Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2015

IrisViolet

Morning all!

Cheerfullness - I find your food spends amazing, don't know how you do it but we'll done you. I toyed with doing similar but I just haven't time to pop to shops so much. So need to stay weekly really. I did a shop in waitrose yesterday, £70 for a family of five, lots of fruit and veg as we eat veggie.
I think if I can spend between £50 and £70 a week the I'm on the right track, I used to spend in excess of £100 bbut make everything from scratch now and have overhauled our diets to make them healthier.

Still got lots of mending jobs to keep me busy, and a crochet blanket on the go for daughters bed.

Have a nice day all.

vhalla1478

Thank you for that, Cheerfulness - will try it out and report back at the weekend. I've visitors now for a couple of days so will have to figure out a way to sneak a look at all the lovely posts here!

loopy12

Hi all, never before has DS worn through the knee of his school trousers but today I noticed a small graze in the fabric which if I don't stop will become a big hole. I sent him to school in them today and have told him to be very careful but year 1 boys never err on the side of caution!

How can i fix them. I have an old pair of shorts which are too small and no use to DD who starts in sept. i was thinking about wonderwebbing a patch on the back as shorts fabric is slightly faded but i'm at a loss of what to do next. I really don't have the money to buy another pair and its quiet clearly not shorts weather!

Hoping the make so and menders can help?

The way i keep our food budget down is to shop around using the apps to compare prices. We are also blessed with a wealth of supermarkets in our town and i can easily get to all of the big 4 and Lydl within 5 minutes. I have a full inventry of my freezer and cupboards and we eat veggie 3 times a week with YS meat and fish making up the rest. Otherwise I would only buy meat or fish if it was a good offer. I also cook from scratch as much as i can. Last year we have downshifted the labels, used up the toiletries and cleaning products. My chosen cleaner of choice is the basic cream cleaner at about 40p it does the same job as the main brand at a fraction of the cost. We also have an allotment and greenhouse and a couple of beds in the garden. Its a struggle to maintain it all but DH enjoys the peace and therapeutic nature of digging away.

I have to say the only way i can keep costs down is careful planning but there are always the slip ups and the hectic nights!

vhalla1478

Just a quickie as I have to prepare for my guest, but have been meaning to post this for ages. If you live in a hard water area, stick a pebble in your kettle, it really prevents the build up of lime scale, thus prolonging your kettle's life. Sorry, I don't know the science behind this one, but it does work.

I hesitate about adding this saver as you might think I'm completely insane but in the morning I use the still warm water from my hot water bottles to wash up the breakfast pots. There, now I've said it!

good_advice

:)Happy Wednesday everyone :hello:

Another day in our thrifty semi here in Hampshire.:)

The CH has now gone off and the thermal long sleeved vest, jumper and padded waistcoat, trousers and slipper boots have gone on.
I may over ride the heating switch at lunchtime for a while. There is a big difference in keeping fuel costs down and getting to cold.
I was chatting to another lady yesterday and they do the same.

DD went to work this morning with a hot water bottle on her lap for the car commute to work. Nice and cosy.:rotfl:
HM packed lunch.

I think I have had a :doh:moment as to why some people are saying their CH is on 24/7.
The heating might be on but is on so low a C that it only kicks in over 15/16C ?????

Well, well! so the gas bill is to be reduced OR NOT :mad:
It is splashed all over the news. What good companies they are.
Turns out it is only for households on the higher standard rate tariff anyway with my fuel company of Scottish Power.

The 4.8% cut does not apply to fixed tariffs when you lock in a price = does not change when a supplier increases or decreases price.

People who do not know this will have a false confidence, use more gas.:o

Changing from my favorite subject of gas/electric to shopping.

I did a large catch up shop of food and household items we have now used up. Last supermarket shop was Christmas eve. I have done a small Iceland freezer shop last week.

I went to Tesco. I like to take my time, use a shopping list.
I have noticed the goods on the end of aisles are not always the best value.
Take instant coffee for example. 100g = £2 for Dowle Egberts yet in the coffee aisle 200g of the same brand in classic coffee is 200g for £3.
Looking at weight and price can minimize pennies spent.:j

Making do . Yesterday OH said put BBQ sauce on the list.
I asked if he had looked in the store cupboard first? x2 bottles were sitting waiting. Bought when at low price as a standard item in this home.

I must get on and do some sewing. Making lage tidy bags in recycled material for another family. Lovely gift.

Remember say something nice today and pass on a smile

Lowslung

I have found the best way to repair school trousers is to make a patch that is the full width of the front trouser panel, and long enough to cover the whole knee area.
I don't know how confident you are with sewing repairs so I will try to list in right order of work.
Cut patch from shorts big enough to cover all the knee area plus a little extra all round - remember to make the patch wide enough to cover the full width of trousers, including a bit extra.
Press under a hem top and bottom of patch
Stitch repair to actual hole so it doesn't grow any more.A small wundaweb patch may help.
Open up side seams either side of area to be repaired
Pin patch in place, tucking the sides of patch into the seam allowance. Pin that in place too.
Hand or machine stitch top and bottom of patch in place.
Turn trousers inside out, and restitch the seam allowance, including the patched area.

I hope this is clear, but please ask if I haven't explained anything properly.This sort of patch is a bit less obvious than a smaller one - and believe me, there is no such thing as invisible mending!

loopy12

Lowslung wrote: »

I have found the best way to repair school trousers is to make a patch that is the full width of the front trouser panel, and long enough to cover the whole knee area.
I don't know how confident you are with sewing repairs so I will try to list in right order of work.
Cut patch from shorts big enough to cover all the knee area plus a little extra all round - remember to make the patch wide enough to cover the full width of trousers, including a bit extra.
Press under a hem top and bottom of patch
Stitch repair to actual hole so it doesn't grow any more.A small wundaweb patch may help.
Open up side seams either side of area to be repaired
Pin patch in place, tucking the sides of patch into the seam allowance. Pin that in place too.
Hand or machine stitch top and bottom of patch in place.
Turn trousers inside out, and restitch the seam allowance, including the patched area.

I hope this is clear, but please ask if I haven't explained anything properly.This sort of patch is a bit less obvious than a smaller one - and believe me, there is no such thing as invisible mending!

Thanks i am fairly adept at sewing but really had no idea where to start. I will fix it tonight.

:money: I did have a money blip eariler today as our wilkos had Christmas things down to 20p. They will be upcycled or repackaged for my Craft stall so i will recoup the money in the long run but £10 well spent.

i best mend those trousers!

celtic_moon

WELL! I have finally made it to the end of this thread :j I have to go back through it to note down all of the thrifty tips in one of my squillion unused notebooks I have to wave and say hello to nursemaggie who is also in Bolton - sorry, couldn't find your hello I was brought up OS and managed to stop being quite so thrifty when I had my high paying job. Now we have barely enough to cover the rent, I am throwing myself in 110%!

After reading 3/4 of this thread last night, we had to stop off at Pets at Home and on the same retail park - ASDA! Nipped in and got 3 x stir-frys, 1 potatoes and chorizo and 1 herby Mediterranean veg for the princely sum of 10p each :T We had 1 stir fry and the spuds last night, the herby veg will be cooked tonight and then blitzed into a soup and the other 2 stir-frys will be used tonight and tomorrow .

For me, the freezer is my new best friend. I freeze EVERYTHING! I only like just ripe bananas so when they go properly yellow or worse, they are chopped up and frozen for smoothies or baking. I bought a load of cheap veg just after Christmas which I prepared, blanched or part roasted and they are all now in the freezer.

Do you all know about the £5 Aldi voucher in the Mirror on the the last Thursday of every month? Also, a tip for your diaries. On Christmas Eve, first thing in the morning, Aldi reduce to half price all their fresh meat, veg, diary etc that has a date of the 27th Dec or earlier. This year, the last £5 voucher was valid until Christmas eve too. They now take credit cards, so I use my cashback cc and pay it off when I get home . I use Sainsburys for petrol - hand over my nectar card and use my cashback cc to pay - works the same in Tesco too .

Sorry it's a long post, just wanted to give back a few tips in return

bexster1975

Hello

Just a note to say, Aldi voucher will be in tomorrows mirror, not next Thursday which is last thurs of month ( naughty Aldi!)

Bexster

silvasava

Cheerfulness - my boat is a little motor cruiser. She's called Brandywine (family thinks its very appropriate for me!!) & she's about 40 years old. She's sound but has been neglected over the last few years so now I'm the owner she's getting all the TLC she needs. Its going to be a real labour of love but 'she's worth it'
Nasty cold sleety day here so going to start taking the curtains apart.
Quite envious of your being able to watch the narrow boats Cheerfulness - I find boats and water so relaxing & therapeutic ( that's when I'm not covered in muck from head to toe!)
Loopy - I always used to do the same to patch trousers but if the hole was small I put the patch on the inside of the trousers & zigzagged over the top with thread as near to match as possible - it was almost invisible.