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 did a little running around yesterday. I went to 2 different Walgreens looking for some of the Velveeta Skillets because they would have been free with coupons that I had. Both stores were all out. I may look in one more store today. I went to Staples because I had a $10/$10 coupon that was mailed to us. I got something for $10 that we needed and got out of there without even having to pay sales tax.
I ran into Target just to snag a few things that are on great sales. I did great with that, but did splurge on a big teething toy for the puppy. It was $8.99, which was more than all of my other items combined. I almost took it back, but Rudy loves it, so oh well… I used a FREE pizza code to get dinner for free at Papa John’s. I have one more code to use by 3/10. All other meals were made at home.
The mail was okay. We got a few samples including a laundry detergent sample and a sample of sweet potato chips. I also got coupons in the mail that I had bought on ebay. I will be able to get Nivea for Men body washes for only $.69 each with the coupons. I like keeping Ro stocked on body wash. It makes him happy (it’s the little things). I also did 3 surveys and earned 61 Swagbucks.
What did you do? Leave a comment We’d love to hear about it You could make 2013 your year. Who will the February winner be ? We’ll see…
Yesterday I only spent 2 dollars on helium…my son was invited to his first “friend” birthday party, and part of the gift was a huge balloon of the boy’s favorite superhero. So we had to get it filled up at Hannaford. I also completed a 7-day diary survey and earned a bunch of points doing a follow up survey.
No money spent yesterday. After about a week of feeling depressed about our finances my husband came home to tell us he got a $2 an hour pay raise. He does not get pay raises every year but when he gets them they are always pretty big. Now again I have the attitude of “we can do this”.
I have question for all about the Best Buy Reward Zone Polls. Is it just me or are some days the polls worth 10 points and some days they are worth 25 points. Is there any rhyme and reason to this or does it seem pretty random?
Have a great day everyone!
Do you say that it is a “no spend” day when there is no money taken out of your checking account? It seems that I never have a day like that! My DH buys a very inexpensive lunch everyday with his debit card. So there is almost always a debit for that. So I see charges on our account everyday. I never feel like there is a no spend day. Other days, we take out cash so that there are less debits from our account, but then we have weekly transfers to our savings accounts and investments that come out, so there are still debits made that day on the checking account.
What is your definition of a “no spend” day?
Thanks,
Shay
A no spend day to me is a day when no money was spent on anything, but ordinary bills (mortgage, utilities etc…). All meals were made at home (not eaten out) and nothing was spent at the grocery store.Of course sometimes you have to spend money on things like gas for the car and groceries. There are, however, days when we spend $$ that we don’t have to. I wouldn’t count money coming out of your accounts for savings or investments as spending.
I am not sure if you are upset at your husband buying a meal every single day or just want to know if it counts as no-spend because it is an expected expense? When I say no spend, I am with Karen, in that I mean nothing other than the ordinary mortgage or utility or gas bills…
I’m with Karen and Lindsey. Some expenses you just can’t avoid, but there are many that could be with some extra planning.
Need to get dog food and supplements for the dog so this will not be a no spend day but I’m going to try to make tomorrow a no spend day.
Hubby finally got his birthday gift ($300+ which is a lot more than we usually spend on gifts) paid for with Amazon gift cards earned from various sites. Considering that I had drained that account at Christmas, this goes to show that surveys, writing reviews, earning swagbucks, Perkstreet rewards, etc really does add up. Prayed for the finances of all ML2S readers.
Decided to stop and buy a pizza, for $15 with a coupon. We have not had a meal not cooked at home for 6 months—not even coffee from someplae like Starbucks. Turned out the coupon was not honored by this branch of the store, so the pizza cost me $24.85. I was horrified, but could hardly walk away since I should have checked about the coupon when I ordered. I am really bummed—that is half of our grocery money for this coming two weeks. Makes me feel like going out and spending more, since I have already blown it.
Take heart, we have all had times like that. I commend you for going six months without eating out. That is huge and shows tremendous determination! Use this “oops” in a positive way and see just how much more you can stretch your remaining grocery budget. I’m sure all the ML2S readers will be here cheering you on!
Yesterday I stayed home most of the day writing up a mystery shop I did. I did it on Thurs. & had a great time. It was the first time I had done this one. It took a good bit of time but I went with a friend & had fun. It paid $30 plus reimbursed for everything we spent.
Met a friend for a movie last night–used free ticket from GM cereal. Didn’t buy any snacks or drinks.
Got 3 free twix candy bar q’s in the mail from a sweep.