One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1402 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.

Mondays with Mavis – How to Feed Your Family for $100 a Month

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 18, 2013 · 2 Comments

Costco $47.53

Repeat after me… Costco is evil. 😉

Would someone PLEASE take away my Costco card until after the holidays? Please? I’m begging you. I wish I had an excuse this time, like my kids were with me, or the HH made me put that yummy Dubliner cheese in my cart. But that would be a lie. I did it all myself.

I totally blame the salami, cheese and Pretzel chips on my friend MamaJJ. We were sitting around her kitchen counter talking late one night and there was cheese and hard pretzels on the counter. I wasn’t craving it then, but as soon as I got home I was. Gahhhh.

Local Produce Stand $2.00

How does the store even make any money? Imported peppers 4 for $1 and avocados 2 for $1.

QFC $13.48

Pasta $0.69 a box, Cranberry Sauce $0.99, Tillamook Yogurt $0.40 each and Cottage Cheese $0.99 each because it was reduced for a quick sale.

Let’s hope next week is better. But then again, I still need to buy a Thanksgiving Turkey.

How did you do this past week? Do you have everything you need for your Thanksgiving dinner?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $63.01
Total Spent This Year $1955.77
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $919.96{I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 16 yards of soil}, Walla Walla Onions and 90 pounds of seed potatoes. Plus, supplies to make my own potting soil. I also picked up a boatload of heirloom tomato plants at the Seattle Tilth sale.

Read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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Do You Snoop Inside Medicine Cabinets?

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 17, 2013 · 32 Comments

I originally posted this back in 2009, but since the holidays are right around the corner, I thought I would re-post it just in case you’ll be having guests in your home anytime soon.

People fascinate me. I’m always so amazed at the new things I learn about people: people I’ve known for years and people I’ve just met. One thing I’ve learned is that a lot of people I know snoop in the medicine cabinets of friends and even near strangers. Your medicine cabinet tells a lot about you.

Lots of makeup? Lots of medicine? Lots of perfectly folded, bleached towels? When you go to someone’s house and you use their restroom, do you open up their cupboard under the sink? Do you peek into their medicine cabinet or drawers?

Did you know up to 50% of Americans snoop in the drawers and cabinets of others? FIFTY percent. Holy toledos that’s a lot of snooping going on!

Truth time. I have to admit I’ve peeked before. It’s always been out of necessity {looking for a new roll of TP or a hand towel}. It’s always so interesting how I could never ever predict what your bathroom cabinets or drawers will hold based on who I think you are.

Years ago I was an overnight guest at a friend’s house. When I was showering and getting ready, I opened her drawers looking for some extra hand towels. Her house was spotless; you could have eaten off the floors it was so clean. Blinds, baseboards, the inside of the microwave: all perfectly clean. But open her drawers in the bathroom and they were a disaster. Like a mini tornado had struck. Like old crusty toothpaste squirted out, broken hair accessories and half-used bars of soap. It was wild. It was like I was in a totally different house. But to be honest, knowing that tiny imperfection about my friend made me adore her so much more. It’s nice to know we’re all human!

So now I want to hear it. Care to fess up? Do you look? And if you do, have you found anything funny or anything that surprised you?!

I’ll tell if you tell.

~Mavis

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Brunswick Stew Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 17, 2013 · 3 Comments

When I was visiting my friend Jane in Virginia she made us Brunswick Stew for dinner and boy was it delicious. Like so good I totally would have licked my bowl if I was sitting at my own table and not hers. I can’t have my friends thinking I’m an animal! But it was some of the best stew I’ve ever had. Here’s the recipe. Now go make it right now!

Ingredients

1/2 pound cooked chicken, shredded
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 sweet pepper, chopped
3 {16 oz} cans stewed tomatoes
1 {8 oz} can tomato sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons white vinegar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup water
1/2 pound red potatoes, cubed
1 {16 oz} can baked beans
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon pepper
16 oz corn, canned or frozen and thawed, drained

Directions

In a large pot, saute onion and peppers in oil until tender. Add cooked chicken, tomato, tomato sauce, sugar, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. In a small bowl, combine flour and 1 cup water and whisk until smooth. Combine flour mixture with chicken mixture. Add cubed potatoes, baked beans, salt, turmeric and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add corn and Lima beans and cook an additional 10 minutes. Serve pipping hot and enjoy!

Check out her Brunswick Stew Recipe HERE.

You can find more of my friend Jane’s recipes in her cookbook Thy Hand Hath Provided: Recipes and Preserving.

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Mavis Butterfield | Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 46 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on November 17, 2013 · 5 Comments

Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 45 of 52

Well, I have some good news and some bad news.

The good news is, next spring, my garden will be getting a lot more sun.

The bad news is, the owner of the property behind us sent a team of woodsmen through the forest to tape off a boatload of trees. To chop down. Yep. My neighbor Hulda says all the heavy equipment arrived last week and it’s currently sitting behind her property. {She’s a few houses away from me} I’m not sure how long it’s going to take the crew to cut down the trees, but one thing is for sure, the backyard garden will sure get a lot more sunlight.

I don’t know about you, but I think I’d rather have less sun, and more trees. 🙁

Would you believe I have not been out to the greenhouse since last week?

What’s up with that? I need to get out there and check on my plants. But it’s cold out there, and it pouring cats and dogs today too. So I’m going to stay in side today and drink tea where it’s nice and warm. And think about all things I should be doing. Ha! 😉

A view from the back deck.

Now that I think about it, won’t it look a little weird if there are no trees behind my fence? I wonder if the HH will want to take down all our pine trees to make it look more uniform. Ever since his chainsaw accident, he’s been a little gun shy about falling trees, so maybe I should find out when the property owner will be cutting them down and plan a family vacation for that time period.

The chicken coop.

I wonder if they miss Java the Hut?

Yep, all the potatoes are still under the mounds. Maybe someday I’ll dig them up. 😉

It’s official. My trees are naked and winter is almost here.

C’mon snow!!

Have a great Sunday everyone and stay warm. 🙂

~Mavis

This years garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2013 Garden Seed Catalog HERE, or visit my online boyfriend Ryan’s blog HERE.

Up for a tour? Read about our behind the scenes tour of Botanical Interests Seed Company.

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.