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: I had a good day yesterday. I felt better for the most part. I took the girls to school. Kayla is so funny. She asked if I’d take them to school since they took “such” good care of me when I was sick. It was pretty cute and how could I say no to that? I did the grocery shopping for the week. I saved 54% with coupons and used a gift card to pay that I bought a few months ago from the girl’s school.
I came home and put chicken fajitas in the crock pot and made brownies. Next, I went to CVS and did a Cash Card deal. I used the $20 voucher that I found in one of my daily deal sites on Monday. I stocked up on juice boxes (6 ten packs) and crackers (2 boxes) for the girl’s lunches. I also got 3 bags of cheddar goldfish and I got the 4 FREE Irish Spring body washes and the $.99 Gold Emblem juice (from the coupon I posted). After all was said and done, I still had $.01 to spare on the $20 gift card and I had a new $10 cash card. It was awesome!
I weighed in on WW last night and guess what ? I lost a whopping 9.6 lbs this week. Granted, some of that was due to not being able to eat anything besides chicken noodle soup on Monday, but I’m hoping some of it sticks. I’ve been yo yo-ing a bit lately, but my new grand total is 44.2 lbs. I’m hoping to get to 50 soon.
I earned 41 Swagbucks yesterday. I cashed out for a $10 Target gift card from Shopkick. I also got a FREE $20 voucher for a local favorite restaurant with a free credit that was online a few days ago. I also got a bunch of free meat in the mail from Omaha Steaks from a voucher I bought last year. I wanted to use it before it expired at the end of the month. It probably includes about 15 pounds of meat + a dessert.
It was a good day. I hope you all had one too !
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…
Glad to hear you are feeling better. Congrad on the weight loss!!! I wish I could do the deals that you do, but I am trying. Yesterday I saved $38.16(71%) at Krogers, did some surveys, cashed out $5 from swagbucks and printed the cpns for Hallmark cards. I’ll run by CVS after taking my grandson to school.and get a couple of deals. Made crockpot soup with all my frozen leftovers. Easy I freeze leftovers in a quart container and when full throw into crockpot with a can or two of tomato soup. Soup 50cents a can. Cheap and easy. Hope everyone is keeping warm!! It’s 12 degrees here in Virginia
It sounds like you had a great deal day to me
It’s cold here too (13 degrees). Wow !
Wow, that is so awesome you lost so much weight! You’ve been working hard at it for so long, and I can’t believe you are almost at 50…way to go! Yesterday I spent way too much money grocery shopping, but I got a lot of healthy food, plus a few little Valentine’s Day candy treats for the kids, so that’s checked off. I also had to buy a couple gifts online last night, but that was inevitable.
Yesterday I bought a new Lifeproof case for my Iphone. They are $80 in the store but I found them for $45 on Amazon. Plus I used my Discover rewards to pay for them so it cost me nothing. I spent a $1 at the vending machine. We had a bball game and spent about $3 at the concession stand. I will be so glad when the season is over.
First off, a huge CONGRATS on the weight loss. I am trying to stick with weight watchers as well and get on the treadmill every night. It’s just so hard. I get a short time to myself in the afternoon while my oldest is at kindergarten and youngest naps. I find myself wandering into the kitchen for a snack while I watch TV and then I end up overeating and going beyond my points! You are truly an inspiration to me to try to stick with it! Way to go, girl! We spent $6 on a salad for my dinner last night. I was craving one and figured it could be worse, so my husband grabbed one for me. He also stopped at the dollar store and got our kid’s new toothpaste we needed and a few easy fries to throw in the freeze rfor those busy nights. He also grabbed himself a chocolate milk for the ride home. What can I say, it’s $1 and he is the one out working his butt off so I can stay home. If a chocolate milk makes him happy, so be it! We have started tracking every single purchase. I am putting it all in a list on my computer and keeping track of our spending. This has actually allowed us to be really aware of what we are spending, and we have, for the first time, stayed within the budget we set for each month! Finally we will be able to get some money into savings next month! Praying for all here working hard, whether to lose weight or save some money!
Wow Karen, amazing deal day!! and congratulations on losing so much weight. You are a constant source of encouragement and inspiration to me.
Hope you all are keeping warm, this cold is messing with my head..I have never been this cold for this long.(.since the week before Christmas) and that says alot we have lived in the mountains for 10 yrs.
Prayers for finances of all the ladies here.
I got 5 items @Sprouts, 2 were free w/ coupons and the other 3, I had $1 off coupons. My order came to $21.45..I paid $10.13
Made a apricot cobbler from fruit we picked this summer.
Stayed home all day. It was a cold one for us too. The temperature was in the single digits all day. Prayed by name for the finances of those on the prayer chain.
Congrats on your huge weight loss Karen! Very motivating for the rest of trying to lose weight!
I wish I could say I didn’t spend any money buttttttttt I did. Having a 12 yr old boy and a 5 month old boy is tough. Trying to entertain the 12 yr old id hard. So his friend stayed Monday night and I took them skating. They paid their was in, but I did buy them a drink. After that I had to mail off some things I sold online. Came home and fixed dinner. Hoping for a no spend day today.
Awesome job on the weight loss! The more I hear about your success and a couple of my friends, it makes me want to jump in on it. I have so much I want and need to lose, but lately motivation has been lacking, even with hubs coming home so soon.
Yesterday was okay, I had to get the pair of Dansko shoes to avoid being put into surgical boots, but I did get them cheaper than the sticker price thanks to the lady offering a military discount. Not many people seem to, especially in a town surrounded by it, so it was really nice of her. They feel funny but good. Other than that, didn’t spend anything and not planning to today either.
Got a phone call this morning from the girl running the nursery at the gym and got offered the position. She said I was her preferred replacement and at least one other girl agreed. I thought about it and decided I’d regret it if I didn’t at least try! So hopefully the extra money coming in from a few more hours (and maybe a small raise from my current pay rate?? I don’t know) will help with the munchkin’s tuition and paying off debt. Our goal is to have 1 car and the credit card paid off by the end of the year, but I think we might be able to do more if we can just get rid of 1 thing at a time. Reading “Financial Peace Revisited” and liking it, though I’ve heard a lot of it and feel blessed beyond measure that several things he talks about haven’t happened to us, though they easily could.
Congratulations on the weight loss! Spent money on dog food but nothing else. Still eating ham leftovers out of the freezer. I try to appreciate the good food, but I am tired of swine.
Very sad today for many reasons. Trying to stay as positive as possible and continue to work hard on finances and weight. Prayed a number of times today including all of y’all. No spend day.
I’m praying for you, Beth.
Oh Beth. I’m sorry to hear that. Please know my thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Keep praying because he’s always listening
You are doing fabulous with your weight lose. Congrats! I don’t even recall what I did yesterday. I stopped by the super market spent $22. I had to go pick up a sick boy from school. My kids never miss school & in the last 2 months they have missed more than all of their school yrs put together. I have one twin with acute bronchitis. He just finished his 2nd round of steriods & antibiotics this weekend & now he is running a fever with a cold. The other one has the same fever/cough/headaches. Not getting too much done but tending to my guys. Oh well, things will wait.
I did receive a surprise box in the mail with 4 coffee cups I won (didn’t know) from Nescafe.
Great job on the weight loss and I’m glad you feel a little better. I have been doing a Jillian Michaels DVD this week and it is killin me. I can tell that I’ve improved already since Sunday though so I’m hoping that it will just keep getting easier.
Today should have been a no spend day but since I haven’t been out of the house since Sunday and I’m stuck here with a toddler in the cold I just didn’t feel like cooking lunch so we ordered from Dominos and split it. Its a ton of calories but it did tide me over the rest of the day excluding a few snacks like a cheese stick. I haven’t made it to the gym either because DH has not gotten home before 930pm since Sunday either. Hopefully I will be able to get my drug store deals done before they expire on sat plus I have $8 in up+ rewards that will expire soon.