win a copy of the Money Saving Mom’s Budget :: giveaway

I have a very exciting giveaway for you guys today!

Okay, so have you heard of Money Saving Mom? It’s one of my very favorite blogs! It’s a site dedicated to “helping you become a better home economist,” where you’ll find the newest shopping deals and get inspired to become organized and save money on a daily basis. {I love that!}

Crystal Paine is the woman behind it all. She is truly an amazing lady- I’ve been reading her blog since 2007! Crystal was the one who inspired me to read Dave Ramsey’s Total Money Makeover, the book that led us to getting out of consumer debt back in 2008, and allowed us to buy this old house in 2010.

I give all the credit to Crystal for leading us to the right way to handle our finances- I’m so thankful that she shared their story and so strongly encouraged debt-free living on her blog! {Her family is very inspiring- her husband made it through law school and their family stayed entirely debt-free, and they just paid for a home completely with cash!}.

Her newest project is the Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands A Year. You might’ve noticed it was on my goal list to read this month. She sent me a copy to review, and I read it in less than two weeks! {reading is coming back this year! yay!}

I’ve read and loved Crystal’s blog for so long, so of course I was eager to read her book too! I didn’t know if I could learn anything new from it after being such a long-time reader, but I was actually pleasantly surprised.

I was excited to read the chapter on doing a debit-free experiment for three months! That was a new concept to me! We don’t use credit cards, but we do love the debit card, so I think that would be tough for us! I love a challenge!

The book also gave me a fresh outlook on the importance of taking things like budgeting slowly instead of leaping into it full-force like I am apt to do- a concept that could branch over into all sorts of personal habits. I’m so into that.

Here’s the thing about it: I think her blog is amazing- you can find a wealth of information there- but it comes in bits and pieces, told through lots of clicks and shorter articles. The book gives you the steps you need to know, in the order you need it. Which I LOVED. It wasn’t overwhelming at all; in fact, it was just the opposite- one baby step after the other of practical ways to put your money and life back in order.

Blogs may become more and more popular {and I love them so!!}, but Crystal’s book made me realize the value of a single volume of information- it’s the whole story told by the author in the way in the order they want to present it. Does that makes sense? It was just so enjoyable to read her book- it was like having a conversation, or listening to a friend.

I also loved reading her personal stories as she weaved them throughout the book. The Paine family is so humble- but it’s so obvious that they love the Lord. I so admire their dedication to living for Jesus, and I love how they honor Him by sharing their testimony of His faithfulness in their finances and other parts of their lives. They’ve been great stewards of the resources they’ve been given, and it’s a blessing to see them and have their example in this culture that never has enough.

You’re going to love this too: all of the proceeds from this book go to Compassion International. No joke. Isn’t that the coolest thing ever? Ahhh, I love it!! :D

And my most favorite thing about the book: it totally inspired us to get back to a budget again and to really buckle down and pay off our home in the next year or two. Since we are debt-free but the house, we haven’t been paying as much attention as we should to our spending and saving, and the MSM's Budget really motivated us to get back to paying off our house debt!

The book is a must-read if you want to find order in your life again and make your money work for you instead of against you. I loved reading every chapter {especially the one about going completely plastic-free!} and was excited to pick it up each day and get motivated all over again.

So you all know I was completely thrilled when Crystal emailed me last month to see if I would be willing give away a few copies of her book!! Three of you lucky readers get to win a copy of Money Saving Mom’s Budget: Slash Your Spending, Pay Down Your Debt, Streamline Your Life, and Save Thousands A Year!

All you need to do to enter is leave me a quick comment answering this question:

Do you use a budget each month?

You can also earn two bonus entries each day by using the buttons below to share this on Facebook and Twitter! Just leave me a comment for each instance to get another entry!

Entries close at 11:59 p.m. PST Sunday night, Jan. 22, 2012 and three winners will be announced Monday morning! Good luck!

*2nd picture from MoneySavingMom.com

**disclosure: I received no compensation for this post other than a copy of the book for review.  All opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links through which I may receive a small percentage should you decide to purchase the book.