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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.

How to Tell if Eggs Are Still Good

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How to Tell if Eggs Are Still Good

If some of your eggs made their way to the back of your fridge, and you don’t know if they are still good, there is a simple way to test them.  Just place the egg in a bowl of cold water {enough water to be double the size of the egg}, if the egg is good, it will sink to the bottom of the bowl and lay on its side.  If it sinks, but stands on its point, it’s good, but needs to be used soon.  If it has gone bad, the egg will float.

If you already cracked the egg, and are starting to question whether the egg is good, there a couple of things to look for:  The yolk will sit firm and high on the pan.  The whites will be cloudy, but still tight the yolk {if they are super fresh}.  If the whites are transparent, but still firm and gathered close to the yolk, they are still good.  If the yolk is flat and the whites are runny, no bueno.

Have you ever tried to test eggs this way?

~Mavis

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Easy Kitchen Tip – Sanitize Sponges in the Microwave

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Sanitize Sponges in the Microwave

I like having a sponge in the kitchen to clean up with, wash dishes, etc., but they can get kind of gross after awhile.  They aren’t like dish cloths that you can just throw into the washer when they start to smell or get dirty.

But I learned this little trick awhile ago,  sanitize them in the microwave. Since then, I pop my sponge in the microwave daily {Yes, I have OCD}. 😉  I feel better, my sponge definitely smells better.  The world it a happy place.

How to Sanitize Sponges in the Microwave

To sanitize your kitchen sponge, make sure it is wet.  Dry sponge = fire hazard.  Pop it in the microwave for 2 minutes, and then let it sit in there for another 2 minutes, because it will be ridiculously hot to the touch.  {If you are feeling really ambitious, you can use the steam the wet sponge created in the microwave to wipe down the walls of the your microwave {the steam loosens grease, etc.}.  It’s like two chores in one–though, if you’re like me, then you want to sanitize the sponge again.  Ha!

How about you, do you sanitize your sponge this way?

~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.

DIY – Homemade Granite Cleaner

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DIY Homemade Granite Cleaner

When we built our house, the guy who installed the granite countertops told me not to waste my money on expensive granite cleaners–which are like $7.00 a bottle, so it wasn’t a hard sell to get me not to buy them.  He told me I could make my own with rubbing alcohol, dish soap, and water.  Check.  Check. And check.  I had all of those things already, so all I had to do was buy a plastic spray bottle.

I seriously love this stuff–it works awesome!

DIY - Homemade Granite Cleaner

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup rubbing alcohol
  • 3-4 drops dawn dish soap {any dish soap would work}
  • Water

Directions;

Add rubbing alcohol and dish soap to a spray bottle.  Top with water {add the water slowly to avoid the dish soap sudsing over}.  Put the lid on and shake it up.  {If you don’t like the smell of rubbing alcohol, you could add some essential oil, but I have always liked the sterile smell of the rubbing alcohol and never bothered with adding the oil.}  To use, you just spray down your counters and wipe them off.  Easy pleasy.

The whole bottle costs pennies and works great.  Take that over-priced granite cleaner!

~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.

How to Ripen Avocados

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How to Ripen Avocados

Did you know avocados are one of those fruits that ripen fully after picking?  I didn’t.  I thought that when I grabbed a rock hard avocado it was because they hadn’t allowed it to ripen before picking it.  Nope, nope, nope.  It turns out, it just means I have to take it home and help it along.

How to Ripen Avocados

To ripen an avocado, place it in a brown paper back and store it in a cool {not the fridge–that’s too cold, it will never ripen} dark place.  Using this method, the avocado will ripen in 3-6 days {sooner if your house is really warm}.  If you need to speed up the process, add a tomato, apple or banana to the paper bag.  It will cut the ripening time down to 1-3 days.  You will be able to tell when the avocado is ripe because it will change in color from green to a dark green/brown.  It will also give a little when you squeeze it.

If on the flip side, your store only has super ripe avocados, you can refrigerate them and extend their life up to 5 days by stopping the ripening process.

~Mavis

Also see, How to Freeze Avocados

absolutely avocados
Absolutely Avocados

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Mavis Butterfield Etsy