Grow Your Fund is a daily post that gives you a chance to win prizes by checking in on all the various challenges you are participating in. You can choose to participate in one, two or even all of the challenges giving you even more opportunities to Grow Your Fund!
The Challenges
No Dining Out: The concept is simple, lower your family’s dining out bill and add the money you save to your fund.
Minniemizing for the Mouse: Get in shape for your trip to Disney by walking at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week. The average person walks 8 or more miles a day at Disney World. Your feet will thank you!
Not going to Disney? Don’t worry. You can participate too. Just commit to working out at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week!
Budget Challenge: Can your family stay on budget this month for groceries, entertainment, dining, etc? Do you think you could even challenge yourself not to spend a dime 5 days this month? Be sure to report on your spending vs your budget every day. The goal is to be able to add the extra money saved at the end of the month to your fund!
*If you haven’t set a budget yet, you might want to check out this post.
Decluttering Challenge: Is your stuff starting to overtake your house? Do you feel like your kids room is full of too much junk and not enough fun? If so, I challenge you to find a new home for just 25 items a day for the next 30 days. This could be 25 articles of clothing, 25 books you no longer read, 25 toys your kids ignore. Have a box for items to donations, a box for items to sell and throw the rest away! At the end of the challenge, have a yard sale and add the earnings to your fund!
The prizes
At the end of each month, I will pick FOUR winners who will each receive $25 to add to their fund. Look for the winners to be announced on the 3rd of each month.
How to enter
Leave a comment with the title of the challenges it is for. You can participate in one, two, three or even all four challenges. There will be one winner per challenge, and winners can win multiple times! It’s all done by using Random.org, so if your number comes up and you are eligible, you win! In order to be eligible to win, you must actively participate in the challenge for at least FIVE calendar days.
Click below for even more details on each challenge…
No Dining
- Take a look at your current dining out budget. How much did you spend last month going out to eat? That is money that could have gone into your fund instead! Try cutting your out to eat costs this month and adding the difference to your fund.
- Set a weekly dining out budget, if you resist going out to eat, add that amount to your fund instead.
- If you were seriously about to go out to eat (like had your coat on and was going out the door or pulled into the drive thru and then pulled back out), add the amount you would have spent to your fund.
- Going out to eat and using a coupon or paying with a gift card? You could add that amount to your fund too. For example… if you had a $25 gift card to Cracker Barrel and you used it, you could take $25 cash out of your budget and add it to the fund. Or if you used a $10 coupon, you could take $10 cash out of the budget and add it to the fund.
- You must challenge yourself. Try to spend less than you spend now. If you don’t go out to eat at all, challenge yourself to try new meals this month. As long as you are challenging yourself when it comes to your family’s eating habits, you can participate!
- You are allowed 1 freebie meal that you don’t have to count or report back to us about. Please report on everything else though so we can encourage and support one another!
- Free meals do not count against you. This is a challenge to spend less money going out to eat than you usually spend. If someone else is paying for the meal or you have a coupon to make it free, great!
- At the end of the month, you will need to comment on the very last post to be entered to win. I will choose the winner from that post and verify that you have commented on at least 5 days worth of posts. The comments must of occurred on 5 DIFFERENT days. Meaning if on the 30th, you commented on that post and then went back and commented on 4 days worth of posts, you would be disqualified. You must comment on 5 different posts on 5 different days.
Minniemizing for the Mouse
- I need to get fit for the mouse. My feet hurt so bad from all that walking and for once I’d love to experience Disney without being in pain. We are going in November, so I am hoping to make a big lifestyle change between now and then. I can’t do it alone and so I need the help from all of you!
- Check in each day and report on your progress. The goal is to exercise for at least 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week. For those of us going to Disney, walking for those 20 minutes is a great way to not only get in shape, but prepare our feet.
- It really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you are moving!
- At the end of the month, you will need to comment on the very last post to be entered to win. I will choose the winner from that post and verify that you have commented on at least 5 days worth of posts. The comments must of occurred on 5 DIFFERENT days. Meaning if on the 30th, you commented on that post and then went back and commented on 4 days worth of posts, you would be disqualified. You must comment on 5 different posts on 5 different days.
Budget Challenge
- Everyone needs a budget. Budgets will help you to be in control of your money without your money being in control of you. You dictate where your money goes and how it is spent.
- Don’t have a budget? I’ve written a few articles that should help you set one… How to Set a Budget and How to Set a Grocery Budget. You’ll find even more helpful advice under Getting Started Couponing and Your Fund.
- Each day, check in and let us know how much you spent the day before and if you stayed under budget or not. We aren’t here to critique your budget (unless you ask!), but we are here to support you in staying on track!
- Also feel free to include bargain brags. Did you find a great deal or do something creative to save money, be sure to share it with all of us!
- At the end of the month, you will need to comment on the very last post to be entered to win. I will choose the winner from that post and verify that you have commented on at least 5 days worth of posts. The comments must of occurred on 5 DIFFERENT days. Meaning if on the 30th, you commented on that post and then went back and commented on 4 days worth of posts, you would be disqualified. You must comment on 5 different posts on 5 different days.
Decluttering Challenge
- It doesn’t take long for the stuff to start taking over your home. The kids rooms start overflowing with broken, neglected and just plain weird no idea where they came from toys. Your stockpile starts to spread from the kitchen, to the hall, to your bathtub. You start finding that the home for more and more items is the middle of your living room floor. Etc!
- It can be overwhelming to take on the task of decluttering your home, but the end rewards are so worth the effort. To make the process easy, I challenge you to find just 25 items every day to find a new home for. Get a box labeled donations, one labeled to sell, and one for trash. Go through 25 items a day and either put it in one of the 3 boxes or find a new permanent place for it.
- At the end of 30 days, you will have an organized home and you can have a yard sale to add more money to your fund!
- Be sure to post every day that you have gone through your 25 items and found a new home for them. Don’t just put them back where they don’t belong.
- At the end of the month, you will need to comment on the very last post to be entered to win. I will choose the winner from that post and verify that you have commented on at least 5 days worth of posts. The comments must of occurred on 5 DIFFERENT days. Meaning if on the 30th, you commented on that post and then went back and commented on 4 days worth of posts, you would be disqualified. You must comment on 5 different posts on 5 different days.
Good luck!
Decluttering Challenge—not at home so I can’t do anything at my house!!
Budget Challenge—no money spent today—-visitng parents this weekend—Mom took me to Hobby Lobby (which we don’t have in Lynchburg where I live) & paid for some ribbon that I couldn’t find anywhere else so that I can use it to make some ponytail holders for a craft show in November
Minniemizing for the Mouse—no real workout today—was at a Ladies Conference with my Mom all day :)
No Dining Out—parents took us out for dinner tonight—we are down at their house visiting for the weekend
NDO: made breakfast, lunch and dinner
Minniemize: Walked for 25 minutes
Declutter: So I have this “catch-all” bag that I throw things in to look at later. I dumped it out and took care of each and every item. That was a good job done. I also prepared some fresh veggies and put them in the freezer for later. I worked on the kids’ closets some more. Cleaned the house. Busy day!
Awesome job decluttering! :)
no dining out-doing great and no dining out
minniemize-nothing today planning on 3 mile walk tomorrow
declutter-went through girls closet all summer clothes in bin for clothing sale and all shoes either thrown out in bad shape or in bin for clothing sale
budget-did awesome at grocery store, great at target and almost new comforter for our bedroom but no luck
No dining- We did great yesterday. Made pizza for dinner.
Minniemize- Did my 30 day shred workout yesterday and ate well. Even made a partially whole wheat pizza dough this time.
Declutter- Still no time for it,but did some good cleaning yesterday.
Minniemize-ran 4 miles.
No dining out-none for us. All meals at home although it was tempting to get Chinese for dinner.
No Dining Out – So, I mentioned that last night we were going out to eat – my boyfriend bought us dinner at Moe’s – no coupons or discounts. O’well. Then this morning we had free vouchers for Chick-Fil-A that I used, and bought us drinks. So..ate out this morning but CHEAP!! Actually, brought it home to eat. Lunch was in…and we’ll probably have dinner in. :)
Minnimizing – I walked about a 1/2 mile and jogged about a 1/2 mile. Woo! :) Feels great to be getting back into this. Just miss my buddy I used to do 5ks with.
Declutter – Well, yep yesterday I did nothing toward Declutter – nope nothing. :(
Budget – Well, I bought a gift for my boyfriend’s dad – this old fashioned timer, that I can only find the one online. And his other one somehow melted near the stove while he was out of town – no idea which of the 3 other’s of us did it. So, since I found one going to replace it. Also, spent the $6 at Chick Fil A this morning. I do have some birthday gifts to buy this weekend – but this was planned for. And need to get all my coupons sorted today to go shopping hopefully tomorrow. :) So, not doing too bad…I just try to spend as little as possible and think so it’s going OK!
Oh wait, for my budget, I found $20 I hid away from my bday or Christmas (wow) that I am going to put toward the Disney fund! :) I think it’s a worthy way to spend that $20! :)
I just love found money. :)
No dining out:
We went to Olive Garden for our date night :), but we had a $4 off coupon and we have leftovers to eat for supper tonight!
Minniemizing:
not too much in this area yesterday
Decluttering:
Vacuumed
Budget:
We’re going to have to be more careful the second half of the month, but I think we might just make it :)
I’m jealous! I love Olive Garden..
No Dining Out – doing terrible this month. Went to my sons XC meet and went to lunch afterward.
Budget – Totally blowing eat with eating out so much. Have got to do better. Maybe I will make a menu for the rest of the week, then I will have a plan. Hopefully I can stick to it.
Minniemize – Going on a jog when it cools off.
Declutter – Cleaning out the garage.
No Dining Out: Had Starbucks for breakfast as a family…but ate the rest of our meals at home.
Decluttering: got my house reorganized again (surprising how fast it gets messy when I’m resting!). Trash taken out, laundry done and folded and put away…so much better to have a clean house :-)
Minniemizing: nothing…still recovering and resting.
Budget: other than starbucks, we paid the doctor for the baby’s first couple of visits (which is out of pocket for now, until we get the insurance figured out. But it was budgeted in!).
no dining out…went out to lunch with the girls at work yesterday.
budget…STILL under budget for the week! Unbelievable!
decluttering…nothing for the last couple of days because I’ve been at work.
minnie… :(
I think the declutter one is the toughest one for me, due to our living situation right now. But, I am going to work on that this weekend! Hmm, right now actually, hehe so tomorrow I can say I did something! :)
You’re doing awesome with your budget! :)
Budget – went over budget for this week, but got good deals on a few things that I won’t have to buy for a while. It will help out on the next few weeks!
Dining – ate out yesterday at McD’s.
Declutter – got the bathroom cabinets.
Minnie- does running errands count? I got on the scale this morning – total lost 2.5 lbs!
I think running errands counts. :) Congratulations on the weight loss! That’s awesome!
No dining out- steak, nectarines, corn, tomatoes and cheese buns..at home.
Yum!
No Dining Out – None for us
No Dining out: Ate lunch out yesterday. Spent $7, but came home and made corned beef and cabbage for dinner.
No Dining Out – We ended up going out for Chinese last night. And I took my daughter for a Happy Meal at lunch because a semi truck had blocked our car in while making deliveries. We were stuck for an hour!
Budget – No household money spent yesterday.
Decluttering – Got rid of mail
Wow! That is horrible they blocked you in for so long!
NDO–ate at home!
Minniemize–walked 3 miles
Declutter- went after the book shelves one last time before I head off to the consignment sale!
Budget–hubby bought some clearanced reusable lunch bags, can monogram these for awesome gifts later! Go DH!
Good job!!
No Dining out: Already have todays meals planned!
Min. for Mouse: Walked dogs for 1.5 miles this morning.
Declutter: Attacking the coat closet today.
Budget: Not leaving the house!
NDO – none for us.
Declutter – whole house picked up by me and the kids
Minniemizing – walked 1 hour. was under calorie goal
Budgeting – no money spent yesterday, but still wont meet my budget for the period ;(
Sounds like you are doing great. :) The budget can be impossible sometimes… :(
No dining out for us, we had leftovers and cereal!
Minniemizing, I did good tracking my food again but I need to drink more water and not eat Drumsticks… :)