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: I woke up, went into the bathroom and the toilet wouldn’t flush – hmmm. I turned the sink on to discover that we had no water. Ro called his buddy (after asking if I paid the bill) and we discovered after a few hours that the pipes in the front of the house were frozen. We had record low temps overnight and apparently the pipes in our basement had no insulation. My dad brought over a space heater and after a few hours everything thawed out. Ro went to Lowe’s and got some insulation and took care of it (with the help of said neighbor). The water came back on by about 2:30 pm. We were so thankful because we dodged a major expense. If those pipes had burst we’d likely have owed a few thousand $$’s in repair bills.
I took the girls with me to get few deals done. I did take them out for a quick lunch, but we used coupons, so their meals were only $2 and mine was $3. I did a few drugstore deals before they rolled over today. We also ran to the grocery store to snag 2 or 3 deals that were expiring last night. We had a little family football party with snacks and drinks last night because our team was in the playoffs. We lost (bummer), but our little party was fun anyway. I earned 113 Swagbucks and did the drugstore deals after the girlies went to bed. I DVR’d Suze Orman because of the game. I prepped a few Ebay items for shipping tomorrow. I also planned my drugstore deals for this week. I am stocking the stockpile this week. One of my local grocery stores has great deals this week and I printed off lots of coupons to go with it.
There are TONS of coupons in the newspaper today, so be sure to snag at least a few papers !
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 
Made a quick trip into town to use my $20 in Kohls cash before it expired. Combined it with a 15% off coupon and was able to get two 5 pair packages of trouser socks for $3.60 OOP. Will be giving them to my dad for his 86th birthday next month. At his age, there really isn’t much he needs/wants. Also made what was supposed to be a quick trip to the grocery store. The store was crazy busy, no doubt due to the storm we are supposed to get hit with. Earned enough swagbucks to hit my first goal.
My husband and I took the girls out for our weekly lunch out. We went to Qdoba and I used a coupon, so I got one of the burritos free. We did not need a big dinner, so we just ate breakfast items. I did my grocery shopping for the week and stayed within budget. I also bought some flannel sheets for all of our beds because it is supposed to by -40 here on Monday and not much warmer on Tuesday. I washed them and put them on the beds yesterday. I must have enjoyed them because I slept past 8 this morning, which is something I never do. The money was well spent.
I can’t even imagine -40. I’m in Florida and we’re supposed to have a high of 49 on Tuesday and that’s too cold for me! LOL
We were bums yesterday. Watched tv all day and napped. Me and hubs went on a little date but we had gift cards. Ran to get a few groceries. Earned only a few swagbucks. No mail.
No spend day here. Exercised, cleaned, went to sin’s soccer game. Took my boys out for an inexpensive Mexican dinner but used a gift card. Doing some freezer cooking today.
Today is last day of Christmas break, kids back to school tomorrow. We went for a family hike to a waterfall, bought the kids shave ice.
Watched Suzy Orman. It is motivation to build up that 401k. I have about $120 til payday on the 15th. Belt tightening time.
Walgreens..went in for the free Almay deal..sold out but found food and nuts on the Christmas aisle 75%off.
Bought a couple of newspaper for the coupons today. Planned menus for the week to keep me from eating out.
The weather has been keeping C and I in the house since I really dislike going out in the cold/snow which has also helped us to not spend $. We did our regular grocery shopping trip yesterday to get it out of the way. Today I signed up for weight watchers online because I need the structure of a program to get me started. I’m only doing it month to month since we’re also going to start trying for #2 so I don’t want to be roped in if I get pregnant.
Yesterday was a no spend day. Raked the last of the leaves and made all meals at home. I don’t return to work for another 10 days so I have a lot of things I need to get done. I made menus for the
Spent only $12 today but would have been closer to $45 if I don’t use coupons so I was really happy. We did make all meals at home so that helped.
week and will get the groceries I need tomorrow. Downloaded an app to help keep track of my daily calories and exercise. Going to get in shape this year, both financial land physically!
I’m with ya on both !
Sledding! Then headed out to get staples for my pantry. Expensive trip but I needed a lot of things. Did use some coupons and bought a few discounted Cmas items.