(Winners will be announced on Monday)
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!
Didn’t eat out.
Did my 3 1/2 mile walk/jog…about killed myself and the dog, too dang hot!
No dining out for us.
No Dining Out: Sunday’s are hard because we’ve gotten into the habit of going out to eat after church and today my Mom was the one who wanted to take us out to dinner. BUT I did good by ordering a taco and nothing else, so BIG improvement from the three tacos, one burrito, and one fajita I used to eat every Sunday.
Minniemizing for the Mouse: Same as above post. Also, I stepped on my scale and it’s slowly going down. Went swimming this afternoon for some exercise too.
Budget Challenge: We have an above ground swimming pool, and my kids have been fussing lately about how there’s not a lot to do in it, so I went to Dollar General and bought several pool toys for only $20. I also had a $5 / $25 purchase coupon, which I used.
Decluttering Challenge: Cleaned out my desk and threw several things away. Looks SO much better.
No Dining Out – To take our minds off a tragic anniversary we took a spontaneous family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. Well worth it, but there went July’s dining out budget so now the pressure’s on!
Minniemize – Ate fudge and all kinds of bad things at GWL. Hoping all the running up the stairs at the waterpark helped to burn some of it off. Time to refocus and try harder!
Budget – This month I’m going to try to spend almost nothing. This trip wasn’t cheap and we’re planning a surprise trip to Disney at the end of the year. Time to start living off the stockpile some.
Decluttering – Making plans today to figure out which rooms I’m going to hit this week. I should have a lot more free time if I’m not chasing down deals, organizing and pulling coupons, and running to the store for a couple weeks :)
no dining out- did great no dining out for us, came home after scoring great deals at home goods for my girls room made a super quick lunch packed and we all ate in the car on our way to mapleside to play
minnimize- no work out yesterday just walk to park and park but no far today walking around the neighborhood
declutter- I bought 4 more totes/bins to put things in and used a $5 coupon too
budget-going to the grocery store to buy 2 papers at a discount doing great on budget went to grocery store, target, and farmer’s market, and family dollar came home at 10am. shopping early in the morning is awesome
Minniemize me: I’ve recently taken up walking and trying to get into jogging. My friend and I are planning to run a 5k in August, and tonight we went for a 45 minute walk and run. It was a blast! °o°
No dining out: We had lunch out, although our kids were able to split a meal quite comfortably. For dinner we had a chicken casserole.
Minnie-mize: Took a long walk with the family today. We had great weather and got in some good exercise! :)
No dining-We’ve been doing really well the last few days.Been grilling and eating leftovers and making pizza.
Minniemize-No working out the last few days except a lot of cleaning on Fri. and some fun activity like badmitton.
NDO- nothing yesterday, had leftovers to prepare for all of the food being put in the fridge for our 4th of July party/birthday party for the little one!
MtM- it was just about 90* yesterday, so other than taking care of the animals/relaying water for the newly pastured pigs (we don’t have the water set up in that pasture yet, so we have to walk it to them), i stayed in the house getting everything cleaned and ready for the party.
Declutter- rearranged the cabinets in the kitchen (got out any remaining canned items from last year to eat up- preparing for this year) and found more holiday stuff ?? that needed to be put in its proper place.
Budget- spent not a dime! :)
Budgeting
Okay I used to love to coupon, but have quit for a little while due to family issues and lots of work…haha…I am starting back today!! I need to save some money so we can go to Disney this fall!!!
Minniemizing…well, my daughter started her daily 5:30 am swim practice, and my husband changed work shits, so I have to get up and take her. Every day this week I took her to practice and then hit the gym. I have a friend who is supposed to meet me every day (but sometimes she stays in bed) but just knowing she might be there is a big help
Minniemizing
Today is my rest day!
No Dining Out
Leftovers for lunch and dinner! I like easy cooking days!
No dining out today – Breakfast with the family, sandwiches for lunch – dinner out of the freezer
Declutter – Cleaning out the freezer in the kitchen getting ready to freeze fruits and veggies for the winter
budget – on budget + yesterday we had saved our money for our yearly day trip to the beach – we were so under budget that the kids each got 10.00 to spend at the gift shop at the aquirium. They were so exticed.
I cleaned my car out today @ he gas station. The kids can accunulate so much trash. Yesterday I listed some more items on ebay & today I actually sold my first ite. : ) more money for disney.
No Dining out. Grilled hamburgers and corn…YUM!!
No Dining out: Grilled ribs, corn on the cob, and made twice baked potatoes for dinner. Also made some brownies for dessert! Hubby went ahead and grilled some chicken while he was at it, so we can make easy grilled chicken salads tonight for dinner and use up some of the vegetables from our garden.
No Dining Out: No dining out for us today! We have a lot of food in the house leftover from our daughter’s birthday party yesterday and we just went grocery shopping. We have planned to go out to eat once this coming week, but we wanted to go to one of the only sit down restaurants here one more time before we move.
Budget Challenge: We didn’t go over our grocery budget today (even though we did buy a pair of cute shoes for our daughter… she’s close to outgrowing her current size so we want some on hand for when she does) and we didn’t buy any other extras so not bad!
No dining out challenge- Fail. Mcdonalds for lunch, $10. Tomorrow we are going to a community pancake feed for the 4th of July, it will be $6 for all 4 of us..Which I think is cheaper than me buying a box of pancake mix, syrup, fruit, and drinks. :)
Minniemizing- I’ve lost 5 lbs. We are walking to the beach today, down the hill of doom, so I can burn off Mc D’s calories, hehe :)
Declutter: I have a ton of stuff posted to craigslist..hopefully it gets sold!
No Dining Out – Well, for us yesterday it should be “No Dining In”! We ate every meal out yesterday. But my MIL left yesterday so we should be back to more normal, eating in meals.
Decluttering – Still doing some work from my monster clean-out session the other day. I’ve got a long way to go before the room full of stuff is cleaned out so my 3 yr old can move in there.
Budget – Hubby bought some fire ant killer and weed killer for the lawna nd I updated my spreadsheet accordingly.
NDO….We usually eat out on Sundays but didn’t today. BBQ chicken and sides. Yummy!
I’m going to join the challenge this month!
No dining out – we have no dined out yet in July. My husband and I will be going out to dinner tonight (we are kid-free tonight!), but we are using a restaurant.com certificate that I got for $2. So we should probably spend less than $20 on dinner. We have $50 budgeted for the month.
Minniemize – I haven’t been terrific with my food choices, but I have been trying to eat less. I have dropped about 2 lbs. I need to really crack down and start to exercise more.
Budget – we got off the budget banwagon for a few months, but for July we hopped back on! I downloaded Dave Ramsey’s budget software/worksheets during his $10 sale (it might still be going on, i’m not sure), and I LOVE it! So we are back on budget and really trying to funnel as much money as possible in to savings so that we can buy a new house.
Decluttering – last weekend we went nuts and went through every closet, drawer, tupperware container and box in the house and put together a ton of stuff for a tag sale. We had the tag sale yesterday and we made $140! I then took the kids stuff that didn’t sell and they gave me $20! So we made $160 off our decluttering! (And let me tell you that we had our stuff priced really cheap at the tag sale – most stuff was like $0.25 or $0.50 – so to make $140, we sold a lot!)
Budget
We used some free movie passes and a gift card my DH got at CHristmas to see Cars 2, Went into Pennys and didn’t send anything other then some of DH’s birthday money on a shirt for him. Plus we picked up DD’s free book for summer reading at Barnes and Noble
DeClutter
Things are in decent shape, so it’s time to dig deeper andpick my next area of attack
Minimze
I did not get on my Wii yesterday, but I did Mopp and walk the mall allot
Minniemize-day off from formal exercise, but I was busy cleaning and playing the with the kiddos.
No dining out-none for us yesterday. Went to a friend’s for a barbecue.
No dining out…We are making our menu for the week and getting our coupons together for our shopping trip. We plan on making it a great month.
Decluttering – My son made safety patrol, so we are going to Washington DC next year so my goal is to get money to make our trip special. I am going in to the boys rooms and getting stuff for a yard sale. This is a great challange for me. At the end of the month I can have a yard sale.
Minniemizing the mouse – after my boys played basketball yesterday we went swimming we were in the pool for 2 hours. I love swimming it is a great workout.
Minniemize me: Worked out with the Wii for 30 minutes on both Friday and Saturday so far this month. Today I plan to do it again. Plus spent about 2-3 hours out shopping yesterday for groceries and supplies.
No dining out: Friday night we had a frozen lasagna meal w/ garlic bread and last night was veggie enchiladas in the crock pot. Today I’ll be grilling brats and making a pasta salad.
Declutter…. I don’t think I’ll be able to go thru 25 items a day as I’ve been decluttering for a while but I have a goal of 25 items to donate or give away or throw away for the month. On Friday, I went thru my office drawer and there was another remote mouse. I have one on my laptop plus the internal mouse so I decided to donate the one in the drawer. Today I may go do some reorganizing in my kitchen.
Decluttering
Cleaned out the “junk” basket in the kitchen.
How did I get so many magazines?
Budget – using cash and staying well under budget
No Dining Out – made homemade pizza yesterday & had guests over instead of going out to eat
Sounds like you are doing great with your budget!
No dining out: It was so hot here yesterday that we just had ham sandwiches on those wheat flat bread thingies & Pepp. Farm Cracker Crisps (mmm).
Minniemize me: Finally dropped 2 more lbs. It only took about 2 mths. Worked in garden, did the whole Walmart shopping trip, went to several stores, parked as far away as I could. Water, water, water.
Congratulations on the weight loss! :)
No Dining Out – We’re having grilled chicken, green beans and potatoes for our main meal today. Sundays are easier as we have never dined out on the Sabbath, but now I need to be sure I’m ready for the week!