1. Hobbies & Games

Discuss in my forum

3 Good Reasons to Track Sweepstakes Prizes

Why You Should Record Your Sweepstakes Prizes

By , About.com Guide

Do you track your sweepstakes prizes as you receive them, or do you simply do a happy dance and then forget about your prizes? If you tend more toward the latter, here are 3 good reasons why you should start recording your sweepstakes prizes.

1. Tracking Your Sweepstakes Prizes Ensures You Get Them All

Have you ever received a win notification in your email, gotten all excited, and then months later wondered what ever happened to that prize? Unfortunately, it can happen. Sponsors get mixed up, prizes don't get shipped... whatever the reason, mistakes do occur. Tracking what you've won and when you can expect to receive it helps you to know whether you should send out a reminder email or call the sponsor to find out what's happened to a wayward prize.

2. Tracking Your Sweepstakes Prizes is Great at Tax Time

If you live in a country like the United States where you have to pay taxes on sweepstakes prizes, having everything in a list at the end of the year is a HUGE help. No more fumbling around for emails or guesstimating what you won. You'll just have to look at the bottom line and enter that number on your tax forms. Easy as pie.

3. Tracking Sweepstakes Prizes Helps You Win More

If you track not only what you won but how you won it, you can use that information to hone your sweepstakes entries and concentrate on entering the types of giveaways that work best for you. If you don't track your sweepstakes prizes, you'll have no idea whether you're more successful entering daily or one-entry sweepstakes, whether instants really pay off for you, or whether you have more luck entering at a specific time of day.

Are you ready to start tracking your sweepstakes prizes? Get started with how to track sweepstakes wins.

Use My Free Prize Spreadsheet to Track Your Wins

If you're looking for an easy way to track your prizes, download my free prize spreadsheet.

©2013 About.com. All rights reserved.