Young mum wins £10,000 per year

A young mother prevented from working by illness is nevertheless making as much as £10,000 per year - by entering online competitions.

Holly Smith suffers from a rare stomach condition and recurring bone tumours which see her regularly hospitalised and make it hard for her to hold down a job.

However, the 28-year-old mother of two has found another way to help support her family financially - by entering as many as 800 competitions a day.

So far, she's won a £2,500 trip to Gran Canaria from Kelloggs, along with fridge freezers, washing machines, three TVs, several games consoles and a trip to the Isle of Man.

She even contributed to the cost of her wedding with vouchers that she won.

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"I have done really well out of the competitions. I started doing them when I was 21 and only recently took up couponing. I can enter around 100 to even 800 competitions a day," she tells Metro.

"All in all, I reckon I bring in £10,000 each year from competitions. I even have a note book at the side of my bed in case I wake in the night thinking about a coupon I haven't tried."

Entering competitions in bulk, or "comping", is now easier than ever thanks to the internet, with websites such as ThePrizeFinder listing thousands of open competitions every day. Today's prizes include £1,000 in cash, a new Fiat 500S and a two-week trip to Australia for two.

So how do you maximise your chances?

• Read the terms and conditions carefully, and make sure you qualify. And check the small print on the prizes - there's no point winning a holiday on dates that you won't be free.

• Focus on skill-based competitions, such as those involving quizzes or tie-breakers, as these tend to get fewer entries.

• Set up a separate email address for competitions - it will be deluged with marketing material that you won't want cluttering up your inbox.

• Look close to home: local radio stations, newspapers and businesses often receive very few entries.

• Only enter competitions where the prize is something you really want. A year's cat food isn't much use to a dog owner.

• Follow companies on social media, and keep a close eye - competitions are often very short-lived.

• Consider using software such as Roboform, which speeds up the submission of entries by automatically filling in details such as your address and date of birth.

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