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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 27 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 10 Comments

My 14 Goals for 2020

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

Husbands who cook are pretty awesome. Even if they have their own special way of opening cans. 😉

Goal #2 – Take Better Care of Myself. 

Lot’s of beach walks this week and I collected enough small pieces of driftwood to fill the planter the HH gave me for Mother’s Day. 🙂

Goal #3 – Get Organized

After decluttering last week and having a yard sale to get rid of the extra things we just don’t need anymore, I’m happy to report 98% of the stuff in our house are things we genuinely use or want to keep. And that feels good.

I gave the medicine cabinet in the bathroom a fresh coat of white paint and re-painted one of the walls {it had a few scuff marks} in the bathroom as well. Apparently the bathroom was previously painted lilac. Interesting!

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}.
  • Find {or make} something to hang over my writing desk.

Goal #6 – Kitchen Update

Well, I finally got around to painting the double dutch doors white, which is good but it only reaffirmed what I already knew…. We need to paint the kitchen cabinets out white. The cabinets just have too much of a yellowish tinge to them.

If I had to guess, I’d say the cabinets were at least 15 years old. And while the cabinets themselves are in great shape, they could use a fresh coat of paint and after having white cabinets at our HOA house {and loving the way they brought a lot of light into the kitchen} now we are researching exactly how to go about painting the cabinets.

I think spraying might be the way to go. We’ll see. I gave the HH a deadline of 30 days to figure that part out so we can have everything done in the kitchen by the end of the summer.  PROGRESS… it’s a good thing!

Goal #7 – Install Vegetable Garden Done!

The vegetable garden is in!

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

Goal #8 – Explore More of Maine 

Visited a new garden center! I’ll tell you about it this week. 🙂

Goal #9 – Host Some Sort of Get Together

Does having a yard sale count?

Goal #10 – Read/Listen to 12 Books 

This week I’ve been listening to Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers and it has been interesting to learn about all the behind the scenes work of his show and personal life.

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

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

As of this morning, I have made 4345 sales on Etsy. That’s up from 2804 on January 1st! Only 655 more sales to go before I hit my goal.

I have some new bundles to list {I was hoping to list them yesterday but ended up painting all day instead} and 2 new kits to introduce so I’ll be working on those today and tomorrow.

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

The HH’s meal plan for the month: Snacking!

My meal plan for the month: Ice Cream, Pie and Salads

*********

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

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One Hundred Dollars a Month – Mavis’ Weekly Highlights 7/4/2020

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 4 Comments

Hello Saturday,

On the agenda for today:

  • Clear off kitchen table
  • List wool bundles on Etsy
  • Pick peas
  • Buy more strawberries at the farmstand {I hope it’s open}
  • Make pesto. Or rather pick basil leaves so the HH can make pesto. 🙂
  • Paint the medicine cabinet in the bathroom
  • Watch Sleepless in Seattle {It’s on Netflix this month}

How about you? Any exciting plans for tonight? Got your sparklers ready? 😉

Have a great weekend everyone,

♥ Mavis & Lucy

Stories, Recipes and General Nonsense From this Past Week

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Gardening in Coastal Maine – Early July Garden Pictures

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 21 Comments

Well, the good news is, everything in the garden is growing like mad. The birds are chirping, the bees are buzzing and Miss Lucy is rolling around in the freshly cut grass like a total crazy. Life is good here in Maine. Even if we’re gearing up for another heatwave.

Or maybe it’s not really a heatwave, maybe this is just how things are here in the summertime here in Southern Maine. A few hours up the coast though, it’s totally a different story because in Mid-Coast Maine, the summertime temps up there seem to hover around the 70’s  while down here it’s pretty much a consistent 80+. Not that I’ve been checking my weather app constantly or anything. 😉

Here’s an aerial photo of our garden plot the HH took with his drone. I suspect that in another two weeks you won’t be able to see a speck of dirt from the garden boxes as all the herbs and vegetables are really beginning to fill out.

The first of the flowers on the bush beans… EXCITING! I think I’ll plant round 3 this weekend. 🙂

And the cabbage and pumpkin patch is beginning to fill out nicely. I don’t know why, but tracking pumpkin vines from beginning to end is sort of exciting. I wonder how many we’ll end up with the year. Hopefully enough to decorate the front porch with and enough butternuts to last through the winter season.

The broccoli babies are coming in.  I was worried they wouldn’t grow in the higher temps but so far so good.

I harvested cilantro for the first time the other night to make me and Mrs HB’s favorite quinoa salad with feta, avocado and kale. There’s a lot to pick though so I think I’ll make some black beans this weekend and plant another row to make sure I’ll have plenty towards the end of August to can salsa when we’re swimming in tomatoes.

Speaking of tomatoes…

Big salads are on the menu for tonight… This will be the fifth harvest this season!

The cucumbers haven’t started climbing up the poles yet but they should any day now. That or start to flop over the sides {which is fine too}.

What do you think… another week or two until I’ll be able to harvest blueberries? This summer I plan to stock up on Maine wild blueberries from a local grower so I’ll have enough to keep me in blueberry pies and jam all winter. Have you ever tasted teeny tiny wild Maine blueberries before? Holy canolies, there’s such a taste difference.

Flowers on the eggplants… Looks like we’re going to get some this year. Wahooo!

 

And last but not least… I need these flowers in my life! Does anyone know what they are? I spotted them on a walk the other day and well, I am in love and want to plant some in my garden. Please let me know in the comment section if you know what they’re called. 🙂

Have a SPECTACULAR day everyone,

Keep Calm and Garden On.

~Mavis

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Dunne’s Ice Cream in York, Maine

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By Mavis Butterfield on · 7 Comments

I remember when we first moved to New England from Washington State a little over two years ago and being shocked at the amount of seasonal ice cream stands and clam shacks everywhere. I mean really, how was it possible to not only own a building, but to have a business in that building only open four months out of the year?

Was it really possible for all these little mom and pop businesses able to be able to earn enough in that short window of time to keep opening year after year?

Well apparently so, because seasonal businesses {and jobs} are a way of life around here. And the New Englanders I’ve gotten to know over the past two years, wouldn’t have it any other way. Four true seasons {5 if you count mud season} are the norm, and with each of them, there’s something special to look forward to.

And with summer… is all about the ice cream and lobster rolls.

And we absolutely LOVE it.

Last week while the HH and I were out driving around, we came upon Dunne’s Ice Cream stand while on our way to the Nubble lighthouse in York, Maine. We spotted the ice cream stand just as they were opening and decided that a scoop of ice cream would make a perfectly acceptable lunch. 😉

But then we read the menu… and really, why settle for a scoop of ice cream when you can order a wicked good banana bucket or a hot fudge sundae? I mean… we’re talking lunch here… we wouldn’t be eating dinner for another 5 or 6 hours so you know… might as well go all in, right?

Old school drinking fountains…. they totally remind me of elementary school and waiting in line to get a drink of water at recess.

Fact: Dunne’s probably has the nicest bathrooms of any ice cream stand on the planet earth.

Funny funny.

Sparkly clean… can’t beat that.

Outdoor seating, and PLENTY of it too.

I present… the wicked good banana bucket with 3 scoops of ice cream {strawberry, vanilla and chocolate of course} with pineapple, chocolate sauce, nuts and a healthy serving of whippity doo dah.

Both the hot fudge sundae and the banana split were FANTASTIC and we highly recommend them. And as a bonus, if you go for lunch, chances are you’ll still be full come dinner time so it’s really like getting two meals in one. 😉

Dunne’s Ice Cream in York, Maine…. add it to your list. You won’t want to miss it when you visit Maine.

Ahh summer, it’s pretty rad isn’t it?

Have a great day everyone,

~Mavis

Dunne’s Ice Cream
214 Nubble Rd
York, ME 03909

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Mavis Butterfield Etsy