One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1726 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 Save Money at the Grocery Store – Weighing Produce

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 14, 2013 · 21 Comments

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When I people-watch in the grocery store {which I do often, not for judgement, but for the sheer sake of curiosity}, I am always amazed how few people weigh their produce. It’s a simple step that can save a ton of money over time.

Next time you grab a bunch of bananas or a bag of grapes, weigh them. Maybe the best bunch has 2 more bananas than you need, but those two extras might just throw you over the edge budget wise. So only buy what you need.

The same goes for grapes, just because the bag has 4 lbs., doesn’t mean that’s how many you have to buy. You can remove some of the grapes, throw them in another bag, and buy {and pay for} only what you need and will use in a given week.

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Along the same lines, keep this principal in mind when you are shopping for an item with multiple varieties {think: apples}. The variety on sale for $.88/lb vs. the one $1.29/lb sometimes looks different on the scale.

Here’s my logic on this one: If I am shopping for apples for Monkey Boy and The Girl’s lunch, then I need two apples, right? A lot of times, the apples on sale are as big as cantaloupes, and I know they won’t eat the entire apple. So, if the higher price per pound apples are smaller, then I can get the quantity I need and still come out paying a lower price. Simply weighing out my options can save a ton of cash, and a lot of times, seeing that extra $.50 on the scale helps me keep my budget in check.

How about you, do you weigh your produce or do you skip this step?

~Mavis

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Pallet Gardening – DIY Flower Box

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 14, 2013 · 7 Comments

Yesterday I wandered out into the backyard and created a flower box. I still had a few daffodils left over and wanted to get them planted asap, but was out of containers.

I did however have an old wooden pallet that was headed for the burn pile.

So after the game was over, I had the Handsome Husband break out his skill saw and chop it up for me.

The HH cut the pallet just above the 2 slat mark, and then knocked off 2 boards from another {unusable} part of the pallet.

Here you can see the flower box starting to take form.

I nailed 1 board to the bottom of the planter, and another to the top, and then stuffed the wooden pallet planter with soil and bulbs.

Hopefully in a few months this thing will be bursting will flower power.

Pretty cool eh? I love free stuff!

~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 January 14, 2013 · 29 Comments

QFC & Fred Meyer – $5.29

There has been a new development with the Milk Situation in our house. Monkey Boy refuses to drink the “good milk.” And since the Handsome Husband only uses a wee bit of milk in cereal, and I only use it in my tea, and The Girl mostly drinks water, {and some juice} I only had to purcahse a 1/2 gallon of milk last week. HOW ODD!

Will this trend continue? Who knows, but The Girl and I find the whole thing amusing.

Local Produce Store – $3 for 6 peppers and 2 cucumbers {Monkey Boy ran off with the 6th pepper}

Backyard Harvest – Beets!

Indoor Harvest – Wheatgrass!

Swagbucks – FREE

I redeemed the remaining Swagbucks credit I had for a few Amazon gift cards. I ordered fancy nut snacks for the Handsome Husband, Eggo syrup for Monkey Boy, plus tuna and my favorite Traverse Bay dried cranberries for all of us. Clearly had I known I could have scored some cheap Mrs. Buttersworth’s syrup at Albertsons this week before I placed my order, I would have bought that instead, and used my credit for something else. Oh well, it happens. I also ordered some Kashi Crackers which are on sale right now, but those have not arrived yet.

Costco – $15.99

The short version on this story – I was sick, asleep, and the Handsome Husband was hungry. The way it works in our house is, if there is no prepared food at eye level for my husband to find, he assumes we have no food. He doesn’t cook. He doesn’t clean. He doesn’t grocery shop, but he gets up everyday and goes to work to provide for his family, and, he lifts heavy stuff occasionally for me. So it’s all good.

While I was napping one day, he ran to Costco and bought “food.” I’m not exactly sure how the man figured out how to take the plastic top off the package and turn on the oven, but he did. God Bless America.

Albertsons – $2.37

Double coupons are cool, especially when you can leave the store with a giant sack of food for less than the cost of a latte. Read about it HERE.

Mr. Produce Guy – FREE

There is no need to buy this stuff when you can get it for free! Read about it HERE.

Oroweat Bakery Outlet – $2.00

After I brought the bread home, I read the NPR article, and I’m going to try my hand at baking my own bread. Not only am I hoping it will save me some money, but I’m thinking it will taste better too!

So how did YOU do this past week? Did your husband buy anything to throw off your grocery budget? Did you score some great deals?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $28.65
Total Spent This Year $281.55
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $0

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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Mavis Butterfield | Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 3 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on January 13, 2013 · 3 Comments

This past week was pretty slow in the garden, both indoors and out. Mostly because the ground was frozen solid and it has been bitter cold outside for what seems like forever. Being from the Northwest, I am totally used to working in the rain, it doesn’t even phase me. But hello, when it’s so cold I can’t even walk outside without my face going numb, I totally throw in the trowel, and call it a day.

Clearly, I’m not as hearty as I though I was. I don’t think I could cut it living in Alaska, Maine or anyplace else that requires a down jacket just to walk outside to get the mail. Let them have their snow and hot cocoa, I’ll take the balmy Seattle weather any day of the week.

So what DID I get done in the garden last week? Well, I created a rock border about 2 feet from the fence so I can grow sunflowers and zucchini this summer, I cleaned my seed starting trays, and I also ordered another set of grow lights. Plus, we planted our first lettuce seeds of the year as well.

Harvest wise there was wheatgrass, beets, and eggs.

Not super exciting I suppose, but it’s still January after all, so we can’t expect miracles.

~Mavis

Week 3 of 52 – Mavis’ Backyard Garden Plot

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.