Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

cheerfulness4

Yippee! Another NSD so my todays £3 stays in my purse to join yesterdays leftovers. :T

Day 8

NSD #4

Money Spent Today - £0 Vouchers Spent - £0
Money Spent in Total - £20.16 Vouchers Spent in Total - £5
Money left in purse - £3.84 - Float left- £0/£15
Oct non-foods left- £11.65/£15

We had the HM cheese herb crusted chicken with mini jackets for tea (that we didn't get the other night) and for supper this evening I made a gorgeous bread and butter pudding with a pannettone loaf (25p reduced :T ). We will have the other half with chilled evap tomorrow night.

I'll give those Oven Prides a go. I can't think why I couldn't pop the rings round my gas burners in. I'd love to give those a really good clean.

Loving all these blogs. I shall never get any housework done.

So proud, got my repotting and my herbs seeds all done. I've hunted for my labels but they're hiding so I've popped two different colour straws in to differentiate between the thyme and parsley. All wrapped in their little plastic cover now.



I've an idea for a little project to do over the next few days but I'll pop a pic on about that tomorrow. In the meantime, relaxing.
I've also got embroidery to do Mothernerd. I've quite a few of those old transfers but not made a decision how to use them yet.

Bobarella, I'm all about the saving now we are out of debt. I haven't worked out a new savings plan since DH has started work again but I have still got savings from before. Its a lovely feeling.
I want to save for another car. I actually have enough already for a good secondhand one but I'm saving for the one after that or to buy a new one instead of secondhand in the first instance.
I get very excited about my savings. :j

ginnyknit

This is my Christian Dior fabric all ready to chop up tomorrow.

cheerfulness4

Are you making pillowcases and a bedding out of it Ginny? It really does have that lovely crisp cotton feel that I love.
All our best cotton pillowcases are S'hand but they are much better quality than my new and will do good service for years to come I reckon.

thefrugalflirter

Thank you for the lovely comments Ginnyknit and Cheerfulness, I must admit, I started it a long time ago, then gave up when I moved overseas last year - I started it up again because I find I'm even more spend-conscious and frugal than I was before in the UK! Just goes to show it doesn't matter where you are in the world, there are always thrifty things to do!

I've been avidly reading the Frugalwoods blog that Bobarella mentioned - it's a great read - especially on how Mrs Frugalwoods bought no clothes last year, and is planning to do the same this year - inspiring stuff!

Prinzessilein - it's definitely worth using just 1 teabag, I don't like strong tea, but OH likes it practically solid tea, and we use just 1 bag for the two cups no problem.
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Quiet day here, I've been struggling to sleep the past week (I think from jet lag catchup), so I'm taking it easy - a quick walk around the park and now back to plan tea and catchup on the OS boards - bliss!
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I_want_a_baby

I too have been reading the frugal woods blog! It's really inspiring without them sounding like they are preaching!

Definitely something to dip in and out of to keep momentum over the year.

Was so inspired that I revisited my spreadsheet. I managed to shuffle nearly £120 out of various budget pots and into my savings. This means I am now over 10% of my savings goals for 2015.

I've decided like they say if there is money there in a budget to spend then it's likely it will get spent. So I've reduced a few pots down to the minimum I think I *need* for likely expenses.

I initially thought my savings goals were too ambitious and I may not reach them but my newly inspired mindset now makes me want to beat them! Lots of make do and mend ahead if that's to be the case!

IWAB x

Thistle-down

Luvplacebo wrote: »

Do any of you have any ideas about how to repair / cheaply replace the plastic covers of those cheap greenhouses you can buy? We have two that we use to grow food but the covers have been ripped several times by the wind. The frames seem to be fine, they just clip together so I'd rather replace the covers than have to buy new greenhouses.

This would take some work but I thought it was pretty neat:

cheerfulness4

I'm constantly amazed at how inventive people are, Thistle-down. Was that pic from someones blog? Before these posts about using bottles I'd never have thought about it. Its almost a cross between a large open-ended cloche or a mini tunnel.


I did watch the series with !!!!!! Strawbridge and his son who created a greenhouse with glass bottles inside as an insulator, but that's the nearest.


I have 2 raised beds which I think are approx. 1 mt x 2 mts. I have been thinking about how to add a temporary cloche for the early months so I can warm the soil up and get sowing underway earlier. I used cloches when I had my large garden years back and they were so useful.


DH off to dentist in a mo so I'm making a cuppa and having a look at Frugalwoods blog. Not got to that one yet I don't think.

Thistle-down

I saw it here:

Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

SilverBird_2

I've just done a g00g1e images search for "plastic bottle greenhouse" - had never thought of using empties to create anything like this - could be worth buying the cheapie lemonade just to be able to use the bottles. (Also, could ask the neighbours to donate any empties they might have.)

cheerfulness4

I don't get very many bottles so I'd have to beg and plead from my friends and neighbours. Where would you have the room to store them all while you were collecting, though. I think one plan said you'd need 1,000 bottles. :eek:

I've got out my next project for the weekend. I found this magazine I'd bought last summer. Again a resource that wasn't cheap (£4.99) that I enjoy browsing and then put in a drawer.

The kit says its a door stop but I like the pin cushion idea from the front cover of the mag. A woman on Sewing Bee had a sausage dog pin cushion and I fell in love with it.

So this is my project for the weekend then. I know why I've not done it before. I was scared of mucking it up but with this new found confidence I'm developing I'm ready to give it a go. :j

That's when I can get my head out of the mag! Once I started reading I realised what great things I'd been missing.