I’ve won £350k of prizes including a Dyson Airwrap by ‘comping’ – I spend two hours a day doing it, here’s how I win big

LYNDSEY Bruce, 58, is a retired bank auditor from Arbroath, Angus.

She tells Eimear O’Hagan how she’s hooked on ‘comping’ – and how it’s won her a fortune.

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“Lying by the pool at a luxury spa, I sighed with contentment.

“The only decisions I had to make were what treatment to have and when to have afternoon tea.

“The best part of my week-long stay? It hadn’t cost me a penny. 

I became a ‘comper’ in the early ’80s and, more than 40 years on, my hobby has won me prizes worth tens of thousands of pounds and loads of amazing experiences.

The first competition I ever entered was a phone-in on Radio Luxembourg, and the prize was a silver and purple belt.

I won, and I caught the comping bug! I loved the anticipation waiting to hear if I’d been successful, and the thrill of receiving the prize.

Back then, comping was very different to nowadays. With no internet or social media, you had to put more effort in.

I began to scour supermarkets for brands that were running competitions on the back of packets, and there would also be leaflets in shops advertising them.

There were dedicated magazines I subscribed to, and ITV ran some on TV shows, too.

I had a notebook on my desk at work to keep track of them all.

At first, friends and family thought it was a bizarre hobby, but as I began to win things they understood my enthusiasm, especially when I shared my winnings with them!

Prizes could be anything from flowers to a fridge-freezer – I only entered a competition if I actually wanted the prize, though.

In 1995, I was on the TV show Wheel Of Fortune and won a £20,000 car, which was amazing. 

I’ve won so many other prizes over the years, I’ve lost count, but some of the most memorable include a weekend in Madrid in 2017, with flights, accommodation and tickets, to see Real Madrid play Atlético Madrid in the UEFA Champions League semi-final, which I won after entering a competition on the back of a pack of crisps.

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I’ve won trips to Copenhagen and Paris, tickets to Royal Ascot, I’ve travelled in a hot-air balloon over the Yorkshire Dales, plus I’ve had three luxury spa breaks and a stay in a log cabin.

I’ve also won a Dyson Airwrap, several phones and numerous computers and kitchen gadgets. I give a lot of prizes to loved ones.

Last year, I won a year’s supply of shoes and, before that, a gym membership.

The biggest cash prize I’ve ever scooped was £1,800, and I’ve also won vouchers for clothing brands, including Warehouse, worth around £1,000.

But not everything I’ve won has been brilliant – like the life-size cut-out of ex-rugby player Martin Johnson, which I gave to a local rugby club, or the pint of milk that was a runner-up prize, which was useful if underwhelming!

I’m now divorced and retired, so I usually spend at least two hours a day entering competitions.

Most are online and I source them via social media or comping websites, and I’m on the email lists for lots of competition companies, too.

It’s a lot easier to enter now than it used to be – all you need is a phone and the internet – and I tend to focus on free-to-enter competitions, rather than ones where you have to call an expensive phone number. 

There’s always been a comping community, but since everything’s moved online, it’s grown much bigger and I’ve made firm friendships across the UK.

We meet up regularly and tag one another in competitions so we can all enter.

We’ll swap tips and advice, and there’s no envy when someone else wins.

I’ve noticed more and more people taking up comping in the last few years – I believe there must be a connection to the cost of living crisis.

My dream prize would be an all-expenses-paid holiday to Japan or America, so I always keep my eyes peeled for competitions offering that.

People ask me what the secret to my success is, and I say it’s a numbers game – you have to be in it to win it.

I enter around 50 competitions a day and my success rate is still only around 1%.

But I love the process and I’m grateful for everything I’ve ever won – even that pint of milk!