Weekly Shopping Trips | One Hundred Dollars a Month

Mavis Goes to the Goodwill and Finds the Best Dress Ever!

March 21, 2013 37 Comments

It was a dream come true I tell you.

This afternoon I walked in to our local Goodwill store and made a b-line for the shoe rack like I always do {looking for garden boots of course} and there it was.

The most gorgeous dress in the world.

Holy crap that is awesome came out of my mouth so loud, the lady who was looking at a $19.99 coffee table {also an awesome deal} looked up with “your’e a total psycho” eyes before I could shut my mouth.

Oh, and I also scored another cool pair of garden boots too!

I love thrift stores!!!

~Mavis

P.S. What is the best thing you’ve found at a thrift store lately?

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Trash or Treasure, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: frugal living, goodwill, thrift stores, Trash or Treasure, Weekly Shopping Trips

Reclaimed Food Show and Tell

March 19, 2013 12 Comments

I must admit I was a little excited when I saw all those bags of grapes and 1 pound boxes of strawberries when I picked up the reclaimed food boxes this week from Mr. Produce Guy.

Even though there were only 2 boxes of scraps saved for us, there were still plenty of treasures.

Umm, especially grapes.

The Girl and I could not figure out why the grapes had been tossed because they were all in excellent condition. There were so many in fact, I ended up giving a few bags of both red and green seedless grapes away to one of my neighbors.

It was crazy!

Sadly a lot of the strawberries were not salvageable, but it looks like I’ll be making banana bread again this week, and the kids will have grapes in their lunch every single day. Not to shabby if you ask me. I don’t know about you, but I love free food.

How much do grapes sell for this time of year anyway? Does anyone know?

~Mavis

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past year?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.

Filed Under: Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: how to find free food, Mavis, one hundred dollars a month, Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips

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

March 18, 2013 8 Comments

Last week I was pretty busy working in the garden and ended up doing all my grocery shopping in one day while I was out running errands. I LOVE it when that happens.

Here is what I purchased last week:

Harbor Greens Market – $5.28

Hopefully this is the last bag of potatoes I will have to buy for a long, long time. 10 pounds of potatoes $1.99, Green peppers 3 for $1, avocados 2 for $1, and our favorite Fuji apples $0.69 a pound! I love Harbor Greens Market for the weekly produce deals.

Fred Meyer – $13.67

I had this great idea that I would make apple turn overs with some of the free granny smith apples I scored last week from Mr. Produce Guy, but they totally bombed. Although they tasted good, they looked awful. Luckily I only used 1 of the 2 packages so I have to attempt making turnovers again. Oh well.

We are also totally out of chicken. I placed my Zaycon order so we will have more in a few weeks, but this bag will have to last us until then.

QFC – $8.95

I scored some spinach wraps on clearance, fresh asparagus for $1.69 a pound, local milk and a gallon of the regular stuff for Monkey Boy.

Barter with Mrs. Hillbilly – FREE

I traded eggs for butter last night at Mrs. HB’s house. I think the best kind of deals are when you both walk away with what you need. Since we are swimming in eggs {and will be for the rest of the year} I think it will be fun to see what I can trade the neighbors for with my extras.

Mr. Produce Guy – FREE

It was another stellar week in the reclaimed food department. It’s amazing how many meals and snacks you can make from a little bit for fresh fruits and veggies and some staple items. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s kind of cool.

How did you do this week? Did you buy anything exciting? Did you order any meat from Zaycon?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $27.90
Total Spent This Year $516.03
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $744.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 15 yards of soil} and 90 pounds of seed potatoes.

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

Filed Under: Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: Mavis, mavis butterfield, mondays with mavis, one hundred dollars a month

Bartering with Mavis – 26 Eggs for One Pound of Butter

March 17, 2013 17 Comments

I stopped by Mrs. Hillbilly’s house this afternoon with some of my excess eggs. I’ve been craving homemade cookies for the last few days but I was down to my last stick of butter and needed more.

I ended up trading 26 fresh eggs for 1 pound of butter. Mrs. HB needed eggs, I needed butter. Having neighbors to barter with is really cool. It sure beats having to drive or walk to the store when you need just one item.

Oh, and Lucy the puggle dog also got a mini play date with her dog as well. What a bonus!

~Mavis

Filed Under: Bartering, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: bartering, Weekly Shopping Trips

Mavis Goes to the Dollar Store

March 13, 2013 35 Comments

When was the last time you went to the Dollar Store?

Holy cow do they have a boatload of crap available for a buck! Some of it is better than others of course, and practically everything comes from China, but some of the stuff isn’t half bad if you were already planning on buying the same thing at Walmart or Target in the first place.

Plastic Easter Eggs… 1 dollar!

Egg Coloring Kits… 1 dollar – Did you do these as a kid? I did, and I looked forward to it every year.

Egg Shaped Chalk … 1 dollar!

Crappy Garden Tools that will break after 3 days… 1 dollar!

Now hold the phone. Biodegradable bamboo pots that will break down after 3-4 years, these are cool. And guess what? They are only 1 dollar!

And in case your garden does not have enough bugs, you can grow your own for, you guessed it, 1 dollar!

Okay, so these are a good deal. Notebooks, drawing pads and construction paper… all 1 dollar!

Look at all the crap I bought for 14 dollars. Where else can you find raffle tickets, toothbrushes, boot laces, Krazy Glue {now that was a freakin’ deal} 10 million combs, ring pops and glass candlestick holders all for 1 dollar each?

Cool beans if you ask me.

Have YOU ever been to the Dollar Store before? If so, what is the coolest thing you have ever found for 1 dollar?

~Mavis

Filed Under: Frugal Living, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: dollar store, frugal living, Weekly Shopping Trips

Reclaimed Food Show and Tell

March 12, 2013 10 Comments

It was another awesome possum week in the reclaimed produce department. Every week people ask how I am able to get all this produce for free.

And the answer is really, really simple.

I just asked.

“While I was out running errands, I stopped by my favorite produce market to inquire about possibly picking up “scraps” for my chickens once a week. Although the shopkeeper was a little hesitant at first, he finally agreed to let me come by once a week and pick up whatever scraps were available on that particular day.

The reason he was a little hesitant was because people had come in before asking for free scraps, and then they don’t show up, leaving him with boxes and boxes of rotting produce. So I thanked him {profusely} and promised I would be back on the set date to pick up the scraps. April 23, 2012 – Mavis

In the end, what is really boils down to is making a connection, and following through. There have been a couple of weeks over the past year when I was not able to pick up the produce because I was out of town. But I always called or stopped by and let Mr. Produce Guy know I would not be picking up the produce on our set pick up day.

There are grocery stores, produce stands, farms and shops all over the world that would be willing to give away their scraps, if someone would just come pick them up. You just have to find one.

I’ll totally admit, I got lucky. The first store I asked said yes. And no, I won’t name the store, because big or small, chain store or Mom and Pop, East Coast, West Coast, each individual store will be different.

If you are turned down by the first store, keep asking around. The worst thing they can do is tell you no. Hopefully, if this type of thing appeals to you, at some point, you will find your Mr. Produce Guy.

It never hurts to ask.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, now go forth and find some free food {if you want}.

~Mavis

American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food

Would you like to see what else we have brought home over the past 11 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.

Filed Under: Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: how to find free food, Mavis, one hundred dollars a month, Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips

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

March 11, 2013 14 Comments

Well so much for taking the week off from grocery shopping. I totally failed. I was planning on only buying milk this past week, but the stores were calling my name and I just had to pop in for a few things.

Here is what I picked up this week:

QFC – $6.38

I walked through the door and the Handsome Husband said “Did you buy milk? Real milk?” Meaning did you buy normal milk like 99% of the population is drinking or did you buy the milk in glass bottles again?

I just laughed.

He doesn’t even drink milk, so I’m not even sure why he was asking. What a stinker!

Safeway – $5.97

I was going to buy more sugar, but I ran into Girl Girl earlier in the day and stuck up a deal to spruce up her garden beds in exchange for a 25 pound bag of sugar from Costco.

I don’t get the sugar though until I do the work, so hopefully I can get to it in the next week or so. I don’t know about you, but I LOVE bartering with my neighbors. It makes me feel like a Pilgrim.

Albertsons – $6.43

I don’t think I have ever purchased chicken with spices sprinkled over the top before. Probably because I always thought that’s what stores always with the outdated chicken they wanted to sell fast. But I was in a hurry, and these looked really good, and a house full of teenagers were due at our house in like 2 hours and the kids were requesting chicken for dinner.

So I tossed the chicken in a pan, added a few fruits and vegetables on top, roasted all the chicken was served it for dinner. Yee- Haw. How’s that for an easy peasy dinner?

Harbor Greens Market – $5.07

Some days I think I could live off Fuji apples. Our local market has about 2 or 3 fruits or vegetables on sale every week. So if I’m in the area, I pop in and grab whatever ever is on sale. This week it was Fuji apples for $0.69, green peppers 3 for $1, red peppers $2 for 1 and bananas for $0.59 a pound. Pretty good deals if you ask me.

Mr. Produce Guy – FREE

Talk about a rock star week in the free produce department. Happy times are here again. There was seriously a little bit of everything last week, and The Girl Who Thinks She’s a Bird was over the moon happy with all those fresh berries.

How did YOU do this week? Are you keeping track of what you are spending on food this year?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $23.85
Total Spent This Year $488.13
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $744.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 15 yards of soil} and 90 pounds of seed potatoes.

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

Filed Under: Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: Mavis, mavis butterfield, mondays with mavis, one hundred dollars a month

Reclaimed Food Show and Tell – FREE Produce

March 5, 2013 29 Comments

It was like Christmas I tell you.

Spring is here and it was pretty obvious that people are in the mood to buy fresh fruits and vegetables again.

I hope you are sitting down, because the pictures of the free food we were able to pick up from Mr. Produce Guy this week pretty much speak for themselves about what consumers expect when they buy fruits and veggies at the grocery store.

When you actually grow your own food, you look at fruits and vegetables a little differently. On a basic level, you know that everything you pull out of the soil, or pick off a tree or bush is not going to be perfect.

But when you go to the grocery store and have to pay $2 {or more} for a pint of raspberries, you expect every little berry in that tiny plastic clam shell to be without any blemishes.

Suddenly the thought of picking out 3 bad berries to save the rest of the bunch becomes unheard of.

3 bad blueberries ruined this container.

This cucumber was discard because it had a minor defect.

Twisted carrots? Who on earth would buy those? And the same goes for broken carrots too.

A little nick in an apple? How absurd. Who would pay full price for one of those?

I have no idea what was wrong with this organic lettuce.

Yep, nobody wants bad fruit. It’s useless. It should all be tossed. Not fit for human consumption. Nope. Not at all.

Maybe my standards are low, but all this still looked edible to me.

~Mavis

Would you like to see what other FREE food I have brought home over the past 11 months?

Head on over HERE to read all the past stories and to see all the pictures.

If you have just stumbled upon this series and are wondering how I got all this food for free, you’ll want to read this story first.

To read more on the topic of food waste. Check out the book Waste: Uncovering the Global Food Scandal By Tristram Stuart.

Filed Under: Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: how to find free food, Mavis, one hundred dollars a month, Reclaimed Food, Weekly Shopping Trips

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

March 4, 2013 16 Comments

Last week was pretty easy peasy grocery wise but I still ended up going over budget. This week I am going to try and only buy milk in an effort to get a grip on our grocery budget.

Although I do think we will be spending less over the summer and fall months, the budget is still pretty out of whack right now so I feel like I need to start making some drastic changes if we are going to meet our goal of only spending $100 a month on groceries for 2013.

Perhaps a few bartering sessions with the neighbors is in order. We’ll see.

Here are the groceries I purchased this week:

Vitacost $ 4.59 after credits and rebates.

I used my Vitacost credit and was able to purchase all the snacks above for $7.75. Then Ebates gave me a rebate of $3.16 for going through their website to make my purchase. So in the end I only had to pay $4.59 for everything above.

If you’ve never made a purchase from Vitacost before you can get a $10 credit just for signing up, and right now Ebates is offering a 12% rebate on any Vitacost purchase. Pretty cool if you ask me. Plus, if you are new to Ebates, you can also score a $10 gift card for signing up to their website as well.

It’s a pretty win-win deal if you ask me.

Harbor Greens Market $8.62

Harbor Greens Market has Fuji apples on sale this week for $0.69 a pound, avocados 3 for $1, red peppers 2 for $1, bananas $0.59 a pound and asparagus for $1.99 a pound. Not to shabby if you ask me.

Homegrown Microgreens

We harvested a batch of homegrown microgreens a few days ago. If you’ve never grown microgreens before, they are super easy and are great for winter salads as well.

Oroweat Bread Outlet $5

I stopped by the Oroweat Bread Outlet when I was in Puyallup the other day picking up seed potatoes at Watson’s and scored an awesome deal on whole wheat bread.

$0.50 a loaf for whole wheat bread? Heck ya I’ll buy a few loaves. Okay, maybe I bought 10. But for 5 bucks? What a freakin’ deal.

QFC $ $5.96

I scored a deal on fresh, local milk that had just been marked down.

Albertsons $3.99

I picked up a bag of spinach so I could make a batch of Quinoa Salad with Cranberries, Spinach and Feta and we were out of sugar as well.

How did YOU do last week? Are you under or over so far this year?

~Mavis

Total Spent This Week $28.16
Total Spent This Year $464.28
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $744.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees , 15 yards of soil} and 90 pounds of seed potatoes.

Go HERE to read more Shopping Trip Stories.

Filed Under: Weekly Shopping Trips Tagged With: Mavis, mavis butterfield, mondays with mavis, one hundred dollars a month

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

February 25, 2013 19 Comments

It’s good to be home!

We walked in shortly after midnight this morning and pretty much collapsed after a long day of planes, trains and automobiles. Luckily our adventure was nothing like the movie. I’ll be sharing some of the pictures we took on our weekend adventure in a little bit, but for right now, here is what I purchased last week before we scadaddled out of town.

QFC – $22.19

Before we headed to London I loaded up on whole chickens at QFC. I roasted all the birds at once and made a few dishes for the boys to eat while we were out of town. I also picked them up a few cans of their favorite Campbell’s Chunky Soup and some cream cheese for the mini bagels I picked up a few weeks ago at the Oroweat bread outlet. I don’t know about you, but I freeze bread when ever there is a deal on it.

Albertsons – $4.20

It’s hard to make white bean chicken chili without white beans, so we picked up a few cans and some onions to whip up a batch in the crock pot so we wouldn’t have to make dinner after spending the day shoveling dirt for the new garden beds.

Amazon – $1.68

I had a $15 Amazon ecard thanks to Swagbucks so I used it for 6 bags of Ghirardelli Chocolate Chips. I’m not a chocolate chip snob, but these ones are my favorite.

Mr. Produce Guy – FREE

Last week was a great week for free produce. We rarely get potatoes so it was nice to see those in the reclaimed produce boxes we get from Mr. Produce Guy.

I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but I am WAY over budget so far for this year.

But I’m still not freaking out. Even though I’m well in to Mid-May budget wise, I’m still delusional enough to think everything is going to work itself out in the end.

True, I’ve been buying less food this year, but I’m also spending more money on quality products. Clearly I expect our backyard garden to come into play, and my goal is that the garden will not only feed us all summer, but next fall and winter as well. At least that’s what I’m hoping for.

Only time will tell.

How did YOU do with your grocery budget last week? Over? Under?

Mavis wants to know.

Total Spent This Week $28.07
Total Spent This Year $436.12
Total Spent This Year on Garden Seeds/Supplies $627.79 {I bought a Meyer Lemon Tree, Rhubarb crowns, 6 Fruit Trees and 15 yards of soil}