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 pretty well yesterday. We ate breakfast and lunch at home. We did go out for dinner at a local diner, but we used a Restaurant.com gift certificate so we only spent $11.34 (+ we tipped on the full amount of the bill of course). We really enjoy going out to eat on the weekend, but we usually use either a gift card from a survey site or a GC from Restaurant.com so it only costs a fraction of the normal cost (Am I rationalizing, you can tell me… I can take it, I promise he he! ).
We didn’t do any grocery shopping yesterday. The day kind of got away from us. I plan to take inventory of the freezer and pantry to only buy what we really need this week. We have some meat in the freezer and I have some great coupons all lined up so we should spend significantly less than usual.
I had $50 in gift cards to Home Goods/Marshalls. The girls and I met my parents there and we had a look around to see if they had anything we needed for the new house. I can’t remember if I got the gift cards from one of the survey companies or from my Discover rewards, but it was essentially FREE money. I ended up getting 4 pairs of 5t jeans for the twins. They were on clearance for $7 each (they were some fancy brand, but I really don’t worry about that stuff). I was also able to get all of the bathroom rugs for the master bathroom. I was pretty happy to be able to snag all of that for $3.54 after the gift cards. *****The only problem was that I was so into looking at the bathroom rugs that I left my car keys on the shelf and didn’t realize it until I went to open the car door. I had to go back in and frantically search every place that I shopped (which was everywhere-ugghh). I finally found them-whew!
*On a related note, can I just tell you what knuckleheads my husband and I are… the other night we went to close our mini-van with our remote close the door thingy and apparently we thought it closed and it didn’t. Can you believe that our side van door was open ALL night with my hubby’s Ipad on the seat (we forgot that too) and nobody took it ? I only hope our new neighborhood is as safe. We will have a garage, which apparently we need because we are completely incapable of keeping our belongings safe~ sheesh.
What is the dumbest thing that you’ve ever done? Please share so I don’t have to be an idiot all by myself! Oh, and share your progress too 🙂
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 my FREE Daily Newsletter so that you can get my free updates and NEVER miss a deal. Thanks for visiting!
Today I got up and made breakfast at home including the coffee to go for my husband. He called and said it was really good, so that was $4.00 we saved right there and I did not add any more time to my morning rush 🙂 . Of course we packed out lunches so I will be cutting coupons to get ready for this weeks deals…..
I’m making our own bread. I’ve been doing this the past couple of weeks. It is so much cheaper than a loaf of bread in the grocery store. I’m also planning on grabbing a few drugstore deals and maybe switiching my kids from orange juice to apple juice. It is much cheaper!
lost keys and doors left wide open…sounds like a normal move..just don’t lose the kids!!
Treated my husband to coffee at Starbucks thanks to swag bucks. Im new to couponing and what a blessing your site has been to my family. Love the “What have you done today” section for inspiration. Good luck on new home/move. Oh, and my girls loved that cute netting you can hang above a bed, we also put a white picket fence along one wall and let them paint flowers between the rails( my artist friend came to help) Turned out very sweet and hung a garden sign from the fence.
I sent in a rebate for a $10 visa from Kelloggs cereal. The Crispix & Rice Krispies are double dips if you can still find the boxes with the Cars2 gas cards. 10 upc’s = a $10 visa, & 4 codes in the boxes get turned in for $5 Visa’s. Got my free Godiva chocolate while out & about. (just need a free rewards card & get 1 free piece each month) Cooked up a whole loaf of bread into French Toast & while the griddle was out decided to make a ton of pancakes. I flash froze those & have them in the freezer. Way cheaper than buying the frozen ones.
I have developed a really scary new pattern! I have 2 toddlers , so getting everyone and their stuff to the car is sometimes a job! Lately I come home to realize I have left my front door wide open!!!
well yesterday I made three mini loaves of white bread since we seem to go through alot of bread and wanted to try my hand at it and they came out yummy. one loaf is gone already. sheesh. lol I also made a meatball and mac casserole and I cooked all weekend for every meal! tonight we have to go to the laundry mat which is 20 bucks but thats ok because I am making dinner tonight which will be quesidillas with homemade guac!
Does anyone have a great recipe to share for homemade bread?
oh and I have done plenty of stupid things. lol I just can’t think since they are so many! lol
With everyone baking bread, I may just need to dust off my bread machine and do the same! Nothing like the smell of fresh bread baking.
I’m working today, so making $ to use to pay down our debt. Plan on doing some “coupon shopping” after work today.
As for stupid things, believe me, I have done my fair share! Just a couple of months ago, I came home from work at 1 AM to find that I had left the door wide open. I don’t always lock it, but I try and at least remember to close it! I had been gone for well over 12 hours and my hubby was away on business. I also have a bad habit of leaving the keys in the door.
Wouldn’t you know it, my breadmaker is one of the only things I’ve moved to the new house. Just my luck. My hubby would kill me if I brought it back!
HI everyone. Well I have earned two gift cards through surveys although Karen I dont see how you earn so much so quick. I put of 19 breakfast burritos (some didnt make it to the freezer, but to the bellies of two grown men) made a batch of brownies which I shared with my elderly neighbors. Marinated and put up 4 dinners worth of chicken that I got on sale at Food Lion yesterday. Tonight we are having another pack of chicken which I am making into Mexican Chicken pizzas.
I have some crazy things I have done like searching for the peanut butter and finding it in the microwave, or finding the milk in the cabinet, one of the wackiest things was I took my dogs to the vet (I had 4 at the time) so got out of the truck to take one in at a time, came back and one of them had gotten so excited that they bounced up on the auto door locks and the keys were in the ignition. It was very embarrasing to call the locksmith to come unlock the door (we only have one vehicle) because of the dogs. Thankfully he only charged me $10.00
Yesterday was a complete splurge for our family. We went to our local pumpkin patch which has quite a few attractions so there is admission. We even ate lunch there (with a coupon) and bought 5 pumpkins (with a coupon too). A lot of money was spent, but fun memories were had, so I’m trying not to feel too guilty. It’s a family tradition and I just can’t seem to break away from it.
As far a Knuckleheaded moments, I have quite a few. Just count your blessings that nothing was taken and give yourself grace. You have 2 girlies, work fulltime, manage this blog and are in the midst of a move. Totally understandable!
Don’t ever feel badly about creating memories with your family. That comes before debt repayment. I always tell people to save money on the things that don’t matter (groceries) so that you have extra money for the important things in life. The most important thing about getting debt free is that it allows you to spend more time with family doing the things you love. I would never want you to “break away” from that !
so..my most recent dumb error was leaving the windows down in the truck, with the keys in it allevening & overnight. Most painful, slamming my own fingers in the car door…so at least yours wasn`t financially/physically painful.
Today I avoided the vending machines at work…very hard to do while pregnant lol
leftovers for dinner. So all in all a not bad day, oh yea…and picked up the guy`s ties for the wedding for a whole $5 a piece 🙂
When I was a teenager a friend of mine slammed my foot in the car door. It was broken in 3 places by the time I got to the hospital. I feel your pain-literally he he! Great job with your savings!
saved today by making our hot sauce& salsa from free stuff from the store and my garden.called around all over to find the best deal on organic apples to make cider to freeze this Sunday $3 a bushel.
Where did you find organic apples for price? Do they ship ? Please tell!
Its a local farm by me in Mi. they dont ship 🙁 I was beyond excited since lasy year w paid 10 a bushel for none organic. This farm is a god send. Were getting raspberries for 2 a qt too
booo! I have to call around here to see how much they are. I want to make crockpot applesauce (recipe to follow).
Dumbest thing I have ever done was leave my windows open over night in NC. It rained that night, and I probably could have gone swimming in my car in the morning when I went down stairs. I didn’t even remember opening the windows.
Still working on our Christmas list for as inexpensive as possible. I wanted to give my mom a wine-cork cork board, and we headed out to a restaurant with a large wine bar-I asked and got a small grocery bag of corks…going to keep asking and make her one for her gift! Also scored some inexpensive art supplies for the handprint poem canvas that I’m making for the grandparents with all the grandkids handprints! I can’t wait to hear how much they love it!
Every little bit helps. I love making the grandparent gifts too 🙂 Keep up the great work.