Grow Your Fund is a daily post that gives you a chance to win a gift card 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.
My Updates
No Dining: No dining out for us yesterday.
Budget Challenge: I balanced the budget, so I am happy.
Decluttering: Didn’t have a chance to really do anything yet.
Minniemizing: I am doing really good and I can tell that I have lost some weight. My jeans fit a lot better than they did before I got the flu. Woohoo!
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!
I am so excited this is back! It keeps me on target, plus I love reading what others are doing! :-)
NDO-ate supper out…went to supper with some good friends from high school. (I think this money was worth spending….getting to catch up with best friends!) Drank water so added $2.00 to the fund (I figure this is what I would have paid for sweet tea)
Minniemizing-went walking for 30 minutes today
NDO- ate lunch inbut picked up chick-fila for dinner- $15 oop. I had 2 side jobs Tues night and Wed. night so I was done.
decluttering-finished the massive garden clean-up! Now have to sneak it into the trash over the next couple weeks! ;)
Minimizing- extreme gardening is a workout!
Budget- Regular budget- doing ok. We lost the warranty on the saab so have to pay oop for everything. Spent $230 on an oil change- and removing snow tires-ouch! The good news is it snowed twice lightly the whole winter- which I attribute to my dh putting snow tires on the car in the first place.
disney budget- 18 more days! Got a $50 GC from Ford for test driving a taurus! Also picked up 2 side jobs for an extra $90 this week! Dooney purse- here I come!
Budget – we stretched the budget a little and built up our stockpile – with our small house we can only keep about 3-4 months of items but it seems to be working so far – hubby and I also started communting together every day now with gas at $4.19 where we live so that will help not be so painful at the pump
NDO – did better on lunches this week – so far we haven’t eaten out in 4 days
Minimizing – hey lost 3 lbs according to the scale! rewarded myself not with food but a new shirt from the disney store with my birthday money
decluttering – with company coming I haven’t gotten to much more done but after easter it’s back to work – I already have the 2nd floor of my house decluttered and now it’s time for the main floor.
Are we starting another for April? Love seeing how everyone is doing (and having to write everything down I keeps my on track).
I was wondering the same thing Kathie :)
Just came to check also – it keeps me more accountable – and I get ideas from others.
Month Cap
Budget went over grocery budget of 400.00 by 40.00. I had to have some meat at the price it was still a deal.
Eating out: despite my efforts or pleading and begging with husband. We went to eat last night spend 65.00 (took his mom too). I also had to have my starbucks coffee this morning (I drive an hour to class on saturdays I probably wont be buying ne more after today) I also cheated at lunch and paid the price of 4.65 at Chick fila had a coupon for free drink. (I shouldnt be eating fried food to begin with shame on me) All in all this month I spend 250.00 or more eating out. Mostly my spouses inability to stay on track. April is tommorrow clean slate and looking forward to it.
Decluttering: I didnt do anything but a load of towels. Still need to be folded. Long day.
NDO-packed lunch everyday this week…first in a long time! :-)
Minniemizing-walked 30 minutes everyday this week at work during my break! Going to keep this up! :-)
Budget-turned pennies into cash…we keep our pennies separate from all our other coins. Added $5 more to fund. Also added another $22 this week…picked this up from the consignment store stuff I sold.
Decluttering-did some much needed laundry today!
Budget. :( terrible
No dining out
Minemizing 1 lap around lake with the littles walking. Enjoyable…but no real exercise benefit.
Decluttering cleaned out some random outgrown clothing, sorted and dated medicine cabinet, cleaned out car, working in pantry, baby steps. I really am hoping clearing clutter will help my focus, like they say in feng shui (sp?)
NDO-ate at home all day yesterday! :-)
Minniemize-walked for an hour and worked outside..
Declutter-Organized the pantry and deep freezer. Love when they are organized! It had been far too long since the last time I cleaned them out!
Budget-Added some to the fund after groceries :-) stayed on budget, the BOGO free the other day really helped with that!
Dining – DH wanted to go out for dinner but I talked him into leftovers!
Declutter – Cleaned up more from the company. How can house guests turn your life upside down for so long!?!?!
Minniemize – We took a family walk (maybe a half mile) but DD3 made it the whole. May be a good way to practice for WDW in the fall. I know we’ll have to take a stroller but maybe we can make it a few times (either before or after the nap break) without having to cart it along!
Budget – Got $100 from my mom’s cousin for helping with his dad’s taxes. Straight into the fund! We’re at $393 since I started saving about a month ago!
That’s awesome! You’re doing great. :)
Minniemizing – On Thursday, my boyfriend and I went to the Delaware Water Gap and hiked one of the mountain trails. 5 miles in about 2 1/2 hours. Great workout!
oh how I miss that area! Lived near there for 3 years ,3 years ago!
No Dining Out – participating in a survey about home cooked meals and preparation – so – No dining out.
Minniemizing – walked to the kids school to pick them up instead of driving.
Budgeting – Fed Tax money came in and nothing major happening so applying it to principal on the house saves 4% on the dollar which is more than I get back in the bank.
Declutter – this week it has been shoes – 3 kids have no shoes that fit yet their closet are full – told to try on and put the ones that don’t fit in a box to donate or sell.
Dining – Didn’t leave the house yesterday…leftover all day long.
Minniemize – unless cleaning counts…nodda.
Declutter – Got the bags of stuffed animals down from the attic from MIL’s visit (they have to be put up so there is room on the bed). Took DD’s size 2’s to the attic. Cleaned out the linen closed, it lookes better and there were a few things to pitch and a few things to take to the attic for the sale this summer.
Budget – Forgot to put down yesterday that I bought from the Disney Store 25% sale. Had a gift card for $20 but still spent $63. I did however get DD’s outfit for BBB a few new tops and pj’s for the trip and some Christmas gifts for her and some there little girls on our list.
Budget: I had to buy some meat today so I wen over budget by about 30.00 or so.
Decluttering: I didnt do any of this in the past couple of days, But I didnt take all the recycling to my car to drop off in morning maybe that counts.
Eating out: I had to drive to hoover today and was tempted to eat lunch on the way instead I cooked a frozen meal and swallowed practically whole. I did however after sitting taking a nursing test for 4 hours broke down and bought a 1.50 dr. pepper.
budget-got a great deal at the grocery store, stocked the freezer with a lot of BOGO free items!!
minniemize-walked an hour and a half
declutter-haven’t done anything today…but went through some things this past weekend!
no dining out-ate at home for breakfast and lunch, will be eating at home for dinner as well!
I love with the freezer is stocked with deals :)
yes, me too!
No dining- doing great! Went out to lunch today at work- Got a deal bogo giftcards for J. Gumbos!
minniemizing and decluttering- gardening. OMG!
Budget- ok. Dh had an emergency root canal :(
Disney budget- 27 days! Hoping for some gift cards for my Birthday! ;)
Dining – Ate at home yesterday (didn’t plan on eating out so nothing to add to the fund but nothing extra spent either).
Budget – “Bought” a free $5 Target GC from myself for the fund! Also used a deal at Build-a-Bear to get 2 – $10 GC’s for a total of $10 then used my $10 certificate so $20 for FREE!!! This doens’t go into the fund as I’m trying to get DD a birthday party at Build-a-Bear when she’s a little bigger so I’ve been collecting GC’s for free or half price when I can (I think I’m up to $70 for $10 OOP).
Minniemize – What a slacker I am:(
Decluttering – More like spring cleaning, I stripped all the liners from the beds and washed everything up. Nothing to get rid of or make money from but I feel better all 3 beds are nice and clean!
A Build-a-Bear birthday party would be so fun!
She loves Build-a-Bear so much now (at 3). Hopefully she still will when she in kindergarten and actually has friends she can invite to a party! If not we’ll have a lot of GC’s laying around here!
My daughter’s love of Build-a-Bear just grows over time, her’s probably will too. :)
NDO – still not on track with lunches so we eat out more
Budget – have a little wiggle room in the budget – so putting some extra aside yeah!
Minnimizing – getting at least 15-20 minutes of walking just delivering papers around the building at work – with the nicer weather I want to get out more with my son
Decluttering – started going through my son’s winter things and have half a bag full already of clothes that won’t fit next year – sadly the snow pants gramma got him didn’t even get worn but someone can use them next year.
NDO- Epic fail today! I got called into work to help with an emergency today, so because I hadn’t planned ahead I picked up the kiddos lunch on the way to the sitters. Hubby had to work late, so he picked up pizza. :(
Budget- We are on target here. I went through my wallet and found $60 in gift cards, it’s all going into our Disney fund, WAHOO!
Minniemizing- None today
Dining – Had to leave the house at the crack of dawn this morning to get MIL back to the airport but I planned ahead and took breakfast foods so no meals out yesterday!
Minniemize – Spent 4 hours shopping (Target, CVS, Walgreens, grocery store); I would like to do more but at least my butt was moving for that long!
Budget – “Bought” $15 in CVS gift cards that were free from Viggle with grocery money so I could add that to the fund! I helped my grandma with her taxes and refused to take anything for it, she sent me $20 in the mail so I’m going to add that right to the fund.
Decluttering – Got my MIL to not buy several junk items for DD. Found more clothes that don’t fit DD and moved them to the bin in the attic. Now I just have to get some boxes to straighten the attic as it’s looking like a terrible mess of a garage sale up there!
No Dining Out: We have been eating at home and I pack my husband’s lunch everyday.
Minniemizing: Walked for 30 minutes than ran for 15 minutes. I will sleep well tonight.
Budget: Doing well, I didn’t go grocery shopping since last week, but I will have to buy bread and milk today.
Decluttering: Not much going out these days. Next week is the kids Spring break maybe they can help me.
NDO – we have totally failed on this challenge – this week I vow to be better
Minnimizing – got my son into doing a couple of exercise apps with me – boy is it fun seeing him try to do jumping jacks, and we get exercise to boot!
Budget – since we have been stockpiling we’ve been able to do less shopping while the sales haven’t been great in my area – thus keeping us on budget.
decluttering – filled 3 bags with recyclables and FINALLY got to the end of my newspaper pile – also started another box for giveaways since the last one was picked up 2 weeks ago – already have one bad and half a box, not bad!
NDO-No Dining out for us today!
DeCluttering-Picked up $20 made from consignment store! :-)
Budget-Bought 4 snickers eggs & a bag of Jelly Beans at CVS for only 20 cents (this was just the tax) and got 2.99 back in extrabucks to use in the future!
Minniemizing- walked for 30 minutes today!
NDO- No eating out for us today!
Minniemize- Push mowed our 1 acre lot. Definitely a work out, my calves were not happy, but they’ll thank me when we go to see Mickey! :)
Budgeting. I have stayed on point to stay under 400.00 this month so far I am under 10.00.
Decluttering: I have cleaned more clothes out of closets to consign/sale/donate. I also cleaned some items we wont use out of pantry and gave to my mom and her sisters this past weekend.
Dining Out: another month has almost past us and we cant seem to stay under budget in this area. I know we sure try hard our budget is 100 but we have( spent about 225.00 (this did include a trip to his moms for the weekend and a trip to my moms this past this past one. I am gonna have to better in this area otherwise whats the point of having all this fresh yummy food.
No Dining out – easy – none done – everyone sick.
Minniemizing – forced myself outside to walk around the block hoping the fresh air will cure the cold.
Decluttering – went in search of clothes for my 3 yr old and found 12-24 months still in the closet – OUT THEY GO.
Budgeting – my local grocery store is offering double gas points for Lowes cards and since we have a project coming up = good savings. Hoping to add a coupon to the deal as well.
Dining – MIL took us all to Red Lobster…no OOP for us.
Minniemize – Spent 4 hours walking around at the mall.
Budget – Bought an item from Amazon for a friend using my gift cards so that’s $25 more in my fund!
Decluttering – MIL is in town so I’m just trying to keep the junk from coming in!
Still cleaning and cleaning out my house like crazy! After forcing my son to try on clothes, I finished ironing and pricing 113 items to sell in the childrens clothing sale for charity today. will deliver those on Monday. Began collecting more items for our garage sale even though it has been moved to Late April. Started another box for Bibles for China thrift store, I have about a dozen items in it so far. I collected 40 more items to post on Listia.com. Finished step 2 of 15 more items to sell at the craft sale in 4 weeks. Spent 15 hours Thursday posting on ebay -326 auctions!! This has been a very busy and tiring week. Especially since I had to squeeze in painting my bedroom!
(for march 22nd)
No Dining Out-none today! leftovers for lunch, and made dinner at home!
Minniemize-was finally able to walk for about 30 minutes
Budget-.51 added to fund! whoo!
Decluttering-went through LOTS of papers-threw almost a whole trash bag full of junk out (it built up on the bar…ugh)
NDO: It continues to amaze me how much it SAVES to not eat out!!
BUDGET: Doing really good. Only one more week left in this month. I was lucky to get a few free things today: 2 avocados, a bottle of honey, and a fresh onion. Those few things alone saved me about $8.
Minniemize: Exercised on the treadmill then went for a run while my son
rode his bike on our bike trail
No dining out: Ate at home today.
No Dining Out-hubby took lunch and ate at home. The kids and I ate at church last night (no OOP for us)
Budget-made a menu for the week out using sale ads, printed/collected coupons for the shopping trip. *should* have quite a bit to put into fund! Also, found 2 ‘1 free rental’ coupons on cereal boxes from red box! Will be adding the “total” to rent the 2 movies to the fund!! :)
Declutter-Continued with the boy’s room, have thrown away quite a few broken toys
Minniemize-danced around living room for about 30 minutes with the kids :)
NDO – Haven’t dined out all week!
Minniemizing – Ate a big BBQ dinner yesterday (the weather has been so nice, we couldn’t wait to break out the grill!). Had to go pick up a few groceries afterward so we walked to the store rather than drive. About a mile roundtrip!
Dining – MIL is in town and took DD & I to Taco Bell (no OOP for us)
Decluttering – Bought a plastic tub to put DD’s outgrown clothes in to get the attic cleaned up a bit.
Budget – Only spent $5 on the tub for storage.
Minniemize – Back is out and I was way too sore to do anything (I felt great till I went to the Charopractor Monday for a “well” check…maybe that wasn’t such a good choice).
Minniemizing: Walked for 45 minutes today. :)
No dining Out: Tried to use my $10 coupon at Outback for my Anniversary. I didn’t realize they don’t open until 4:30 PM. We had to eat elsewhere.
Budget: Doing ok, had some unexpected bills to pay.
Decluttering: I packed all my winter clothes away. Spring is here!!
Dining – Leftovers again today!
Declutter – Took more sale stuff to the attic (it’s beginning to fill up) and sold a few items for $20!
Budget – Spent an unplanned $5 on a $10 AGC today but it came out of “Christmas” fund so no real $$$ spent.
Minniemize – Another bad day…FAILURE!!!
No Dining Out- had my FREE Chick-Fil-A breakfast this morning. Packed lunch for work & ate supper at home.
Budget-Bought 28 rolls of toilet paper at CVS for 1.76 (used ExtraBucks) and got $10 in CVS cash to use later! :-) This is one of my best bargains lately….so proud!
Minniemizing-used break at work to walk for 30 minutes…hopefully I’ll keep this up!
DeCluttering-getting clothes together to take to consignment store on Thursday
No Dining Out-none yesterday or today, hubby packed lunch from home both days, dined at home yesterday and will be dining at home today
Budget-Did not spend any money today or yesterday! But I did find $1.35 in change while cleaning out the car-love found money!
Declutter-went through some old clothes in the closet today, will be donating them. 5 shirts, a skirt, and a pair of jeans.
Minniemize-nothing the last 2 days, I have been sick and trying to get well. Hope to be better by the end of the week!!
Dining – DD & I had leftovers for lunch and dinner today!
Declutter – 2 more books ready to send off for paperbackswap! 13 shirts out of DH’s drawer in the in sale pile. 3 swimsuits out of my drawer for the sale pile (not wearing them again post children).
Budget – After your post on Disney Movie Rewards today I remembered I had $40 from last year in Diseny gift cards stuck away for a “rainy day” at the Disney store but they will be perfect for our trip! $40 added to the fund!
Minniemize – I’m so not motivated! I really WANT to get back in shape but I just can’t seem to get going! It has to happen soon!
No Dining Out – except for treating my daughter to a .99 Arby’s sandwich – done – No dining out.
Budgeting – bought a couple Christmas gifts (sort of) spent $21 @ BAB and ended up with the big car, 2 accessory Easter baskets, an egg coloring kit, and $20 in BAB gift cards. Spent $7 at Bath and Body and got a free bottle of soap and a hand santizer – the other items were for stocking stuffers (plan ahead) because I could get the soap and had 20 % off. Got our free Old Navy T (one is gift for daughter) and 2 Easter dresses for $7 each with a gift card @ Jc Penney. I’ll either save more on my gift budget or be able to give more to the gifting tree at Christmas.
Budget- redeemed points to get a $50 Lowes gift card to buy new appliances for our new house we are building. Also went to CVS and bought 8 rolls of toilet paper for only 73 cents!
Decluttering-Laundry is all done! :-)
Minniemizing-walked a mile today
That’s awesome!
Minniemize – Does working out in the yard planting and digging count as working out? I used muscles that I didn’t realize I had – or forgot about.
I think it does!
Dining – We went out to eat on gift cards I won on Viggle. It cost $1 OOP! I wasn’t able to pay the whole thing back but was able to put $10 cash into the Disney Fund in place of the gift cards…$10 is $10 right!?!?
Decluttering – I have a big pile of stuff for the attic in the den. I’ve been cleaning out all sorts of things. Still can’t decided if we’re “done” so DD’s clothes won’t be going in the “sale” pile yet but DD’s stuff and the kitchen stuff are out of here!
Budget – Spent a TON on the car today. It needed breaks and roaters…DH did it himself to save money but it was still about $250! We have a car fund in the budget but I hate to have to take the money out of if…I know it has to be done but I just feel better when the envelope is full!
Minniemize – Fell off the wagon today:( I ate a ton at Chili’s today and didn’t get out and “move.” I did have DH fill up my ball so I can get back to that starting tomorrow.
No Dining Out: Even with traveling to the other side of the state to pick my son up from college I didn’t dine out anywhere. I took advantage of the trip and stopped to see my mother and had dinner with her. The cup of coffee I got this morning was free with coupon.
Budget: still on track, under budget in fact. I’m excited
Dining – DH is going out of town for the next 3 weeks and wanted to do familiy movie day with pizza. It was $15 for the pizza but $4 of it goes into our Disney Fund! We had dinner and enough left for DD & I to have a meal next week. We used an old groupon I found laying around for Blockbuster Express.
Budget – Got a $25 CVS gift card today from MyPoints. “Bought” it with grocery money and put the $25 into our Disney Fund!
Minniemize: Today I ran 10.3 miles and Monday was 8.75. I’ve got about 29 days or so before my 1/2 marathon.
Budget: A little off, as I registered the family for a fun 5K that we can do together. But it’s a week before we leave for Disney, so it will help get the kids in walking shape for the parks.
No Dining Out: Today we went to Chick Fil A for lunch. Not good, but I got a salad, so that’s good for Minniemize.
NDO-all meals except 1 lunch & 1 breakfast have been at home this week. Forgot lunch one day and was running late one morning
Minniemizing-helped husband in greenhouse for 8 hours today…walked tons & did lots of sweating
Budget- used some comp time today so save gas money to work today! :-)
Decluttering-Cleaned out kitchen cabinets to take canned food to work for a food drive
NDO – even with a sick child didn’t break down and order a pizza like we wanted but did some easy cooking instead
Minnimizing – didn’t get to do much since son was sick
Budget – got paid and paid all the bills – got an “ouch” at the gas pump filling up my tank
decluttering – went through all my cleaners and checked exp dates – didn’t realize cleaners could expire too and ended up getting rid of several old bottles. Also gave our medicine cabinet a clean and threw out expired vitamens and meds – I will do better so we don’t let so much expire next time.
I hope the child is feeling better!
No Dining-none today!
Minniemizing-walked 4 1/2 miles
Budget-set up budget outline through April 2013 on computer spreadsheet!
Declutter-went through dishes, got rid of “double sets” of items.
Decluttering – cleared out all the yogurt containers we’ve saved and finally found a use – planting vegetable seeds for Earth Day for the Cub Scouts.
Budgeting – was going to buy (and donate) the dirt and seeds for Cub Scout activity until someone suggested Home Depot might donate – they did so I put that money into savings.
No DIning Out – none since Sunday
Minniemizing – walked my 6 miles today.
No dining out: We ate at home today.
Budget: Looking for inexpensive Easter basket stuff. Found a DS game on clearance at Target!
That’s a great find!
Minniemizing: Got up at 5am and went for a walk.
No dining Out: Still cook 90% of our meals at home.
Budget: Looking for inexpensive, but unique anniversary gifts isn’t easy. Any Suggestions? So far I have only bought a card and Massage on groupon for $27.
Declutter: It is not going well. I am at a stand stilling look for more stuff to get rid of.
No Dining Out: Went the entire work week and didn’t spend a dime eating out. My coworker and I made every lunch in the office kitchen. Each of us brought something from home and we ate better than we have in ages at work.
Budget: Still on track. I may not be going to Disney this year but I’m sure going to get rid of some bills. I am actually under budget so far.
No Dining Out – Made a rotisary chicken on the spit. It takes a while so I got to thinking it would have just been quicker/easier to buy it but I didn’t so we saved a few bucks there! Enough left for DH to take to lunch today too!
Decluttering – Watched a friends boy yesterday so I didn’t get much done but I did throw some food away that had been in the cupboard way too long.
Budget – Bought a $5 Papa John’s gift card from Viggle that I plan on taking to WDW with us in case we need a pizza while at the resort (can’t see using 2 of our credits for pizza and pop when the pop is free with the resort mug).
Minniemize – Watched what I ate yesterday. Portion control seems to be a problem for me lately.
Declutter – we had been saving papers that we buy for coupons to use in fires or packing – well winter was so mild our pile of papers was 4 feet tall! just filled up a couple of recycle bags each week and I am almost at the bottom of the pile! next week I’ll have the paper pile banished!
Minimizing – still walking papers around the building today – lucky for me the building I work in is HUGE so I can really get my blood pumping.
NDO – had to buy lunch yesterday as we didn’t get to our lunch plan
Budget – still on track but super tight – it helps that I seperated my bill money and spending money into 2 seperate accounts and put myself on an allowance.
No Dining Out: Didn’t eat out.
Budget: Spent nothing yesterday. Still under budget for the week.
Minniemizing: Nothing today.
Decluttering: Nothing today.
no dining out-had mom’s night out and went to winking lizard great time
minniemize-did jillian michael yoga meltdown level 2
budget-bought sunglasses for my girls on the rite aid deal, went back to cvs with friends to see if they had more mp3 players for them but all out. I did get 10 cent necklaces for birthday giveaway
declutter-nothing yesterday but planning the pantry today
Sounds like you are doing well :)
No Dining: No dining out yesterday!
Budget Challenge:Setting a budget for the vacation next week.
Decluttering: Threw out all the expired coupons in my binder!
Minniemizing: Hip is starting to feel better and the weather has been nicer, looking forward to starting to run.
NDO- No eating out for us! Thanks to leftovers.
Minniemize- Was going to workout yesterday,but my husband called and our car wouldn’t start so had to deal with all that. Hopefully tomorrow! Ate another slice of birthday cake-shouldn’t have I know otherwise ate well.
Declutter- Threw some boxes and stuff away from my son’s party.
Budget- Well the car problem threw us a bit,but otherwise doing ok.
No dining out-ate breakfast & supper at home. Packed lunch for work…no dining out today
No Dining Out – Reeeeally wanted to eat out but resisted :)
Budget Challenge: 2 Days left in this budget cycle and I still have $0.42 left in the grocery budget. Seriously, this is the first time I haven’t been over in our grocery budget since like 2003. Woo hoo!
Decluttering: Didn’t work on anything today
Minniemizing: No walking today
No Dining: No dining out today
Budget Challenge: We reset our grocery budget tomorrow! We need to!!
Decluttering: Cleaned out one of the kitchen cabinets
Minniemizing: Busy day, treadmill and trampoline with the kids
No dining out: No dining out for me today. Will go home and enjoy a tasty frozen dinner.
Budget: Staying within my budget this month. The month’s almost half over and doing well so far.
No Dining Out – Made homemade pizza and salad for the fam. Less than the price of Domino’s, and it was a project for my kiddies.
Decluttering – Cleaned out my pantry. Had stuff that EXPIRED in 2009. Ugh! I also bought hanging shoe organizers so our mudroom does not resemble closing time at Ross.
Budget – Used my doublers that Albertson’s offers. Scored with $4.49 dressing, on sale for $2.99, used $1.50 + $1.00 doubler, $.49 :)
Minniemizing – I’m starting to juice, so excited for this!!! Shopped at an ethnic supermarket (not a chain), and saved a TON of $ on produce. Made my own veggie wash from the Dr. Oz website to save another $5.00. Also, borrowed my neighbor’s juicer to see how I would like it, before we invest in one.
No Dining Out – blew it today. I just couldn’t bring myself to prepare my lunch for work.
Decluttering – I am trying to get ds to post more stuff on line to sell.
Budget – staying on budget.
No dining out: We still have left overs from meals purchased for us from the weekend, so last night was another leftover dinner night!
No dining out. I made chicken instead. :)
Budget: last week was a stock up week, so I only spent half of this weeks grocery budget.
Declutter: went through my mail drawer and got rid of half a bag of trash.
No Dining: Starting today…..challenging myself/family to not eat out the rest of this week..
Budget Challenge: I am skipping groceries this week to help the grocery budget, stocked up enough last week to last us.
Decluttering: Started going through my bedroom last night, going to store items for a garage sale this June and add earnings to our Disney fund.
Minniemizing: Been working out at a local gym a couple times a week….going to attempt to add a day or two at home. Plan to take a stroll with my son tonight while DD is at dance.
NDO- nothing yesterday, had steaks (wanted to try our recently butchered cow), and veggies from last year’s garden…so free home-grown meal!
Bdgt- spent about 67.00 total yesterday, did weekly errands plus had to get some supplies for our new chicks coming next week.
Declutter- emptied out a couple of drawers in the kitchen. my goal was to get rid of 15 things and i did that just in one drawer! :)
NDO – hubby decided to take us out to dinner
minnimizing – 50 min at gym
budget – 2 days left – on track
decluttering – daily maintenance getting done, not much more
Minniemize Me: I did another 20 minute Biggest Loser workout
No Dining Out: Doing really well this month so far! No dining out yesterday!
No Dining Out : no eating out yesterday
Budget : tracked
Declutter : still digging out of mail pileups
Minniemizing : didnt do well with thid yesterday buyt we did do some walking
Doing horrible this week. My grandmother passes away last week so we’ve been running around doing things and then had to go out of town for all the funeral stuff. Ugh…so yesterday I was wiped. I ordered a pizza and just hung around the house. Hoping today I feel a little more energetic, got tons to do in my remaining 2 days off.
I’m so sorry :(
No Dining Out: Made dinner with enough leftovers for lunch for..oh..the rest of the week! No dining out at all :).
Budget: Spent nothing!
Declutter: Planning on tackling the garage today! Decluttered some of the guest room yesterday.
No dining out: I am proud to say that I didn’t spend a dime yesterday. My coworker had me run to the Cracker Barrell with her so she could buy an apple dumpling. So I left my wallet at the office. I find that I love saving money way more than I like eating out!
Budget: not a dime spent yesterday. And we made dinner at home!
Declutter: does cleaning the kitchen after dinner count?! I work full time so during the week I try to keep up with smaller things because I don’t have as much time.
Minniemizing – I walked 2.5 miles at the park yesterday! I’m loving this beautiful weather :)
Minniemizing-I have started working out for at least 20 mins. a day if not a little more!! By playing Biggest Loser on my Wii and Just Dance 3!
Decluttering Challenge- I am so sick of my house filling up. I have been trying to get it together for our big family yard sale the end of April, so this will help me out!! Going to get started right now:)
Minimizing – instead of using the interoffice courier I walked all papers around the building – getting in at least 20 minutes of walking.
Budget – husband and I started commuting to work together a few days a week to offset the rising gas prices to stay on budget.
You’re doing great :)