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