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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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Weekly Grocery Shopping Savings Show and Tell {Week 43 of 52}

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fred meyer milkFred Meyer $8.73

Milk and OJ was on sale $0.99 per half gallon. I also picked up last week’s Friday freebie of Meow Mix {no I don’t have a cat but animal shelters LOVE free stuff}. The cottage cheese was $.88 per container as were the cake mixes. I can’t remember the last time I bought a cake mix but let me tell you Bob, I thought the chocolate cake I made for Monkey Boy’s birthday tasted AWFUL {Monkey Boy and the HH liked it}. Once you’ve had a homemade cake…. there is just no comparison. Lesson learned.

discount breadAlbertsons $2.97

Garlic bread and potato rolls. I popped these babies in the freezer to use later.

butternut squash

Harbor Greens Market $15.14

My best find of the week was butternut squash on sale at our local produce market for $1.00 each!!! The regular price on butternuts is around $1.49 a pound, on sale you can usually find them for $0.79.

39 pounds for $10? Heck ya I’m going to stock up.

ham

I also picked up 2 pounds of sliced deli ham at $4.99 a pound. I didn’t realize until I got home the cashier only rang up one bag. I called the store but they were like…. forget about it, enjoy your ham. Works for me! 😉

tuna casserole

Last week was kind of a funny one. Almost every dinner I made, lasted 2 days. I made a tuna casserole one night and the next day packed some of the leftovers in the HH’s lunch. We ate the remaining leftovers for dinner. pot roast

I also made a pot roast with potatoes and carrots in the slower cooker one night.shepherds pie

The next night I turned the leftovers into a shepherd’s pie which we ate for dinner the next night as well. Giddy up!
roasted butternut squash

Roasted butternut squash is pretty much the bomb diggety. I’ll post the recipe I use later this week. Pumpkin Bread with Crumb Topping

Pumpkin season is here and this past week I made 7 small loaves of pumpkin bread. The HH and I love having a slice of it with a cuppa in the morning. {I’ll post the recipe tomorrow}. homemade tapioca

Homemade tapioca. birthday cake

Happy birthday Monkey Boy.

chocolate chip cookies

6 dozen chocolate chip cookies. Half for the cookie jar and half for the freezer for later.

Those are just a few of the things I made last week.

What’s on YOUR dinner plate these days?

Have you found any good deals on squash in your neck of the woods yet?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $26.84

Weeks 1-28 Shopping Exclusively at Costco $1,229.25 {$43.90 a week/$175 a month average}
Weeks 29-43 Shopping wherever the heck I want $379.83
Total Spent Year to Date $1627.19

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

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.

Kindle Books, Paper Beads, Vegan Pumpkin Bar Recipe, Chopping Axes, A Christmas Story and More

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bellicoseWord of the Day: Bellicose Definition: Warlike, wanting to fight Used in a sentence: He showed a bellicose disposition when the remark was made to him.

lucy the puggle dog

Can you see it in her eyes? This pup means BUSINESS. Lucy thinks cookies and cheese are way better snacks than carrot sticks. 😉 So if you have anymore healthy snack alternatives for her to try… I’m desperate.

Have a good Monday and Keep Calm and Carry On,

♥ Mavis

*This deal post will be updated throughout the morning so be sure and check back for deals. 

Hoover-Linx-Cordless-Stick-Vacuum

Gold Box Deal of the Day – Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner $89.99 shipped

kindle books

Available Kindle Books I think are cool…

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! 🙂

amazon subscribe and save
Subscribe and Save Deals

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

Halloween-Party-Ideas-and-Recipes-Deviled-Egg-SpidersThese Deviled Egg Spiders are not only the perfect creepy treat for your Halloween party, but they are also delicious! Find more creepy treats on my Halloween Pinterest Board.

eveready gold batteries

Best Buy – Today only the the 24 pack of Eveready AAA Batteries for $6.99 shipped or the 36 Pack of Eveready AA Batteries for $10.99 shipped.

T.S. Shure ArchiQuest Master Builder Wooden Building Blocks Set

While supplies last get the 135 Piece T.S. Shure ArchiQuest Master Builder Wooden Building Blocks Set for $13.79. This ships FREE with Amazon Prime. 

hunter short boots

6pm has some sweet deals on Men’s Hunter Boots

Hand Painted Hippie Van Pottery MugSuper Awesome Etsy Shop of the Day –FairFolkPottery where you’ll find handmade pottery by Yvette Alexander. Want to have YOUR Etsy shop featured? Leave a comment HERE with the name of your shop.

shower ipod speaker

Perfect for the shower or the beach, the VicTsing Wireless Bluetooth 3.0 Waterproof Outdoor / Shower Speaker is on sale for only $15.99 and it has over 1,600 reviews!! {Great teen gift idea!}

Easy-Vegan-Recipes-Pumpkin-Chocolate-Chip-BarsOne of the best ways to use up those pumpkins: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars. Yum! Get the recipe HERE or Pin it for Later. Find more recipes on my Pumpkin/Squash Pinterest Board.

potterybarn free shipping

Pottery Barn – Today only score FREE SHIPPING when you use code FREESHIP at checkout. Plus save an additional 15% off your order when you sign up for their newsletter.

fancy feast
Meow! Get the 24 Pack of Fancy Feast, 3-Ounce Cans for just $9.99! This ships FREE with Amazon Prime. Try Prime for free by heading HERE.

recycled paper beads

Toy Deals

a christmas story dvd

Get A Christmas Story (Full-Screen Edition) for just $3.69!!! This would be a great {and inexpensive} gift exchange gift.

plum organicsAdd 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}. 

wood spliter

Today Only The Home Depot is offering the Earthquake 5-Ton Electric Log Splitter for $249.99 shipped {was $300}. Perfect for winter!

red black flannel shirt

More Chopping Gear

audible

Right now Amazon Prime members can get a 3-month FREE trial for Audible!!! {I like to listen to audiobooks while I garden.} With over 150,000 titles to choose from you’d be CRAZY to pass up this freebie. Listen with the FREE Audible app on your smartphone or tablet.

stevia coupons

Check out these New Printable Coupons:

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.

Mavis Butterfield | Backyard Garden Plot Pictures 10/25/15

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arborvitaes

If you are in need of arborvitae trees, the Home Depot has them in stock. Well, at least mine did. My store is selling the 5 gallon trees for $12.99, the 7 gallon for $19.99 and the 10 gallon pots for $29.99.

Because of the intense heat this summer two of our trees died and so I was very happy to find these so late in the season. I like planting trees in the fall because all I have to do is dig a hole and plop it in. No watering. Yee-Haw! Living in the Pacific Northwest does have it’s perks. 😉

espalier pear tree

The only other trees on my list are a dogwood tree for out front and two espalier trees to finish my little “orchard” on the side yard. I know if I buy the espalier trees as bare root trees in February I’ll be able to save about $20 a tree vs buying them in late spring once the leftovers have all been potted up.

thyme

Pinky and her crew protecting the thyme plants. new grass

New grass!raised garden beds

It’s slow growing in the garden beds right now. green beans

I did pick a few handfuls of beans the other day though. brussels sprouts

And the Brussels sprouts are getting taller each day. beets

And the beets! Aren’t they pretty? These are my Christmas beets. {My Thanksgiving beets are growing in the shade garden with the Swiss chard.}beets

The new recruits.

As long as I keep the beds mulched I should be able to harvest these babies early next year.

zucchini squash white powdery mold

The last chance zucchini plants are all covered in a powdery mildew. Which is to be totally expected given it is almost November.round zucchini plant

I’m keeping my fingers crossed I’ll be able to harvest a few little round zucchinis though.

spider

Charlotte and her web.

compost pile

Goodbye tomatoes…. See you again next year.

What’s new in YOUR garden?

~Mavis

This year’s garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2015 Garden Seed Catalog, or see the seeds I’ll be growing in my garden this year HERE.

Up for a tour? Read about our behind the scenes tour of Botanical Interests Seed Company.

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.

Tips for Keeping Your Carved Pumpkins Fresh

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Tips for Keeping Your Carved Pumpkins FreshWhile I personally think that moldy caved-in pumpkins add a bit of gore and spook to the Halloween holiday, I realize most people do not share that opinion.  While getting a carved pumpkin to last 2 days is a piece of cake {or pumpkin pie, rather}, getting it to last any longer requires a little bit of effort.  And who doesn’t want to show off their pumpkin carving prowess for a full week before Halloween?  It’s important stuff.

So, how do you get that Jack-o-Lantern to cooperate with you and not Mother Nature’s grand design of decomposition?  You follow these easy tips…

  1. Start with clean hands.  Bacteria speeds up decomposition, so unless you are going for a compost themed carving, wash up. {Hand sanitizer will do the trick too.}
  2. Wash the outside of your pumpkin with a diluted bleach solution.  That will eliminate any lurking bacteria on the pumpkin.
  3. Once you have removed the seeds and innards, you can soak the whole pumpkin in a diluted bleach solution.
  4. If your days are still hot, you’ll want to stash your carved pumpkin in the garage, basement, or even fridge to preserve it.
  5. On the flip side, if you nights are really cold, you may want to bring it in.  Frostbite does not look great on a pumpkin.
  6. Try to keep moisture off of your pumpkin.  If it rains, or snows {gasp!} you’ll want to towel him off regularly so he’ll make it to the big show.

In the end, you are really just delaying the inevitable, but if it buys you a week, then it’s totally worth it.

Happy Carving,

Mavis

Oh, and make sure not to toss out those seeds, this is that glorious time of year for roasted pumpkin seeds and pumpkin seed brittle.  Yum-O!

Pumpkin Seed Brittle

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