One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1022 of 2143 - I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Honey Glazed Parsnips

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 13, 2014 · 2 Comments

I think I like saying parsnips as much as I like eating them. Which is a lot. I saw this parsnip recipe on Bon Appetit and thought it would make the perfect side dish at Thanksgiving. I experimented with it first to make sure it made the grade. I mean we couldn’t have just any lame side dish next to the freakin awesome bird! Only delicious dishes will do. Easy prep is also required because there are a million other things to bake/prep in the kitchen. Well this one passed both tests with flying colors!

Ingredients

2 pounds parsnips, peeled, cut into 3” lengths, halved, or quartered if large
1/4 cup olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes {less if you want to tone down the heat}
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon honey

Directions

Preheat oven to 450F. Toss parsnips and oil on a rimmed baking sheet, and season with salt and pepper. Roast parsnips for 30 minutes or until tender, tossing occasionally.

While parsnips are baking, heat remaining ingredients over medium heat in a small saucepan until butter is melted, stirring occasionally. Remove parsnips from oven. Drizzle with sauce and toss to coat. Enjoy.

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Safety Tips for Using Your Credit Card Online

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 13, 2014 · 4 Comments

You probably already know that I am a HUGE fan of online shopping. I like that I don’t have to battle the crowds, the parking lots, the lines. Best of all, I don’t drive all the way to the store only to find that they don’t have the size, color, or even item I am looking for. No thank you. So, with the holidays fast approaching, I thought I would share a couple of tips for keeping your identity safe and still enjoying all of the perks of online shopping.

Don’t use debit, only credit cards. Credit cards usually have better consumer protection plans, and even if your debit card does have one, remember, if someone gets into your account, your money isn’t returned right away. There has to be an investigation by the company–which could mean you have ZERO cash while you are waiting for it to all get sorted out. If you don’t prescribe to the notion of credit cards, buy yourself a visa gift card to use for online purchases.
When possible, use Paypal. Paypal is designed to protect you from fraudulent charges and you can pay using your debit card if you want. Plus, if something does happen, you get your money back almost immediately.
Don’t make online purchases on public computers or public WiFi. Period. Do it from the comfort of your home {preferably in fuzzy pajamas and with bed head}. Public computers are a breeding ground for identity theft.
Make sure you have anti-virus software installed and up-to-date. It will save you a lot of hassle.
Shop only at reputable sites. This is a big one. I try to stick to websites of stores and online retailers like Amazon, otherwise, you just can’t be sure that the product will be guaranteed and that your personal information is safe-guarded.
You can tell if a site is secure via your mobile device if the website has https in the address.
Create a folder for all receipts on your email account and save EVERYTHING there. You can also print it, but I don’t like the paper clutter. That way, you will have a spending trail to show your financial institution should someone get a hold of your information.
Be smart about passwords and make a different one for every site. It’s also smart to change them up a couple times of year.
Log onto your credit card account DAILY during the shopping season. That way, you will know RIGHT AWAY if something is awry. {As an added bonus, it will help you track your personal spending.}
Check with your credit card company, a lot of times, they will allow you to create a disposable one-time credit card number that is linked to your account. You can use that number to make a single purchase. Should anyone get a hold of your information from that transaction, it won’t do them any good.

How do YOU keep yourself safe when shopping online?

~Mavis

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Planting Bulbs in November – Daffodils, Tulips, Anemones and More

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 13, 2014 · 12 Comments

I’ve been working on getting all my spring bulbs planted over the past few days and even though I planted 80 tulips in front of the boxwood hedge, I still feel like it wasn’t enough. Back at our old place I probably planted over 5,000 bulbs during the 8 years we lived there, so having to start over with only a couple hundred bulbs is a little depressing.

But I keep reminding myself I planted bulbs EVERY FALL at the last place, not all at once, and it will be okay if my place doesn’t look like a flower bomb went off the first spring we are here.

We have this lamppost. But oddly enough there isn’t a lamp. Everyone else on the street has a lamppost with a light fixture on it, but not us. And to top it off, our lamppost area is totally ugly if you ask me.

The area is planted with an ultra ugly leaning pine tree that drops 10 million needles a day, a bunch of yellow day lilies {barf} and some other sort of crawling plant . All of which I would love to remove at some point.

But I just don’t have the time right now so I simply cleaned up the area and planted a lovely color coordinated assortment of purple iris, tulips and anemones.

I also grossly underestimated how many daffodil bulbs I’ll need to plant the giant garden bed in front of our house. {And yes, all those random shrubs will be relocated soon}.

Something tells me 260 bulbs won’t be enough to fill the entire area with daffodils. But I’m already over my garden budget for this month and can’t buy anymore, no matter how good the deal is. So now I’m wondering if I should do a mass planting of daffodils somewhere else, {maybe along a garden path} or just do a bunch of little groupings all over the place.

I don’t know what to do. My brain is turning to mush. I want this remodel to be over with so I can go back to a normal schedule and actually feel like I am getting something done each day.

~Mavis

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12 Goals for the New Year Week 45 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 13, 2014 · 1 Comment

I came up with 12 goals I’d like to accomplish this year with the hopes of being able to cross one off my list per month to make them more manageable. I thought a great way to hold myself accountable to the things I want to accomplish this year would be to do a weekly update.

After all, we all need a little help staying motivated sometimes. Here’s how I am doing so far:

1. ~~Clean, de-clutter and organize my entire home in 30 days or less~~. – So far this year I cleaned my closet, organized my kitchen, decluttered my bathroom, organized my office, gutted the garage, and tackled the laundry room. But that was at the old house. These days I can only dream about organizing my house. If I’m lucky, I’ll be able to organize my new laundry room this weekend {as well as wash about 5 loads of laundry too}.

2. ~~Fit into the same jeans I wore 8 years ago when we moved into our {now old} house~~. Mission Accomplished!

I’m not sure if it was because of the It Works Ultimate Body Applicator {I wrapped twice} or working as Chino the Handyman’s sidekick for the past month, but the muffin top is gone. Let’s hope she doesn’t come back!

3. ~~Travel.~~ So far this year I have been to Boston, London, Paris, Portland, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina,Virginia and Victoria B.C.

4. Send my daughter to college without having a nervous breakdown thus spending a week in bed sobbing. The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird is sick this week. 🙁 She’s been feeling crummy since Monday but hopefully the combination of her goodies from the Sick Day Basket I made for her and the long naps she’s been taking she’ll be feeling better soon.

5. Get 3 new teeth. – Not yet.

6. ~~Pay off my car~~. Done!

I’m pretty sure the Volvo wagon was the best car that was ever invented and it’s great for running parts too! 🙂

7. ~~Finish this primitive folk art rug I started 4 years ago~~. Finished! It took me 6 months but I’m done {I’m working on a second one and I hope to have it finished by Thanksgiving}.

8. Do something together as a family ever Sunday. Last weekend we worked on the yard. Yep, if that’s not quality time, I don’t know what is.

9. ~~Secret Plan #1~~ – ~~Sell our house~~. It felt like it took us forever, but we were finally able to downsize both our home and yard and let me tell you Bob, it feels good. Really, really good.

10. ~~Secret Plan #2 Buy a smaller house.~~ Done!

11. Secret Plan #3 – Working on it. 😉

12. ~~Convince the HH we should buy a Salt Box Style House in Colonial Williamsburg~~. Done! We didn’t buy a house in Colonial Williamsburg, but I did find us a vacation house on the east coast and we LOVE it.

13. Spend at least 1 hour a day working in my garden. On the agenda this week: Finish planting all those spring bulbs I picked up at The Home Depot last week.

So there you have it, my goals for the new year.

How about YOU? How are your 2014 goals coming along?

~Mavis

P.S. YES, I know I wrote down 13 goals. I’m fairly certain I won’t be able to attain one of them. {gee, I wonder which one?} But I wanted to add it in there anyway because I believe in miracles.

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