One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1174 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 Mail – Reader Dale Deals with Flooding

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 20, 2014 · 6 Comments

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!

Check out this story and photos from Dale who’s had a drainage issue in his garden:

After doing a lot of research on how to improve my garden, I decided to install raised beds. With lots of inspiration from your site and many others, I got the project under way this last February.

As you can see from the first of these photos, drainage has been an issue in the past. This year’s record rain fall had me wading through 6 to 8 inches of mud while I set up the raised beds and got them filled.

At the same time I constructed a seed starting station in my rec-room.

At this time I have {8} 4’ x 16’ beds, {2} 4’ x 14’ beds and a 2’ border bed around half of the garden.

I installed irrigation to all the beds and can finally start enjoying the veggies coming out of the garden.

Dale got busy planting over NINETY different varieties of seeds. To say he’s going to have a plethora to harvest is an understatement!

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so, show me some picture of how you are going about it.
Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go HERE for the official rules.

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Free Kindle Books, Coupons, Vibram FiveFingers, Saveur Magazine, Tuna Pouches, and More

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 20, 2014 · 1 Comment

Happy Friday!

I hope you all are doing well… especially those of you walking around with temperatures in the mid 90’s. It’s enough to make you want to take off your jeans and longsleeved t-shirt and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top like a normal person. 😉 Hardy har har.

This morning The Girl and I are in Hershey, Pennsylvania and we are planning on eating LOT’s and LOT’s of chocolate {and maybe squeeze in a few roller coasters as well}.

What are your plans for this weekend? Doing anything exciting?

♥ Mavis

Amazon Gold Box Deal of the Day – 50% Off Rosetta Stone Level 1-3 Set If you kids will be taking a foreign language in high school or college, I highly recommend this for over the summer. My daughter used Rosetta Stone and aced her classes because of the extra help she received with this program.

Amazon is also offering an awesome bonus deal today – Canon Laser Monochrome Printer with Scanner, Copier and Fax

Available Kindle Books I think are cool…

Pizza for Good: An Interactive Cookbook, Memoir Free
The Healthy Quinoa Cookbook Free
How To Save Money Using Renewable Energy Free
The Inspirational Life Story Of Henry Ford Free
Easy Afghan Projects You Can Complete in One Day $2.99
That Summer in Sicily: A Love Story $1.99
The Repurposed and Upcycled Life: When God Turns Trash to Treasure Free
How To Overcome Shyness, Worry And Boost Your Self-Esteem Free

The prices on Kindle Books can change quickly, so grab them while you can.

Great for camping and protein on the go!

12- Pack Chicken of the Sea Smoked Salmon Skinless and Boneless $10.74/$0.89 each shipped when you use the subscribe and save option at checkout.
12-Pack Bumble Bee Chunk Light Tuna, 2.5-Ounce Pouches $11.40 / $0.95 each shipped when you use the subscribe and save option at checkout.

Learn About Amazon Subscribe and Save

A perfect summer project the next time your kids mutter, “I’m bored!!” Find out how to Recycle Old Crayons HERE or find more cool projects for kids on my Kids Pinterest Board.

Get a Twin Pack of Secret Deodorant Shower Fresh for only $2.75 shipped when you “clip” the $1.00 off coupon and use the subscribe and save option at checkout. Thats only $1.37 each!

REI Outlet Deal of the Day – Save up to 40% on all Paddling Gear and Clothing.

6pm has Vibram FiveFingers on sale for as low as $28 shipped. My daughter has two pairs of these shoes and LOVES them. {I think they’re kinda creepy} 😉

Discount Mags is offering a 1 year subscription to Saveur Magazine for only $4.99 a year when you use code MAVIS at checkout. This deal will expire tonight 6/20/14 at midnight EST.

Now is the time to dehydrate all that yummy summer fruit! Here are a few deals:

Nesco Fruit Roll Sheets {set of 2} $6.99
Nesco Extra Trays {set of 2} $13.99
The Dehydrator Bible: Includes over 400 Recipes $16.02
Nesco FD-37A American Harvest Food Dehydrator $33.99 {I have this one!}
Nesco American Harvest Snackmaster Express Food Dehydrator All-In-One Kit with Jerky Gun $64.99 shipped

Are your kids eating you out of house and home yet? Try this Homemade Granola Bars recipe and it should fill them up in a hurry. Get the recipe HERE or Pin it for Later.

If you are looking for a sprinkler for your garden, this Noodlehead Flexible Lawn & Garden Sprinkler rocks! Amazon currently has it on sale for only $12.00, and I love it! Plus, if you have kids, they can run and jump over it too.

Get a Dyson DC24 Upright Vacuum with Technology for Multifloor or Animal Cleaning {Refurbished} for $219.99 shipped. New to Groupon? Join Groupon Here. Then go HERE to get this deal.

Check out these New Printable Coupons:

Find More Printable Coupons

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How to Make a Barbie Cake

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 19, 2014 · 11 Comments

The Girl’s BFF turned 18 last week, and so we decided to make her a Barbie cake for the big day. {Can you believe it was her first one?} It was our way of helping her say goodbye to “childhood”–though, I have to admit, The Girl and her friends have been gracefully mature for so long, we should have made her the cake when she was 15.

Ingredients

2 boxes Cake Mix {if you want to make your cake from scratch, that’s cool too}
Oven Safe Bowl {I used my 5 cup Pampered Chef Batter Bowl}
2 9″ round cake pans
Frosting {enough to send a small child into a diabetic coma}
1 Barbie Doll
Straws

Directions

Prepare the cake mix as directed on the box. Split the mixture between your greased oven safe bowl and cake pans. Bake. Allow your cakes to cool a bit before you flip them out of their pans, it will lessen the likelihood of them breaking.

When cakes have completely cooled, slice the rounded part of the cakes from the 9″ cake pan off carefully to create a flat surface. Next, slice the rounded part of the cake from the bowl. Then, cut the remainder in half.

SAVE ALL OF THE PIECES YOU ARE CUTTING.

Now it’s time to stack those bad boys. Lay the 9″ trimmed flat cake on the bottom of a serving platter. Frost the top, repeat and then carefully stack the bottom half of the bowl cake next. Frost to hold the next layer, and stack the domed part of the bowl cake on top.

Frost the entire cake with a “base layer” of frosting. The cake can be a bit crumbly at this stage so I always frost a base layer first.

You may also want to stabilize the whole thing in order to prevent it from sliding off { I don’t but my neighbor Girly Girl always does}. So, take 4 straws and push them down into the cake, making sure they go through all of the layers.

If the doll is too tall for the cake, just build up the frosting {or chop off her legs}. You can also buy cake dolls without legs for this exact purpose.

Finally, using a piping tip, frost the doll to give her a top to her dress and decorate the “skirt.”

~Mavis

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Top 10 Things to Do in Portland, Oregon

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By Mavis Butterfield on June 19, 2014 · 6 Comments

When The Girl and I decided to go on an impromptu road trip to Portland, OR awhile back, we got the chance to cover a pretty wide range of sites/activities. By the end of the weekend, we decided that it was actually a pretty cool city. It gets compared to Seattle a lot, but I got a totally different vibe from it. It has its own unique kind of flavor–worth experiencing for yourself.

It really is one of those cities with a million different things to do, so this top 10 is really just a jumping off point:

Bob’s Red Mill Whole Grain Store and Cafe. You can check out what all the hub-bub over stone-ground grains is about, eat a little fresh baked bread, and do some shopping. It’s an afternoon well-spent, I promise.
Powell’s Bookstore. Powell’s is an iconic, privately owned massive bookstore. The best part? They carry new and used books–so you can score some pretty good deals.
Pendleton Woolen Mill Store. If you sew, hook rugs, or are crafty in any way, this is your chance to grab up some very unique fabrics and/or ends.
Voodoo Doughnuts. I’ll keep it simple: world famous doughnuts. Enough said.
Portland Japanese Gardens. The gardens are split up into 5 different separate garden, each with their own themes. If you can’t find your inner-calm in one of them, you probably don’t have any inner-calm.
Tillamook Cheese Factory and Farmhouse Cafe. Okay, so this one isn’t really IN Portland, but it’s FRESH cheese and ice cream–like 24 hours from the cow fresh. If you have any respect for the grilled cheese sandwich, you will make the trek.
The Goonies House. Calling all children of the 80’s, this is your chance to relive your youth. Climb up the driveway and checkout the house {you can’t go in}. “Boobie twapped, that’s what I said.”
Portland Saturday Market. This Saturday {and Sunday} market puts other markets to shame. You can stroll through 100’s of vendors handmade items, eat your way through the best of what Portland has to offer, and listen to live music.
Hike through Forest Park. With 70 miles of trails, it is one of the largest naturally forested parks in the U.S. Portland is a super outdoorsy city for a reason–it is beautiful, and Forest Park is no exception.
Have some ice cream at Salt & Straw. It’s all handmade, local, organic ice cream. It. Is. Delicious. Your mouth will thank you. {Plus, I bet you there is no beaver butt, whatsoever, in the ingredients.}

Have you been to Portland? What’s your favorite thing to do?

~Mavis

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