One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1717 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.

Money Saving Tip – DIY Fabric Softener

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 22, 2013 · 60 Comments

Several months ago, I started making my own fabric softener. I wanted to really try it before I reviewed it here. The verdict? It. Is. Awesome. I was worried I wouldn’t like it as much as store-bought, but I LOVE it, it works better and it’s cheaper.

It takes about 5 minutes to make and yields a gallon of fabric softener. Use it as you would store bought fabric softener, or soak a washcloth in a bowl of the softener and let it dry out completely {the drying-out will take days}. Then toss it in as you would a dryer sheet. One wash cloth will last for many, many loads of laundry.

Here’s my favorite recipe:

2 Cups Hair Conditioner {any brand works fine, I used the one in the picture because a neighbor hated the way it made her hair feel, and was going to toss it. Can you say FREE?}
3 Cups Distilled White Vinegar {Don’t worry, your clothes won’t smell like vinegar, and you’ll be cleaning your washer at the same time}
6 Cups Water

Put the conditioner and vinegar in a microwave save bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes {this makes it waaay easier to mix}. Stir the conditioner and vinegar with a whisk {don’t shake, you’ll have a bubbly mess–or at least I’ve heard, ahem} until smooth and creamy. Pour mixture into storage container. Slowly add water. I use an empty vinegar container for my excess and put some in my saved store-bought fabric softener container, for easy use with a built-in measuring cup.

*Note: You cannot use bleach with vinegar, it creates toxic chlorine gas fumes! {Thanks Jamie}

Do YOU make your own fabric softener?

Or is this one of those, Mavis you are a total nerd things?

~Mavis

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Mavis Garden Blog – Freshly Dug Potatoes in January? Say What?

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 22, 2013 · 11 Comments

Yesterday I was out in the backyard garden working on a new project, as I was digging up one of our raised garden beds, my shovel dug in to something.

A potato.

I thought I had cleared all the potatoes out last fall, but apparently not.

Not wanting to loose any more potatoes, I got down on my hands and knees and started to carefully move the dirt away in hopes of finding more hidden gems. And guess what. There WERE MORE! I might as well have been digging for gold it was so exciting. So how many potatoes was I able to harvest?

2 pounds 9 ounces to be exact. Holy mashed potatoes people, that’s enough for a meal! Wahoooo! I may just have to forget to harvest some potatoes again this fall so there will be some to eat next January.

Are you planning on planting potatoes this spring? If so, what are your favorite variety to grow?

I think Yukon Golds are my favorite.

~Mavis

The Complete Book of Potatoes: What Every Grower and Gardener Needs to Know
Taylor Kitchen Scale
Seed Potatoes

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Reclaimed Food Show and Tell

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 22, 2013 · 9 Comments

It looks like things are still a little slow in the produce department. I guess it’s true, people eat less fruits and vegetables in the winter. Maybe we are all to busy trying to keep warm with soups and home cooked meals instead.

Well, that and the part about the price of fresh fruit being sky high in the winter because it has to be flown in from ever corner of the world. Ya, that might have something to do with it too.

Thanks to Mr. Produce Guy we were able to reclaim a weeks worth of bananas, melon, apples and pears. Not to shabby of you ask me.

The chickens were thrilled with their weekly treat box as well. Melons, grapes and lettuce are some of their favorite things to eat. It makes me sad to think about all those poor lonely chickens out there who don’t get to run around all day scratching in the dirt and being treated like royalty.

All of our backyard chickens have been raised from day old chicks, so they have no idea they are living the good life.

Look at those 2 tiny chicken eggs! They are so sweet I don’t even want to crack them.

Happy Chickens = Happy Eggs.

Life is good.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, I hope you have a great day.

♥ Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 9 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

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.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Bars Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 21, 2013 · 10 Comments

I can’t even remember the last time I bought butterscotch chips, but I found a bag of them while I was cleaning out my pantry last week. Luckily I found a recipe for butterscotch bars from Cooking Light Magazine so they didn’t have to sit in my pantry a moment longer.

I slightly adapted the recipe and used what I had on hand, and let me tell you Bob, these oatmeal butterscotch bars are so sticky and sweet, they may just make all your teeth fall out at once. I had to take the plate away form the Handsome Husband after he gobbled up 4 of them in a row.

Holy cow man, these things are good!

Ingredients

1 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups all-porpose flour
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda {15 Cool Uses for Baking Soda}
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/4 cups butterscotch chips
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the butter and sugar together in a large bowl. Add in the vanilla and egg, then set aside.

In another bowl, combine flour, oats, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and combine well. The mixture will be crumbly!

Place 2 1/2 cups of the oat mixture into the bottom of a lined 9×13″ baking dish. Press the oat mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan and set aside.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the sweetened condensed milk, butterscotch chips, and salt together. Heat for 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds, until the mixture has melted and is nice and smooth. Pour the butterscotch mixture over the crust, then add the remaining oat mixture on top and gently press down to firm the bars up a bit.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until topping is golden brown. Cool the oatmeal butterscotch bars completely before slicing into 2 inch squares, and don’t forget to brush your teeth afterwards!

Looking for more recipes from Cooking Light Magazine? Head on over HERE to get their 2013 recipe book filled with you guessed it, all their awesome recipes from 2013.

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.