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!
Julie says
We ate “out” all weekend while camping ;) No decluttering done at the lake, but we did manage to make a list and pull items from the house that we had two of for the camping tote. It was free to camp as we had to hike to the spot, and the boat was launched for free.
This helped out budget as well. We didn’t spend money, rather we looked for items we already owned to help us out.
I played tag and ran the entire weekend. My stomach muscles ache from being so active!! I can’t wait to see the numbers on the scale. Everything we ate was grilled and healthy! (except for my one smore!)
Heather H says
No dining out for us.
Katie R says
No Dining Out: Did so great all week…only ordered out pizza on Monday night for the NBA Finals. $23 and there were plenty of leftovers. Tonight we had a large dinner at my Dad’s party.
Minniemize: This is what I need to work on the most. I can’t seem to make time to work-out before or after work. I need motivation!!
Budget: Put $40 in my vacation envelope! was left over from the week and I am excited to add even more next week!
DeClutter: Slowly going through my things and stockpile and giving a few things away to friends/family. I will have more time to organize starting next week.
Sarah says
No Dining Out – Another day of eating in, hooray! To make cooking less of a chore and more interesting I’ve decided to try and make 2 new recipes every week. Tonight I made the mac and cheese from the June All You. (It’s the first All You I’ve ever gotten) The meal was a big hit with the whole family! So much more rewarding when everyone gets excited over a meal.
Minniemize – Kept busy with chores at both mine and my mother’s house so at least that was some activity. Ate chocolate today though which was a little disheartening. Hoping to get back on track tomorrow.
Budget – Did some number crunching today and realized I’m going to go over budget this month a bit. I need to be sure to use my +UPs, ExtraBucks, and RR before they expire, but that needs to be all the spending I do on household items for the rest of the month. :(
Gina says
No dining-We had bbq beef sandwiches that I made in the crockpot for dinner along with potato salad and corn on the cob. Yummy. DH brought his lunch.
Minniemize- Did my 30 day shred on Fri. and Thurs. my son and I walked the 1.25 miles to the library and then walked further to a rummage sale- my favorite one of the year because she sells Gymboree clothes in my son’s size which are always in great condition including some with the tags still on! So after that we walked to the park and then home. Not sure how many miles I got in that day,but it was a lot!
Lisa says
No Dining Out
No Dining Out for us. We used our leftover thai pork loin for thai pizza with veggies and a side salad.
Minniemizing
My last workout for the week! Happy to get 6 cardios & 2 weight lifting workouts in this week. I am definitely looking forward to my day of rest tomorrow!
Noelle says
No dining out – we were very tempted to go get a $5 pizza but we didn’t.
Minniemize – I made it to my pre-pregnancy weight. I just need to maintain it without losing more.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
That’s awesome you made it to your pre-pregnancy weight! It must feel great! :)
Amy says
Decluttering Challenge: I am a college professor and will officially be on my summer break starting Tuesday, but today summer project mode hit full force so I am jumping into the decluttering challenge. Project #1 is Operation Playroom. I spent hours today cleaning out – 1 bag of stuff that I just threw away (old McDonald’s toys, broken stuff, etc), 2 bags of stuff heading to Goodwill, and lots of awesome artwork my boys did at school this year that have now found frames and look fabulous! Organized house here I come!
Kelly B says
minimize me
Trying a new vitamin routine adding Vitamin D and Vitamin B12 twice a day met with a nutrionist said they are good metabolism boosters.
De-clutter
I have loved this one each cabinet or closet in my house one by one I am tackling them by summers end I will be done :)
Budget
Blew this one today, had my nieces over for the weekend we did go to the free cars 2 event at Borders (boring) but then went to Pizza hut and …..
No Dining out
Read above went to Pizza hut with my boys and nieces. but we did get water and only pizza no extras :)
Elyse M. says
No Dining Out- bought a slurpee. parents bought pizza for dinner
Declutter- Wasn’t home, drove down to my parents for a couple weeks
Budget- bought gas again and a slurpee
latasha vaughn says
I haven’t been posting like I should. I have decluttered a couple drawers this week & I decluttered my email box. If u take a day off the emails build up like crazy & I takes months to clean it out.
We haven’t done so good on the eating out. My husband made some extra money by doing a side job so we did splurge a little & we may eat out tomorrow for father’s day. We still have done better than last month so I think we are on a roll. :-)
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Decluttering email is neverending! :)
Bethany M says
Ate at Steak n shake today. Spent $10 with tip (including the free kids meal).
Exercised for about 20 minutes last night! Trying to do it at least every other night now. I need motivation.
Trish T says
No Dining Out: No eating out today or yesterday! Even resisted all temptation of Starbucks and Monster drinks! =)
Minniemize: Loving the newly discovered Aldi!! Just shopped there second time today and amazed at how much fresh produce and healthy stuff they have! They have a butter salad that is much less than the dole butter salad bags I have been buying!
Budget: Ok, so that Aldi comment above really goes here too!! I bought fresh fruit and bread, eggs, milk, yogurt, and vegetables today and saved a ton by shopping here!
Declutter: I worked on my bedroom yesterday. I reorganized it and made myself a little nook by my bed with a hidden tub for all things I am collecting for our Disney trip! Then I made a little hiding spot for my Disney guidebooks that I just got so that I can read them at night once the kids are asleep! So exciting!
dawn says
dining out– not doing it today! spending time with inlaws so i am eating at their house tonight :)
minniemizing– holy cow walking in 100 degree weather for 20 minutes is about all i can handle today!
budget– looking ok. stayed 5 dollars under budget on our groceries! with sales and coupons i spent 95 out of pocket but saved 82 dollars with bogo ‘s and coupons yesterday :)
decluttering– today i got rid of a whole bag of stuffed animals that the girls no longer want/play with
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
It’s so hard to walk for a long time when it is so hot out!
denise says
declutter
cleaned the front of the fridge of all the clutter and threw out a bunch of magnets.
budget/no eating out
i’m staying home today and having leftovers for dinner
Christina says
No Dining Out: We did grab some lunch on our way home from the grocery store today, but we hadn’t eaten out since we got back home from house hunting.
Budget Challenge: We didn’t do great with our grocery budget today. I found a book for our daughter that I just HAD to get her. :) Plus a magazine for me. You know, little things add up. I need to be more careful about what we buy, though, because we are moving in a month and we don’t have to get a bunch of stuff (like spices or something) that we can’t use up and can’t take with us. So we’ll be eating a little simpler for the next little while and hopefully that will help us save a little extra before our move!
Decluttering Challenge: This one we’re doing pretty good at. I’ve found a bunch of stuff to donate or sell at our garage sale. I don’t want to fill our new house up with junk! Plus, though our new house is bigger, there is a lot less storage so I try to keep that in mind to help me with the “do I really love or use this?” question. :)
Sarah says
NO DINING OUT – We made it to 2 weeks without dining out once! WOO! HOO! I took the kids to blackberry pick today in a school yard near our house. We’re going to make a fun dessert from it as our special treat. We’ve chosen Friday night to be our once a month dining out day, so 6 days to go! :o)
Martha in Georgia says
No dining out – success! Pasta for dinner.
Minniemizing – success! walked 3+ miles
Budget – Okay, spent $60 at Ingles. +$26 on gas.
Kathie M says
DINING- Ended up doing DH’s Father’s Day meal last night instead of Sunday. He wanted a new place for us “Joy Wok” so I had no coupons but it’s a once a year type thing so I guess that’s okay.
DECLUTTER – Well, I had a friends boy all day so not much got done again. I did get a few things out of a drawer and a few more out of the closet. I about have a full box of my clothes to get rid of now so that’s a plus!
Budget – See DINING above. Went to use our ON groupon and spent an additional $8 there but DH really needed some new flip flops and shorts so not too bad.
Elizabeth H says
NDO
HAD TO (and I mean HAD TO) get an iced tea at McD’s yesterday. Spent $1.08.
Minniemizing
Set up for a garage sale last night. Lifting tables counts as exercise, right?
Budget
Still have $$ in the food budget envelope.
Decluttering
Having a garage sale today (third one in as many weekend) and STILL found 2 more boxes full of things to bring out. Some BIG items moved today…feels so much better!
Renee says
ended up eating out after swimming lessons last night–$20 gone!!
decluttering–having a garage sale as I write this.
budget–having a garage sale to boost funds to take my daughter to college orientation next wednesday.
minniemizing–sitting for now, but have to clean up after the garage sale and that is quite a workout!
Tiffany says
Minniemize me – 60 minutes on the elliptical again today!
Meagan says
No Dining Out: Stayed in yesterday so no spending money out. It was leftovers day.
Minniemize Me: My medication got the best of me so I didn’t get out to do any walking yesterday.
Declutter: Since I didn’t go out, I did get through some decluttering. It is a slow but steady pace.
Budget: No going out was great on my budget… didn’t spend a penny!
theresa says
no dining out, on budget, no exercise, big basement decluttering!
Amy W says
No dining out:
We went to Texas Roadhouse (my husband’s favorite) for date night last night. He’ll be gone for the next 2 weeks with the Navy for survival school :( . I’ll be so glad when that’s behind us!
Minniemizing:
Walked 3 miles in the scorching heat yesterday! I’ve also starting plugging in my workouts into mapmyrun.com! It’s free, and once a week they send me an email telling me about my progress that week. Pretty cool!
Budget:
Staying on budget, and we’ll both be out of town for the next 2 weeks.
Decluttering:
We went through my husband’s tool box.
Nicole E. says
Minimize: Cant walk today because of the rain. But we are going to try a work out tape.
De-cluttering: taking all goodwill stuff from cleaning house to the goodwill today. Need the storage space.
Tiffany says
Decluttering-Started in my closet today. Got rid of a huge bag of clothes.
Minniemize me-Can barely walk after my 15 mile bike ride…Ouch
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
15 miles! Wow!!
Angela N says
No dining out – I managed not to use any of my birthday dining out coupons for me but, today is my daughter’s birthday and her boyfriend is taking her out to eat for lunch so I am letting her use one of mine.
Budget – I have spent quite a bit on groceries the last two days because I am stockpiling cereal that we consider a staple.
Deluttering – Worked the last two days so I didn’t make any progress. will get back on it today.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Happy Birthday to her! (and you!)
Ellen says
Decluttering: This is the most important challenge to me and I’m not doing a great job of it. :( I feel so disorganized! I have this room in the basement that’s out of control…today I plan to address 10 items in there (25 is overwhelming to me right now!) :)
Ellen says
No Dining Out: Grilled burgers last night…haven’t spent any money yet this month, but that’ll change today…we’re taking hubby out for lunch for father’s day.
June Total Spent: $0.00
Donna B. says
Decluttering Challenge—went on a frantic cleaning spree yesterday when a friend was coming for a sewing lesson—-plan to just enjoy the clean house & spend time with the family today!!!
Donna B. says
Budget Challenge—-no money left from the current 2 week allotment—-but hubby got paid yesterday so I’ll be withdrawing my $140 (yeah!! got a raise this week!!!) for the next 2 weeks today
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Congratulations on the raise! That is awesome! :)
Donna B. says
Minniemizing for the Mouse:—-going to take a nice long walk with the hubby & kids today when we go on our picnic
Donna B. says
No Dining Out—-no dinning out for us today——unless you count the picnic the kids are planning for us!!!
Tonya says
No dining out: Had a huge salad for dinner.
Minniemize me: Lots of water, green tea and portion control. Worked in the garden and went couponing at several stores yesterday. My brain and my body got a workout from all that.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Great job on minniemizing!
melissa says
Kristin, I miss seeing your posts on the minniemizing! I find you so relateable and appreciate your honesty with your readers. Thanks for all your work!