One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1761 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.

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

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 10, 2012 · 21 Comments

Have you ever heard the phrase “Up a creek without a paddle?” I think I’m going to let the pictures do the talking this week while I go bury may face in some tissues.

~Mavis

Fred Meyer $2.00

I used {2} $1/1 Challenge Butter Printable Coupons along with a Fred Meyer coupon to score some cheap butter. *Thanks Helen for the tip.

Costco $22.96

Note to self. NEVER go food shopping with a teenage boy. Ever.

Target $5.53

Baking supplies.

Albertsons $10.95

Harbor Greens Market $7.50

Bartering with Chino the Handyman

I was pretty excited to be able to barter with Chino for 17+ pounds of deer meat this past weekend. I’m pretty much to the point now where I can’t even eat store bought hamburger meat anymore. The thought of giant vats of hamburger meat from hundred of different cows being processed and put onto foam trays gives me the shivers. Bleh. I’m becoming one of those meat snobs, I just know it.

Krispy Kreme $9.99

I knew this weeks budget was totally shot and The Girl and I were totally craving something sweet so when she asked if we could get a doughnut I was like sure, let’s just get a whole box.

Total Spent This Week $ 58.93
Total Spent This Year $1,184.81 <<<<< Only $15.19 left in my budget>>>>>
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $5.24.20
Total “Seed Money” donations received $51.00

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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Easy Christmas Craft Ideas for Kids – Root Beer Reindeer, Cinnamon Candles, Tea Bag Wreath

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 9, 2012 · 6 Comments

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Pipe cleaners, googley eyes, and red sparkly pom poms. Root Beer Reindeer. Awesome!

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I am a total tea drinker and I absolutely LOVE this gift idea!

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Toilet paper rolls and construction paper. Does it get any easier than that?

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White candles, cinnamon sticks and a couple of sprigs of holly. Perfect!

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Candy canes, brown yard, googly eyes, a jingle bell, white sting and red pom poms. This would be fun for the kids to make while the adults are chatting.

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Shopping with Mavis – 11 Stores in 7 Hours

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 9, 2012 · 27 Comments

I had planned on spending the entire day in the garden yesterday. Instead I ended up spending 7 hours running errands and shopping with my daughter, The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird.

During breakfast yesterday she reminded me she needed to go shopping for a dress for a special occasion she has coming up. The Girl only owns 2 dresses as it is, and she had been saving up her money to buy herself a new dress for sometime now {we give our kids a monthly allowance and they are in charge of buying their own clothes, gifts, entertainment, school supplies, and whatever else they want}.

Because I absolutely despise going to a mall or any retail store this time of year, we made a list of every possible store {except grocery} we would need something from from now until January and headed off in the car.

The first stop was the thrift store.

When you go to the thrift store and see an item you might like do you walk around clinging to it as if it were gold, only to talk yourself out of it before you get to the register? I do it ALL THE TIME. I mean really, could you see me wearing the green leafy skirt above? Like that would ever happen.

It took us 7 hours, we made 11 stops, and got everything marked off our list.

Our first stop was the recycling center to drop off cardboard and newspaper.

Then we stopped by Fred Meyer to pick up some Challenge Butter for $1 a pound. We also stuck some money in the Salvation Army kettle and noticed the bell ringers were a wee bit chilly. So we walked back in and bought them 3 hot cocoas. Yay for random acts of kindness!

We also stopped by World Market to get a few items for my parents gift baskets. Note: Crushed candy canes are only $3.99 here vs $4.99 at Crate and Barrel.

Then we were hungry so we stopped by KRISPY KREME!!!! Wahooo. When the guy handed us our doughnuts I said to The Girl, “Look, free gift tags, how cool is that?” “Whoop T Do Mom” she said.

Then I turned the gift tags over and OH MY GOODNESS … 12 coupons for 6 free cups of coffee and 6 free doughnuts. Yeah Baby Yeah!

Then we made like 5 other stops before ending our shopping/errand spree at Costco. Along with buying new socks and underwear for the Handsome Husband for Christmas {please tell me I’m not the only one who does this}, we also picked up a bunch of cute onsies for a 3 month old baby to place under the Angel Tree.

We had lunch there too. Meatballs, jalapeno poppers, hot cocoa, gummy vitamins, hummus, chips, bruchetta, and spinach ravioli. Hot dog it feels good to be done!

How about YOU? What did you do yesterday? Are you done with your shopping yet?

Mavis

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Sunday Brunch Recipes – Homemade Strawberry Almond Granola

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By Mavis Butterfield on December 9, 2012 · Leave a Comment

My friend Mama JJ has me hooked on this granola recipe. I pretty much want to marry it.

Delicious does not even begin to describe it. Not one bit. If you have never tried to make your own granola before, put it on your bucket list. Seriously, because once you make it, you’ll be like…

“What on earth was I waiting for? This stuff is freakin’ awesome!”

Every time I have made this granola recipe I have done something a little different. The first time I used cranberries and left out the almonds, the second time I used cranberries & sunflower seeds and this time around I used strawberries and almonds. So basically, you can change it up to suit your likes and dislikes. And if someone in your household is allergic to peanut butter, simply use honey instead.

Homemade Strawberry Almond Granola

Ingredients

5 cups rolled oats
1 cup slivered almonds
1 cup coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup dried strawberries

Instructions

In a large bowl toss the oats, nuts and coconut together. Combine the brown sugar, honey, and peanut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until creamy {about 2 minutes}. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the oat mixture and stir to combine. Pour the mixture onto a lined cookie sheet {I used a silpat} and bake at 250 degrees for about 60. Stir every fifteen minutes so the mixture does not burn. Cool to room temperature, add dried fruit and hide the granola goodness in an airtight container. Ration accordingly.

Looking for a little more granola inspiration? Check out The Homemade Pantry: 101 Foods You Can Stop Buying and Start Making By Alana Chernila. Amazon currently has it in stock and it’s packed with all sorts of goodness.

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.