One of the biggest reasons for creating MommyLuvs2save was to create a community of moms and dads who want to help their family save money when buying essentials in order to free up money for debt repayment. My own family has paid off over $111,500 in consumer debt including credit cards, student loan debt and 2 vehicles. I am a teacher at heart. I want to use the skills that I have learned to help YOU ditch debt. I want to encourage each of you in your efforts so that one day you can feel the freedom of being debt free. I’m not quite there yet either (we still have a mortgage) so I need encouragement as well 
It can be very difficult to pay down debt. There are many temptations to spend money. We live in a culture that encourages debt and spending. In addition, expenses come up and there never seems to be any extra money for paying down debt. I want to urge each of you to participate in a challenge. Just leave a comment about one positive step you’ve taken for your family each day. Did you eat in instead of going out? Did you save money at the grocery store? Did you pay extra on your credit card? Leave a comment below and we will cheer one another on every day and every step of the way.
The challenge is to leave a comment about what YOU have done to work on getting debt free each day. One winner will be chosen to win a $50 Amazon gift card at the end of each month. To participate in the challenge you must comment on at least 10 posts during the month.
* I will also be sharing my progress from the day prior.
My Progress: Ro was off yesterday and typically him being off is a budget buster. I always joke with him that he wants to be “wined and dined”. We did go to our favorite diner spot for breakfast because they have the $1.59 breakfast special including hash browns, 2 eggs and toast. It’s a great deal and I only go when Ro is off. We also went and did a small Walmart run. I needed to get some supplies for the girl’s lunchboxes. Walmart has a case of mini waters for $1.88, which tides us over for awhile for them and I like them having water. We also got a few other things, but I was really proud of Ro because he usually likes to have his own cart and he puts stuff in there that we don’t need. He really didn’t do that this time. He stuck to our mini-list and didn’t deviate. It was great. I think it’s hitting home that we’re living on one income, so he’s trying to help me stay on budget.
Lunch and dinner were made at home. Actually Ro made dinner. I was joking with him all day telling him that when he takes a day off from work, I’m on vacation too ! Otherwise I’ll never catch a break around here he he! I went to WW last night. I only lost .6 lbs. I really need to get back in gear with the WW thing. The holidays are over and I need to get it together
On a positive note I got some surveys done before bedtime last night. The girls go to bed at 8 on school nights so there’s extra time to do surveys and enter sweepstakes. I entered a bunch of those too. I’ve been entering them for a week or so and I haven’t won anything yet. I’ll let you know if and when I win anything. Here’s hoping…
What did you do? Leave a comment We’d love to hear about it You could make 2013 your year. Who will the January winner be ? We’ll see…
I’ve been out of town for a week with work so I didn’t spend any personal money while gone. Nice to est and not pay! I had a $25 copay at the dr. yesterday but that was all I spent.
‘Eat out’ was what I meant to say:)
I went to CVS and did some coupon deals and ran to ALDI’s to just get a few things needed and only spent $8. Other then that it was a no spend day here and I even went into 2 other stores and walked out with nothing! I am proud of myself!
I also did the Viewpoints reviews to get the $5 Amazon gift card. I have never done that before. Do you always get rewarded for writing reviews or was it just a special thing they are doing right now? Does anyone know?
I’ve been doing this for a few years. Every now and then they send an email offering an Amazon gift card for writing X amt of reviews. Usually averages a dollar per review. They have always paid out, so be sure to watch your emails for your code. Easy money!
Thanks! I am excited to find yet another way to earn some extra money!
Thanks for the explanation Yvonne. I posted the other day with credit to you of course. I have to do mine today as it ends soon.
Always happy to pass on ways to earn a little extra.
Okay, I did my 5 reviews, but I didn’t get any kind of confirmation. Should I have or no? Do they just send you the GC without any prior confirmation or anything ? There was no way to check status or anything on the website. Am I missing something ?
I’ve never received a confirmation. As long as you meet the requirements, you will get your gift card. In my initial email from them, it said it would be sent via email on Jan 24th. I found that the biggest thing to watch for was making sure you had enough characters (200 required to post a review, but 500 needed to qualify for the gift card) and also making sure that they were in the required categories. Did you see that it listed how many characters you typed before you posted? I had to go back and add a few extra words! This site also occasionally sends out coupons/full sized products for reviews.
Okay, sorry to bug you Yvonne, but I didn’t realize it had to be 500 characters to qualify for the Amazon gc. How do I go back in and add to my reviews. The site is weird because I don’t even see where you log in ? Sorry to be a pain…
No problem Karen. On the right upper corner you will see a drop down menu for your account. Go to “your reviews” and it will bring up the ones you have written. There is a tab for “edit” and then you can make changes. Before you submit a review (I think it’s just below the narrative) it will tell you how many characters you typed. Reviews need to be 200 characters to be published, but for the $5 Amazon card, the review needs to be 500 characters. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask!
Prayed for everyone on our prayer chain. Worked a 16 hour shift. I did stop for a case of diet coke prior to going to work. Figured I might need a little caffeine towards the end of the night….which I did. Hubby cut wood for several hours (harvested off our own land) so we should be all set for another month or so. I did manage to earn 405 in swagbucks. Had a shop and save (I think that’s what they call it) along with some coupon credit.
Yesterday I ran to the store just to pick up a few items, spent around $20. $12 of that was salmon. I’m trying to eat healthier. I also picked up my husband’s BP meds and it only cost $9. Better than $85 the last time. We don’t have insurance and he was switched to a different medicine and we used a discount pharmacy card to get it lowered.
Karen, any weight “loss” is still a loss. That is wonderful. Be proud of yourself!
Well, my husband went grocery shopping for us yesterday since he had the day off and I didn’t want to leave the house in the cold. He took coupons and everything. He did get a few things that were not on the list, but to me, that was worth it to not have to go myself.
I’m turning into a polar bear..it was negative 12 yesterday morning..it did get up to 15. Our part of the state is having the lowest temps since 1968. Our old house is not prepared for this. People come over and laugh about how cold it is in here. They make suggestions, all of which cost $…there is a possiblity we are moving w/ hubbys job..so I dont want to invest, I had a repairman patch up the boiler($175) but it is still 54 degrees in my house. yikes. Praying for warmth.
Made another cc payment, got the free olives from Walgreens.
Checked the website for my daughters music college., its a small school, they do not give scholarships or finanacial aid. We need to save more aggresively for her to attend. She puts in her application next month.
I am a big fan of the thermal weave drapes. I even found some at Ross for a third of the price. I put them behind my regular curtains so it doesn’t matter if they match.
I wish I could say I didn’t spend any money for three days in a row but, that didn’t happen. Went to Walmart and got some milk and a few packs of veggie seeds for our spring garden. Today I have a drs appt so that money there being that I don’t have insurance. I am so tired of everything being so high. You can’t catch a break these days. Oh well I will cont to do our part and moving right along. Have a wonderful day all.
It was a nice low spend day; only spent $8 for a chicken , some ground beef and a frozen dinner. We made the chicken last night and are having chili tonight…yummy and some yummy leftovers. I am going to try and run to Walgreens today to see if they still have some of the Tone body wash left adn to get the Glade Expressions deal. I found a great deal on Living Social that for $24 you get a $50 Grad Save College Savings Card which can be applied to any college type savings account you have. Its a good deal and heck its free college money which I can really use. There are 6 more days left so I might try to get some family members to buy one for me and I can give them the money.
Well, yesterday was my birthday. So, I started the morning by getting a flu shot.
my husband took the day off of work so he stayed with our boys while I ran and got my shot. Then he went and did a mystery shop for McDonalds. Have to pay cash, which totalled about $11, but we get reimbursed next month plus $9 for the shop, so it’s money well spent this month. We did our usual school routine with our oldest, then ran some errands. After the boys went to bed, I asked my hubby to get my a burger and fries from Five Guys, so that was my birthday treat. That was all the money spent, since my flu shot was covered by insurance, and the McDonald’s money will be coming back next month!
Happy belated birthday!
Yesterday ended up not being a no spend day as I made an appt to get C’s ipod fixed (its an old iphone) and then I lost track of time so we couldn’t eat lunch at home and still make it to the mall on time. We shared a sandwich there because I couldn’t just not feed him. If it were only me I would have skipped it. After that we drove to MIL’s and had just a few mins to hang out before I had to leave for a drs appt. I took dinner with us that I had packed earlier so at least that meal was not bought out. I had to pick up Dh’s perscriptions on the way home last night too and they’re expensive.
Today we are heading out to target but I have over $75 in gcs so it shouldn’t be anything oop to buy anything there. I’m going to try to use that to keep from having to go grocery shopping this week.
Well I was so excited for the 15th to come so we could pay off another credit card but for some reason, my hubby’s bonus wasn’t on his check. He said he’d ask about it but since we know it’s coming-just not sure when, I guess I just need to be patient. That coupled with figuring out that we are going to owe more than a $1,000 on our taxes (I’d been thinking it was going to be about $800)- it has been a grouchy last few days. I did sell some old books online for about $80-85 so I’m going to mail those tonight. I’ve been earning my swagbucks & working overtime (won’t see that check until May).
Hello, a lurker turning into a writer here.
I was complaining about food costs and my husband must have gotten tired of it because he brought me this from some other finanacial site: “Americans, on average, spend 9.3 percent of their income on food, the lowest percentage in the world. India spends 53.1 percent, Venezuela
spends 34.3 percent, Italy spends 25.7 percent, Japan spends 19.1
percent, France spends 16.3 percent and the United Kingdom spends 11.5
percent.” This is in part due to the fact that we have higher wages on average than many other countries. He also brought me a chart that shows that the percent we spend on food has declined over the last 50 years, and another that showed we waste about 30% And, finally, another horrifying fact: the amount we spend on restaurants and processed food has exploded, as have the portion sizes. (Could this be connected to how many of us struggle with weight?)
So, I think I need to stop complaining about food costs and take a better look at what I am spending it on. I know that since I started baking baking bread, making yogurt and buttermilk and our own from scratch ranch dressing, our food costs have dropped dramatically. This takes me about four hours of work once a week and saves us at least $30 a month on food (the bread is the biggest savings, although I am stunned at how much salad dressing was costing us without my ever realizing it).
I am starting a no spend for a week deal. I think that is about all I can manage. From previous posts here I assume that means on food and stuff like craft items but does not include gas or mortgage or oil or things like that?
Thanks for all the interesting ideas I have found on this site.
Welcome lurker ha ha! Thanks for the facts and I think you’re right that our restaurant costs have exploded ! It is so much cheaper and healthier to make from scratch at home. I would love your best recipes for bread, yogurt and dressing if you are willing to share.
Yes, spend days include food, extras, restaurants… It does NOT include necessary spending like utilities and mortgages. Good luck with your challenge. Have fun with it seeing how much you can get for free while you’re at it…
For the ranch dressing it is simply equal amounts of non-fat yogurt, low fat buttermilk and low or full fat mayo. (Fat free mayo gives it an off tate for some reason). Since I make my own yogurt and buttermilk, this makes it very cheap. Once I whisk the yogurt, buttermilk and mayo together, I add whatever spices I want, so it is not always the same boring old dressing. I usually put in garlic pepper, a small amount of salt and a ton of a dried herb—dill is my favorite. I grow a lot of it and dry it, so we always have jars full. I also like winter savory and other times basil. The point is, if you have a favorite spice, try using that. Once I made this as a dip for vegetables and use chili spices and dried onion; it was a huge hit, no leftovers.
I don’t want to take up too much space, not sure if there is a limit, so will give my bread recipe next time and yogurt after that. (Our go to treat is homemade marshmallows, with or without hot chocolate. Let me know if you want that recipe. No cheaper, but no high fructose corn syrup and the results taste so good and are so lovely that I make boxes of them for gifts at Valentine’s Day.)
Welcome. I for one would love your marshmellow recipe. Raising a gf family rice krispy treats are our go to snack and I feel so guilty using store marshmellows.
please keep posting if karen doesn’t mind…….. yummy
Oh Karen doesn’t mind, recipes please…
Welcome! Looking forward to reading your ideas!
day number 3 of being sick at home mean day number 3 of a no spend day for me, wish my husband would jump on board but that is slow going. He just loves to tell that you can’t be buried with money so why not use it. While I agree to an extent, I do not want to spend frivolously.
WOW! What wonderful conversation today!! I only bought myself lunch ($1.30 for homemade soup) didn’t think that was too bad! Finally sold 2 items on EBAY..but unfortunately still waiting for 1 payment
Hoping for warmer weather and for people to begin to feel better…this winter is rough!
Today is my oldest sons 28th birthday! Wow hard to believe. We did spend money to buy a piece of board to box in around the air vent where they put in the air filter for the new HVAC. It lets a lot of air in from the attic and it is getting ready to get really cold, so hubby has to close it up.
Still taking it easy from my back injections through tomorrow. Today I picked 6 recipes for Freezer cooking that I will complete between now and next Tuesday while hubby is on vacation. I also started my menu for the next 10 days so that I know what we are having and so will everyone else and they can just grab from fridge or freezer and help get it on the table.
Unfortunately I think we will be in the hole on the budget this month because of the four legged baby being hurt, I am crossing my fingers that we can sell enough stuff to cover the vet bills.
Hubby thought it was cool tonight when he went to fix sloppy joes tonight and I had already cooked and thaw the hamburger, all he had to do was put in pan and add sloppy joe mix. Ta dah dinner was ready in 10 mins. He thought was cool.
I used some of my ground beef tonight too. Isn’t it the best time saver ? I love it.
I didn’t do much yesterday. Hubby brought me a donut before going to work. Huge treat for me!! Stayed home all day & actually watched a movie-taped from free movie weekend. It was weird. Ate lunch & dinner at home. Reorganized all of my coupons. Pretty uneventful but I didn’t spend any money.