Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Hard_Up_Hester · 4 February 2015 at 7:26PM

I'm not sure if this is appropriate for this thread, but hubby & I have been asked to host a stag night, we went to the supermarket to buy the items on the list provided by the guests. I had some tokens so got the bill down from £60 to £40.
Hester

cheerfulness4 · 4 February 2015 at 7:32PM

Hard_Up_Hester wrote: »

I'm not sure if this is appropriate for this thread, but hubby & I have been asked to host a stag night, we went to the supermarket to buy the items on the list provided by the guests. I had some tokens so got the bill down from £60 to £40.
Hester

Definitely appropriate Hester. I think that certainly falls into the minimise part. You've just saved a fortune and minimised your spending. :T

Viv - Post 1 is the first post of this thread right back at the beginning. If anyone is searching for one of the recipes mentioned on this thread they'll be able to find it quicker by clicking on page 1 and Hey Presto!

If we get plenty of recipes I'll have to try and learn a new skill and group them into links. (but not yet cos I haven't got a Scooby how that works.)

GreyQueen · 4 February 2015 at 7:33PM

:T Nice one, HH, a third off a social spend is very good going.

Last autumn, I had to observe our office custom which is that the birthday person brings in cakes and other nice edibles for the (large) team. Bearing in mind I'm a singleton with a part-time wage and most of the colleagues are full-timers with full-timer partners, my wee money has to go a lot further, but I didn't want to be seen to be stingy.

Soo, with the assistance of forward planning, the freezer, and the YS bargains, I got lots of lovely items with a face value just shy of £20 for £2.62 and everyone was able to stuff their faces happily, and my face was saved.

Psst, you won't tell them, will you?

vhalla1478 · 4 February 2015 at 8:29PM

Another 'ginger' recipe - one of Jamie Oliver's. I know prawns aren't the cheapest commodity in the supermarkets, but I love this and it's so quick.

Prawns with Chilli, Parsley, Ginger and Garlic on Toast - do all the slicing and chopping first. Maybe a treat for Valentine's Day?

Extra virgin olive oil, thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely chopped, 2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced, 2-3 fresh red chillies, deseeded and finely sliced, 16 large whole tiger or king prawns, 1-2 lemons to taste, good handful of fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, 4 long slices ciabatta bread toasted (but it's just as tasty with slices of French loaf etc)

Into a large, hot frying pan put around 4 tablespoons olive oil, ginger, garlic, chilli and prawns. Fry for about 3 mins (I use a splatter guard - about a couple of £s from Wilko), the turn down the heat and squeeze in the juice of one lemon. Add the parsley and a couple of lugs of olive oil. Toss and remove from the heat. season to taste, serve with toasted bread which absorbs that divine sauce!

Thank you for the info about Post1, Cheerfulness, what a brilliant idea! :beer:

silvasava · 4 February 2015 at 8:41PM

GQ- wouldn't breathe a word

I also agree with the posts about new furniture. I don't have any antiques or collectables but we do have a number of good quality items that have been 'up cycled' DH sprayed two Stag Meredew chests black for me & I put some nice chrome knobs on them - they look really good & I got them from our local house clearance shop for less than the price of 1 bedside cabinet in any of the stores.
I'm on the lookout now for a small occasional table for DS1

savingqueen · 4 February 2015 at 8:52PM

silvasava wrote: »

I'm on the lookout now for a small occasional table for DS1

Excuse my silliness

but I love that term "'occasional table', an object that is occasionally a table but the rest of the time it's a lampshade or a pet futon depending on its mood. Eyekia have a lot to answer for....

GreyQueen · 4 February 2015 at 9:03PM

One of my favourite taglines about furniture is the definition of a what-not - a place to put things you ought-not have bought.

One of my uncles sardonically referred to ornaments as 'dust-gatherers'. If encountering a dusty home, please remember that it's OK to autograph the dust but not to date it.:rotfl:

vhalla1478 · 4 February 2015 at 9:34PM

Not only are we all thrifty but we have a great sense of humour as well; an absolute necessity!

GreyQueen · 4 February 2015 at 9:45PM

Overall, I consider myself a relatively serious person. But somehow life is forever trying to enact a series of slapstick comedy events in my immediate area.

If I let that bother me, I would spend my life in a tormented lather of embarrassment. Instead, I learn to laugh at myself.

Some things which Life has taught me, sometimes with repeated smacks upside the head;

1. The earth sucks. Things fall downwards. Sole exception to the rule being contact lenses.

2. Some people can wear white clothes and stay pristine. And then there's the rest of us.

3. The day you bump into the most lust-worthy person of your life, you'll have unwashed hair and be wearing trackie bottoms.

4. You will be on the plane which has to do the emergency landing, the coach which gets its door stuck in the closed position or has brake failure at speed, and the train which stops in the middle of nowhere for hours with no heat or broken aircon. Because you're special and big enough to handle it.

5. Something absurdly improbable, which will generally involve loss of personal dignity, happens at least once a week, and you'll live to laugh about it.

cheerfulness4 · 4 February 2015 at 9:56PM

Celtic- I read your post earlier that you spent a lovely evening with a beastie. Must get my eyes checked! :rotfl:

I love older furniture. I think I said way back in the thread that most of our furniture is second hand and I love it that way. The solidness of it and the hardware on it is so beautiful.
I have spent far too long deciding how to revamp or even whether to revamp certain pieces.
This year I'm not going to be paralysed into inactivity by indecision. I think I am gaining the confidence to just give things a go and be done with it.

Spends for today were:

DAY 4

Money Spent Today - £4.15 Vouchers Spent - £0
Money Spent in Total - £12.03 Vouchers Spent in Total - £0
Money left in purse - MINUS £0.03P - Float left- £7.76/£15
Jan non-foods left- £7.38/£15

Oh dear, I got my sums mixed up today and went 3p over my money in my purse. How embarassing.

And me so proud of my GCSE Maths that I returned to learning to get. Tut tut.
Oh well, I'm not perfect and these things happen. So here's what I got for my £4.15.

2pks of 4 cheese n onion baps @ £1.50, 1pk Cathedral Mature cheese 300g @ £2 and YS pk of 4 mini cheese n pickle pork pies @ 65p.

I decided to treat myself to a lovely lunch as DH fell back sick again by lunch and returned to bed so I was eating alone.
I made myself Smoked Salmon, Cream cheese and Cucumber open sandwiches.
Oh it was delicious. I used some of my YS smoked salmon bought last month and I've saved some to have a gorgeous breakfast of Smoked Salmon and scrambled eggs. Can't wait. :j

GQ- number 2 & 5 are definitely me and I can't tell you how much number 3 applied but he still asked me to marry him and we've had 27 great years together.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

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