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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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One Hundred Dollars a Month – Mavis’ Weekly Highlights 7/28/18

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Mavis Butterfield on Instagram – Follow me as I share some random goodness

Mornings with Mavis 

Stories From this Past Week

Videos

  • Friday Night at the Movies – Witness

Peace Out Girl Scouts, have a great weekend!

♥ Mavis

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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.

Friday Night at the Movies – Witness

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Witness recently popped up on my Amazon Prime Movies feed and the HH and I watched it after dinner a few nights ago. Do you remember that movie? Can you believe it was filmed in 1985? Holy cow man, that’s over 30 years ago!!! Some days I feel like I’m getting so old. 😉

I know Witness is not the normal type of movie I feature in my Friday Night at the Movies series, but it’s a classic and I just had to share for those of you Harrison Ford fans out there. Ahh the 80’s and 90’s movies, I miss them.

Let me know what you think if you decide to watch it–or if you have already seen it.

Peace out Girl Scouts & have yourself a great weekend,

~Mavis

PicMonkey Collage

Looking for more movies?

Check out the full list of my Friday Night at the Movies Selections or click on over & look at all the movies on Amazon Instant Video. There are a ton of videos to choose from that will cost you absolutely nothing {nada, zilch, free-o} with Amazon Prime; like thousands of regular movies & TV shows & hundreds of documentaries {Wahoo!}. Get all the details 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.

Have You Seen Vanilla Prices Skyrocket?

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Sometimes the law of unintended consequences is tricky. That’s apparent when it comes to vanilla. There’s a vanilla shortage, and while it has much to do with America’s recent {awesome!} obsession with all things natural, it has been brewing for years. The cause is 4-fold:

1. Natural vanilla is crazy labor intensive. Vanilla beans are the seeds of orchids and because the majority are grown in a country where they are not self-pollinated, each plant has to be pollinated by hand using a little stick. Then they have to be dried, but only for a certain amount of time each day. And this must be done for every single orchid. Exhausting and not worth it when the price farmers receive for their vanilla beans is so low. Last year I noticed the price increase in vanilla extract and vanilla beans at Costco. I was shocked when I saw the prices. Vanilla beans on Amazon seem to be at an all time high too. Those prices? They are still crazy high!

2. Then vanillin stormed the market and those farmer’s profits plummeted even more. Vanillin is an artificial flavoring that is made to taste just like vanilla but at a fraction of the price. The increase of this in cookies, ice cream and other items that used to use real vanilla caused many of the vanilla bean farmers to abandon their farms.

3. With the “all-natural” movement, people are dropping those artificial flavorings in lieu of the real deal. But since supply is so very limited without as many farmers growing it, the cost has skyrocketed!

4. Then a cyclone hit Madagascar where most of the world’s vanilla beans are grown and wiped out 1/3 of their crops. Hello supply shortage!!

Last month when I was picking up my prescription glasses at Costco, I noticed the price of vanilla extract and vanilla beans at Costco was still high. Luckily my mother had gifted me a package of vanilla beans {and someone else gifted us a bottle of Vodka for Christmas} so I was able to make several bottles of our own vanilla extract. I use the stuff in all my holiday baking and in my homemade ice cream, but I might have to switch up the recipes this year as my vanilla extract supply is starting to get low.

What do you think? Will you change-up your baking plans for the holidays or will you cough up some extra cash for some real vanilla?

~Mavis

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Read More Posts About NPR

Daily Deals – Free Kind Bar, Tips for Frugal Living, Online Deals and More

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Quote of the Day  “One of the very nicest things about life is the way we must regularly stop whatever it is we are doing and devote our attention to eating.” ~ Luciano Pavarotti

Hello Friday! last night the HH made Rice Krispie treats {can you believe it!} and we had to end up putting them in the fridge because Lucy WOULD NOT LEAVE the kitchen! She was convinced those treats were for her. It was so cute!!!

Here’s hoping your day is filled with sunshine and a/c. Have a great weekend,

♥ 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 $49 purchase or Amazon Prime. {Sign up for a free Amazon Prime 30 day trial!}

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! 🙂

 Subscribe and Save Deals

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

Attention Fred Meyer and Kroger Shoppers … Today only you can download an ecoupon for one FREE Kind Bar. Simply load the ecoupon to you Fred Meyer card and claim your freebie by 8/12/18. It’s that easy!

Home and Kitchen Deals

BBQ Chicken and Bacon Wrap – this wrap is like going to an upscale deli without the upscale price.  Make it out of the homemade tortilla recipe above, and I promise, your mind will be blown.

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}. 

Looking for ways to trim your budget? Check out the post on 20 Tips for Frugal Living a few years ago. Saving money, it never goes out of style. 😉

Kid’s Stuff

Amazon Student is a feature offered to college students with a valid .edu email address. They’ll get Amazon Prime FREE for 6 months and then have the option of continuing that membership for 50% off {so only $59/year for students!}! Go HERE to see all the cool perks they’ll get.

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