Deb's Dollar Dazzlers: How to win a share in $40,000 of prizes, common survey mistakes & a last-minute, easy dinner
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This article was kindly written for the SDC by member @Deejay11. This week, Deb has three new competitions to enter, with prize pools of over $40,000, tips on avoiding common survey mistakes and an easy Pea, Bacon & Pesto Pasta recipe for four. Let’s jump in.
Competitions:
Here are my dollar-saving tips for this week.
‘Enter & Forget’ is a good philosophy. I have found that waiting impatiently for a winner’s list is a way of ensuring I won’t win! It’s exciting to get a winning email or phone call completely ‘out of the blue’. Don’t forget to check your junk/spam email folder, as winning notifications can end up here. Like a lot of people, I often don’t accept phone calls from unknown phone numbers. Instead, I Google the number to see if I can shed any light on the caller. I have found that promoters tend to leave a voice message if they are contacting you for a win.
Take a note (eg, shopping list, iPhone notes, etc.) of the exact products you need to buy to enter a competition. I have friends who also enter competitions, and we often have a laugh regarding who bought the wrong brand, who bought one product instead of two, who bought small bottles and it was large bottles only… that sort of thing!
Could you win? Image Credit: Flight Centre x The Senior
Try your competition luck, these have come from my Facebook Feed or emails:
WIN A Cruise On The Rhine Worth $22,420 - Cruise Passenger: Imagine winning a European River cruise, flights included. Ends 10/06/2025.
Tic Tac eGift Card Giveaway: Buy a Tic Tac 24g or 49g, win a $500 Ticketmaster eGift Card, one daily draw. Ends 22/06/2025.
Flight Center Competition giveaway: Win a $20,000 Flight Centre Gift Card. Ends 22/06/2025.
Make sure you read the T&Cs for each competition.
Surveys:
Just a couple of warnings (do as I say, not as I do!):
Because I like multitasking, I often have two surveys at once running on my phone, while I’m also cooking dinner, washing up, feeding the dog, etc. I’ve been caught a few times, where a survey will inform me that I’ve been ‘timed out – too long without a response’. Fair enough! Probably one survey at a time is a better option.
Similarly (and this one makes me chuckle), sometimes I get to the end of a survey, my personal information, such as year of birth and postcode, is re-verified, and a final screen will say, ‘In one sentence, can you answer what this survey was about?’ Either I’m getting old, or sometimes this is hard to answer when I’m multitasking. It would be easier if I could tell them what I’m cooking for dinner! So again, focusing on just one survey is perhaps a better option.
Cooking: Pea, Bacon & Pesto Pasta
Who else knows that feeling when guests are unexpectedly arriving for dinner, it’s the day before your shopping day, and you freak out!
Recently, this recipe got me out of a pickle: Pea, Bacon & Pesto Pasta, served with garlic bread and a salad.
Serves 4.
An easy dinner to make when you’re caught out by last-minute guests. Image Credit: Shutterstock
Ingredients:
350g pasta (I use Spiral Pasta, it’s nicely filling!)
½ cup water from cooked pasta
1.5 cups frozen peas
300g bacon
4 eggs
2 tsp Pesto (I use homemade, from my freezer)
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
Black pepper to taste
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
½ cup Greek Yoghurt
¼ cup thick cream
2 handfuls of baby rocket leaves
Method:
1. Cook pasta as per instructions & towards the end, add frozen peas.
2. While cooking, chop bacon and fry until turning crispy (I often cook the bacon strips in the microwave, then chop them up).
3. Combine eggs, pesto, red pepper flakes, black pepper, parmesan, yoghurt and cream, and whisk together.
4. Drain pasta and peas, leaving ½ cup water in the pasta.
5. Remove from heat, add bacon to pasta. Add egg mixture to pasta, add rocket leaves, and stir thoroughly to thicken the sauce.
6. Serve in warmed bowls, sprinkle with extra parmesan and black pepper. Serve with salad and garlic bread.
From the Editor
More great tips and tricks. I know I always enter the competitions Deb recommends. Do you? Have you spotted any other competitions you've entered recently? Share them with us in the comments below.
Missed an edition? Catch up on Deb's Dollar Dazzlers below:
#1 Recession Busters
#2 From Relish to Rewards – Stretch Your Dollar Further
#3 Deb's Dollar Dazzlers: Competitions, Survey Hacks & a Cosy Shepherd’s Pie
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