Let's face it everyone wants to win Cash Sweepstakes, Car Sweepstakes and Travel Sweepstakes, but what about those sweepstakes offering off the wall prizes that would only interest a few?

For example, the New Orleans Hotel Collection/Saints Ticket Sweepstakes would only be of interest to a person who either lives within driving distance of the Superdome in New Orleans or is planning a trip there. Okay, there might be a few die-hard New Orleans Saints fans who would go all out on this one, but not many! This promotion will only receive a small percentage of the entries sent in on a Cash, Vehicle or Trip Sweepstakes and you should constantly be on the lookout for sweeps like this offering less popular prizes. If the prize is of interest to you and few others, your odds of winning are much better.

When I know that I am traveling somewhere several months in advance.  I start looking for sweeps offering smaller prizes for tickets and gift cards to events in that area of the country. It can really help the travel budget when you are able to visit a few of the tourist attractions for free. Be sure to watch the eligibility on each sweepstakes to make sure that you are allowed to enter.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The FAO Schwarz Fall Into Fun Sweepstakes is offering 4 fabulous bundles of toys as prizes. The Best Buy® Halo®: Reach New York City Flyaway Sweepstakes is giving Xbox 360 consoles to 25 winners. There are dozens more current sweepstakes offering great prizes that you can use for gift giving during the holidays. But you need to be entering these Game and Toy giveaways right now in order to have any prizes you win delivered before the holidays.

Judging agencies can be notoriously slow in shipping prizes to sweepstakes winners. You will receive them, but not always as soon as you would like. I have always entered the sweepstakes offering hundreds or thousands of small prizes throughout the year than hide them as they are delivered. It has been a big help with my holiday budget to start the season with free gifts and stocking stuffers. So, if you haven't already started working on your holiday stash...GET BUSY! Oh...and be sure to keep an eye out for local promotions. Not only do they give you better odds of winning, they are usually a little quicker with the prize deliveries as well.

To find the FAO Schwarz Fall Into Fun Sweepstakes, Best Buy® Halo®: Reach New York City Flyaway Sweepstakes and other sweepstakes offering games and toys as prizes on the SweepsU.com Contest and Sweepstakes list do a search by clicking on "by Prize" and "Games/Toys/Video Games & Systems". To find a specific prize such as Xbox 360 consoles, do a Custom Search by typing xbox in the Prize Description field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

As the Back-to-School sweepstakes begin to die down a new season of television programming is almost upon us. The networks are gearing up to promote their new Fall lineups and many will be running sweepstakes to get your attention.

The goal, of course, is to get as many eyeballs as possible on specific programs. Many will involve watching to get a code word displayed during the programs and entering the code online. Not all television sweeps are promoting new programs. Sometimes they are used to draw attention to an established series being put in a new time spot. These TV sweepstakes can be local as well as national. Frequently networks will state that a set number of prizes will be awarded in specific MSAs (Metropolitan Statistical Areas). You want to be sure to get in on these! I know I sound like a broken record, but it's true...Local sweepstakes are the best!

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Soup Scan Sweepstakes requires that you find a can of Campbell's soup with the new label and take a photo of you holding it. Sears Big Switch Sweepstakes allows you one entry online and one through Facebook, but if you really want to win one of the appliance packages worth thousands of dollars...

...you can submit an unlimited number of essay entries. Neither the photos nor the essays will be judged. These are not photo contests or writing competitions, but these methods of entry will scare off a large percentage of sweepers.  Most people are afraid of skill contests. The minute they saw that a photo was required they passed on entering the Campbell's cash sweepstakes. Many may enter the Sears Sweepstakes once through the online and Facebook entries, but they won't even try for the extra essay entries which is how they could really get ahead of the competition. Even knowing that the winners will be randomly selected, People just don't want to take the extra time or do the extra work.

Most sweepers are looking for the quick and easy entries, which could be to your benefit. If you are that rare person who is willing to do the extra work you will have way fewer entries competing with you for the prizes being offered. One fact I have learned over the years, the harder it is to enter, the easier it is to win!

To find the Soup Scan Sweepstakes on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list, do a Custom Search by typing the word soup in the Contest Name field. To find the Sears Big Switch Sweepstakes on the list type switch in the Contest Name field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen

The final round of the Kroger Summer of Savings Game begins today and gives sweepers an excellent opportunity to win some free food. The prizes are not big ones, but there are so many of them that the odds are good that you will win something!  If you haven't won any prizes lately...

it may be just the motivation you need to get you in the mood to start sweeping again. Winning a prize, no matter how small, gives you the incentive to continue entering. The more sweepstakes you enter the more likely you are to win something, which once again stimulates you to enter even more sweepstakes and hopefully win more prizes. It really is a sweepstaking Merry-Go-round! So instead of strictly entering the big travel sweepstakes or the House sweepstakes offering one prize, look for something with hundreds or thousands of lower level prizes. Winning a small prize may be just the mental boost you need to keep going until you win that big one.

To find the  Kroger Summer of Savings Game on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list. Click on Custom Search and type kroger into the Contest Name field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Kmart Instant Win Sweepstakes can give sweepers paying close attention a real advantage. Specific prizes are distributed each of the three months it runs...

The first month of this internet sweepstakes is August 3-31, not quite a full month, that’s a slight advantage. They are giving away two Grand Prizes and two First Prizes in August as opposed to one in each of the following months, another good advantage. Not everyone will know about it right off the bat, so it will receive fewer entries towards the beginning, a big advantage!

There is a certain amount of strategy that can be implemented when deciding which sweepstakes to enter to make the most of your time. Look for little details such as the ones pointed out above, which could give you an edge. Sometimes that’s all you need to receive that highly sought after “CONGRATULATIONS” message.

To find more tips on how to win sweepstakes read Gwen’s article, “What I look for in a Good Sweepstakes” in the Sweeps University library. To find the Kmart Instant Win Sweepstakes, do a Custom Search in the Sweepstakes and Contest list by typing kmart in the Contest Name field.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

Trip sweepstakes are one of the most frequently offered prizes available, but if you find one that can only be entered by a smaller group of people be sure to enter. This is the case in the Caribbean Giveaway that is only open to three states...

Residents of CT, FL and NJ should be all over this internet sweepstakes. It offers 25 people a chance to win a luxurious vacation in the Dominican Republic. This is exactly the kind of sweepstakes I look for to enter...limited eligibility and lots of prizes. If you do not live in one of the eligible states for this promotion, use it as a guideline of what you should be on the lookout for. Then be ready to enter when you find one for your area.

SweepsU.com puts locals side by side with the national sweepstakes on our Sweepstakes and Contest list, because we consider them the best of the best. If you do not want to view regional (state) sweepstakes that you cannot enter it is easy to eliminate those not open to your state from the list. Just click on "by Status" and then click on the box next to the words "Hide listings you are ineligible for (by region)". Then you will only be able to see the limited area sweeps open to your states and the nationals (of course). If at any time you want to view the sweeps not open to your region, just un-click the box and you will see what's being given away in other parts of the country.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Sobe Lifewater Heads or Tails Game is an instant win sweepstakes which has a lot of sweepers scratching their heads. You must have a code to enter and they can be found under the black caps on the 20-oz bottles. But not all the caps have codes under them.

One SweepsU.com subscriber reports purchasing 25-30 drinks and only receiving 3 codes. That same person reported a prize win in this sweeps yesterday, but not from the codes she got off the bottles. She used the free code available online and won a jacket. Others have reported the same thing, few codes found on bottle caps and instant win prizes coming from the free codes.

The good news is the sweepers reporting in love the Sobe Lifewater and say it was worth the price even if they didn’t get a code. The better news is you don’t have to make a purchase at all unless you want to support the sponsor and get a great drink. Most folks are winning with the free codes you get on the website, making this the sweepstakes to enter!

To find the Sobe Lifewater Heads or Tails Game on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contest list do a Custom Search by typing sobe in the Contest Name field. To find other instant win sweepstakes click on “by Type” and select either “Online IWG” or “SS & Online IWG”.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

The Little Debbie "Back Yard Makeover Giveaway" is offering a large number of good prizes, but you must be careful to enter only once each week. The Meet Rascal Flatts Sweepstakes is giving away some fabulous trips and gift cards, but you can only enter it once a month.  With hundreds of new sweepstakes popping up every week, many people forget to go back and enter these sweepstakes the following week or month.

This gives the person who does remember to follow through on their weekly and monthly entries a bit of an edge. Anytime a sweepstakes has an element that makes them slightly harder to remember, they will receive fewer entries. You need to be careful though. If you submit an entry less than a week or a month from the time of your last entry for these two sweeps, you run the chance of being disqualified.  It is very important to maintain good records when entering these sweepstakes.

To learn how the SweepsU.com Sweeps Management System (SMS) keeps track of ALL your sweepstakes entries whether they are daily, weekly, monthly or one time only, read the Quick Start guide. Scroll down to the section about Sweeps and Contests and pay close attention to Tracker, Daily Email Notifications and Sweeps Unleashed.

To find either of the sweeps mentioned above on the SweepsU.com Sweepstakes and Contests list, do a Custom Search by typing debbie or rascal in the Contest Name field. To find other promotions that require limited entries, click on "by Frequency" and select any of the weekly or monthly options.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp

Upromise “Back To School Pop Quiz Daily Prize Giveaway” and Bar-S $10,000 Back to School Sweepstakes are both offering multiple prizes to make it easier on your wallet as you get the kids ready to go back into the classrooms. It is definitely that time of year and "Back to School" sweepstakes are popping up everywhere as retailers do whatever they can to get your attention.

Be on the lookout for short running local promotions. Read the ads in your local newspaper carefully and keep an ear to your local radio stations. If you really want to get serious, then turn that dial frequently. Each radio station has a different set of clients and promotions you hear about on one station may not be on another. Another great source of local giveaways are the radio remotes where they broadcast live from a retail location. You only have a few hours to enter most of these and can frequently walk away with some very nice wins. One of the best starting places for finding information on what's happening in your area is your local sweepstakes club where members share information about local promotions. So, if you are alert and prepared to do a little footwork there are some wonderful opportunities in your future.

To find the sweepstakes mentioned above and other new sweeps featuring "back to school" prizes on the SweepsU.com Sweeps and Contests list, do a Custom search and type school in the Contest Name field. Remember you can now save these custom searches by clicking on the "Save" button in the top bar. A box will open in the left menu asking you to name your search. I named this one Back to School and clicked Save. Tomorrow morning I will click on "Saved Search" in the left menu and "Back to School" and all of the new and old sweeps and contests with the word school in the title will be listed for me. You can save as many different searches as you want and just delete them when you no longer need them. As always these features can be used on both the main list and within your own tracker.

Take care and win BIG!

Gwen Beauchamp