Winning My Battle with Debt with Contests

The following is a guest post from Matthew Fletcher, author at Contests for a Year.

I have a thing for hummus. I can go through an entire container in one sitting, though I try to leave just enough at the bottom so I don’t feel like too much of an addict. And there’s one particular brand that I’m absolutely in love with: Sabra. One afternoon while inhaling enjoying Sabra and pita chips, I noticed that the container was advertising a contest. Make a commercial for them and you could win a trip to the Mediterranean as well a year’s supply of their chic-pea ambrosia. Amazing! So I decided to take a dip into the world of contests. I shot the commercial, submitted it, and won. Here’s the video:

(PS- That’s me playing the Borat-type hummus lover in the Greek dancing costume. Opa!)

After the trip and my year’s supply of deliciousness, I had developed a new appetite…for contests. I entered a few more, and won those too! Now I was winning cash. It got me thinking that maybe I could get serious about this and use contests to develop an additional source of income. I mean, it worked for Julianne Moore in “The Prize Winner of Defiance, Ohio” (It’s a B-minus movie, but a total A-plus true story about a woman who kept her family afloat by winning competitions in the 1950’s).

So, I started a blog where I enter an online contest every day for a year to see if I can win money in order to get out of debt.

So far, in 2011, I have won exactly $12,338 in cash and prizes. I have been able to put a lot of that towards my debt and have paid it down by about a third.

I’ve won for shooting commercials, creative writing, random sweepstakes and submitting crazy photos.

The world of contesting is vast. Companies host all kinds, ranging from the very straightforward to the totally bizarre-o. I’ve entered ones where I’ve wrapped myself in gold foil while playing tennis, guessed the cost of shipping a stuffed tiger (it’s $310,FYI) and designed a horse themed birthday party for girls who are horse mane-iacs. Some of the prizes are big, like the 10 grand I won for a Barbie commercial. And some of them are small, like the musical download I won of the Hot Pockets jingle. (Yup, that jingle. It was in my head for days…I nearly had a Hot Pocket melt down).

One of my best sources of winnings has been from the website Tongal. They are a commercial creation website. Through them, I’ve won over $11,000 by submitting concepts and commercials for Benjamin Moore, Lipton Iced Tea, Mattel, and Robert Half.

Do I always win? No. Do I think I should? Hello!!

Do I think that contesting is a smart and viable way to get out of debt? Well, somehow in my magical Hogwarts mentality, I actually think it might work. I’m showing up every single day and doing something towards getting out of debt. I’m not hiding my debt in a dark corner and pretending that it’s going away. I’m taking an active role in trying to reduce it.

Now maybe my debt solution approach might be a little fantasy-like, sort of like hoping that the doorbell will ring and it will be Publisher’s Clearing House outside (although I did enter that one, and do kind of think that that might happen. I should probably get an outfit ready for the photo op). But rather than living in fear and shame of my debt, I’m accepting and addressing it. I mean, first off, I’ve admitted to the world on-line that I am actually in debt, which is an important first step into getting debt free. I think that looking at it straight on, on a daily basis, has helped me to put it in perspective. The stigma is gone. A lot of my friends are in debt. They feel suffocated by it and ashamed. In talking about it with them, (and blogging about it) the pressure is released, and I find that I can begin to deal with it in a less hysterical way.

Do I recommend that other people enter contests to get out of debt? Absolutely not! That would totally decrease my own odds of winning (I’m just kidding…well, kinda). I’m good about sharing the wealth. I always post links to the contests on my blog.

If you are going to enter contests here are a few suggestions:

• Do your contest research and find what suits you best. There are LOTS of different contests to enter, listed on of various websites and blogs (photo contests, video contests, recipe contests, guessing games). You can do a search for these websites, or even do a search for exactly what you want to win (win money, win a free sofa, win a trip to Spain).


• Pay attention to the different rules for contests. Some of these contests ask you to get votes for your submission from your friends. This is a way for the companies to get more people’s information. This could either launch you into financial success (if you win) or ostracize you from all your friends and family for continually badgering them about voting (speaking from experience here).


• If you enter a sweepstakes, enter as often as possible. There are people out there who are professional ‘contesters’ who do this practically as their day job and are submitting on a daily basis. Get in as many entries as you can.


• Beware the evil contest taxes. You can’t claim your prize and just say “Thanks guys!” That Macbook Air you won?…there will be a prize tax on it come April 15th.

Contesting and blogging offers me a number of things. It gives me hope. Hope that I’ll be able to wipe out my debt once and for all. And although hope isn’t an action plan, it definitely helps me keep a healthy perspective. The blogging gives me a sense of purpose and direction in relation to my debt; I am actually doing something towards knocking down that beast of a number. And if I do it right, I get some cash. Then I can continue to pay off my debt in large (or Hot Pocket sized) chunks and maybe, just maybe, start to buy some nice things again: like the party sized tub of Sabra. Have you tried the stuff? I mean, I don’t even know where to begin. It’s hummus heaven.

Comments

[Jon]

Meh not a fan of hummus, but winning I love! I can't believe you've won that much from contests! Where do you find em all?

[Jon]

Eep missed the part about Tongal. That's crazy though..congrats.

[texashaze]

Sabra hummus with Stacy's Pita chips is the ultimate!

[Georgia]

In the 1980's I entered lots and lots of sweepstakes. The last 2-3 years, I won much more than I spent. However, I never won money. Usually the other gifts - 2 Black & Decker Under-the Counter coffee pots, a set of luggage that will last forever, children's gifts, books, a Buck Knife, and on and on and on.

I also won 2 r/t tickets on American Airlines to anywhere in the U. S. These and jewelry and furs are ones to avoid if possible. On the airline tickets, my daughter and I flew to Phoenix to visit family. The taxes on airlines, starting that year, per the IRS, had to be the regular charge for a flight that had no "no fly" dates, etc. I was notified that I would have paid $1,760. for those 2 tickets. Cost me nearly $500+ in taxes, state and federal. The tickets did have "no fly" dates and I could have flown on another airline for $300 for both those tickets. One of my losses. The IRS did this because most airlines have too many prices that are negotiable and cause loss to the tax base. Ha!!

But - it was fun and I loved to come home and check the mail each day and often have a win.

[Mrsdla]

I looove the hummus commercial. I had to watch it a couple of times! Thanks for the tips!