I started couponing to save money and pull my family out of debt. It's not a ton but my family normally spends about $450 a month on food. Couponing I can bring our grocery bill down to $50/wk. Then if I can keep my family away from McDONALD'S I hide the extra $200-$250 each month.

Its a start in the right direction and my goal is to have $5000 in my emergency fund by 2014. And cut my debts (including student loans) by 35% this year.

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Count me in!

Good plan.

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Good plan!!

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Hello ladies I'm doing some planning for this challenge, and in my search I've been reading some financial blogs and I think I wanna do a savings account that I can't get immediate access to so my question is what's your thoughts on this and I've been looking at ING direct banking, I would love to know you ladies thoughts TIA

first, remember purpose of the emergency fund account and your immediate access may or may not be an issue--you may need immediate access in the event of an emergency. second, what are your goal(s) i.e are you planning to build it up first and then access it or access for emergencies as you build it? Did you read/research about layering of CDs? Do you want a money market? are you planning to use this account for other purposes --meaning being tempted to dip in the pot, which is why you don't want access? Does the interest rate become an immediate factor? HTH

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"The will of God will never take you, where the grace of God will not protect you"

"No gem is ever polished without friction"

Today during Sunday worship, the Pastor asked us if we were in the old testament mind set or the new testament mind set. He elaborated that in the new testament, you are living in your own righteousness and not hanging on the coat tail of Jesus because he already paid the price with his death for us to be saved and to be able to worship him on our own. He stated that if you get outside of the box of your comfort zone, this means that you have no choice but to totally surrender to God and let him provide for you using his own plan (we are a drive thru society-need it NOW); you're not allowed to lean to your own understanding essentially. In the Old way of thinking, there is no renewing of the mind because we hold ourselves to the old ways before Jesus died on Calvary.

I asked because during my planning for MY emergency fund, I did LEAN on ME and ME only--my plan. For those us that have not stepped out on faith and totally surrendered and vocally asked GOD to give to us the resources that we need--be reminded of the story of the woman that had nothing to but a pot of oil, debt from her husband, and the potential of losing her sons to slavery because of her inability to pay her husband's debt. God can make a way out of no way and provide for us--when we don't see the full picture. Happy New Beginnings with the renewing of your minds, bodies, spirits, and wallets!!!!!!! Change your perspective and you change your direction....

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"The will of God will never take you, where the grace of God will not protect you"

"No gem is ever polished without friction"

My goal is upping my fund by 3K. I backwards planned starting from that goal. I will put aside $250 every month, no matter what. I can say no matter what for now because I use prior planning. I have went through 60 days of spending, using my bank statements, and have alleviated useless spending. I made the allotment based on my timeline and based on my other savings, investments, and living expenses. I also joined the PJ challenge. I got the American Express pre-paid card based off good info provided by MoneyDiva83 to curb my spending. I will also transfer extra money from my checking accounts to savings to plus up those accounts and curb my spending--a twist on another good idea provided by LadyJudah. If I miss my mark, for a check in of $250, I will add money during that qtr to make up the difference. If I can't contribute at all during a qtr, I will double up on the next check- in. Finally, any unexpected extras will go into my emergency fund (bonuses, gifts, etc).

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"The will of God will never take you, where the grace of God will not protect you"

"No gem is ever polished without friction"

I had originally planned to save $115 per month but I'm changing my goals. I just got a new car (praise God) so my expenses will increase monthly due to my car payments. In order to stay on top of them, I need to save more. I will be planning to do $50 per week. If I fall short, I have to do nothing less than $30 and make up for it the following week by adding on what I missed. Half of it my $50/Week will go into car payment funds and the other half is my personal emergency stash.

I am already two months ahead on my car payments and they haven't began yet, which is great. With the money I save, I will put it towards a quarterly payment so I can keep the payments at least two months ahead.

I hope this all makes sense lol $100 a month for twelve months for EMERGENCY FUNDS mainly. The other $100 is towards my car fund. I will be saving weekly. I can give myself one splurge every two months but I can't go over $100 with any purchase unless I have it. I won't start this until March because I need some new summer clothes.

I am also getting a secured credit card to establish credit for myself. I will have a $300 limit. I can only use this card for gas and fast food. No shopping, groceries, etc. I will just fill up my car as needed. The payments will be $25-30 per month so I'll start this credit card in February.

Good luck to everyone and happy new year!

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I would suggest not using card for gas or fast. Only for emergencies such as car repairs. I know you are trying to establish credit but don't make any purchases using your credit card that you can't pay off in full. You still will accrue interest though your only paying 25 to 30 dollars a month. In the long run you will pay out more.