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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.


one hundred dollars a month

My 14 Goals for 2020 Week 42 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 31 Comments

 

My 14 Goals for 2020

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

I’m not sure what the HH is more happy about… the view, or the fact that the property came with a riding lawn mower. 

Goal #2 – Take Better Care of Myself. 

Waking up to the sound of a lobster boat heading out to sea off in the distance is a pretty rad way to start the morning if you ask me. No, we didn’t buy a home on an island, the HH couldn’t handle the idea of not being able to get in a car and go somewhere whenever he felt like it. Plus, logistically, getting wool shipments or anything of size delivered on a carless ferry {or small mail boat!} would have been tough {and expensive}.

We had two areas were were hoping to find a house in… Mid-Coast Maine and Down East Maine and our requirements this time around were pretty basic: small town, high speed internet, post office, library, and waterfront. 

And as luck would have it, we found a place in a VERY quite area of Mid-Coast Maine. It was the only house we looked at {because when you know, you just know}. The landscape is rugged and peaceful here, and the views outside our windows are like something out of a movie.

I grew up on the water, so this place, it’s like coming home again {but with 4 true seasons and snow} and neither of us can imagine wanting to ever move again. This is it. And I’m so glad we found this property at this stage in our lives. It’s going to be a wonderful place to grow old in. 

The hardest part though, will be waiting until spring to get a little skiff to take out on the water. I have BIG plans for next summer, most of which include hopping in a boat and exploring all the little ports and islands around us, buying lobster off the docks {for the HH}, doing ice cream runs {for me}, tying up to the wharf at the general store and taking Lucy out joy riding around the various coves and inlets around us. 

And while there are a ton of remodeling projects ahead of us, we have ZERO plans on getting to any of them this winter. Imagine that. A winter in which we do nothing… but actually rest. 🙂 

Life is good.

Goal #3 – Get Organized

My only “project” for the rest of the year is to get the guest bedroom set up so The Girl or Monkey Boy can visit whenever they feel like it and to work on all the rug hooking projects I never go to this summer. 

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

Goal #5 – Master Bedroom Make Over Done!

Goal #6 – Kitchen Update Done!

Goal #7 – Install Vegetable Garden Done!

Goal #8 – Explore More of Maine Done!

While I am done with BIG adventures this year… I am excited to get to know our new area and plan to keep an eye on what wildlife wanders through our backyard. Next year’s gardening season might be an interesting one if there are a lot of critters nearby. 

Goal #9 – Host Some Sort of Get Together Done!

Goal #10 – Read/Listen to 12 Books {2 more to go. I’m only counting real books, not cookbooks or home decor books}

This past week I listened to The Adventure’s Son on audiobook. Starting out it was a little more on the technical side {hiking, climbing} but I’m glad I hung in there and finished the story. What a childhood, what a life filled with exploration and adventure.

Goal #11 – Learn A New Skill or Craft Done

I learned how to make swizzle sticks with my former neighbor and I think they turned out great for my first try {you can see the kiln pictures here}.

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

Hey, almost 2 dozen new places… that’s not bad.

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

As of this morning, I have made 5139 sales on Etsy. That’s up from 2804 on January 1st. I LOVE SETTING GOALS… and then knocking them off my list EARLY! 

This past week I restocked the ornament section of my Etsy shop {there are 84 to choose from!} and now my plan is to park myself on the couch all winter and HOOK HOOK HOOK. Life, it doesn’t have to be complicated. 

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

  • The HH’s meal plan for the month: Asking “what’s for dinner?”
  • My meal plan for the month: Crock Pot soups and pot pies. YUM.

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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 view.

~Mavis

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When Opportunity Knocks…

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 44 Comments

“Opportunities are like sunrises. If you wait too long, you miss them.” ~ William Arthur Ward

Ground Rules:

You aren’t allowed to be mad at me because I didn’t tell you what was going on behind the scenes…  I didn’t even tell Mrs. HB or my friend Heather from MA what was going on until the very last second. It all seemed to good to be true… and I didn’t want to jinx anything. I wouldn’t say I’m a superstitious person, but I’d like to think if there’s one thing I’m good at… it’s going with my gut. And my gut on this one said KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT. And so I did. 

But now I can blab all about it. 🙂

So. Here’s the story.

When we bought the house a year ago… we knew it wasn’t going to be the final stop. We had to find a place to move to quickly because our previous house sold rather unexpectedly. We had just sort of assumed we’d do a winter rental since they were so plentiful in Southern Maine.

But when we saw the cute little white house pop up at the last minute, we decided to go ahead and buy it because we knew that no matter how long we were going to be there, we’d be able to add value by doing a few simple things {mainly landscaping, installing a fence, putting on new garage doors, and refreshing the interior of the home}. 

We aren’t house flippers, I swear we aren’t… it just so happens that we’ve sold three houses in 3 years. But I repeat… we are not house flippers. It was all timing. On each house, we saw an opportunity, and we took it.

Remember the HOA house we lived in? If anything that place taught us that 1. We never want to live in a HOA controlled neighborhood again and 2. Buying a lower priced house that is in need of a little updating but that is in a really good location, can be a very good investment.  Sweat equity comes in many different forms…that’s for sure.  That’s another thing I learned by living there. 😉

Yada Yada Yada…

Recently, a house down the street that was similar to ours went up for sale at what I thought was an insane price. I told the HH that if the house down the street went pending within a few days, we should put our house on the market. Because seriously, if the guy down the street could get a price like that… why couldn’t we?

The HH thought I was crazy {what’s new} but sure enough, the house down the street went pending and no sooner after seeing that, I was making a list of the things we needed to do to get the house ready for sale and on the market as soon as possible. 

We had been hearing all summer long {and I’m sure you did as well} that people were leaving the big cites in droves… and with Maine being so close to Massachusetts {Boston especially} the real estate market in our area was suddenly becoming HOT HOT HOT. It seemed like everyone and their brother wanted to move to Southern Maine all at once. 

So without an ounce of hesitation, we put our house up for sale. And as luck would have it, we immediately had a crazy amount of offers {all but 1 was above asking price}. It was nuts, and exciting and we went with the one we liked the best. And that was that. 

Oddly enough, all the offers but one wanted something … party lights, radiator tables, rugs, furniture, the whale hooks in the laundry room that were ATTACHED to the wall {that request gave me the biggest smile because seriously, what kind of seller would rip out something that was screwed into the wall?}. 

Buyers requesting personal items… in all the houses we have sold over the years, we have never been asked to leave anything behind and truthfully, it was kind of amusing. But apparently, it’s what people do up here. So we just went with it and we’re like sure, you can have it all, what do we care? The whole thing was super funny. And yes, even one of the curbside rugs went with the house. 🙂

Life. It sure has a funny way of working itself out. Of telling you where you need to be.

Yes, we are going to miss our awesome neighbors, and walking on the sandy beaches and being so close to everything. But we are also very much looking forward to a different kind of life. 

A life full of as much solitude as we can stand, watching the sunrise every morning outside our window and living a little off the beaten path. We are both so excited, we can hardly stand it.

So when opportunity knocks… OPEN THOSE DOORS… because you just never know how perfect something could turn out to be. 

Peace Out Girl Scouts, I hope you have yourself a wonderful weekend.

~Mavis

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Read More Posts About Maine

It Just… Sort of Happened.

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 49 Comments

I’ll tell you all about it tomorrow. Once I stop pinching myself. 😉 

~Mavis

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Read More Posts About Maine

Roasted Butternut Squash with Cinnamon and Thyme

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By Mavis Butterfield on · Leave a Comment

With squash season in full swing, I thought now would be the PERFECT time to share this recipe for roasted butternut squash with cinnamon and thyme. I don’t know about you, but fall is my favorite season and filling my belly with warm comfort foods, is something I look forward to after having worked in the garden all summer long.

This recipe is perfect on it’s own or served as a side dish alongside chicken or turkey. Any which way you serve it, your peeps will love it. We sure do.

Have a wonderful day everyone,

Mavis

Ingredients

1 medium butternut squash {about 3 pounds}
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon teaspoon thyme
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Peel squash with a vegetable peeler and then cut in half lengthwise. Using a spoon, scoop out and discard seeds.

Cut squash into 1 inch cubes. In a large bowl, toss squash with remaining ingredients. Transfer to a lined baking sheet and spread out squash in a single layer. Roast for about 15 minutes, remove from oven and turn the squash over with a spatula. Return to the oven and cook for an additional 10 – 15 minutes or until tender and golden brown.

YUM YUM YUM!

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Mavis Butterfield Etsy