;) On average they are around £6 though.
2012 Total: £81.25
Lifetime Total: £81.25

I've decided to stop being lazy and start taking photos with my camera so pics should be better quality from now on :)

Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly mini-bar

Forgotten all about this! Won it ages ago, took a long long time to arrive so nice surprise in the morning. It's quite nice - I'm not a huge chocolatey person so the light airyness of it is better than a solid bar of dairy milk. It's basically the same as aero without the nice mint or orange flavour though. But it is growing on me with every bite!

Value: £0.59
2012 Total: £75.25
Lifetime Total: £75.25

Millie's Cookies

4 more Millie's Cookies! I tried a new flavour - Chocolate & Orange, and they are AMAZING! My absolute new favourite thing. So I guess this marketing scheme has paid off for them because I fully intend to go back and buy some more (but I'm keeping my fingers crossed for another voucher first!)

Value: £2.99
2012 Total: £74.66
Lifetime Total: £74.66

I did take a pic but blogger keeps putting it upside down. I don't know why. I did not take it upside down. But here is a general picture of some cookies.

Rimmel Colour Show Off Lipstick

My first official competition win! A Rimmel Colour Show Off Lipstick. Getting the email was so exciting, and it arrived two days after. :) It's not my usual shade but it actually looks quite nice on me, and it smells nice too which is unusual for lipstick!

Value: £6.29
2012 Total: £71.67
Lifetime Total: £71.67

I used a stock photo, because I'm lazy:

Yazoo Bottle Cooler

Received two yazoo bottle coolers in the post today, haven't had a chance to test them out yet though. 

Value: 50p (I'm making stuff up again...)
2012 Total: £65.38
Lifetime Total: £65.38

Wonka Sweets!

Eek! Entered a drawing contest because they said all the entrants would get a pack of sweets as a prize - so I figured why not, even with my terrible drawing skills! They announced the winner and it wasn't me (boo), but this lot turned up at my door this morning!! They must have a different idea of what 'one pack' is to me!!! So happy!!

Value:  £30.00!!
2012 Total: £64.88
Lifetime Total: £64.88

Free lollypop + body butter sample

After days of playing a spin to win generator I finally received a prize...a lovely yellow lollypop. I would have preferred purple for all my efforts but nevermind :P
I also received a free sample of Dirty Work's Body Butter yesterday. Normally I wouldn't bother posting samples I get if they're just tiny sachets, but this one is a relatively decent size and looks nice so I'm quite pleased with it!

Value: 50p for the pair? You can tell I'm making stuff up.
2012 Total: £34.88
Lifetime Total: £34.88

Greetings Card

My first official competition win! :) It's a greetings card featuring hand-drawn art by Rebecca Deacon. So lovely!

Value: £2.50
2012 Total: £34.38
Lifetime Total: £34.38

Free Coke + Free Millie's Cookies!

What a good freebie day I've had today! Had two vouchers to use - one for a free coke, and one for 4 free cookies from Millie's Cookies! Yummy! 

Value: £2.99 (cookies) and £1 (coke)
2012 Total: £31.88
Lifetime Total: £31.88

Red Spotted Hanky

Couldn't decide whether to post this or not as it's only a voucher so doesn't feel as exciting as getting something in the post!

But I suppose it is technically a freebie - found a voucher code a few days ago for £10 off train travel at Red Spotted Hanky. I use the trains quite a lot so this is a great offer for me!

Value: £10
2012 Total: £34.89
Lifetime Total: £34.89

That Purple Cat Toy

What a cutie! Forgot all about winning this guy many months ago. He's actually really nice...very big and soft. My cat also approves and immediately started to nibble his head as soon as they were introduced.

Value: Not available for purchase anywhere... I'll just say £1.
2012 Total: £24.89
Lifetime Total: £24.89

Self Tan Wipes

Today I received one what is apparently a full sized sample of self tan wipes - they look tiny so I was surprised that the size is the same as listed on the website!

My past (and very few) attempts at self tanning have been precarious at best, so I am scared to try these! I can't see how they're going to cover all my legs when the packs are so small. Plus it keeps raining. I might give them a go if the sun ever comes out at any point!

Value: £2.59
2012 Total: £23.89
Lifetime Total: £23.89

I've just noticed my badly chipped nail varnish in the pic....how embarrassing! XD

Recent Things

I've won a couple of little things recently which I may as well add here now while I remember them!

 A £1 Amazon voucher from a spin-to-win facebook competition.

2 x Free Cinema Tickets from a New Look competition. Ticket value £8.40!

Walkers Crisps vouchers from another spin-to-win on facebook. I've had 1x free bag, 1x 20p off and 3x40p off!

Value: £19.80
2012 Total: £21.30
Lifetime Total: £21.30