One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1711 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.

Super Bowl Recipes: How to Make Guacamole

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on January 28, 2013 · 12 Comments

The Handsome Husband and Monkey Boy are pretty excited about the Super Bowl this weekend, and I have a feeling I’ll be whipping up plenty of appetizers for them to munch on during the game.

If you don’t have a favorite guacamole recipe, this one is my favorite.

Ingredients

3 avocados – peeled, pitted, and mashed
1 lime, juiced
1/4 cup diced onion
1 clove minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt

Mash the avocados together with lime juice. Then add the rest of the ingredients together and mix well. Chill for an hour or two and serve with chips.

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.

Mavis Butterfield | Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 5 of 52

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on January 28, 2013 · 8 Comments

This past week I made a batch of newspaper seedling pots, started some kale, moved 2 of the raised garden beds to improve the garden layout, and harvested a few potatoes. I also made a dent in the rock border I am trying to move, and I’m hoping to have all the rocks moved before the end of the month. Fingers crossed.

I can tell already this is going to be a busy week in the garden, weather permitting or not. I ordered a Meyer Lemon tree and it arrived while I was out of town, so I need to get it planted asap. I also need to plant those lilies I purchased from the Tacoma Home and Garden Show, and Helen from Meridian told me her Costco recieved their first shipment of landscape fabric in, so now I have to head over to Costco this afternoon and see if my store has it too.

There will be new seedlings to start this week, a few projects to finish and a lot of baking to do so I can spend most of the weekend finishing up a loarger project I am working on. Busy. Busy. Busy.

Just the way I like it.

Week 5 of 52 – Mavis’ Backyard Garden Plot

What’s new with YOU and YOUR garden?

Do you have any big plans for this week?

~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 boyfriend Ryan’s blog HERE.

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.

Money Saving Tips – 15 Cool Uses for Baking Soda

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on January 28, 2013 · 18 Comments

I’m loving the whole getting back to basics sort of living, so I find myself using baking soda for a lot of things lately. It’s crazy how just a few staple ingredients can do so many things!

Here’s 15 cool uses for baking soda:

Use as an antacid. Just mix 1/2 tsp. baking soda with 1/2 cup water. {My father-in-law swears by this}
Soak toothbrushes in a mixture of 1/4 cup baking soda and 1/4 cup water overnight to keep clean and fresh. {I like to do this after I a cold}
To make a fluffier omelet, add 1/2 tsp. baking soda to every 3 eggs.
Remove scuffs {and even crayon} from furniture by putting a little baking soda and warm water on a cloth and buffing lightly.
Dab a little baking soda on a bug bite to take the itch out.
Brush on your windshield to repel rain.
Sprinkle in the cracks of your drive-way to deter weeds.
Add a teaspoon of baking soda each time you condition your hair to keep hair soft and fight split-ends. {Some people skip the shampoo and conditioner altogether, and just use the baking soda–do you do this? How does it work?}
Use instead of soap to wash your car. Dissolve 1/4 cup in 1 quart of warm water.
Wash your produce with baking soda. {When I’m in a big hurry and don’t want to wash all my produce at once, I just dab some on a wet washcloth, scrub the one item and rinse.}
Clean and deodorize reusable lunch boxes. Wipe with baking soda and a wet cloth, or sprinkle baking soda inside overnight, and dump it out in the morning.
Sprinkle in smelly gym shoes to neutralize odor.
Add a teaspoon to hand soap to keep hands soft.
Remove grease stains from the garage floor by sprinkling baking soda and scrubbing with a brush.
Sprinkle a 50/50 mixture of baking soda and flour on cabbages to deter cabbage worms.

How about you, do you use baking soda for anything other than baking and freshening the fridge?

~Mavis

{If you haven’t already, check out some more uses for vinegar and old newspaper.}

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.

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

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on January 28, 2013 · 5 Comments

Home again, home again, jiggity gig. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love traveling. Forget Snapple, traveling and seeing new things, is the best stuff on earth. Over the next few days I’ll be sharing some stories from our trip to Denver Colorado, but for now, here is what I purchased this past week at the grocery store.

Winco $40.23

I knew I was going to blow my budget last week when I went to Winco to use the $10/50 coupon {no longer valid}. But I also knew I would be stocking up on a years supply of oatmeal and spices as well. Not having to worry about running to the store for spices was kind of a big deal for me, so I’m glad to have that checked off my list for the year.

There’s no doubt about it. Sometimes you just have to stock up when prices are low so you can save money down the road, and that’s what I chose to do. I spent over 3x what I normally would on groceries in the month of January, but I have no regrets. Good food rules!

Mr. Produce Guy $ FREE

Last week we had plenty of fresh fruit thanks to Mr. Produce Guy. I’ll show you a little later what I did with all those bananas {and no, I did not make banana bread}.

Fred Meyer $1.98 – Orange Juice
QFC $6.58 – Local Milk

Monkey Boy is still not running to the refrigerator to pour tall glasses of milk. He’s also not eating heaping mixing bowls full of cereal {with milk} either. Granted we don’t have any what he would consider “good cereal” like Cocoa Puffs of Golden Grahams {barf} in the house, but still, I find his behavior fascinating.

The HH is getting a little soft on the issue though, so I may end up buying Monkey Boy his own gallon of store brand milk here pretty soon. I’ll keep you posted.

Local Produce Stand $2.69

The Handsome Husband was craving homemade guacamole the other day and with avocados on sale for only $.50 everywhere, I picked up a few.

I may have gone over my budget {again} this week, but I was able to stock up on staples so I don’t feel too bad. I know Albertsons has double coupons going on right now, so I think I may head on over there if I can find a few deals. Did you do a doubles trip? Is there anything I should be on the lookout for?

Have a great week,

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $51.68
Total Spent This Year $350.86 – Holy Cow Man!
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $81.90 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree!}

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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.