One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1508 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.

How to Quit Caffeine – Day 1

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By Mavis Butterfield on August 1, 2013 · 19 Comments

Yesterday was day 1 of my How to Quit Caffeine challenge. I’ll totally admit, if it wasn’t for my upcoming dental surgery and the part about tea being a natural blood thinner, I would probably just keep on trucking along drinking my 20 cups of tea a day without blinking an eye.

But the way I see it, teeth are more important than tea so I better listen to the doctor’s orders.

Here is how the first day went:

Yesterday I woke up and immediately drank an 8 ounce glass of water {to try and fool myself}. Then while searching for deals for my Mornings with Mavis post, I downed 2 large cups of tea.

Around 9 am I made a strawberry and peach smoothie. I could feel a headache creeping up so I took 2 ibuprofen and then waited as long as I could before making more tea. But of course I could only hold off until around 10 am before I had another 2 cups of tea.

Basically the whole days was spent thinking about tea. At one point I even took a nap so I wouldn’t have to think about it. How weird is that? Even though I pretty much had a headache all day {not a major one though} and woke up with a headache this morning, I was able to plow through the day pretty well.

Here are the beverages I consumed yesterday:

Tea Count – 8 {and these cups hold about 14 ounces of liquid}

Water Count – 2 – {I need to drink more water!}

Smoothie Count – 1

Ibuprofen Count – 4 {I took 2 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon}

Overall Mood – Tired. Slightly Cranky. Thirsty. Thirsty. Thirsty.

Naps – 1

Here’s hoping today will be better. And who knows, maybe when I stop consuming so much caffeine, I’ll be able to sleep more than my usual 5-6 hours a night. That would be nice. 🙂

~Mavis

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Is Peanut Butter Good for Dogs?

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By Mavis Butterfield on August 1, 2013 · 31 Comments

Yesterday the inevitable happened. We ran out of peanut butter. Just as I was about to toss the jar into the recycling bin, there was Lucy looking up at me with those sweet puppy dog eyes.

Is peanut butter good for dogs? Because Lucy the Puggle dog cannot get enough of it.

In fact anytime someone pulls the jar of peanut butter out of the cupboard, Lucy sprints over and just sits at their feet. Waiting, hoping, someone will give her a spoonful.

Is this normal? Is your dog a huge peanut butter fan too? Is peanut butter good for dogs? What do you think is a good amount to give them? Does anyone know?

~Mavis

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Easy Freezer Meals – Peach Crisp Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 31, 2013 · 22 Comments

If there is one thing I love to do, it’s stock my freezer with freezer meals {or freezer desserts in this case}. The school year is a really busy time for us and knowing I have several desserts tucked into the freezer for sports banquets, last minute entertaining and the weekends makes my life a lot easier.

By preparing several {okay 10!} of these peach crisp desserts in advance, all I have to do is pull them out of the freezer and pop them in the oven when I’m ready to use them.

Now that’s what I call planning ahead.

Ingredients for the filling

6 cups fresh or frozen peaches {How to peel peaches quickly}
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup all- purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into bits
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Fruit Fresh to prevent browning {optional}

Ingredients for the topping

2 cups old fashioned oats {I used quick oats}
1 tablespoon flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Slice peaches, sprinkle a little Fruit Fresh on top and mix together all the ingredients for the peach filling together in a large bowl. Place peach mixture into a buttered baking pan and set aside.

Place the ingredients for the oatmeal topping in bowl and using a fork, work the ingredients together for a minute or two until they are nice and crumbly. Sprinkle over peach filling, cover with foil {or a lid} and freeze.

When you are ready to use, bake from frozen at 350° F for about 45 minutes, remove foil and cook an additional 10 – 20 minutes or until the juices are bubbling.

Serve warm with ice cream. This recipe is for 1 13×9-inch pan.

Links to freezer pans I commonly use:

Find More of My Freezer Meal Recipes

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The Original Extreme Couponer

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By Mavis Butterfield on July 31, 2013 · 34 Comments

A big thank you to Andrea from facebook for sharing a link to this story about one of America’s first extreme couponers:

Ann Cox Williams was the mother of a family of 4 in the 1940’s. She was married to a school teacher, so penny-pinching was an absolute necessity. She fed her family on $12.60 a week by scanning sales at multiple stores {and then doing the footwork at each store}, meticulous menu planning {she even planned meatless lunches to save}, and of course, clipping coupons. {Be still my beating heart, I think I have found my soulmate. Ha.}

Her grocery budget was so impressive, it actually landed her an article in Life magazine in 1947. Most of the response to the article was very positive, but she did have a few negative letters from housewives who were now being pressured by their husbands to adhere to such strict budgets. Ha! {Ann died in 2011, or I totally would’ve have wanted to invite her for a cup of tea and advice.}

After reading the article, I wondered, what would $12.60 a week be equivalent to now with inflation? I went to dollartimes.com and punched in the numbers. I was shocked–because it is totally doable! $12.60 a week in 1947 would have the same buying power as $134.56. I could eat like a king for $134.56 a week. The thing is, I still think most people spend way more than that on their weekly groceries. Of course, there is also the other extreme {which I know about first hand}. Because of the new boxed convenience foods {which weren’t available in the 1940’s} and coupons, you can get “food” for next to nothing {other than quite a bit of time and effort, of course}. But it isn’t always the healthiest choice.

So what is the happy medium? What do you think is a penny-pinching monthly budget for a family of 4 for real whole food in 2013?

~Mavis

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.