One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1632 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.

Raising Backyard Chickens – Blue Cochin Chicks

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 11, 2013 · 8 Comments

Our trio of blue cochin chicks are now one month old and thriving. There was a bit of a mean girls club going on the first week we had the chicks but our sweet little blueberry toughed it out and is quickly catching up in size with the other two chicks.

Normally around four weeks chicks start to go through the ugly duckling phase and look a little goofy as their feathers grow. But these cuties are just giant puffs of blue grey feathers and are absolutely gorgeous, if I do say so myself.

Look at the sweet little feathers on their legs.

The chicks look like they are wearing pantaloons. Ahhh they are so stinkin’ cute I can hardly stand it.

The 4 week old chicks are still residing in a stock tank in the garage and have about a month to go before we introduce them to our big chickens. By then the weather will have warmed a bit and they’ll be large enough to climb or fly up the ladder into the chicken coop.

Baby chicks are awesome! With some luck, once these birds start laying, we should be getting about 15 eggs a day by this fall.

Weeeee!

~Mavis

If you are thinking about getting a flock of your own baby chicks be sure and read my How to Care for Baby Chicks post. It’s full of everything you need to know to get started.

And if you are looking for a great chicken book, check out Homemade Living: Keeping Chickens with Ashley English. I think it’s pretty awesome.

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Welcome Komo News Viewers – Send in the Gnomes

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 10, 2013 · Leave a Comment

Welcome Komo News viewers, I’m so glad you’re here. Keith Eldridge stopped by this afternoon to help be open some packages and to help me track the gnomes on the world map Not only is he good at geography but he’s pretty handsome too!

In case you’re wondering what this is all about, you can read the whole crazy plan HERE, the gist of it is this. I am asking people to send in gnomes from all over the country {one just arrived from Denmark!}, and for every gnome I receive from the Send in the Gnome project, I will donate $10 to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital.*

The ultimate goal is to receive 1,000 gnomes and truck them across the country in a MotorGnome and deposit them in the raised bed gardens at St. Jude Children’s Hospital and in public, community and children’s gardens along the way.

Since starting the wild and crazy fundraiser 2 weeks ago I have received over 100 gnomes {check ’em out HERE}! Keith and I opened more boxes today and I have about 16 more to add to the list which will bring the total up to 12o.

WAhoooooo!

I know this sounds like a totally crazy idea, but I really think I can pull it off with YOUR help.

So what do you say? Will you send in a gnome?

Please send gnomes by August 1st, 2013 to:

Mavis Butterfield
P.O. Box 2083
Gig Harbor, Washington 98335

Under no circumstance will any gnome be returned. By donating a gnome to the Send in the Gnomes project you are giving Mavis and her helpers full authority to place your gnome, or anything else you send in, anywhere in the world.

St. Jude, here we come!

~Mavis

* A maximum of $10,000 will be donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital

If you would like to learn more about me and my everyday life, here are a few links:

Gardening

Growing food is the coolest hobby on the planet. Want to know the best part? It’s not rocket science. Anyone can do it! This year I plant to grow 2 tons of food {4,000 pounds!}

Reclaimed Food

I like to feed my family trash.

Weekly Shopping Trips

Did you know you can save money by using coupons? Trust me, it’s not an urban legend, it’s actually true.

Bartering

Bartering with my friends and neighbors is a blast. I never know what I’m going to come home with.

Chickens

I know, I know, only weirdos and farmers have chickens right? Wrong. Cool people have them too. Plus, they’re cheaper than cable and they give you eggs, and if they misbehave… well.

Recipes

I’m not a foodie. I just happen to photograph everything I make. Then I post pimped up pictures of my creations on my blog so I can tell my husband I didn’t have time to clean the house. If you have a boatload of raspberries right now you should totally try this raspberry buckle cake. It is divine.

Well, that’s about it… Take your time, and look around.

Thanks for stopping by, I’m glad you’re here!

♥ 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.

Container Gardening – Cool Garden Containers You Won’t See in Your Neighbors Yard

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 10, 2013 · 17 Comments

Why have boring old pots and planters for your container garden when you can garden in steel drums? That’s right, I painted these beauties Pepto Bismal pink, Grape Taffy and Tighty Whitey White.

I picked these steel drums up at Wilco a while back and they had previously held concentrated apple juice. Yee- Haw! One Apple factories trash, is another man’s treasure.

I’d say they are a one of a kind. What do you think?

To help with air flow and to save a little money on soil, I placed a giant landscaping pot {find free growing containers} at the bottom of each drum and filled them with a batch of my DIY potting soil mix.

It kind of makes me want to hop a flight to Key West, Florida to pink up some pineapple drinks and flamingos for the back 40.

I’m pretty sure the Handsome Husband is going to keel over the next time he looks outside and seems them. Lucky for me, the newly spray painted patio chairs have been hidden under the deck and he hasn’t noticed them yet.

Pretty awesome, don’t you think?

~Mavis

If you are short on space and are thinking about growing a container garden this year, check out my Tips for Container Gardening post. It’s filled with awesome tips and tricks to help you have the best container garden ever.

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.

Easy Gardening Tips – Use Coffee Filters in Flower Pots

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By Mavis Butterfield on April 10, 2013 · 13 Comments

Calling all neat freaks.

If you are worried about soil falling out of your flower pots when you water your plants, there is an easy solution. Simply line your flower pot with a coffee filter before you fill it with soil to stop it from falling through the drainage hole.

Yee-Haw! Gardening is fun.

~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.