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: Yesterday was a NO spend day. I was thinking about going to the store to get stuff to make meatloaf for dinner, but decided to eat from the freezer instead. I got some nice samples and a $10/$10 JCPenney coupon in the mail. I love those. I usually end up being able to get a shirt for each of the girls I also got one of the girl’s birthday presents in the mail from Zulily. I got 2 “Dollie and Me” sets for them. I used a credit, so I think I spent $6 out of pocket when I ordered them.
My main budget buster of the day was taking Kayla to the dentist. For some reason Ro’s dental coverage isn’t the best although they offer free services on campus (I just went myself). Ro and I talked it over and decided that we were taking her to her old dentist yesterdsay and from now on we’re going to try Ro’s work. It’s a 30 minute drive, but yesterday’s visit was $260 and that would have been worth a 30 minute drive ~ sheesh.
I made all meals at home and made a banana bread for Olivia & Kayla’s upcoming birthday party. I stuck it in the freezer. It will thaw out nicely. When I have a party I try to do as much work ahead of time as possible. I don’t like being stressed out on the day of the event ~ ha ha. I caught up on surveys after my girlies went to bed. I even qualified for a Swagbucks survey. It’s been a few weeks since I qualified for one.
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…
Bought a few groceries from the grocery store yesterday to add to stockpile. That was it for the day!
went to Walmart for groceries. I don’t do the comparison shopping so I think it’s more expensive to go there then to go to Kroger and shop the sales. Especially with coupons.
No spend day except for dinner. I took my boys to a local Chinese restaurant and used a gift card. I spent about $3.50 oop and it was a nice treat.
I’m trying a new “healthy, toddler” muffin recipe. We need to kick our Kashi Cereal Bar habit. It is too expensive! I also signed up to mystery shop a restaurant for Valentine’s Day. That should make for a fun, free date.
Yesterday was not quite a no spend day here…Do you ever have days where you are just so tired of pinching pennies that you splurge? Well, that’s what I did. But, I paid cash…wouldn’t have splurged if I didn’t have the cash. Also, we e-filed our taxes thru Turbotax on Feb 1st and the refund was in our account yesterday! That was super fast.
Yes, you have to add in little splurge days so you don’t get frugal burn out. At least you paid in cash instead of whipping out a credit card.
Yesterday spending was under $10
Got some fun freebies, like a movie from Redbox(thanks for the code) and a Mrs Dash sample(4 packets) ordered Bumble bars on sale from Amazon, had enough in acct so they were free to me
2 free personal pan pizzas. (We were at the convenience store, that has a mini post office..the cashier asked my son if he wanted pizzas or she was going to throw them out. )I made homemade gluten free pizzas and fresh veggies to add to these for dinner
Got lots of other goodies like gift cards, chocolate, coffee, flowers, etc.. it was my bday, so I guess that doesnt count as true freebies.
Happy Birthday yesterday!
No spend day!!! The weather was wonderful yesterday so we played outside for awhile. Hoping for another no spend day. Have a great day loves.
No spend day.
Well, I haven’t posted in a few days, but it’s been a busy few days. We’re prepping for hubs return next week. Spent a lot of time at home cleaning and getting things ready. Made the kid’s their Valentine shirt and dress for when he comes home, got about 99% of the party decorations for my daughter’s v-day birthday party, cleaned both cars, and have a lot more to do! I’ve worked a few shifts and even picked up a couple extra hours last night last minute (did have to buy dinner, but $17.00 for 4 dinners at Chick-Fil-A is okay in my book). My MIL sent a package with my daughter’s birthday dress in it and a new set of sheets. They’ll be great as long as we get a new queen and don’t decide to go for a king. So excited for next week, I can barely contain myself!
Bought a few things I needed at the grocery store. Worked an extra 8 hours, so that will be nice on the check. Not sure how much longer these extra hours will keep coming, but I’ll take them when offered. Prayed for the finances of all the ML2S readers.
I’m happy that the hospital where I work is trying some things to get employees to live healthier. They’ve got ‘hydration stations’ all through my hospital that have fruit infused water in coolers. Today they had strawberry kiwi and lime pineapple. They are a yummy alternative to plain old water and FREE, which is nice. They are also encouraging employees to take free apples every day. I’m doing low carb now, and apples aren’t on the menu, but I’ve been putting mine in my son’s lunch the next day. Love a little free fruit. It’s a nice little perk.
Wow, that’s SO nice. I’m jealous
Today was going to be a no spend day but then DH talked us into going out to dinner, it wasn’t expensive but it certainly wasn’t free. Then since we were out we ran to walmart and I got a few free after coupon items and DH got a master lock for the gym since I want him to go I allowed it. He did pick one of the cheaper ones though. Other than that it was a pretty quiet day (if you don’t count the toddler temper tantrums)