Within your heart, you know you are going to win a lotto jackpot eventually. Or else why do you buy lottery tickets? Here is some advice for your head and heart while you get ready to win.

Do not make promises you don't intend to keep. It really is easy to tell someone: "If I won the lottery, I would pay off your mortgage" or "When I win the lottery, I will buy you a whole new car" Such statements, even meant as sympathy for another's plight, can come back to haunt you. You might forget you said it. Yet whenever you do win the lottery, that individual to whom you uttered your promise will remember vividly and expect to collect their "due" And if you pay off the mortgage or buy that car, it won't mean as much if it had not been "expected" or "promised"

Don't trust anyone to hold your lottery tickets ahead of the drawing. When large sums of money are involved, it is surprising how a long-standing friendship or family tie could become meaningless. Be forewarned: Buy your own lottery tickets -- or at least have them in your own safekeeping ahead of the drawing takes place. Being an extra precaution, sign the back of your winning lottery tickets immediately. After the drawing, possession is 99 percent of the law.

Stick to a budget. Do not play with money you are afraid to lose. Scared money seldom wins. Keep it fun so that your attitude remains positive. Enjoy it with others by pooling your money with friends, family or co-workers. Not just is it more enjoyable playing with others, but additionally, it stretches your lotto budget. When you pool your hard earned money with others, you can afford to use the larger lotto wheels.

Have your lotto pool sign a Pooling Agreement. Pooling your hard earned money with others to express in more lottery tickets is a good idea, but do not pool your hard earned money with anyone without a signed agreement. You may think you are risking only a few dollars. But should the lottery ticket wins, you have put in jeopardy potential millions.

Do not be afraid to skip a drawing. To further stretch your lotto dollar, play a big wheeling system once a month and skip the additional drawings in between. Or use the money you could have spent (but didn't) on some other type of entertainment. Should you have a multiple prize win, you can afford to spend more on lottery tickets next time, such as playing two or maybe more lotto wheels. You could be on a hot streak. When you do not win, stay on a self-imposed budget until you win again. But take into account, there is just one thing all lottery jackpot winners have in common: All of them bought a lottery ticket!

Keep your lottery tickets safe. Keep your lottery tickets in a safe place and check them immediately after the drawing. Collect your small prizes (under $600) right away before the expiration date. Most states give you only 30 days to claim small wins from lottery agents. Next, you must mail them in or visit a claim center.

Save your losing lottery tickets. Save all your losing lottery tickets since they are tax deductible, dollar for dollar, against your lottery wins. Receipts for other gambling losses also can be deducted against lottery wins. Whenever you win even a second prize, you will be glad to have those deductions at tax time.

Play some low-odds games. If you want to start winning sooner rather than later, invest the higher portion of your lottery budget on the cash-5 game offered in your state. You will win more prizes more often whenever you play the bottom odds pick-5 games. Top prize could possibly be only a hundred thousand dollars or so. On the other hand, I guarantee that when you win one, you will be very, happy!

Trust your hunches. Although my strategies are scientific, according to mathematical probability, I am a good believer in playing hunches, too. If you feel strongly about a certain number, play it. Your inner conscious mind becomes stronger and many more accurate as you use it. Even your hunch muscle has to be exercised to work efficiently. It's extremely important to think of yourself as a lucky person -- to think of yourself as a winner.

Practice saying, "No," before you decide to win the lottery. The most critical word any jackpot winner can learn to say is an emphatic "No!" Many jackpot winners have gone bankrupt since they allowed freeloading friends, family members, neighbors, as well as others to bleed them dry. If you think you do not have the backbone to harden your heart against endless sad tales of need and greed, then do not accept your lottery win in a lump sum. Go for the annuity payout and collect your lottery win in total annual installments.