One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1354 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.

Homemade Lavender Bath Salts

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 31, 2013 · 4 Comments

I love a good soak in the tub. I’ve decided not to let Calgon take me away, though, instead, I am making my own lavender bath salts. I got the idea last year after going to the Sequim Lavender Festival.

Homemade bath salts are sooo much healthier than all of the commercial bath salts with chemical fragrances and a fraction of the price. Plus, lavender bath salts are super cool to give as gifts too.

You’ll Need

2 Cups Epsom Salt
1/2 cup Dried Lavender Buds {you can buy them or use some you grew}
8 Drops Lavender Essential Oil {the buds make it pretty, but the essential oil gives it a boost of yummy scent}
2 {8 ounce Jars} {I’m using my favorite Weck canning jars}

Directions

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together. Pour into jars and allow the mixture a couple of days to marinate before using. When it’s bath time, pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the salts into the running water and enjoy.

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12 Goals for the New Year

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 31, 2013 · 31 Comments

Tomorrow will be the start of another year and if you’re like me you probably have a list of things you’d like to accomplish in 2014. I came up with 12 goals I’d like to accomplish next year with the hopes of being able to cross one off my list per month to make them more manageable.

Here they are in no particular order:

1. Clean, de-clutter and organize my entire home in 30 days or less. I did this last year and let me tell you Bob, by the end of the month my house was gutted and cleaned like a fresh fish. It.Was.Awesome.

2. Fit into the same jeans I wore 8 years ago when we moved into our house.

3. Travel.

4. Send my daughter off to college without having a nervous breakdown thus spending a week in bed sobbing because my Friday night movie buddy, travel partner, sometimes photographer and the best pal a mother could ever ask for has moved away and left me forever.

5. Get 3 new teeth. 😉

6. Pay off my car. Here’s a video of when I bought it last summer.

7. Finish this primitive folk art rug I started 4 years ago. After all, I have all the supplies so it would be a shame to give up on what I started so many years ago. Here’s what it looks like right now:

I figure if I can get one square {8 point star and surrounding area} finished per week, I should be able to finish the rug by December 31st, 2014. I’m not sure if I’ll want to burn the rug or keep it at the point, but at least it will be done. 😉

8. Family Day. Do one thing together as a family every Sunday until The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird leaves for college.

9. Secret Project #1

10. Secret Project #2

11. Secret Project #3

12. Convince the HH we should buy a Salt Box Style House in Colonial Williamsburg. I could dress up everyday in a colonial dress and give tours of our vegetable garden and home and he could hang out in the cellar/man cave with all the other men from the community watching tv and playing with their electronic gadgets.

13. Spend at least 1 hour a day working in my garden.

So there you have it. 12 goals for the new year.

How about YOU? What do you want to get accomplished in 2014?

~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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Food Waste In America – Spotted Bananas and Tail Feathers

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 31, 2013 · 5 Comments

Being able to get free scraps for our backyard chickens {and Girly Girls} during the winter months when our garden isn’t producing as much as we’d like has come in handy over the past year and a half.

After all, if I were a chicken, I’d sure get bored of eating the same old boring chicken feed day in and day out, wouldn’t you?

Spotted bananas. They’re back. And it’s a good thing too because I’ve been craving strawberry banana smoothies lately and we all know the sweetest bananas are the ones that are a wee bit brown.

This week Mr. Produce Guy set aside 2 boxes of leafy greens for our birds.

Java, our mottled java chicken spent a good hour an a half munching down as much as she could before taking a rest.

Do you remember me telling you about my suspicions about one of our Blue Laced Red Wyandottes? Well, she, is a he. Yup. So now we have 2 roos we need to find good homes for.

The boys haven’t made any noises yet {thank goodness} but since they are about 16 weeks old I suspect they’ll start attempting to crow any day now. Luckily the HH knows a family that might take the roos off our hands. I’ll keep you posted. But mark my words, I will never buy day old chicks from Wilco ever again. We purchased our last two sets of chicks from them and BOTH TIMES we ended up with roos!

Remember Pablo? It was soooo sad to see him go. And I don’t want to have to go through that again.

Here’s what we kept from the free produce boxes this week:

2 heads of lettuce
5 pounds of bananas
2 cucumbers
6 apples

Not to shabby for free. 🙂

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past year?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mornings with Mavis – Free Kindle Books, Zaycon Chicken, Pop Up Greenhouse, Toilet Paper Deal

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 31, 2013 · 1 Comment

I think Lucy’s New Years Resolution might be to try and dig to China. 😉

Ha! Here are a few deals for you, have a great New Years Eve everyone.

♥ Mavis

Get a 3-Pk of Playtex 18hr Gel Comfort Wire Free Bras for just $23.99 shipped.

Available Kindle Books I think are cool…

Crockpot Recipes: 24 Extremely Delicious, Easy, Cheap, Family Slow Cooker Dinners Free
Knitting Rules!: The Yarn Harlot’s Bag of Knitting Tricks $9.39
The Boy on the Wooden Box $1.99
I Believe Weight Loss Free {Great Reviews}
The Murky Shadow and the Special Gift Free
Saving Ben Free
Thirty Homes in Thirty Years Free

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

Print a coupon good for $1.00 off any one Mini Babybel Cheese Product

Zaycon Foods is offering boneless, skinless chicken breasts for $1.89/lb and it’s great way to stock up on chicken when this deal comes around. The chicken is sold in 40 pound cases for $75.60. 40 pounds may sound like a lot of chicken {and it is!} but buying in bulk is such a great way to fill your freezer and you can always split a case with a neighbor {I’ve done that before with my neighbor Girly Girl}.

Amazon has the 2-pack of Nutiva Organic Extra Virgin Coconut Oil on sale for $13.60/$6.80 shipped when you use the subscribe and save option at checkout.

Start the New Year off right with a subscription to Eating Well Magazine. Get a 1 year subscription from Amazon for only $5. What a deal!

Get a jump start on the growing season with a Flower House Pop Up Greenhouse. I have the 3-foot Flower House Greenhouse and have used it the past few years to extend my fall harvest and to set out some of my vegetable starts early.

Amazon Home Organization Deals

Organize It All Closet Doubler $7.96
Sterilite 4-Shelf Shelving Unit, Platinum $29.97
Evriholder Magic Holder 5-Position Wall Organizer $12.28

Looking for something to make ahead of time? Check out my Freezer Meal Recipe for Cilantro Lime Chicken. We had this last night and it was delish! Pin it for Later.

Are your potholders feeling a little crusty? Get a 3 pack of pot holders for $6.60.

Discount Mags is offering a 1 year subscription to Hobby Farm Home Magazine for only $7.50 a year when you use code MAVIS at checkout. This deal will expire tonight 12/31/13 at midnight EST so be sure and grab your subscription before then.

Amazon currently has the FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System on sale for $84.95 shipped.

Stock up on these household deals:

Lysol Power Toilet Bowl Cleaner Value Pack $5.64 {add on item}
8 Pack Mr. Clean Magic Eraser Cleaner Cleaning Pads $6.15 shipped with subscribe and save.
Lysol Disinfecting Wipes Value Pack {240 wipes} $9.47 shipped with subscribe and save.
48 Rolls Angel Soft Double Roll Toilet Paper $18.96 shipped when you use subscribe and save.
24 pack Sparkle Paper Towels {Giant Rolls} $22.71 shipped when you use subscribe and save.

Groupon is offering a 72-Pack of AA or AAA Sony Stamina Plus Batteries for just $17.99. Over 5,000 people have bought this deal so far so holy cow it must be a good deal. New to Groupon? Join HERE.

Belle Chic has the most adorable Handmade Vintage Style Earrings on sale starting at $4.99! I think I’m going to order those birdie earring for my daughter. 🙂

Print a coupon good for Buy 2 Suave Shampoo and get a FREE Suave Body Wash

Find More Printable Coupons

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.