Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

meritaten

lol - I do that too Siebrie - unfortunately my hair is babyfine and poker straight! I would love a headful of bouncy curls! still, saves pounds on hairdressers!

oh, I knitted a Cbeebies toy for granddaughter today - but am not very happy with it. when its stuffed the stitches 'open' out and the stuffing is visible. so will have another go with more stitches but much smaller needles. oh, forgot to say it was 'Flop' from Cbeebies. if I am happy with it I will photgraph it and post it. now just need to find the free 'Bing' pattern again - its hiding from me and I really do NOT want to buy one.

GreyQueen

I've been cutting my own hair since January and am very pleased with the results, and get compliments from people, even one hyper-critical rellie. Since they don't know I'm cutting it myself, I don't think they're humouring me and mocking me behind my back.

It's money-saving but also liberating and time-saving as I blinking hate going to the hairdressers.

misstara

I hate going to the hairdresser too and force myself to go about once, maybe twice a year. Would love to cut it myself but I'm too scared. I have very thick wavy hair and am worried it would look an absolute mess. Having said that it's a bit of a mess at the moment as it badly needs cut so might give it a go.

Did a little bit more clearing out tonight and added a few more tops and scarves to the bag which will eventually go to the CS. Really need to make some proper time for this instead of doing a wee bit here and there.

SailorSam

I bought an electric hair trimmer for less than £30 from Amazon earlier this year. So say a haircut was £5 it's already paid for itself. And no need to sit waiting in the barbers and talk about my next holiday.

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

Well, son is here and is rapidly minimising the food I have made :-)
Already he is proving his worth in food as he has mended my back gate!!!
Making Do - I forgot to buy brocoli so we made do with carrots and peas LOL (does that count???)

dND

Siebrie wrote: »

The minimising bit is a bit out of the ordinary: we minimised our cars & costs. We owned 2 cars, and then my husband made a promotion which came with a company car. Even insurance and fuel are paid by the employer, and we don't pay a penny. We sold our Renault Kangoo, which was 13 years old, ran on petrol at 36mpg, and had 100,000 miles on the meter. It was a gift from my parents 3 years ago, when they bought a new-to-them car. We managed to sell for GBP 1,000! I now drive our Renault Clio Grandtour to work, which is a diesel and does 66mpg. The difference is huge! After the first month, we have already not-spent GBP 180 on cars!

Hi Siebrie, That's really good news but at the risk of sounding a bit negative, it might be an idea to start a savings fund with part of the money saved before you get used to having it available. What companies are happy to give one year can change the next (or your husband may wish to change jobs etc.) and then you would need to obtain another car. So sorry if that does sound negative but have been in that sort of situation before and really wish I had taken my own advice back then :rotfl:

On the MMM front here life goes on My summer jobs are coming to an end so I will be making do on no income :eek:, I've found a great big pile of mending to do which I will have to do as it includes the winter trousers I need and as for minimising, well I still have mountains of 'stuff' to wade through but top of the agenda today is to minimise some my flour stock - I feel the need for ginger biscuits

Happy MMM'ing everyone :beer:

Siebrie

Thanks dND! dh will only accept job offers with cars, he even turned down two that paid better, but did not come with a car. The increased salary would have paid for more than a car, but he does not want to see it (and yes, I phrase it like that on purpose).

He is in IT, tri-lingual and with glowing references from old employers. He is also African but schooled in Europe, which companies like to hire to make their workforce more diverse, while being assured on the education front.

imho

Siebrie wrote: »

Thanks dND! dh will only accept job offers with cars, he even turned down two that paid better, but did not come with a car. The increased salary would have paid for more than a car, but he does not want to see it (and yes, I phrase it like that on purpose).

He is in IT, tri-lingual and with glowing references from old employers. He is also African but schooled in Europe, which companies like to hire to make their workforce more diverse, while being assured on the education front.

But doesnt he have to pay more tax form his pay because he is using a company car ?

Siebrie

We are in Belgium, where every mode of transport is subsidized! As long as he stays in this size, and has a company name somewhere on the vehicle, he doesn't have to pay anything.

dND

Siebrie wrote: »

We are in Belgium, where every mode of transport is subsidized! As long as he stays in this size, and has a company name somewhere on the vehicle, he doesn't have to pay anything.

That makes a lot of sense - I thought you were UK based :-) :j