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One Hundred Dollars a Month

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.


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Coyle’s Bakeshop – Seattle, Washington

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I have in fact found, THE BEST lemon tart on the planet earth. The crust, the lemon curd, the meringue, it was all perfect and I think I may have let out a little moan with each delicious bite. Actually, I know I did.

Lemon tarts are my thing. It’s ALWAYS the first thing I look for when we go into a pastry shop and let me tell you Bob, I hit the jackpot at Coyle’s Bakeshop in Seattle.

It’s more of a neighborhood cafe than a tourist destination {thank goodness} and I can’t help but think if we lived around the corner from Coyle’s Bakeshop I might plant myself there for an hour or two each day to work on the blog, sip on tea, people watch and enjoy some sweet goodness. To say I can’t wait to go back would be the biggest understatement of the year. Seriously.

The Girl chose a yummy berry meringue. I tell ya, this goal of visiting 52 bakeries in 1 year has got to be hands down my favorite goal I’ve ever made. Who knew that a less than stellar trip through an Albertsons bakery last december would inspire me to seek out delicious pastries?

So I want to know… what is your ALL TIME favorite thing to look for when you go to bakeries? Loaves of bread? Croissants? Giant cookies? Hand pies? I need to know. Maybe I’ve been missing out on something all these years and don’t even know about it.

If and are in the Seattle area, make sure to stop by Coyle’s for a treat, and be sure to take a look at the outdoor seating area across the street at The Yard. I plan on duplicating it {for a chicken enclosure/coop} once we bust out of this joint one day.

Keep calm… and sample on. 🙂

~Mavis

Coyle’s Bakeshop. Go check it out!

8300 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle, WA 98103

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Seed Starting Tips, Cosmetic Deals, Chicken and Rice Freezer Meal Recipe and More

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Quote of the Day “Pray that success will not come any faster than you are able to endure it.” Elbert Hubbard

Lucy the snuggle puggle decided to take a long siesta in my puffy coat yesterday and now it’s full of dog fur. 🙂 I always used to freak out if there was a tiny piece of anything on a shirt or coat… but now, not so much. 🙂

HAPPY THURSDAY…. Make it a good one!

♥ Mavis

*This deal post will be updated throughout the morning so be sure and check back for deals. * Amazon prices can change without notice. Please verify price before ordering. Amazon offers Free Shipping with a $35 purchase or Amazon Prime. {Sign up for a free Amazon Prime 30 day trial!}

Amazon Deal of the Day for 3/2/17 – Wise Company 140-Serving Ultimate Preparedness Pack $99.99

More Amazon Daily Deals for 3/2/17

Available Kindle Books I think look interesting…

The prices on Kindle Books can change quickly, so grab them while you can. Don’t have a Kindle? Download the kindle app on your other devices. It’s easy! 🙂

Nordstrom has the Toms Tribal Slip On marked down to $32.96 shipped {was $54.95}. I think these would look super cute with shorts or black stretch pants.

Subscribe and Save Deals

Subscribe and Save prices reflect a 15% discount for ordering 5 or more items in 1 month.

Gearing up to start your seeds? Pop on over HERE and read my post on 7 Seed Starting Tips Every Gardener Show Know. Lot’s of useful tips for the beginner or the pro.

Discount Mags is offering a 1 year subscription to Better Homes and Gardens Magazine for only $4.99 a year when you use code MAVIS at checkout. This deal will expire 3/3/17 at midnight EST.

Home and Kitchen Deals

REI Garage Deal of the Day – Black Diamond B.D.V. Pants – Men’s $93.73 {was $189}

Chicken with Rice Pilaf Freezer Meal – This recipe will make enough to have one tonight, and still put one in the freezer.

Add on Items

*These are all Amazon Add-on Items and they will ship with qualifying orders over $25 and are eligible for free shipping on $25 orders with Amazon Prime {or will ship FREE on $35 orders without Prime}. 

If you are an Amazon Prime Member, you can get FREE Prime Pantry shipping {a $5.99 value} when you buy five qualifying items. Shop Prime Pantry.

dig-for-your-dinner-1

If you’d like to map out your next few months of garden chores, grab a few Dig For Your Dinner eBooks. That way, you can read about gardening, even when the weather is not nice enough to be outside gardening.

Kid’s Stuff

Getting married soon?

Create an Amazon Wedding Registry! Check out these benefits:

  • 10% Gift – Receive a wedding gift after your event date. Get 10% off most products on Amazon for a savings up to $100.
  • World’s Largest Selection – Register for all the items you both want.
  • It’s universal – keep track of what you want from anywhere. Add from other websites to your Wedding Registry with the universal button.

Create an Amazon Wedding Registry HERE.

Check out these New Printable Coupons:

$2.00 off one Scoop Away
$3.00 off one Fresh Step
$1.00 off any 2 International Delight
$1.00 off ONE Scrubbing Bubbles Bathroom cleaner
$1.00 off one Minute Maid Juice Box 10pk
$1.00 off any two HORMEL Bacon Toppings products
$1.00 off 2 Cascadian Farm™ Cereal or Granola
$1.00 off 3 Pillsbury Refrigerated Baked Goods

Find More Printable Coupons

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.

I Felt So Stupid…

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Oprah. Have you heard of her?

She talks about these things called Ah-Ha moments.

According to Merriam Webster its official definition is “a moment of sudden realization, inspiration, insight, recognition, or comprehension.”

Ya. So. Yesterday. I hauled the pressure washer around back and proceeded to hook it up to the big hose and turn it on. That’s when I noticed the there was a huge tear in the hose part that attaches to the back of the pressure washer. No problem, right? So I headed down to Home Depot to get the 12″ little mini hose thing a ma bob.

The only problem was…. they didn’t sell a thing a ma bob mini 12″ hose part. So I went home to get another look at the machine.

It was then that I realized whoever fixed the pressure washer had improvised. And what I needed was the part that hooked/clamped/screwed onto the pipe {?} above.

So on my second trip to Home Depot I bought something called a garden hose adapter. It was, after all, in the pressure washer replacement part section. And it totally looked like it would work.

Well, no dice. It was the wrong part.

So then I proceeded to spend the next 30 minutes online looking up pressure washer catalogs and parts online. I found what I thought might be the part I needed but they wanted $22 for it + shipping and I wasn’t 100% certain it was the right part. So I hesitated.

Then I drug the pressure washer into the house {it was freakin’ cold outside, okay?} and took the part I thought I might need to replace to Home Depot for a THIRD TIME.

This time I brought the mini 12″ hose AND the metal part that attaches to the pressure washer. I wandered around and tried to find someone who worked there for like 5 minutes. Then I gave up and walked over to an older gentleman and asked him if he knew how to fix stuff. My first clue should have been when his wife laughed. Then I noticed his loafers {soft black leather} and driving gloves hanging out of his pocket.

He said “No, that’s why I’m here {in the patio furniture section}.”

I laughed and said “Oh that’s okay, my dad doesn’t fix things either.”

And then finally I spotted a middle aged worker type guy looking at lawn edgers.

“Hey, so this is awkward but you look like you know how to fix stuff….. {I didn’t give him a chance to say anything}… Can you please help me? I have this broken hose, it’s for my pressure washer and I don’t know what part I am supposed to buy.” 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Yada yada yada…

“Lady, why don’t you just cut the hose? It looks like someone jimmied the part. Just add some clamps to both ends. It should be fine.”

SERIOUSLY.

What took me three hours of driving/messing around took this guy 5 seconds.

I may have cut the hose a wee bit short.

But hey… I found some zip ties in the garage. GOOD AS NEW!

Moral of the story: Don’t over think stuff.

Oh, and use common sense. It works most of the time. 😉

~Mavis

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Seasonal Only Supermarkets

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After having every fruit and vegetable imaginable at your local grocery, do you think you could or even would shop at a market that only offered fruits and vegetables that were in season? What if that was the only available option? What if you could make your diet more secure and sustainable by eating seasonally, opting for foods that are grown closer to home without the added carbon footprint of greenhouses and transportation? Would you be in?

Currently, the supermarket model is one that may be difficult to sustain. Recently, this became apparent when the UK experienced shortages of lettuce, zucchini, spinach, and other green vegetables after severe flooding in Spain. Because they couldn’t import those items from their normal sources, they took a hit and brought that produce in at a loss. Because that’s what was expected.

But what if we changed the model? What if our supermarkets began only offering local produce in season? Can you image the global implications? The reduction of the carbon footprint? The billions saved transportation costs? Just on a local level, it would help to support local farmers who struggle to make a living.

In order to shift the supermarket model, we’d have to shift how we eat. We could no longer expect to eat cucumbers, Romaine lettuce, and cherry tomatos in the middle of winter; we’d have to be okay with winter produce and only winter produce until other yummy foods come back into season. Then we would stuff our faces and begin to preserve all our new bounty.

Do you think a store like this could really make it in today’s “I want what I want when I want it” society? Would you shop there? Or would you miss your off-season produce too much?

Let me know all you produce eaters!

~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.

Mavis Butterfield Etsy