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.

Bits and Bobs For the Middle of October

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 17, 2019 · 34 Comments

bits and bobs: A random assortment of things; small remaining pieces and things

So, I had big plans to show you my freshly painted and redecorated bathroom today but apparently the universe had other plans. Yesterday a little after noon I sat down, video on the screen, fabric all laid out and began to stitch together my very first homemade roman shade.

2 restarts, and 6 hours later at the urging of my husband, I stepped away from my makeshift sewing table in the basement and called it a day. I had only made it through the first 10 minutes of the 14 minute youtube video. Everyone keeps saying it will get easier, the more I make, but sheesh, this first one, it’s a doozy.

Here a pick, there a pick, everywhere a pic pic. 3 Picks in one week, that’s a record.

Possible candidate for new laundry room tile. What do you think? Fun and funky, or is it too trendy and looks like a quilt from a county fair? I need your input.

And last but not least…. My husband. We’ve been married for 25 years, together for 27 and in ALL THAT TIME he has picked out EXACTLY 3 “decor” items for our home. THREE. Maybe this is the going rate {once every 8 years or so} for actual decorating purchases made by husbands across the board… I don’t know but I can tell you one thing, he’s definitely got a style all his own. 😉

Item #1 A beautiful wire and pink beaded tree {which we still have and that I love}.
Item #2 A set of 8 heavy glass 1970’s looking votive holders {I finally was able to convince him to get rid of those at our last yard sale}.
Item #3 It arrived yesterday…. And what do you know, it’s Italian, and very FRA GEE LAY.

I kid you not. He spotted a leg lamp online and thought it would be the perfect decoration for the front window. Because really, why stop at front door or porch decorations… It looks like this year we will be going all out on the window displays as well.

Oh Lucy, what has he done?

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thursday! Let’s do this.

Fingers crossed I can get the roman shade finished up today and do a show and tell tomorrow.

Peace Out Girl Scouts,

~Mavis

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Maine In October – Front Porches, Fall Foliage and Spooky Decorations

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 16, 2019 · 26 Comments

Have I told you how much I love it here? Who knew that living steps away from a historic downtown would be the something that was missing. The intermittent stream of people walking their dogs and the noise from the traffic passing by somehow, it’s all so charming.

I am surrounded by small houses, grand houses, houses from the late 1700’s to the 1950’s. The simplicity of it all. This time of year reminds me of the movie E.T. and the 80’s, and the way life should be. Ghosts and goblins and little kids bursting with excitement over the decorations they just set out.

Maine in October… I am in love.

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone,

~Mavis

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Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf Recipe

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 15, 2019 · 8 Comments

Every time I hear the word meatloaf I think of the movie a Christmas Story and Randy and his double beetloaf, don’t you? 😉 Ahh meatloaf, how can you not LOVE it? Maybe if Randy’s mother had tried this recipe for bacon wrapped meatloaf he would love the classic American meal a little more.

The HH tried this recipe the other night and we both really enjoyed it {and I was surprised because I generally dislike anything made with a can of cream of mushroom soup}. The Girl even ate it the next day for breakfast. BREAKFAST!!! Can you believe it? 🙂 Kids, they’re so weird.

Bacon wrapped meatloaf… Who knew?

Ingredients

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb ground beef
1 lb pork breakfast sausage {can do 2 lbs of ground beef instead}
1/4 cup Cream of Mushroom soup
1/3 cup sourdough bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese,
1/4 cup parsley, minced
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon sage
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons pepper
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
10 thin slices of bacon
BBQ sauce {optional}

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F. In a small skillet, saute onions and garlic in olive oil until tender. Set aside. Combine onion/garlic mixture with meat and all ingredients up to, but not including, bacon in a large bowl. Fold thoroughly until well combined.

Line a 9″ x 5″ loaf pan with bacon strips and then carefully press the meat mixture into the loaf pan so as not to disturb the bacon slices in the pan. Line a broiler pan with foil {or a baking sheet with a 2″ edge} and place the loaf pan upside down on the pan to allow the fat to drain out while cooking.

Bake for 30 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the meatloaf and brush the meatloaf with your favorite BBQ sauce and bake for another 30 – 40 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees and the bacon is nice and crispy. Let rest for about 15 minutes before slicing.

Serve warm with all the fixings.

~Mavis

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How Much We Spent on Groceries and What We Ate – Week 41 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on October 14, 2019 · 36 Comments

Local Bakery $5.50

Hello Monday! It was a fantastic week for home cooked meals. 2 of the 3 dishes the HH prepared last week were perfect for leftovers and we were even able to sneak two new recipes into the mix.

Market Basket $114.90

We went grocery shopping TOGETHER last week… can you tell? 😉 Also, I found the Good N’ Plenty’s {but still no Red Vines} and now that my husband has discovered Toasted Cheez It Crackers I have a feeling those will make their way into every shopping trip as well.

The bottle of wine was for a fancy beef stew recipe and haddock was on sale so we picked that up too. I was happy to find Ginger Gold apples and I think I’ll make a pot of applesauce later today. Homemade applesauce is the best, don’t you think?

Hannaford $9.95

Cabbage $0.49 a pound, Asparagus $1.99 a pound, Butternut squash $0.79 a pound, English cucumber $0.99 and a 5 pound bag of potatoes for $2.49. I haven’t a clue what I’m going to do with the cabbage yet, maybe fried cabbage with bacon, but if you’ve got any good ideas, I’d love to hear about them.

Getting older is a kind of a funny business. It seems like every recipe we make these days lasts two or three days. This beef stew for example. It called for 3 pounds of chuck roast, and we ate the stew for dinner one night, and lunch the next two days.

Not having super hungry teens around anymore is probably the reason why food lasts a bit longer around here, but it’s still kind of weird getting used to the idea that maybe we should start cutting all the recipes we make in half if we don’t want to end up with a fridge full of leftovers. Maybe it’s all in my head, I don’t know.

Haddock with roasted vegetables and rice.

Newman’s Own Pizza. I like that the crust is thin and not super doughy.

Bacon wrapped meatloaf. {I’ll share the recipe tomorrow}.

It was a good week, I even baked a batch of the best chocolate chip cookies on earth, made a mini salami and cheese platter and made a list of meals to cook for this week. Even though there is still a long list of projects to plow through, it seems like things are finally starting to settle down and we are getting back into the swing of things. 🙂

Have a wonderful fall day everyone, winter will be here before we know it.

~Mavis

P.S. If you haven’t bought your Halloween Candy yet, Amazon has it on sale today for 25% off.

Total Spent on Groceries Last Week $130.35

Total Spent on Groceries in October $175.82
Total Spent on Groceries in September $249.15
Total Spent on Groceries in August $253.38
Total Spent on Groceries in July $300.74
Total Spent on Groceries in June $259.12
Total Spent on Groceries in May $262.39 {More meat!}
Total Spent on Groceries in April $284.56 {My husband bought a smoker and a BUNCH of meat!}
Total Spent on Groceries in March $321.69
Total Spent on Groceries in February $220.92
Total Spent in January on Groceries $41.19
Total Spent So Far on Groceries in 2019 $2372.96

You can 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.

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