Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

meritaten · 22 March 2016 at 9:09PM

I am feeling very smug tonight. Minimised a spend (HONEST - it was essentials!!!lol).
I had been umming and arring over purchasing a die cutting machine for over a year, would I use it enough to justify over a £100 spend? so when the baby blue machine was on offer on Sat on C+C tv I thought 'ok will be £45 with my discount'.I ordered one. I held off purchasing dies because I was sure I had seen some in our local What! store.
my machine should arrive by Friday and I had priced up the dies I knew I wanted on C+C and Amazin.
sure enough What had the very dies I wanted and I saved myself a whopping £14.32p!!!!!!on just three dies!

edit sorry - number dyslexia kicked in - OH just pointed out I actually saved £16.32!
rofl - I cant think how I managed to work so many years as a barmaid! I had to calculate all the drinks round in my head too! perhaps its only when I do the 'sums' on paper I get them wrong?

misstara · 22 March 2016 at 9:49PM

Evening all

Had a fairly lazy day today, just enjoying being off work. I went to the gym earlier but other than that I've mostly been relaxing on the sofa reading

We had pork belly last night for tea and there was leftovers for one so OH had that for tea tonight and I finished up some stuffing balls that I found in the freezer which were from Christmas.

Tomorrow I'm planning to minimise the paperwork stack that is on my desk plus finally tidy up the bookcase that I've been putting off for ages. I've got some eggs that need using up so plan to do some baking then as well.

meritaten sounds like a fab bargain

silvasava definitely know what you mean, my week off is filling up pretty fast.

JoJo sorry to hear about your friend.

FunBrum · 22 March 2016 at 11:12PM

Hi MMM's :hello:

I've been absent for a few days as my friend has got a moving date. 30th, next Wednesday, so I've been frantically packing, decanting and cleaning for him. He works full time and isnt off work until next week, and I know how rubbish he is at throwing things out!

Anyhow, that's what I've been up to, so I've been minimising all of his house, making do with food in his freezer. It has to be defrosted so we have been eating our way through it!
Steak pie yesterday, Chicken dinner this evening, and chicken curry tomorrow night. He had a lot of chicken in there to get rid of! :rotfl:
I have to go to Mass Thursday morning with my GS1. The whole school is walking to church, so I am helping out as an escort. I'm then back at my friends on Saturday for the final moving date!
I have some quilting to be getting on with but I'm so tired, I can't focus on it, so mending will have to be put on hold for now.:)

milasavesmoney · 23 March 2016 at 1:31AM

I've been looking through my seed packets from years past and have decided to try and use them up. We have a new large bed to plant and if some things don't come up then another variety probably will.
I just hate to not at least try.

mrs-moneypenny · 23 March 2016 at 9:01AM

milasavesmoney I'm the same I have loads of seed packs, so I'm planning on trying to use what I can and will see what I get. Every spring I have the grand plan of a little veg garden but never get round to it. This will be the year to at least try.

Morning all hope you are all ok.

Siebrie · 23 March 2016 at 10:10AM

I am using up my seed supplies. Some of the packages have a bbdate 2008 or 2014. I just put more seeds than advised in the pots. If any come up, I will count it as a success

silvasava · 23 March 2016 at 10:12AM

milasavesmoney wrote: »

I've been looking through my seed packets from years past and have decided to try and use them up. We have a new large bed to plant and if some things don't come up then another variety probably will.
I just hate to not at least try.

Spooky! Have just gone through my seed box & there's quite a few that are years out of date so have decided to plant them anyway & see if anything comes up! I've got Delphiniums and Petunias and Lambs Lettuce and Kale amongst others - might get a good show lol!

mrs-moneypenny · 23 March 2016 at 10:40AM

Oh dear I've just looked at the amount of seed packs I have, I think I need to have a garden the size of a footie pitch to use them all. Poppies X3 sunflowers X2 hollyhocks, larkspur, lupins, lavender, gypsophilia, loads of others and then there are the veggie seeds! 32 packs in total!
One of my daughters is getting married next year and want handtied garden bouquet, I've got a year to get some growing and see if I get a good enough mix for her to choose from I think I'd better get digging.

iamsalt · 23 March 2016 at 12:39PM

Oh dear, I think I ought to confess, I have a problem with seeds, I have 3 boxes full. I am a real addict to pretty vegetables, and while I grow a lot of veg, I then get new varieties the following year, so am left with lots of half used packets. I had made a decision that I wouldn't buy any this year, so I have already got 4 trays of seedlings of different sorts, and a couple of friends have asked me to start them tomatoes and peppers so that is reducing my hoard, even if it's not noticeable. I found 4 old (2012) freebie packets of wild flower mix and having cleared my front verge of grass I will sow those, mind you the less fertile the soil is the better they do so I don't know what I will get growing.

I had family over for a pre Easter lunch ( we aren't able to get together this coming weekend) and I served a joint that I got half price before Christmas, it served 9 of us on Sunday, and the two of us for two meals so far and there is still about 1kg left. I think I am running out of enthusiasm for beef, so will freeze the rest and use up something else.
My friend and I were talking about not using bags in the supermarkets for the loose veg, I already weigh them and put them in my reusable shopping bags, but she can't use that method due to the kids adding extra into the trolley, so I will use a couple of fine net and muslin pieces of fabric to make bags for her to use instead, that uses more bits from my fabric stash.
Thinking of those who need it,

S xx

charlies-aunt · 23 March 2016 at 1:53PM

Having a productive day off so far . . . have made-do with the last of the salad oddments with jacket spuds for lunch.

On the mending front, this morning I have turned a sheet, patched two quilt covers after the puppy chewed holes in them and tried to improve the fit of my work polo shirts - they are a unisex design and ruckup quite a bit as they are rather snug round my hips so I have picked open up the side seams by 4 inches to make side vents and neatly resewn the raw edges - managed to do one which looks okay so now just two to go!.

This afternoon will devoted to further minimising of my clothes and shoes Konmarie style - the more that I try her methods - the more sense it makes

Wishing everyone happy MMM'ing today!

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Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

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