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 $25 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 all about family around here. I gave the girls a bath first thing in the morning. I also made breakfast and dinner at home. We drove out to see my brother who lives an hour away. We met my parents out there and we all brought something to contribute to a pot luck lunch. We had a great visit. It cost some money for gas, but it was well worth it. After we got back home, we picked up snow pants and ran over to my sister’s house to have the cousins go sledding together. They had over an hour of going up and down hills. They fell asleep SO fast last night.
I did run into the grocery store for some fruit for green smoothies and lunchmeat for the week. I also got gas. I packed the girl’s lunches for today and straightened out their book bags for the new week. I earned 91 Swagbucks yesterday, which helped me meet my daily goal. I’ve been meeting it every day now for about 10 days, which should earn me a bonus. I organized my stockpile and planned out the meals for the week. I seem to struggle with meal planning, so I am trying to get that piece in place for us this week.
What did you do? Leave a comment We’d love to hear about it You could make 2014 your year. Who will the January winner be ? We’ll see…
I am a mom who has paid off $111,500 in debt in less than 4 years by saving money at the stores and putting all of our extra $ on debt. Subscribe to 
No spend day for me. Learned that we can get a $25 credit from our electric company for being without power for over 120 hours during the ice storm last month. My son got officially engaged over the weekend. Since he had mentioned the possibility to me last month, I already purchased a gift using a coupon. Now to start figuring out how much we can afford to contribute to their wedding. Much will depend on the length of engagement. Earned 329 swagbucks. Hitting the bonus is definitely worth it.
Congrats on your sons engagement.
Congratulations Yvonne, how exciting!
Çongrats! I hope they follow you in sensible spending. Have a beautiful memorable wedding, but put their money into their future!
Never left the house yesterday. Baked two loaves of lemon blueberry bread, will share one with my friend who gives me eggs. Made chicken salad for lunches. Printed coupons, added coke points.
I live in louisiana and last Friday we got ice & a little snow, they decided Thursday at about 1 to cancel school Friday so glad they did because by noon on Friday they already had 20 wrecks 2 deaths
Hubby’s work was cancelled too and by noon every bridge was closed including interstate some reopened Saturday morning but mostly by 11 due to more wrecks, I saw at one points over 200 wrecks in la on
Just the 24th alone well yesterday it was 68 but by tonight temp will drop again & we are expected to have ice/snow Tue & Wed again I will have to go to the store to get a few things because we may
Be home bound again. Spent no $ fri-sun but we are out of a lot now. Working on my EF but not as motivated as I was about getting rid of the debt, guessing because budgets been so tight 🙁
The schools in my area are closed today (weather is -25 already with WC). My girls are homeschooled, so we will do our day as usual and they will be done by the middle of May. All meals were made and eaten at home. I tried a green smoothie for breakfast and did not like it much. I will have to find a new recipe to try. Lunch was vegetable stir fry and dinner was homemade cheese ravioli (my husband makes his own pasta). I enjoyed all the meatless meals. I earned 111 SB and enjoy seeing them add up. The only money spent was on gas for both vehicles (since the temps will be so cold the next few days, it is better to have a full tank of gas).
Try putting more fruit in your green smoothie until you get used to it. You can also add a little honey. They’re SO good, so don’t give up on ’em !
Went to church and tithed. We went out to eat after for the first time since the first of January. We are getting about 8in our snow here tues and wed. This is big for us, dreading my power bill.
This weekend we had a surprise party for my DH. He turned 40 on the 18th so it was definitely not a no spend weekend but all in all it wasn’t too bad. I’ve been getting stuff over the last few weeks with deals and coupons and driving to various stores that sell certain items cheaper than others. I covered food and decorations and asked his friends to bring beer so that saved me from spending a lot on alcohol. Despite the snow that day there was a good turn out and I was pleased. He only turns 40 once so I didn’t mind spending the $ for it. We are back to sticking to a tighter budget now and I just finished my grocery list so I can get my stuff for the week to make meals. My goal is to have a huge salad with dinner every night so we can maybe eat less of the main dish and stretch some of the meals out to 2 dinners worth, I’m planning to cut all the lettuce up at once and store it in bags in the fridge so I won’t have the excuse of needing to do that to keep me from having them every night. I also started weight watchers this month and I have not been sticking to it very well so I need this to help me stretch my points farther. I can’t wait for spring when its warm enough to be outside again.
our day started out with my lil guy running a temp. all his symptoms were pointing to another strain of flu, so we went straight to cvs clinic. he had no flu, thankfully, but does have a respitory infection. it is a complication of the flu he had last month. so now lots of antibiotics and pneumonia watch. after waiting so long at clinic, got kids limeades and tots to tide them over while prescription was being filled.
wandered around grocery store, and used several coupons to add items to stockpile. i am determined to refill my pantry and end little trips to grocery store!
hubbys side job got pushed off due to temps, we really need that money!
does anyone else feel guilty turning down the girl scouts? I told them no thanks we are wheat intolerant. And the mom goes well we have whole grain. my only thought for her was read a book! the next 3 tables i encountered this week, were pushing sent to troops. when my nieces were sellers i sent $60 to troops, 3 nieces. i just do not have funds to contribute this year and feel so guilty!
Its true they need a gluten free version
You all inspire me to save $ and keep putting one foot in front of the other towards debt freedom.
Made curried lentils and rice. Clipped coupons from paper.
It rained, watched movies on Netflix with my kiddos.Took daughter to Ross, she had gift card, very tempting there Picked up Hubby from the airport. Earned some swag.
Did not spend penny yesterday and made all meals at home. Listed a few things on craigslist and hoping they sell soon if not next month they go to goodwill.
Church and fast food for lunch. No spending. Considering changing my mind on attending a wedding. Money is tight – and the expenses are just adding up. I really wanted to go, but with all of my money going to babysitters for all of these snow days, I am not sure it is going to happen!!
Yesterday was a no spend day. Listed an item on eBay, hoping it sells quickly. Budget is very very tight til Friday, payday. Got husbands W2 so added that to tax form. Now just waiting for my W2 so
I can send off taxes. Money is going straight to emergency fund since we’ve had to use ours lately.