Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in  Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.

Welcome to 31 Debt Free Missions! A new feature this year on Queen of Free, during each day in January, I will provide 31 concrete missions or challenges for you to take on to #SlayDebt and take charge of your finances this year. Each mission will take you less than an hour (some will only require 15 minutes). Whereas, 31 Days to Kick Debt in the Teeth (which I’m reworking this year and reposting in January, too) focused on some of the philosophical changes you need to make in order to be successful with money, 31 Debt Free Missions are action steps to put into place after you have your thinking straight. Even better, during the month of January, I’m revisiting each of these challenges in order to sharpen my money saving and debt slaying skills.

Are you ready? Your mission is as follows:

Day 17: Organize the Game Closet

I’m not going to paint an unrealistic picture for you. There are times when paying off debt can feel boring. Womp womp. Sorry to let you down. I promise there is an upswing to this post, too. When your entertainment budget is just about $0 (that’s what we spent), there can be days that seem long and a little yawny (I mean of the sleepy variety not the Yanni musical variety).

However, more than likely you have more than one source of entertainment buried in your closet. Board games, video games, card games, puzzles – if you’re anything like us, you don’t play with these items as a family nearly as often as you should. Today your mission is to sort through what you do have and make a plan.

What’s In and What’s Out

It could be that you’ve forgotten about what games you own. Potentially, take an hour and tackle a closet. Determine what games you’ll keep and if there are any you could sell or give away. There might be another family stretched to the max who could use a good game and you could use a clutter free environment. So sort with an eye to what you will be keeping and what you’ll pass along. If you do decide to sell an item, certainly you could use Facebook but you might need to batch the games together in a group to get someone to bite and buy (Video games typically are snapped up quickly). Just don’t forget to put whatever you do sell toward paying off debt. Don’t spend it on something else. You could donate the games to a local homeless shelter or retirement home, too.

Rank ‘Em

When you place the games back into the area where you keep them, rank them in the order you’ll play them. That way you don’t get stuck in a rut. You could even allow your family to schedule a game of the week or set up a tournament. Just today I saw a Wii Game that was a gift years ago and I had SO much playing. I think it’s time to bust that badboy back into the rotation.

Plan a Game Night With Friends

Just because you’re staying in instead of going out doesn’t mean you have to become a hermit. Plan a game night with your friends. Have everyone bring a snack to share and have fun together. Whether you bust out the old Rock Band set or you play Trivial Pursuit, you can have a great time with one another without spending a ton of coin.

Get busy friend! Organize and plan away.

Now that you’ve received your mission, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT. Also, if you want to be sure you don’t miss a single update in this series, go ahead and subscribe! Updates will come to your inbox everyday at 5 PM.

Miss the other missions?

Read:

• 31 Debt Free Missions: The Restaurant Challenge
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Adjust Your Withholdings
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Quit Using Credit
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Go to the Library
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Cutting Cable
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Ditch Your Memberships
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Reorganize Your Pantry
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Make 3 Phone Calls
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Bank Field Trip
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Make Your Laundry Detergent
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Unsubscribe Now
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Stop Your Money Leaks
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Regular Car Maintenance
• 31 Debt Free Missions: The Prescription Switch & Save
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Kill the Fees
• 31 Debt Free Missions: Change Your Car Insurance

My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free on Kindle.  

This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!