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!
Renee says
no dining out for us again today. Grilled hamburgers for lunch, had leftovers for dinner.
budget…only went over budget by $5 last week, despite throwing my daughter a birthday party with 10 guests at the Aquatic Center.
minniemising…ate less today…played outside today.
decluttering…did a little of this yesterday. We’ll be having a couple of garage sales this fall so there will be alot of decluttering going on around here!
Cathie says
No Dining Out: well – hubby bought donuts this morning, apparently he forgot the no dining out rule. he claims it was dining in. lunch: sandwiches/yogurt. dinner: i made oriental chicken salad. yummy.
minniemize me: 20 minute walk + played outside with the kids
declutter: sorted out my youngest son’s clothes to add to sale pile.
Rose says
No dining out, ate lunch with family at my mom’s, dinner pitch-in at a family reunion.
Minimizing for Minnie- Walked for 1/2 hour this evening, the weather was great, there was a wonderful breeze!
Angela N says
NO dining – We ate out Friday afternoon and today for lunch since we were traveling. Spent about $50 total on dining out:(.
Declutter – Read some magazines I need to get rid of and went through receipts to send for rebates.
Budget – Haven’t done any of the drugstore shopping since we were traveling.
Sandi C. says
No Dining out: It was hubby’s bday and he requested that I pick up cheesesteaks. So this is my one for the month.
Min. for Mouse: Walked 1.5 miles with kids and dogs this evening.
Budget: Did grocery shopping after church today. Stayed under grocery budget for the week.
Declutter: Cleaned through and organized freezer and fridge.
Mindy says
Minniemizing: took the day off
Budget: spending the day at home with my family.
jennifer says
NDO- drove down to Jacksonville Fl, for the weekend, and packed sandwiches for the trip down!! We have cooked at my SIL all weekend!
de cluttering-NONE!! I’m on vacay!!!
MfM- I will minnemizing WITH the mouse starting tomorrow at 9 am!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!
Bethany M says
No dining out yesterday. Made a new pasta dish and my daughter loved it. She asked me to make it next time too. :)
Heather says
NDO- failed. Breakfast lunch and dinner on the run- son had a football game about and hour from the house. Made for an early start and late return forcing trips through the drivethrough. Did pack snacks and drinks for the game, so at least we didn’t have to hit the snack bar! DId use coupons on both drive through visits too, so I guess it could have been worse!
Budget- OK. Went to a grape stomp festival after the game. On the way in, someone offered us 4 free entrance tickets! Saved us $45! Brought our own wine and food so we saved quite a bit there as well! Made for a nice family picnic!
MInniemizing- Danced with the kids at the Grape Stomp. So much fun!
Decluttering- No time!
Nancy says
Budget challenge–we are participating in 30 Days of Nothing for the month of September, along with some other folks. For us, it basically means the only thing we will buy this month is groceries and gas. No dining out, no other purchases. It’s been hard doing this over Labor Day Weekend, because I’ve found that when we get bored, we like to go out! But yesterday we took the kids to the park, today to the pool.
Nancy says
NO dining–we are doing no dining out for the entire month of September. So far, so good!
Heather H says
No dining out for us even though we were gone most of the day, we brought nuggets to my sisters for lunch and steak and shrimp to my inlaws for dinner.
Heather H says
Oops, double post!
Heather H says
No dining out for us even though we were out of the house most of the day, we brough frozen nuggets to my sisters for lunch and brought steaks and shrimp to the inlaws for dinner.
Denise says
No Dining Out: BBQ today with family
Minniemizing for the Mouse: treadmill 45 minutes
Budget Challenge: The Chex Mix snack-Walmart price match – was a life saver this week. I went to Walmart twice and each time I picked up 10 snacks – $1.00 price match – and all had a 50 cent off coupon. In the end I got 20 bags for $10.00. They will be divided into smaller bags to use for lunch during the next few weeks. That deal really helped us cut down on the snack/packing for lunch budget
Decluttering Challenge: still decluttering the garage. This is a several week project
Kristin of Couponing to Disney says
Good job!
Julie H says
No Dining Out – We went out for lunch while we were playing at the mall
Budget – No grocery money spent
MM says
NDO- nothing yesterday and had father-in-law over for dinner. Had BBQ chicken, beans, corn-on-the-cob, and potatoes…all from our farm! Love free meals (minus butter and spices).
MtM- mowed the lawn (borrowed father-in-law’s mower since ours is broken)
Budget- bought the aurora pendant
declutter- cleaned up the yard of swimming/water playing toys
Katie says
No dining- Ate leftovers for lunch and had a migraine so I skipped dinner.
Minnimizing- Stayed well within my calories since I slept half the day away, before that I cleaned house pretty fiercely so I am sure I burned some calories.
Budget- Spent $10 on crocs for my little one…but it was my first purchase through shop at home so I should get $5.xx back I believe.
De-cluttering- My little girl gave me the go ahead to clear out her room. She has was too much stuff and I think it was overwhelming her. I got rid of a whole bag of trash, 34 books for the yard sale, and organized better what was left. Her playroom is next and I am dreading that.