Note: I will pick the winners from the August challenge this weekend.
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!
Cathie says
No Dining Out: packed breakfast, ate a frozen meal that I keep stocked in the freezer at work for lunch, made dinner
MInniemize: power walk tonight for 25 minutes
Declutter: after the kids were in bed, i went through the bath toys and threw out all the one that squirt water. mold grows in there so fast because they never dry out well and my one year is still in his chewing stage . . . so out they went!
Elyse M. says
No Dining out- didn’t dine out yesterday
Minniemize- did not work out last night. I did not get home til 630 and had to go grocery shopping and work on lesson plans
Declutter- Plan for this weekend clean up the office and put everything in its place. Also, sell some of the excess furniture
Budget- spent alot at grocery store yesterday but probably wont have to spend much the rest of the month
Bethany M says
No dining out tonight. Made rice with peas and had some chicken wontons.
Heather says
NDO- Breakfast lunch and dinner at home!
Minniemizing- p90x!
Declutter- Cleaned chicken coup.
Budget- Created budget for September. Hoping to be able to stick to it. Paid off TV!
Lisa says
No Dining Out
We ate at Sams Club for lunch today but my inlaws treated.
Minniemizing
Swimming tonight for 30 minutes…hopefully to help the piece of pizza from Sam’s Club today! :)
Beth says
No dining out- Hamburger Helper again.. It was on a really good sale and my kids love it.
Decluttering- Got rid of a ton of clothes after going through the hall closet.
Denise says
No Dining Out – Not off to a good start this month. Had dinner out last night and again today for lunch. Cooking dinner at home tonight.
Minniemize – Ran
Budget – Haven’t bought groceries, but went out twice in 2 days. Need to be more careful.
Declutter – Found a box of junk in the basement that I am getting rid of.
Angela N says
Declutter – Need to clean out the fridge.
No dining – On the road will eat out today but, it will be a half price special.
Budget – Used coupons and a price match today to get ice cream for half price.
Heather H says
No dining out for us, we had bottled chicken with cream of chicken soup over rice and the kids all LOVED it!
Janelle says
No Dining Out – last night I was lazy and did not want to cook, so I made frozen pizza instead of ordering or going through drive through. We have gone the whole week without eating out.
Minimizing – Heat wave and can’t walk. I bought a Jillian Michael’s DVD when it was on sale at amazon and do that everyday. It works great! Lost 3lbs this week!
Budget – trying to hold to the budget, but we have 2 barbacues this weekend. One is at our house and so that has put us a bit over.
DeClutter – Working on this everyday, we are having a garage sale next weekend – lots of kids toys and clothes to get rid of.
Mindy says
Minniemizing: Did a 45 minute cardio DVD
Budget: Taking the kids to Kangaroo Zoo (a bounce house playground) but I have a $2 off coupon that expires today!
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
That sounds like fun!
RK says
Minniemize & Declutter: I didn’t exercise, even though it was my regular exercise day, nor did I declutter, but I think I have a decent excuse for once. On Sunday night, our A/C went out, and it was not fixed until Wednesday afternoon. We stayed at a hotel Monday and Tuesday night. So between being at the hotel, dealing with the A/C guys, etc., let’s just say things kind of fell behind schedule at home. I had to give things like doing the dishes priority last night, plus I had also lost some sleep in the hotel (because my toddler lost sleep in the hotel).
So we are still “recovering” from the above, but I hope to get back on track next week!
Amy W says
No dining out:
No dining out yesterday! My husband made tacos for supper! :)
Minniemizing:
The mapmyrun site wasn’t working yesterday, so I don’t know if I went over my calorie budget or not. I hope not!
Decluttering:
not much in this area yesterday
Budget:
Set up September budget, paid rent, insurance, and cable/internet bills. Bought a little gift at Target for our friends’ new baby boy that we got to go meet yesterday. :)
Sharon H says
MM: Walked a mile this morning
DC: plans to have house clean and clutter free by this evening so we can enjoy the long weekend and clutter it back up! :-)
B: Oy. Got a letter in the mail from the mortgage people saying our payment was going up by $40 – due to a higher home ins. premium/escrow shortage….added to the higher health insurance and “graduated” student loan, we now have to figure out how to find $275 every month in our already skin-tight budget.
NDO: Made a new recipe for dinner – epic fail. My family will NOT be traveling to Morocco for the food! We ended up eating sandwiches and the dogs liked the Moroccan meal.
Julie H says
No Dining Out – No eating out for us yesterday. Leftovers for lunch and dinner.
Budget – No household money spent
Declutter – Dealt with some mail.
Kristen D. says
No Dining Out- we did good! Made grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for dinner- sometimes that’s way better even than going out for a fancy meal!
Decluttering: recycled a bag full of papers that hubby has left sitting around the house.
Budget: Spent nothing! Yayyy :D.
Minniemize: Did good with my eating goals!
Jamie says
NDO – took my daughter on a lunch date
minniemizing – 1 hour walk and a short aerobics video
decluttering – dealt with papers on the desk
budget – did spend some unplanned money on Christmas presents. will have to make sure the budget is tweaked to reflect the purchase.
Tamara says
NO Dining out: Kids had fish sticks, applesauce and baked fries.
Minniemize: Played outside with the kids after work
Declutter: Plan for this weekend, taking some things to donate and refilling the totes for another haul…. It is making me feel like I am doing something
Budget: Also something that I need to work on this weekend. I need more weekend than week these days!
bonna girl says
NDO – I started out with a bang – First day of the month and the company takes us to lunch – guess it doesn’t really count since I didn’t pay. I did meet a friend for coffee at Starbucks but this was a compromise as she wanted to do dinner. After leaving her I went home and heated up leftovers. Not a bad day overall.
Minniemize: Not a good day here as I was not able to work out during my lunch (see above).
Declutter – I went thru my coupons and eliminated the expired ones. I do need to take some items to the donation center as I have a boxfull in the guest bedroom.
Budget – only spent $2.02 on a soda at Starbucks. Much better than previous visits which were $5 or more.
katie says
Dining out- Just my freebie as I mentioned yesterday, a fundraiser at my child’s school. It was at Beef O’ Brady’s and may have been the worst meal ever!!
Minniemize- controlled my portions and did well with the eating part, but did miss my exercise because of a busy schedule for the day. I only work out 5x a week so I will be able to make it up on Saturday at the Y.
Budget-Spend $30 on the above mentioned gross meal. It was still on Aug budget though, so no money out of September used.
De-clutter- Gathered a box of things for the yard sale next weekend. Didn’t count the items but had a full banana box of stuff.
Lois says
Dining Out: We had frozen pizza last night (it was a soccer night and I forgot to do something in the crockpot). We added a salad…No Dining Out for us!! Yahoo. I think I have $25/50 left over from the weekly dining budget. I think I will get a Disney Gift card and use it for dining at Disney next summer. :-)
Minniemize: My 4 YO and I took the local path after dropping off the 6 YO. She rode her bike and I jogged and did some obstacles. Over 2 miles!!
Katie says
No Dining out – We had lasagna leftovers and Tyson chicken nuggets. Odd combo.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Odd combo, but sounds yummy!