Sign up for my newsletter and get a copy of my "28 Ways to Slash Your Grocery Budget"

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.


one hundred dollars a month

Stop the Car! SERIOUSLY…

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on · 12 Comments

On Monday the HH and I headed out on a little mini adventure to the Cushing / St. George area of Maine and well, as usual we got distracted and found something rather unexpected along the way.

Mavis: Stop the car! Seriously, pull over.

HH: What?! Why?

Mavis: There was a sign for GNOMES FOR SALE!!! Go back.

HH: WOW. Only you would see a sign like that.

4 miles later…

Gaaa! They were closed, can you believe it? What are the odds? I wanted to drive down the road to investigate but the HH said no {ridiculous!} but luckily though found the gnome lady on facebook.

Here are a few pictures from her facebook page of just a sampling of the gnomes she carves with her chainsaw.  I found out that she’s open Memorial Day through Labor Day {tourist season here in Maine} and now that I’ve discovered these little gems, we’re going to have to take a drive back up to the St. George to buy one later this summer.

I mean seriously, who wouldn’t want one of these gnomes in their life?

Because the selection is ever changing… You just never know what will be there when you go. Which makes it kind of exciting if you ask me. 🙂

Our date day adventure didn’t stop with the gnomes though… We also drove out to the Olson house on the Cushing peninsula. It’s closed this summer for repairs, but still, it was pretty cool to see the house that was depicted in the Andrew Wyeth painting, Christina’s World.  If you haven’t seen the Wyeth documentary yet, I’ve watched it a half dozen times already and have learned something new every time.

We also stopped by the Marshall Point Lighthouse and St. George’s Fishermen’s Memorial as well.

 

If you’ve seen the movie Forrest Gump, the lighthouse might look familiar {here’s the movie clip, the lighthouse is featured at 1:36}.

 

The lighthouse museum was closed as well but we still enjoyed walking around the property and along the shore.

The HH loved the look of the barn there.

And with picnic benches scattered all around the property, it was the perfect spot for a picnic lunch. 😉 So if you ever find yourself in Mid-Coast Maine, add these gems to your list of must see places. You’ll be so glad you did.

Have a wonderful day everyone,

~Mavis

Marshall Point Lighthouse

Marshall Point Rd, Port Clyde, ME 04855

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.

Read More Posts About Maine

The Best Recipe for Black Beans

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on · 15 Comments

We made these beans the other night and well, I could pretty much eat these seasoned black beans for all eternity. If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, well then you know there are like 482 recipes here on for beans. Okay, so maybe not that many. 😉 But there are a lot. Beans are cheap, they fill you up and they seem to be a staple item in most households.

In recent years I’ve posted recipes for Drunken Beans, Saturday Night Beans, Creamy Spiced Red Beans and Lentils, Slow Cooked Baked Beans, Baked Beans from Scratch, and the list goes on… But now I have another recipe for you to try, it’s a super simple recipe for black beans and let me tell you Bob, they are delicious.

We enjoyed this recipe so much, we plan on making them again this week.

This recipe, it’s a keeper. A 5 out of 5 if you ask me.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 {16} ounce can black beans {do not drain}
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1 teaspoon ground cumin
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
2-4 tablespoons sour cream

Directions

In a medium sized saucepan, saute the onions and garlic together with 1 teaspoon of olive oil until softened {about 2-3 minutes}. Add the black beans {liquid and all} along with the cilantro, cumin, and salt. Stir well.

Simmer beans on medium low uncovered for about 15 minutes, making sure to stir the beans occasionally.

Pour beans over 1 cup of cooked rice and garnish with a few chopped tomatoes, sour cream and fresh cilantro and you’ve got a main dish dinner for 2.

It’s that easy! 🙂

Have a wonderful day everyone,

~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.

Monthly Meal Planning and Grocery Shopping Trips – Week 28 of 52

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on · 40 Comments

Costco $175.76

Towards the end of January, I had this itch to start filling our pantry, and I haven’t really stopped. And since we’re underspending in every other category besides food in our budget this year, I’m totally okay with it. The way I see it, having a good sized food storage is a good thing.

This has been a really weird year food wise {and for about 482 other reasons, but today I’m just here to talk about food}. So far this year we’ve spent a whopping $2953.78 on groceries and take home bakery treats. I haven’t spent this much on food 6 1/2 months into the year in I don’t know how long, 9 or 10 years maybe?

I think if we absolutely had to, at this point we’d be good with not leaving the house to buy food for a solid 9 months. And that feels good. I keep telling the HH it’s a trial run for living on an island… but he just rolls his eyes. 😉

Monday:

Tuesday:

  • Breakfast: Toast with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
  • Lunch: Heirloom Bean Soup
  • Afternoon Cuppa & Half a Hershey Bar
  • Dinner: Weenie and Fritos

Wednesday:

  • Breakfast: Toast with Strawberry Rhubarb Jam
  • Lunch: Heirloom Bean Soup
  • Afternoon Cuppa & Half a Hershey Bar
  • Dinner: Pickety Bits

Thursday:

  • Breakfast: Carrots and Hummus
  • Lunch: Tuna Salad
  • Afternoon Cuppa & 1/2 a Chocolate Bar
  • Dinner: Ice Cream Sunday

Friday:

  • Breakfast: 1/2 Burnt Bagel with Cream Cheese
  • Afternoon Cuppa & 1 Brownie
  • Linner: Nachos

Saturday:

  • Breakfast: 2 Hard Boiled Eggs, 1 Apple
  • Lunch: Beans and Rice
  • Afternoon Cuppa & Rice Krispie Treat
  • Dinner: Black Beans and Rice {Anyone want the recipe?}

Sunday:

  • Breakfast: Rice Krispie Treat, Dried Apricots, Tomatoes
  • Lunch: Turkey-Bacon-Pickle-Onion-Tomato Sandwich
  • Afternoon Cuppa & Rice Krispie Treat
  • Dinner: Nada. Too Full From Lunch

Have a great Monday everyone, stay cool.

~Mavis

P.S. How is your food storage doing these days? Do you feel like you’ve been stocking up more than normal too? Curious minds want to know. 

Total Spent This Past Week on Groceries, Bakery Treats We Brought Home $175.76

  • Total Spent of Groceries and Bakery Treats We Brought Home in July $210.16
  • Total Spent of Groceries and Bakery Treats We brought Home in June $194.12
  • Total Spent in May on Groceries and Bakery Treats $256.47
  • Total Spent in April on Groceries and Bakery Treats $1083.55 WOWZA
  • Total Spent in March on Groceries and Bakery Treats $446.03 {includes a $50 gift card}
  • Total Spent in February on Groceries and Bakery Treats $416.98 {the fridge and freezer are packed!}
  • Total Spent in January on Groceries and Bakery Treats $346.47
  • Total Spent on Groceries and Bakery Treats in 2020 $2953.78

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.

My 14 Goals for 2020 Week 28 of 52

The links in the post below may be affiliate links. Read the full disclosure
By Mavis Butterfield on · 20 Comments

My 14 Goals for 2020

Goal #1 – Take Full Advantage of Having My Husband Home 24/7

The HH helped me on a few of my craft projects this week {there was a lot of grumbling} and we went on several walks around town and to the beach. It’s funny, we never walked ANYWHERE together before moving to New England, but now we do it all the time.

Goal #2 – Take Better Care of Myself. 

Miss Lucy, The Girl and I dragged a giant buoy from the water’s edge to the shore this week and the whole this was rather exciting. Lucy thought for sure it was a new toy but when she realized she couldn’t drag it around herself the novelty wore off real quick. 🙂 You never know what you’re going to find at the beach, and this week, it was full of treasures.

Dear hall closet… I’m coming for you!

Goal #3 – Get Organized

  • Hot weather {indoor} project for July: Strip wallpaper and paint the hall closet
  • Cool weather {outside} projects: Paint back fence, till up side yard

Goal #4 – Get Proper Window Coverings on All Our Windows. 

All that’s left is window coverings for the sunroom. Which I’ll probably finish this fall because right now, we are enjoying the sunshine that streams through the windows all day everyday.

Goal #5 – Master Bedroom Make Over {almost done!}

Still left to do:

  • Paint Writing Desk a Glossy Black
  • Paint the Creamy Closet Doors White
  • Refinish the Floors {late summer project because I don’t have the supplies and the windows will need to be open all day because of the fumes}.

Goal #6 – Kitchen Update

We thought we were done but now I’ve decided the cabinets need to be refreshed {the cabinets are a 15+ year old cream color, and I’d like them to be white to match the tile and paint}.

I gave the HH a deadline of 30 days to figure out what kind of paint sprayer to buy so we can paint the cabinets out white ourselves {looks easy enough, right?} and it looks like he has it narrowed down to 2 sprayers. So you know, the final decision could be another few weeks. 😉 My husband and his “research” it drives me nuts!

Goal #7 – Install Vegetable Garden Done!

The vegetable garden is in!

This week we harvested sorrel, basil, cilantro, sugar snap peas, rhubarb and lettuce.

Goal #8 – Explore More of Maine 

Last week I stopped by Wallingford Farm in Kennebunk, Maine. This week though, I think we’re headed back to the St. George/Cushing area that we love so much.

Goal #9 – Host Some Sort of Get Together

Does having a yard sale count? Yes, I think it does. 😉

Goal #10 – Read/Listen to 12 Books 

So not a book, but this week I stumbled upon the series the series The Darling Buds of May on Amazon Prime. It’s light and easy and sort of a cute series, the perfect thing to watch while I’m busy hooking.

So far this year I have read/listened to:

Goal #11 – Learn A New Skill or Craft

Waiting for my neighbor to get his glass kiln so I can see if I want one too. 🙂

Goal #12 – Visit 12  Museums, Historical Homes or Botanical Gardens {and bakeries too!}

Sadly a lot of museums and botanical gardens are not open {or the effort is go is too great} that this goal has sort of fizzled. It started out great, but quickly went downhill. 🙁

January

February

March

May

June

July

Goal # 13 – Reach 5,000 Etsy Sales by the End of The Year 

As of this morning, I have made 4397 sales on Etsy. That’s up from 2804 on January 1st! Only 603 more sales to go before I hit my goal.

This past week I listed a new rug hooking kit; Happy Jack Pumpkin as well as some new wool bundles in my Etsy shop. This week I’ll be working on a few ornaments and finishing up a new pillow for my next finished rugs update on August 7th.

Goal #14 – Once a Month Menu Planning {for 2}

My breakfast this morning: Rice Krispie treat, dried apricots, tomatoes 🙂

  • The HH’s meal plan for the month: Snacking!
  • My meal plan for the month: Ice Cream, Pie, Salads and Pickety Bits

*********

Have YOU made any goals for this year? If so, DO TELL! We all want to hear about them.

Have a great Sunday everyone, enjoy the sunshine.

~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