One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1820 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.

Easy Kitchen Tips – Italian Seasoning Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 22, 2012 · 5 Comments

Ingredients
3 tablespoons dried parsley
3 tablespoons dried basil
2 1/2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Mix all the spices together in a small bowl, then give them a whirl in your food processor*, or spice grinder* then store in an airtight container.

Be sure and check out my recipes for Allspice and Pumpkin Pie Spice as well.

Looking for a way to store your spices? Amazon has plenty of spice racks* in stock.

*Direct Amazon link

Learn how buying spices in bulk can save you money.

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 Garden Blog – Harvesting the Last of the Winter Squash

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 22, 2012 · 9 Comments

Yesterday I harvested the last of the winter squash. There were a few butternuts, Burgess buttercups, and spaghetti squash to pick.

Out of all of the squash I grew this year, I am most excited to try the Burgess buttercup squash. Since my sweet potatoes were a total dud, I am totally taking the Botanical Interests seed packet for it’s word when it says “May be used as a substitute for mashed sweet potatoes.” We’ll see. If I can fool the Handsome Husband with this, then I’ll forget about planting sweet potatoes next year, and plant more Burgess Buttercup instead as I think the squash may be easier to grow in Washington State.

All in all, not a bad haul. I think combined with all the other squash we grew this year, we should be set. Let’s hope for a long, cold winter, so I can use up all this squash.

~Mavis

P.S. Have you ever grown Burgess Buttercup Squash before? Does it really taste like sweet potatoes?

Maximizing Your Mini Farm: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre By Brett L. Markman ~ Amazon.com

Mini farming describes a holistic approach to small-area farming that will show you how to produce 85 percent of an average family’s food on just a quarter acre.

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

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 22, 2012 · 17 Comments

Because I didn’t do any shopping at the grocery stores to fill my refrigerator last week, instead I spent the week pulling weeds in the garden and bartering with my neighbors. So not only did I save on gas, but I saved a few pennies as well. After all, I need to conserve my resources if I’m going to get a turkey and cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving this year.

Last week The Girl and I were able to glean a good sized laundry basket of neglected apples.

I didn’t have to pay anything for the reclaimed produce either.

My bartering with my neighbor Francisco went much better. You can watch the video and see how it all went down HERE.

I LOVE bartering with Mrs. Hillbilly. She always has a ton of fancy cheeses and meat products in stock. Plus, I was even able to score a can of Guinness for the HH’s favorite Guinness Beef Stew. Yee-Haw!

I did have one deal that was a total stinker though. 2 of Girl Girls kids came down to barter 2 pounds of ground meat and a tin FULL of moon-cakes with me in exchange for some pumpkins.

But when I opened the tin of moon-cakes, I noticed 2 of them were missing. CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT? Girly Girl stuck it to me AGAIN! What a punk!

So how did you do last week? Did you do any bartering, or find some sweet deals at the grocery store?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $ 0
Total Spent This Year $1,028.17
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $516.21
Total “Seed Money” donations received $51.00

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

R & M Industries 5920 Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer $16.99 ~ Amazon.com

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Mavis Takes the Day Off

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 21, 2012 · 11 Comments

After a jam packed, activity filled day on Friday, I finally fell into bed around midnight. I woke up at 3 am on Saturday morning to start a boatload of crock pots full of soup for one of the kids sporting events, made some tea, let out the chickens, showered, started a load of laundry, typed a few posts for the blog, made the bed, packed up the car and left the house about 8 am.

By the time I walked in the door around 4 pm I was exhausted. So I took a one hour nap.

Then I got up, helped The Girl get ready for an event, started what would be 6 loads of laundry, hauled in a bunch of dirty crock pots from the car {which Monkey Boy cleaned for me}, cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed half of the house, picked up the family room, and swept the kitchen.

I then logged on to my computer, found 72 new emails and almost passed out. I immediately closed the laptop, told the Handsome Husband I was going to bed, and finally crawled under the covers around 11pm.

To put it mildly, I’m exhausted.

So if you’ve sent me an email, left a comment with a question, or are just wondering why the heck I’m not around today, it’s because I’m taking the day off.

But don’t worry. I’ll be back bright and early Monday morning.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, I’m going back to bed.

♥ Mavis

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.