When did you start sweeping and why?

tlpounds

tlpounds

New member
I started my obsession with sweeping in August 2007. My sister and her hubby run a small sweepstakes site that she took over from another person and I started sweeping with it. She had won several really nice things sweeping so I decided to give it a try. I've always been a pretty lucky person so I wanted to give it a try.

When looking for sweeps to submit on her site I found SA and fell in love with it! With the help of SA and a b-day gift of RoboForm Pro from my sis I started REALLY sweeping alot by the end of August or so. I still go to my sister's site to support her but SA is my sweeps home. I love the way it's laid out and I love the people on the forum. I am really encouraged (ok, and probably a little jealous) reading about other people's wins. I'm still waiting for my big one. I know it's coming!

So, what got you started?
 
I started sweeping in December 2004. I got started because of an overnight fedex package that showed up claiming I was a GP winner in a sweep I never entered. Apparently my cable company submitted all its customers and I won a laptop and some money. I was hooked before I began. It took 4 months after that before I won anything.

I wish I could say SA was my only sweeps home, but I was elsewhere for a while. I am glad to have found my way here and love the tools.

Sweeping has been a great up and down ride.
 
One dark and stormy night.....

:scratch: :laughing: No Im joking. Really, one night I was messing around surfing the computer, looking for dora contests. To win dora prizes. And some of the things that came up said sweepstakes. So I was like hmmmm whats this. And I found sa. DA da da Ta da!! :sunny: I love it here. That was back july 2006. My very first win was the home depot race car instant win. Where you had to drive the car through the store. I won a $5 gc for home depot. After that I was hooked. I've won alot of good prizes, that I wouldn't ever be able to have, or give to family members. Ipod shuffle, vacation, dvds, gc's. I win alot of small things. I don't like having to pay taxes, and I love getting alot of different things in the mail. So I usually enter more little things I think I have a better chance at. Quantity not quality!!! lol im a dork.
 
I have always loved gambling, entering local sweeps, etc. but, in 2004 I started sweeping more online and once I won my first prize ($50 blockbuster gc) I was hooked. Now, this addiction/obsession is my favorite hobby.
 
I started online sweeping in 1998. I started, because I wanted to win things that I normally would have to pay for out of my pocket or things I normally wouldn't be able to afford out of my own pocket. That was back in the dialup and non-Roboform days. Roboform came out in 1999. I found it when I was searching for some "form filler" program to make entering easier. Then after that, cable came in. Because of all the improvements in Roboform and cable service, I've been able to enter more and more through the years; and my wins have been on a steady rise since I started sweeping.
 
I started maybe 2 1/2-3 years ago, can't pinpoint the exact year, I still had dial-up, I remember those days, it took alot longer to enter.

I was enjoying a hobby as a writer, so I eventually started looking for writing contests, and it brought me to sweepstakes sites. my first win was on a site called "The Contest Lady" she was giving away boyds bears. and I collect Boyds bears, and she had a New Year's Eve contest, and you had to write an essay about "how you spend New Year's Eve"

I entered it, and won my very first prize, a boyds bear pin. I still have it. Love it.

I'd say I started sweeping closer to 3 years ago, I won the pin and then didn't win anything again , until I joined SA almost a year later.

I enjoy it very much.
 
I started sweeping by snail mail about 14 years ago. We didn't have much money then and it was a pretty cheap hobby. I was so excited about it and just knew I was going to win so many prizes ~ I won a David's Sunflower seeds duffel bag ~lol! That I still have! I did snail mail for a few years but as more and more sweeps went to the internet I got mad because we didn't even have a computer!

Fast~forward to the end of 2005 ~ we had had our computer for a while but just gotten internet service and I got on and remember all those listings in that sweeps sheet from all thoses years ago. I thought if there was one that would come through the mail there had to be one online so I did a search. That is how I came to SA!! I joined and less than a week later I won my first IW and the next week I won a $100.00 Visa card and I was hooked! I still am!!

Still waiting on the biggie though...
 
It was November 2006 and I had recently moved to Seattle from West Virginia with my boyfriend. I was bored at work one day and realized that since I didn't have friends or family nearby, I should develop a hobby. I searched the internet that day for a suitable hobby. Who knows how I came across sweepstakes, but it just clicked! It was perfect for me. Only 2 months later I got an affadavit for a 42" HDTV. Needless to say, it wasn't difficult for me to stick wtih sweepstaking. :)
 
My oldest sister and my mother had been sweeping a long time...but usually through mail entries. They had won trips, my sister won a car and lots of other things, but I thought sweeping would be too time consuming that way. In September of last year, my mother and father won back to back $5000 prizes (one in cash and the other in grocery market coupons) and I thought...this is something I have to look into. So, I did a little research and found a few sites...this being one of them. This is the only one I still come to faithfully because I really love the people on here and I love the way the sweeps are categorized.

I'm really glad I started cause I've won some nice things and have been able to contribute to the benefit of the family without really having spent a dime...just effort. That makes me very happy! :sunny:
 
I used to snail in the 80's when I was stationed in GITMO (Guantanamo Bay, Cuba) and didn't win much - later found out it was having a PO Box that probably DQ'ed most of my entries :nono:

I spent 1 1/2 years only going to G4's TTV site to learn about computers, since we had just bought our 1st one, and about safe surfing, because we had a teen :laughing:

Then one day, I saw an ad for the L Word sweeps - $10,000 prize - so I entered it, and then realized I should be doing this as a hobby!!!

I searched for sites, and ended up elsewhere for almost 2 years until they decided they thought I was... actually, I'm not really sure WHAT they thought!!! :laughing:

Well, a friend suggested SA, so I came here with other friends who were no longer welcome at that other site, and I just LOVE it here!!! :headbang: WAY better people, tools - everything I was looking for in a sweeps site!!!

This month marks my 4th year as a sweeper, and while I've never won a huge prize, I've won some very nice things!!!

But, the best prize has been the friendships I've made!!! :cheers:
 
I've been sweeping for a couple of years now. I started because I am a stay at home parent and I figured that I would try to win some stuff.
 
I started sweeping in about 2002 when my boyfriend set up a computer for me at his house because he and his three kids all had their own and they played games all LANS together and I would get pretty bored. I had never even touched a computer before then but the only thing I wanted to do was enter contests, I don't know why, so I searched for sweeps and found two other sites but became bored with them as there were never any wins but then I found SA and visited once but couldn"t figure out how to use the site but a few months later I decided to return and figured everything out and I have been winning ever since. My first win was the Vaseline Intensive lotion, I know you guys remember, and you would've thought I won a million dollars. I've been hooked since and I am a "several times daily" visitor here and enjoy every minute!
 
I have been sweeping for about 1 year and a couple months, I broke my back and neck, and after surgery they said I would have to stay in bed for 3 months, Well needless to say I was bored. So my daughter gave me a computer, my husband set it up were I could lay down and use it, and my son taught me how to do the basics to e-mail and surfing the web. I came across a banner that said win a laptop, that was one of those things you have to enter several deals and do allot of stuff to get the laptop. I tried and never could do enough of the deals to get the thing they offered as a prize, So one day I typed in sweepstakes on Google, and the first site I went to was SA, and I won the first instant win game I played, It was a tshirt from WWE. So now 15 surgeries and allot of sweeps later I am totally hooked on sweeping and SA. Everyone told me at first that I would never win or get my prizes, now everyone says what have you won and can I have it. lol. But it still gives me something to do and God knows I need something to help with the time, and winning (even little things) makes me really smile. So wins to everyone, and Thanks to SA. And mostly thanks to God for letting me find SA first and all my wins large and small :headbang:
 
I remember winning a record album in high school. That was 1970. I was really into the snail mail entries in the late 80's and early 90's. Spent tons of money on postage, won two trips in one year. Then, along came the personal computer, and later, cable modem connection. However long I've had cable, 10 years maybe, I've been at it. My health is not too good, so my entering is in fits and starts. When I'm feeling good, I enter hundreds a day. Bad days, maybe only 50-100. Over the years, I've won 3 trips, one of them worth 10K, $500 GC at the local grocery store, $400, $100, and scores of smaller things. Oh, I won 44,000 Delta SkyMiles from Atlanta Braves Baseball. That gave me enough to purchase 2 tix to Hawaii. In addition, I had enough Hilton Hhonors points for a week at the Hilton Waikiki Village. So, between sweeps and playing the travel points game, my aunt and I had a free trip to Hawaii. I haven't known about SA very long, well, maybe a couple of years. When you're over 50, a couple of years is not long at all! As you all know so well, entering sweeps gives way to a lot of daydreaming. That's part of the fun, but, winning is the best thing!
 
I started November 2007, around Thanksgiving. I just got my new laptop from work and signed up with Comcast. I was online looking at the comcast website and I guess I entered a contest (I don't even remember doing it). I got a call that I won 4 tix to the Harlem Globetrotters at Arco Arena here in Sacramento, I happen to live right down the street from Arco. So, we went,had fun, and then I decided to start trying some contests and instant wins, and have been decently lucky too.
 
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