One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1044 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.

Mavis Butterfield’s Budget-Savvy Halloween Crafts on King 5 News

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 23, 2014 · 7 Comments

I stopped by the King 5 Studios today to make some fun and inexpensive crafts on New Day Northwest and things got a little out of control with co-host Jim Dever {of course it did!}. Here’s the video in case you missed it.

Have a great night everyone,

~ Mavis

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Bento Box Ideas For Teens – Salami, Olives, Cheese, Grape Tomatoes (Antipasto)

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 23, 2014 · 1 Comment

Mama Mia! This is a great bento box for teens {or anyone else with a little bit higher culinary tastes}. Heck, make two, one for your teen, and one for you to enjoy. It’s like a box of sophisticated indulgence. 🙂

Ingredients

Grape Tomatoes
Olives
Cheese
Salami
Crackers

Directions

Cut cheese into cubes and then place the cubes into a silicone baking cup. In another silicone baking cup, place washed and dried grape tomatoes. Fill a third silicone baking cup up with olives. Place crackers along one edge of the container. Next to the crackers, place salami.

Arrange the cheese, grape tomatoes, and olive cups in the remaining space in the container. If you want to really turn it up a notch, make a little antipasto kabob, using an appetizer toothpick and place it on top. You know, gently guide your teen to culinary sophistication. 🙂

Find More Bento Box Ideas

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Halloween Safety Tips

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 23, 2014 · 4 Comments

I love Halloween. And not just because it gives me a reason to grow tons of Jack-o-lantern pumpkins. I just love the whole dressing up and excitement of it all. The kids are giddy, there’s candy. Seriously, what’s not to love?

If you plan on heading out with your little ones this Halloween–or if they are finally old enough to head out on their own, here are a couple of tips to keep them safe during their sugar-buzzed frenzy:

Glow sticks are awesome. They are cheap, the kids can wear them around their neck, and best of all, cars can see them.
Masks are cool, but it your little one can’t see, they become kind of a risky blindfold. If the mask makes the costume, consider cutting out larger eye holes.
If your kiddos head out on their own, plan a route that you both agree on ahead of time. That way, you know where they are, and they know exactly where they are supposed to be.
Feed the kids a HUGE healthy meal prior to them leaving. They will be way too full to over-indulge in candy {or at least, they will in theory!}
Try battery operated candles instead of real ones in your pumpkin. You completely eliminate the fire hazard, because face it, no one wants to remember the Halloween that the house went up in flames.
If your child’s costume is darkly colored, consider adding reflective tape. It can be super hard to see little ones darting across the street otherwise.
Only go to well-lit homes. This eliminates the hazard of kiddos tripping, and it just plain respectful to people who don’t really want to participate in the holiday.
Kids going without an adult should always travel in a group. Safety in numbers.
Check your kids’ candy at the end of the night. Feel free to confiscate all of the KitKat bars for yourself–for safety reasons, of course.
If you are handing out candy, make sure to clear your own porch of any tripping hazards, etc. {Roll up the hoses and secure the trap doors–ha!} Nobody needs a broken leg and a lawsuit.

Hope you have a safe and HAPPY Halloween.

~Mavis

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Labeling GMOs

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 23, 2014 · 15 Comments

Both Colorado and Oregon voters will have to decide whether they want to require GMO labels on their food this fall. according to an article I found recently. Both bills would require labels on GMO grown foods {though, it will not require meat or milk from cows that have been fed GMO crops, gum, alcohol, or pet food to be labeled}.

At this point, I’m pretty sure basically everyone has heard of GMOs, and has an opinion on it one way or another–and that’s what I found super interesting about this debate. Each side has their own argument for and against the bill. Obviously, proponents of the bill feel consumers have a right to know what is in their food and how it is grown. One proponent said the debate isn’t about “whether GMOs are safe or they’re good for you or bad for you. But it is about a right to know what’s in our fod supply.” Opponents say that one, there is not enough evidence that GMOs are harmful, and two, because there is not enough evidence that they are harmful, it is inviting too much government regulation. One farmer who grows GMO sugar beets feels that labeling his sugar GMO would be misleading, as the end result sugar contains “‘no GE material in the sugar’ because there’s no DNA or protein left in the final sugar product.”

I’ll admit, I’m super curious to see how this one goes. I would love it if they labeled GMO grown food. Personally, when I am shopping, and see food labeled NON GMO, I am more likely to grab that product over another. So, that leads me to another question, if they can’t get GMO labels, would you like to see more NON GMO verified labels on your food? Would it make a difference in what you bought?

~Mavis

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