Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Prinzessilein

I use something called Biomex for my oven door...it is something like Astonish.


Had to make an appointment at the hospital today....for the skin clininc...thye have managed to fit me in tomorrow...the specialist will need to change one of the skin crèmes on my prescription (I reacted rather badly to it!) ...so I have doing a quick check on all my other skin prescriptions ( currently 7 I think!!!!) so I can get repeats of what is necessary and just take the one prescription to the chemist....(maybe not old-style - but definitely money-saving....I can't use bath/shower products or shampoo and have to have gunk on prescription!....can't wear make-up either....that really saves a few pennies!)


I was wondering about tea-bags...made a cuppa for Mum and myself this morning...and only used one teabag for the two mugs.....do others find one bag easily makes two good strong cuppas?


Thanks for the tip about Nescafe at Morrisons! Mum is fussy about her coffee...refuses to drink cheaper make....(and I kind of understand!)...We go to Morrisons every other week so I'll look out to see of the offer is still on next week (and make sure to check the smaller size offers!)

Runcorn_Bridge

Teabags, yes! I buy Tetleee's One Cup and one bag easily does two mugs. And I buy them from the Pound type shops. Double OS there then

maryb

Just found this thread (and the Not Buying It thread) and have spent a lovely day reading through. I find that i get really fond of possessions I have mended and I actaully like them better than when they were new. I had a white seersucker cotton duvet cover a few years ago which wore out along the top edge where you grab it to pull the covers up. I opened up the side seams and cut about 12 inches off and sewed a plain strip of cotton sheeting on. Then I topstitched the seam with a double row of stitching before restitching the sides. I thought it looked much nicer than the original and I got another THREE YEARS wear out of it!

It helps that DH is handy and can mend a lot of things as well. He loves an excuse to go to Screwfix and buy another tool if he hasn't got what he needs already but it does save money, honest gov. He just bought a set of security screwdrivers so he could get at the screws holding an electrical item together, then he replaced the small part that he sourced on the web. Result - said item as good as new for total cost of £15 of which £10 was the set of screwdrivers.

The web is great for finding spares but we are lucky that we still have an Aladdin's cave type electrical spares shop nearby. When the seal went on my washing machine just as DD2 came home from uni with a mountain of washing, we were back in business for £18 rather than that plus a £60 call out fee and a two day wait

So on balance I think he's a keeper - even though the last time he replaced the brushes on the washing machine motor he got some of the greasy carbon on his shoe and trekked it over the light beige carpet:eek::eek::eek:

mothernerd

Prinzessilein wrote: »

I used to work in a rental shop!...one of my first jobs was to go there before the shop opened and do the dusting and vacuuming! (Those screens attracted so much dust!)


We certainly only had one TV....for many years rented rather than bought. And of course it was Black-and-White. And we had the luxury of 3 Channels! (And none of them broadcast 24/7!)


It's fun telling nephews and nieces this....Black and White? Wot no colour?!!!....and no TV in your bedroom?....what about the internet...what no Nintendo either? What did you do with yourself?


We read books (half an hour walk to the library - and the same back again - but I loved reading and the library let me borrow 3 books at a time!)...played board games....went blackberrying (oh we knew some terrific sites when we lived in Devon...pounds and pounds of the most luscious berries all for the picking!)...did all sorts of craft (I was making my own soft toys at the age of 9 or 10 - hand sewn with felt..a few years later I was into making candles and soap)...writing letters (no e-mails....and no phone!....if you needed to use a phone you walked to the phonebox...and it was button A and button B - remember them folks!)...assorted Brownie and Guide activities...and this was in addition to 'chores'....polishing shoes (scrapping mud off, rubbing in the polish, buffing them up...all took time!).....handwashing socks (white socks for school - and those grass stains had to be scrubbed out!....learned to do this for my Brownie Housewife badge!)....helping to prep veggies for dinner (peas used to come in pods....not tins!)....mending (from about the age of six I was using a thick needle and learning to sew on buttons)


My childhood may not have come with non-stop TV and internet and mobile phones.....but it equipped with a plethora of skills for the make-do-and-mend lifestyle!

We had a brand new record player that set on fire on Christmas Day - apparently a stray wire set fire to the little brush that was meant to clean the stylus every time the arm went back to its little hole (how's that for showing your age). Our first tv arrived when I was 5yo and it worked for many years with a 6" nail stuck in the back instead of an aerial. We had a couple of tv's set on fire too (Dad only spotted one because the fire - in the back of the tv, one of the valves - was reflected in the clock on the wall).

Shop manager was skeptical - one family couldn't be that unlucky. He got short shrift - the shop cleaner was our grandma, who had been present for the record player fire and one of the tv fires.

I also loved the library, but we could only have 2 books and I read one a night. I got round it by starting to read my dad's library books from the age of 9. Oh the joy when I reached the age of 1, could take as many books as I could carry and had access to the adult library (had read everything in the children's library).

Having a very lazy day and loving this thread and following a lot of the links as well. Feeling totally wiped out today - slept well but dozed for most of the morning. Have to keep reminding myself that I am recovering from a major operation and it's okay to sleep/rest if that's what my body tells me to do - trying to get at the gas meter yesterday must have been more demanding than I thought. Did move things several times so that I didn't do any of the movements still on the banned list.

jk0

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

I don't know about Oven Pride bags. Am I missing a trick?

Yeah, I think it's brilliant. I always take a box over with me when tenants are leaving. I find it best to leave the items in the bag several days though, giving it a little shake every day.

cheerfulness4

jk0, do you pop your oven shelves in some powder and water then? I was wondering about grill pans and roasting tin/baking sheets.

jk0

cheerfulness4 wrote: »

jk0, do you pop your oven shelves in some powder and water then? I was wondering about grill pans and roasting tin/baking sheets.

Yeah, you can put all those in. Don't put any painted tins in though, as they will end up with no paint on them like mine. The grill pan should be okay, as I believe they are 'stove enamel'.

The Oven Pride box contains a large sealable bag and a bottle of liquid. The instructions say to put half in the bag, and half on the floor of the oven.

I put it all in the bag, and when that's finished, I carefully tip it into the oven. It's a bit harder to use in the oven, as you have to keep reapplying it to the sides as they dry out.

Bobarella

Cheerfulness - I absolutely love those pretty herb pot stones. I just showed my little boy and asked if he'd paint me so pebbles at the weekend as we have lots of herbs around.

So today I got rid of 2 laptops that have been sitting around unused for months and years in one case. We sold them to music magpie. We won't get much £35 but we want a tablet and that will cover almost half.

I was lucky enough to get a box of pastries that would have gone in the bin from work today. They will do breakfast which saves us buying a loaf for 1 more day.

I'm loving reading The Complete Tightwad Gazette they should make it compulsory reading. I only wish I'd had it when I first bought a house and was buying all new furniture on HP. Fair enough I went for things that are timeless & good quality but I could have just collected bits as I went instead. Admittedly this was in 2004 so we're talking 11 yeas ago and we still have the sofas, beds, table and benches so no real issue but if I'd had the right attitude then I could have saved thousands.

I was interested to note that Amy Dacyczyn and her family achieved a savings rate of 43% per year which is incredible, but my current fave blog The Frugal Woods an American site has the couple at 65% of take home. We currently manage 7% including our pensions (but not company match or would be much higher) my goal is to reach 10% and higher but I can't do that with debt repayments. So I can't wait to get debt free then really get going!

Mrs_Cheshire

Thanks for all the comments about oven cleaning, we have a box of oven pride, so going to give it a go and see how we get on.

mothernerd

Been reading all afternoon.

In last two hours have turned 2 baking apples into 5 individual crumbles and used all the carrots in the veg basket for a double mix of carrot cake.

DS2 called round for me to do a quick repair on his coat and have repaired an accessory that goes with one of DS3's cosplay outfits. Now back to my January task of completing a number of small embroidery projects (now that the big Christmas deadline items are out of the way) - hoping to have Mother's Day and mum's birthday sorted by the end of next week (uses up odds and ends of leftover thread and fabric as well).