Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

Bobarella

Good Advice -I did see it & my view was it was fine for the average Joe but for us MSEers a tad teach your granny to suck eggs. Mind you I tick quite a lot of the extreme cheapskate boxes these days so it was never going to be super handy for me. Unless they had given Jack Monroe more airtime to talk about how she fed she and her son on £10 a week and I bet she has a LOT of other tips to share outside the foodie arena.

cheerfulness4

I think I'll do that with my sewing machine and practice all the various stitches as I stick to the same all the time. I'm still a little intimidated by my machine which is madness as I've used one since a kiddie and now I have grandchildren!
The machines look so much more complicated than mums old industrial machine. Only thing terrifying about that was how noisy it was.

I've had to get a little notebook to jot down some of these tips. My memory is shocking at the moment and I don't want to forget anything.
I've even written at the back my ideas for projects as they form and links, books etc that look really good.
Its so easy to get ahead of myself and trip up trying to do too much so I'm taking a nice steady pace this year and enjoying the journey. I set my goal as January 1st 2016 to have my house in order (literally and figuratively! ) and I think it will take that long but it will be so worth it.

tooties

This thread teaches me so much

Thank you Everyone

keep up the good work

regards

good_advice

Bobarella wrote: »

Good Advice -I did see it & my view was it was fine for the average Joe but for us MSEers a tad teach your granny to suck eggs. Mind you I tick quite a lot of the extreme cheapskate boxes these days so it was never going to be super handy for me. Unless they had given Jack Monroe more airtime to talk about how she fed she and her son on £10 a week and I bet she has a LOT of other tips to share outside the foodie arena.

Agree with you Bobarella, I did like the programe but did not learn anything new.
We are both too much MSE and have learn't to live the life style.
I did think it gave confidence that I am on the right track. We are so much alone in our own homes.

cheerfulness4

I can't wait to watch it now just to see how MSE I am.

I must say that I've heard tips on here over the last few days that I've never spotted on the boards before, perhaps because they're on a different subject to that I normally browse, but they've been really useful. I'll look at my raggedy bag ties in a whole new light now and save!
The lemon juice in the bread is also getting a trial next week in my house.

Menu plan now done and dusted and shopping list prepared for when DH gets in from running Grandkiddies to their daddy.
I find myself running low on a few items that, while not excessively expensive, take a rather large chunk out of our £3 a day. Black peppers has nearly run out as has Clover/spread. Breakfast cereal seems to fly in this house, too. :cool: I'm thinking suppers are being eaten of it.
Time to introduce the idea again of toast & jam and boiled egg breakfasts.

savingqueen

I appreciate a lot of the tips too and haven't been jotting them down - must go back and do so. A while ago I started jotting down my own tips and adding others many from OS board on my old laptop. Now my laptop doesn't work (tried all the usual things like new battery) and not sure it is worth repairing.... I have lost all my precious tips and many recipes. From now on they are going in notebooks.


Jack Monroe has a great post on her blog about keeping warm in winter (think its from last year) and lots of comments from readers. Worth a look.

Bobarella

Good Advice - Do you ever go onto Youtube for tips? Jeff Yeagers The Utilimate Cheapskate is brilliant. He is very engaging & interesting. Lots of good original tips. Like making firelighters using a toilet roll filled with the lint from your tumbledrier, that sort of thing where you may think that it is just rubbish to be thrown or recycled.

Cheerfulness - You will feel like an expert watching it ) And rightly so.

SavingQueen - Thanks I will look out for that blog post. I like Jack. She was giving out to a few commenters last night on twitter. One said she looked like an 8 year old boy in that show. People can be so rude. Shes there to tell us about her life experience and they are saying that. She seems to be a toughie though. Good for her.

Swampmonster

I took a bit of a risk today and dyed some ugg type boots today. They are suede with merino wool interior. Ukala brand by emu for anyone who's interested.

They were pink and although very pretty they didn't really go with anything and were starting to get a bit grubby.

I used a black Dylon machine wash dye I already had.

Partial success.

The suede went black but the trim and the stitching stayed pink.

They are definitely unique lol!

Still wearable though :T

good_advice

Swampmonster wrote: »

I took a bit of a risk today and dyed some ugg type boots today. They are suede with merino wool interior. Ukala brand by emu for anyone who's interested.

They were pink and although very pretty they didn't really go with anything and were starting to get a bit grubby.

I used a black Dylon machine wash dye I already had.

Partial success.

The suede went black but the trim and the stitching stayed pin

They are definitely unique lol!

Still wearable though :T

Gosh Swamp Monster. I would be frightened to put black dye in my washing machine.:eek:

Swampmonster

good_advice wrote: »

Gosh Swamp Monster. I would be frightened to put black dye in my washing machine.:eek:

I dye loads of things but mainly faded black jeans back to a solid black.

I buy Dylon wash n dye in Home Bargains for £2.99.

As long as you follow the instructions you should be fine. I washed my husband's white work shirts afterwards and had no problems.