Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

kittym

Morning all

Quick post to let you know that in the Daily Mirror today is Al*is £5 voucher.
It is a thoroughly wet and grey day here as well, sadly it won't stop the piles of housework that I have to do. Hopefully if it fairs up I will pop to the library later.

Have a lovely day all. xx

vhalla1478

Just a quick comment on the eco ball; the reviews for it on the Lakeland site are not great; my daughter-in-law was doubtful when she looked at it. However if you look at some of the reviews carefully, it's obvious that a lot of people are under the misapprehension that if you have a stain, you should treat it with hot water - totally wrong - all that does is 'set' the stain. The trick is to deal with the stain before you put it in the washing machine. In spite of the marketing/advertising, wash powders and washing machines aren't miracle workers!

Viv xx

cheerfulness4

Dashing in before I have to grab some food and then nip off out.
I used washing 'eggs' in the past that I'd bought from QVC. I had my problems with them so returned two different types but I've never tried the Lakeland ones. Mine came with a treatment stick for stains but didn't really work well in my opinion.
I loved the idea, though. I did a trial of washing some items without detergent just to see and the lightly soiled ones came clean anyway so that might be worth trying for some.
There was a male poster on here that washed without detergent 50% of the time for washes he thought just needed freshening.


Today I stayed in so no spending.
THUR 26 MAR

DAY 26

Money Spent Today - £0 Vouchers Spent - £0
Money Spent in Total - £74.81 Vouchers Spent in Total - £8.80
Money left in purse - £3.19 Float left- £0/£15
Jan non-foods left- £2.90/£15

GreyQueen

The contractor started putting the tank in upstairs at 08.20 am and it was all done by the time I got home but for the final check by the electician. Happy days.

Mum found what must be the final lot of faux-pearls from Grandma, another double-strander, and I have some more thread from the craft jeweller and will re-string and then get them to put a catch on for me. I'm wearing the previous two several times a week, sometimes singly, sometimes both together, and thoroughly enjoying them.

Supper will be from the vat of chili con carne, which was 500g of mince and a large cupful of porridge oats, 3 large red peppers from the Magic Greengrocer, and tinned beans and tommies. Homegrown onions. A little cash can go a long way, if you're canny.

Haven't spent anything today, may or may not spend anything tomorrow, but will aim to do a little gardening if the weather's OK, was tipping it down all day today. I plan to minimlise my allotment by at least one item going to the tip- a piece of random metal.

Keep up the good work, lovely peeps.

Jonesy88

Thank you everyone for the lovely welcome and the very useful advice - i've been scrutinising my walls since! The majority have been painted on what appears to be modern plaster, although the plastering skills were somewhat lacking. My boiler is fixed so i'm "treating" myself by having on higher than i would usually would!

My next house related task is to find out how to hang curtains on a beautiful 5 pane bay window. The curtain pole is proving tricky, it needs to be almost curved and attached to the window somehow in the middle. Hmm.

Joining in on the hat topic - hats do not suit me at all. I have a fat face and always have done, even when underweight. However as a little girl my mother kept my curly hair short as it was hard to care for. In the winter I to wear hats to keep warm and in the summer I used to get paranoid other children would think I was a boy. So i like hats in a comfort blanket sort of way but never actually wear them out!

Floss

Jonesy We have 4-pane bays ground & first floor, living & master bed rooms. Downstairs is a flexi corded track, upstairs isca very expensive, very substantial and quite challenging brass-effect rail from JL's. It looks fab, but DH has not been keen to replicate it downstairs as yet because it were a bu99er to get it to stay up!

misstara

Today I ended up popping round to a friends at lunchtime so never had my soup, just ate lots of biscuits at hers instead . I made pasta carbonara for tea and had made enough for OH plus some leftovers for tomorrow, however, OH scoffed the lot after work so will have to find something else for tomorrow's tea.

I was passing by M*rks&Spencers at nearly closing time and got some good YS bakery bargains - £1.65 for a loaf, half loaf, scones and rolls . Made garlic bread to go with the pasta and the rest has been put in the freezer. I kept the scones out for pudding but OH decided he didn't want his so I've snaffled it for tomorrow:D

Lynplatinum

Hiya Folks

Another NSD for me I have spent nowt since sun from my grocery budget. My 'entertainment' budget is still within the tenner - despite going to the pub and having a half of beer and crisps !!! lovely pub - not been there before 2nd pub this week.

However, crisps and beer are not known to be good foods to help with weight loss! :rotfl:

However, i have managed to loose 2 lb this week using the low cal diet mentioned before!

However am off for a little holiday with my good friend for a week - I will try to keep up with stuff on her but will be reliant on her internet!!

However, she is still on Sl!mming Wo!ld so - hopefully I will stay the same weight at least!:j If not actually loose weight.

Be in touch asap! Wish me luck

PS - GQ glad your water issues are sorted - hope there is not too much tiding/ cleaning to do.

GreyQueen

Not too much, Lynplatinum, the water came into two cupboards which are side-by-side off the hall; tank cupboard and airing cupboard. I shall let the drying out process take a few more days, clean them thoroughly, then repaint the airing cupboard with emulsion. It's a tiny space.

Then it's a few minutes' work to reload with the textiles. More an inconvenience than a lot of work. And having everything out has caused me to declutter a few items, which is all to the good.

Makes you realise that, when things go wrong, the fewer possessions you have, the easier time you have.

[Deleted User]

Morning chums just had breakfast as I was up at the crack of dawn this morning.it will be the same now until the darker morning come back as once its light i'm awake,and once awake I cannot just lie in bed I have to be up and doing something. You'd think I'd have more sense at my age :):)
Today I am getting my last shop of the month then that will be it until the new month starts next week.
Its great as I have 'minimised' my food shopping down the three days this month, and 'made do' with what I already had in the cupboard ,so have 'mended ' my shopping habits considerably :):)
What's not to like as my DGS would say
Hope you all have a good day with MD & M & M'ing
Cheers chums
JackieO xxx