One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1664 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 – Egg Bound Hen

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 11, 2013 · 76 Comments

UPDATE : Matilda died late last night. 🙁 The Girl said… At least she got to die at home all nice and warm. She was a great pet chicken, and I couldn’t agree more. At least she got to die at home with us near her side.

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This morning I called the vet and made an appointment to have our dear sweet Matilda euthanize. The Girl and I talked about it and decided it was the best thing for her. Matilda legs have basically been paralyzed for 4 days now, she won’t open her eyes, hold her head up or really even make any noises. We wanted to put her out of her misery. I thought she might have Marek’s Disease.

On days 2, 3, and 4 we used a syringe to give her food and water. As much as I would have liked to have taken her to a vet, the HH pointed out that Matilda was a chicken, and spending hundreds of dollars on one chicken that was likely going to die anyways, was not something he wanted to do.

It’s a chicken. I know it’s your pet chicken, but it’s a chicken.

So here I am, a suburban housewife, with this dying chicken. As much as I want to think I could tough it out on a real farm, I don’t think I could ever cull a chicken. Nor would I want the HH to do it either.

He offered, but I said no. I would rather pay to have a vet put her to sleep for $50 then have my daughter know her dad {basically} killed her pet chicken.

So this afternoon, I grabbed a box from the garage. I placed a towel on the ground and started to clean Matilda up {she had a little dried oatmeal around her beak and in her feathers and I didn’t want to show up at the vet with her that way}. I wiped her sweet little face down, and then poured warm water over her vent to remove anything that may have been there.

And then it happened.

2 soft shelled eggs dropped from her weak little body.

Poor Matilda was egg bound this whole time.

I checked her over the first night I brought her into the garage and there were no signs that she was egg bound. 2 eggs had been stuck inside her. The poor, poor thing.

As soon as those eggs dropped to the ground, she wiggled her legs and I started crying.

Matilda!

I immediately cancelled the appointment for the vet.

The way I see it is this. There is nothing a vet can do for her {I asked}.

Yes, she will probably die.

But as long as I can keep her clean, warm, hydrated and fed, who am I to give up hope.

~Mavis

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10 Cool Uses for Toothpaste

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 11, 2013 · 17 Comments

Toothpaste is one of those easy to come by for free items if you are a couponer–and who doesn’t love free? There’s a million ways to use it {besides brushing your teeth, of course}. Here are a couple of my favorite:

Clean white running shoes. Dab a bit of toothpaste on a wet cloth and buff those suckers back to new.
Get crayons off walls. I haven’t dealt with this in quite a few years, but put a little toothpaste on the wall, scrub, and voila, naughty deeds undone.
Clean your iron. If you iron gets gunky build-up, a little toothpaste and elbow grease shines it right back up.
Use to clean nails. This works great during the gardening season!
Polish jewelry. A dab of toothpaste and a toothbrush can add the shine back to dull jewelry. {Don’t use on pearls, though}
Clean the sink. Ever gotten a blob of toothpaste in the sink from an overzealous squeeze of the tube? Get a damp rag and spread it around, toothpaste is a great cleaning agent.
Remove scratches from DVD’s and CD’s. Put a little toothpaste on a soft clean towel and gently buff away the scratch.
Dab on blemishes. Toothpaste works wonders on acne. Dab a little on before bed {plus you’ll smell minty fresh all night} and rinse in the morning.
Use as a bug bite and bee sting ointment. It takes the sting out of the bites.
Clean white patio furniture. Make a mixture of toothpaste and water, and then put your back into it. With a little effort and time, the patio furniture will look brand new.

Do YOU use toothpaste for anything special?

~Mavis

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Videos for Cats and Dogs?

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 11, 2013 · 33 Comments

{photo credit}

Okay, so I have kind of a weirdo question for you.

I can’t be with Lucy all of the time, and lately I’ve been wondering what I could do to entertain her while I’m out running errands. I know that when I am outside, my little Lucy goose is happy to be along side me, but I’ve had to be out and about more lately. I was talking to Girly Girl and she said some of her friends pop in a DVD before leaving the house.

Seriously? Have you heard of this? Does it work? I have to admit, I am a bit skeptical, but when I typed “DVD’s for pets” into trusty Google, you would not believe the selection that popped up! You can actually order DVD’s specifically for your pet. Is this crazy? Do people really do this?

If DVD’s weren’t enough, here in suburbia, Doggy Daycare is also pretty popular. Apparently you can drop your dog off, run your errands, and then gather her/him up hours later–all tuckered out from a day of playing with other dogs.

It’s supposed to be pretty good for their socialization skills, plus, as much as I love getting my ankles and pant legs chewed on, it gives them another outlet for their childlike rough-housing. The downside, of course, is that you have to pay. I haven’t checked rates yet, but even though I think it’s a cool idea, I can’t imagine I’d pay for something like this {nor would the HH}.

What do you think? How do keep your pets occupied when you have to be away for hours on end? Do you have any cool tricks, because I could sure use them.

~Mavis

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

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 11, 2013 · 14 Comments

Well so much for taking the week off from grocery shopping. I totally failed. I was planning on only buying milk this past week, but the stores were calling my name and I just had to pop in for a few things.

Here is what I picked up this week:

QFC – $6.38

I walked through the door and the Handsome Husband said “Did you buy milk? Real milk?” Meaning did you buy normal milk like 99% of the population is drinking or did you buy the milk in glass bottles again?

I just laughed.

He doesn’t even drink milk, so I’m not even sure why he was asking. What a stinker!

Safeway – $5.97

I was going to buy more sugar, but I ran into Girl Girl earlier in the day and stuck up a deal to spruce up her garden beds in exchange for a 25 pound bag of sugar from Costco.

I don’t get the sugar though until I do the work, so hopefully I can get to it in the next week or so. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE bartering with my neighbors. It makes me feel like a Pilgrim.

Albertsons – $6.43

I don’t think I have ever purchased chicken with spices sprinkled over the top before. Probably because I always thought that’s what stores always with the outdated chicken they wanted to sell fast. But I was in a hurry, and these looked really good, and a house full of teenagers were due at our house in like 2 hours and the kids were requesting chicken for dinner.

So I tossed the chicken in a pan, added a few fruits and vegetables on top, roasted all the chicken was served it for dinner. Yee- Haw. How’s that for an easy peasy dinner?

Harbor Greens Market – $5.07

Some days I think I could live off Fuji apples. Our local market has about 2 or 3 fruits or vegetables on sale every week. So if I’m in the area, I pop in and grab whatever ever is on sale. This week it was Fuji apples for $0.69, green peppers 3 for $1, red peppers $2 for 1 and bananas for $0.59 a pound. Pretty good deals if you ask me.

Mr. Produce Guy – FREE

Talk about a rock star week in the free produce department. Happy times are here again. There was seriously a little bit of everything last week, and The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird was over the moon happy with all those fresh berries.

How did YOU do this week? Are you keeping track of what you are spending on food this year?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $23.85
Total Spent This Year $488.13
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $744.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 15 yards of soil} and 90 pounds of seed potatoes.

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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