I will post my update in the morning. My sister had a baby last night and I am out of town.
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!
Denise says
No Dining Out – Ate breakfast at lunch at home and going to a bbq for dinner
Budget – I haven’t spent any money today, but I think I am going to go to Walgreen’s and buy the cheap M&M’s. (Just what I need!)
Minniemize – Ran
Declutter – Cleaned the pile off the kitchen counter!
Allison says
Declutter: nothing
Minnie: also nothing, I’m exhausted today
budget: didn’t spend anything
dining out: we’re planning to stay home tonight and make burritos
Melanie says
Minniemize – I skipped today but promise I will work out tomorrow! I have to get up really early to get DS ready for a camping trip, so I’ll work out after he leaves.
No dining out – I’ve got BBQ chicken in the crock pot and I’m going to make pizza with it. No eating out for us.
Budget – put $10 gas in the car (used a gift card I earned online) and bought dog food (used a coupon and gift card I got from a rebate). Total spent = $0.
Declutter – nothing today
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Sounds like you are doing well. :)
Kara says
Dinning- spent way to much!!!
Budget- went over (moved into a new house and needed to restock on some items). But we are out of grocery money, so no spending until next Friday. I’m planning my shops and getting the coupons I need.
Decluttering- filled one 1.5qt box of items for garage sale
Minimizing- still working on it. I can’t seem to get my butt out of bed at 0500 to work out, clean up and maybe do some homework before Ds gets up. My goal is to fit back into my dresses from pre-pregnancy for the Marine Corps Ball on November 4.
Amy W says
No dining out:
We ran by McDonald’s because we only had 15 min on base between appointments for stuff yesterday. However, my husband made really good tacos for supper!
Minniemizing:
not so good yesterday :(
Decluttering:
Got a ton of stuff done on our to-do list, so I was able to finally get rid of a ton of paperwork!
Budget:
Spent $4.98 for both of us for lunch yesterday.
ClareC says
NDO: Nothing this week. We had chicken and garlic pizza with a ceasar salad on Wed. night and sloppy joe pasta last night.
Budget: just went grocery shopping to stock up again. haven’t bought too much in the past couple weeks. I’ll need to add up later to make sure I’m under budget for the month. I did get the last travel connect 4 game. 50 cent stocking stuffer…
Sharon H says
DC: Didn’t get as much done as I’d like – but still working towards a garage sale in 2 weeks!
B: Had to buy a new tire for the car after somehow getting a screw stuck in there. So much for hoping for few unexpecteds!
NDO: Also had to grab something quick on the way home from taking hubby to the urgent care clinic last night since he came home from work with a broken finger! At least it’s workmen’s comp so THOSE bills don’t come out of our pocket!
Hillary Wallace says
No Dining Out: Had pasta shells, broccoli and corn bread for dinner last night. Yummy!
Budget: didn’t spend anything yesterday, got our billing problem with Comcast figured out
Minniemizing: nothing yet, trying to be patient while recovering!
Decluttering: Finally got my living room cleaned up! Put all the empty boxes/newly packed boxes (maternity clothes, etc.) into our storage closet and cleaned up the house. Organized my master bedroom closet (our “stockpile” for now), and got my little stockpile organized and labelled :-)
Becky says
Budget–started my budget last month and I have been able to buy two $25 gift cards and put $45 into my Disney account
Dining out–It has been over a week since we ate out
Declutter–I have been going through closets and removing all the too small clothes
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
You’re doing great on your budget!
Heather H says
No dining out for us.
Holly says
No Dining out – we were going to make sandwiches last night since we are going out of town tonight, and didn’t want to have leftovers. But I got the free pizza on Domino’s on Facebook, so we had free pizza instead! :)
Budget – Still working on that. Spent a little at Target yesterday, but used some coupons to get free toothpaste. Took the kids to the dentist yesterday – they rocked it! But I had to cough up $80, which hurt. I also found out I might have to get a root canal in the same tooth that already had a root canal done 2 years ago. That will kill our budget, but I am trying to adjust it now to help!
Minimizing – used some extra points on Weight watchers, but still on plan! Cleaned the house yesterday for an hour or two, so that helped with activity.
Declutter – finally got the kitchen table cleaned off and looking pretty!
Brigitte says
No dining out: I ate breakfast and lunch out yesterday but only spent $9 on the 2 meals. We made tacos at home for dinner.
Budget: ehh. but did recieve an unexpected refund check from school which was a nice surprise that we needed!!
Declutter: picked up stuff laying around last night finally. More to do today.
Minniemize: trying to watch the snacks.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
I love unexpected money!
CJ says
No dining
I made southwest grilled chicken salad. It was great and healthy.
Beth says
No dining out- turkey sausage patties, cantalope and noodles..we are under budget here this month :)
Decluttering- Frenzied attempt to get rid of junk mail…sigh…still a lot to go.
Julie H says
No Dining Out – I had lunch out and then got some expensive cupcakes as dessert for our leftover night. they were all right, but I don’t think I’ll be spending $3.25 on each cupcake there again. i’d rather make my own cupcakes and buttercream frosting. But I wanted to try it since all my friends raved about it.
Budget – I need to finish tracking what I spent yesterday. Need to discuss with hubby to see what category I need to put the picture frames in. (I dropped one when we were painting and so had to buy 4 so they all matched again. sigh. at least they were half off!)
Declutter – I washed, dried, folded, and put away all the baby stuff. so now I’m ready to go.
Renee says
no dining out for us yesterday.
declutter…lots! Got rid of summer clothes and brought out the fall ones.
budget…adding a “Christmas” category to the budget because I keep going over budget by buying small gifts that are great deals. $25 a week will be close to $300 by Christmas and we’ll barely miss the $25 but $300 would really hurt in December!
minnie…walked briskly for half an hour while I waited for my daughter to get off the school bus yesterday. Ate well.
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Good plan to add Christmas to your budget. :)
Lois says
Minniemize: I took an aqua aerobics class yesterday. Such fun. My little one (4) did it with me, although she kind of did her own thing. LOL. I didn’t quite get the ultimate workout, as I had to keep an eye on the little one, but it was fun. I miss aqua aerobics. At soccer practice last night I walked around the field for 30 minutes…I just couldn’t sit still.
Dining Out: It was a soccer night, so we had grilled cheese for dinner. No Dining Out
DeClutter: I worked on the desk in the office, sorting what was important and what could be tossed. I had a pile that was important off to the side (didn’t finish yesterday) and what did hubby do? Threw it back on the desk. UGH!!!
Budget: Spent $20 on 4 jars of spaghetti sauce, 4 loaves of garlic bread, milk, cheese, a bag of chips, a box of GoGurt and a 4 pack of yogurt. Not too shabby.
Katie says
I couldn’t wait to get on here and share!!!
Minnimize- I AM DOWN 10 POUNDS!!!! I am so excited. I haven’t done as well this week as I have been with exercise, so I didn’t think that I had lost anything. I was going to wait until Monday to weigh, but hoped on the scale. I lost just a little, but it pushed me to the 10 pound mark. I am super motivated now!! Just what I needed after a blah week.
Budget- doing good still
De-clutter- sent some things to donate to my hubby’s school, not a lot but a few things gone
No dining out- doing well, we are going out tonight before a movie night at my little girls school, but we have a groupon for the place
Katie says
hopped on the scale..I guess I did hope on there too, but I meant hopped
Julie H says
Congrats on the weight loss! That’s awesome!
Katie says
Thanks! I have 20 more to go and my reward is Disney! I can’t wait!
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Congratulations! That is awesome!
Jennifer says
Dining – we had to eat out but I did have a coupon!
Budget – still doing ok
Minnie – I just gave it up this week.
Declutter – does coupons count?
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Coupons definitely count!