Mar 14th, 2008
Credit Card Contest results and my video as promised
So, I have to say the contest has been both great and disappointing at the same time.
The disappointing:
5000+ visitors in the past two weeks, yet only 17 picture entries. Basically half of the minimum.
The great:
Most of the people that wrote in had great, touching stories. The people that did respond really really made me feel good and Im glad to see that this contest actually had an impact on some people.
So with all that out of the way, lets get down to business! Before I announce the winners as promised, here is my video:
You can get it here or you can watch it on youtube
In case you are wondering, yes that is the poop eater in the background. Ok, Ok so on to the winners!
Since there were not enough entries for the iPods I am not giving those away. However, because I was so impressed with the entries I picked winners and I have some individualized prizes for them on top of the normal ones and I added a couple extra winners as well. Oh and that surprise prize I was going to give to 10 people?
It is my new ebook that I am going to release next week entitled “Earning Power.” Instead, I am going to give it to everyone who sent in a picture entry as well as a few people who wrote excellent entries but were unable to send a picture. I have to say that this was one of the hardest things to do: pick winners. I went ahead and did a weighted system of one point for every card cut up shown and up to 10 points for story. All of the stories were just plain awesome…so much so that instead of posting a select few I am going to feature every good story in their individual posts in the upcoming weeks. The first prize entry I will post today. All winners will be notified by email and are welcome to post comments here. Also any victory photos are welcome
First Place: Ramits ebook, Trents ebook, AND a $20 gift certificate to anywhere she would like. Gails from Ohio’s entry:
I am a reader of your blog and wanted to enter the contest. I cut up many cards recently, some old and some current. Picture attached! I have been working the Dave Ramsey Plan officially since October 1, 2007, so that’s the last time I used any of my cards. I have been in credit card debt for many years but it really escalated about 4.5 years ago when the company I worked for closed down. I accepted my current job but with a $300.00 a week pay cut!!!! Ouch! I did however know that this would be the perfect job for me, and since that time I have received raises and bonuses and am now making more money than I was before. I also have been working 4 part time jobs in addition to my day job, so luckily I have no time to shop anyway! I am an avid reader of PF blogs and have learned so much from them, and am so inspired by all the stories. Thanks for the contest, I hope I win…I never win this kind of stuff, but what the heck I entered anyway.

Second Place: Ramits ebook, Trents ebook, free advertising for his blog on my site
Mr DebtBeaters entry (thats 16 cards total amongst some paper) I wanted to show this pile because its huge:

Third - Fifth Place: Ramits ebook, and $5 gift cards
Joseph from somewhere, Scott from Jersey, and Mary from Colorado
Random winners: Linda P from unknown and Max from California
Until each person gets their own post, I made a collage of all of the cut ups.

Thanks to everyone for entering!

Oh My GOD!!!!! I can’t believe I won this contest!!!!! I about freaked out when I saw your post earlier announcing the winners (too bad about the i-pods but oh well). Thank you so much for doing this!!! Its so inspiring!! Congrats on cutting up your cards, cool video, you will be so much “lighter” without new debt!!
LOL, I have to agree w/ Gail…I’m amazed that I actually managed to pull off a win! Awesome stuff! If you don’t mind, could you change my name from “Eater” to “Beater”?
Granted I’m kinda hungry after NOT GOING OUT TO EAT all the time anymore…but alas, I need to keep beating down that debt!
Thanks so much for the contest, look forward to reading all the entries!
hahaha sorry bout that, “Debt Beater” fixed
Holy….! That’s more shredded cards than my wife and I have ever had combined! But I notice a few still have the activation stickers on them…were they all in use?
Big congrats, one way or the other!
Well speaking for myself, some of my cards shown with activation stickers were renewal cards for active cards, but luckily my scissors got to them before they got into my purse! And actually there were even more cards that I cut up on an earlier day that got thrown away back then so thats not even all of them. Yikes huh!!! Congrats to everyone!!! Gail
I may have had one or two still w/ activation stickers on them because I’ve played the whole balance transfer game awhile. I can’t remember if the stickers were on or not. I definitely got the ones that were in my wallet. I think my back may straighten a little after taking 1/2″ of credit cards out of my wallet. The rest just sat on my desk their whole lives.
This really helped me make my move to pay down cards permanent, but now I have quite the mess to clean up on my credit report. I still have active accounts with so many places that need to just get removed, but I want to be careful how I go about doing that as to not screw up my FICO too much. So far I’ve just managed to get all the balances transfered to just a few of them.
Also, I wanted to add that I really like the “Out of Debt Again” pic with the scissors. Very crafty!