Would you like to be challenged?

The last two weeks have been busy with a capital "B." We started out getting ready for our giant yard sale. Then we had the yard sale. Then we had a delightful family come and visit (waves to FarmMom). We had a fantastic time visiting and celebrating Cinco de Mayo. Now it's time to get back to the "routine" of life.

The yard sale was pretty successful. We didn't make as much as last year because most of the furniture didn't go and I was pretty much loading people up with stuff for cheap prices just to get it out of the house! The money will be, of course, put on The Debt.

That got me thinking about other places to find some money. I can't have a yard sale every month (HEAVEN FORBID!!), but I began to put together a Debt Reduction Challenge for myself. I'm going to post my ideas below and I invite you to join me in this challenge.


(Remember this oldy to the left? I actually used one of this at an office I worked at in 1981!)

My Debt Reduction Challenge is this: Each month for a year I've chosen a budget category as a focus for reduction. The money that is saved from that month will go toward reducing the debt. It may not seem like much, but it's almost "free money" because we would normally have spent it. (Two of the categories will be repeated.)

I decided to provide a "Lite" and an "Extreme" version for each month. Something is better than nothing, and it DOES add up.

If you'd like to participate, here's how I would like you to "sign up."

• Notify me of your intention to participate in the comments at the bottom of this post.
• If you have a blog, do a post about your commitment and link back to this post so that others can join, if they wish.
• Report back on my "Debt Reduction Challenge" post at the end of each month. I will do a separate post for each month.
• Enjoy finding even more ways to free yourself from the bondage of debt!

Here are the categories I've chosen to find those extra bucks. I will do a post for each one to give more details:

• May 2010: Utilities
• June 2010: Groceries
• July 2010: Restaurants
• August 2010: Entertainment
• September 2010: Clothing
• October 2010: Personal Care
• November 2010: Household
• December 2010: Christmas
• January 2011: Insurance
• February 2011: Vehicle
• March 2011: Groceries
• April 2011: Utilities

Anyone for taking this plunge?