Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

savingpennies

Hi all, especially to the newbies,
I've been away for a few days enjoying a welcome, but all too short, a break in North Yorkshire.
Since we returned we have been decorating our kitchen and utility room - and I am absolutely kn*****ed! I've also given the conservatory a thorough clean (note to self, keep on top of those roof blinds). Not sure whether that is mending or minimising (the dust!) but it's got to count for something.
I'm hosting a Macmillan Summerlights party at the weekend and hope the weather turns out nice. I sorted out all the invites and now just need to add a few lights/decorations and finalise a quiz to raise a bit more money. Wish me luck.
I've found out our local maternity unit are raising money to make some of the delivery rooms sound proof for those poor mothers giving birth to stillborn infants. This is so they don't have to hear the cries of babies in adjoining delivery suites being born. They are asking for people to knit little bears that they can sell so one way to minimise my wool stash.

Keedie

Hi All,

This is my first ever post, but I've been reading everything and it is really inspiring me to sort my finances out and get decluttering .

Just wanted to say Claire1a, a month's break following redundancy doesn't seem right. I work in HR, and this doesn't fit in with redundancy legislation. I'm also being made redundant from my local council job and I leave next month. The 1 month & 1 day restriction only applies to jobs that are in the Modification Order (local, central government, some education or NHS posts etc.) if you start working for another council etc within a month you can keep your continuous service, but you may lose your redundancy. But you can actually work for yourself, another company or do agency work from the day after you are made redundant.

A lot of my colleagues have left due to redundancy on the Friday and the started working with an agency on the Monday. Personally after nearly 12 years I'm taking a well deserved break :j

silvasava

Keedie - I'm sure you are right. It's the job that is redundant not the person. Although some years ago - I was made redundant, left on the Friday and started new job on the Monday. If my memory serves me correctly your employer must also let you have time off to attend interviews.
Big day today with the EU referendum - I'm sure everyone here will be voting.
One f my friends cushion covers made last night. I need to get them finished by tomorrow so they can be given back on Saturday and out of the house.
Have a good day all x

claire1a

Hi Keedie and Silvasava, I rang HR and they said I had to wait 4 weeks. I think this is only in regards to keeping my payout which is partly why I am taking voluntary redundancy! it'll cover my living costs for the year whilst I'm at Uni next year, so not parting with that!!!!

Hopefully I will manage to save enough in my EF pot to last me the first month before having to dip into my payout! We'll see tho. I suppose it also gives me the time to try and get a good few weeks of volunteering in at a school! (Of which I hope it doesn't then put me off hahahahaha (eek :undecided))

I just need to kick my butt into gear and get myself sorted over the next couple of months!

I'm doing the vote counting tonight so that will add a little to the EF and I am minimising the time I have to sleep... Its quite good fun thought and i'll only have Friday to get through before being able to go home and sleep!

Making do with left overs for lunch and alas no mending (Unless you count my EF pot...)

Hope everyone has a good day xx

Margaret54

Hello all I have been enjoying reading here and isn't it such a friendly place to be? I feel so sorry to hear about the flooding in the south east today. It must be dreadful to suffer it. I have been minimising my wool by beginning a little wrap a round cardigan for a baby to put away. It is wonderful to have done so much decluttering, and now I can see clearly what I actually have so have my knitting needles in one place instead of finding them in three different places. My wool is in a box stored neatly and my sewing stuff in a neat basket too. I am putting away any paperwork as soon as I receive it, instead of bunging it in a drawer as I would have done when I was busy with something else. I had all our important paperwork neatly stored and up to date, but other stuff needed sorting so it is my rule to myself deal with it as soon as you have it, makes good sense:) I have minimised the lovely fruit loaf I made a few days ago by having another delicious slice with a little spread on it and a cuppa. I have also lost two pounds in weight so more minimising:) I am going to mend some socks tonight while watching t.v' so another little job done. Jackie O I have seen you mentioning the Linus Trust before on here and am very interested in it. I will look it up later. I have seen little hand knit items in charity shops, say a wee cardie for a baby in lemon or white for maybe 50p, so that is a tip I will keep in mind. You can't buy a little ball of yarn here for 50p and if you ripped it out washed it etc. then it would be a good saving. Thank you for that:) My dh worked night shift last night so later when he wakes and has a shower and food we will go and register our votes, in the local church. It will be very interesting to hear the results.......

Keedie

That's a shame Claire1a that your HR department deals with things like that, it seems a bit retro in their thinking. But each organisation can make their own rules. But you can always sign on for JSA immediately after you leave, there is no restriction there based upon the redundancy booklet that i looked at on moneyadviceservice.org.

I have been selling unwanted items to raise a bit of money and put it in my emergency fund. i've only got £120 so far, but hopefully it'll grow over the next few months. This is also helping me to minimise, as my flat was getting really cluttered and I think my son was a bit embarrassed as he stopped inviting his friend's over to play...

I've been trying to cook more and use leftovers for lunch etc, but I need to get the hang of properly planning meals and batch cooking so that I can freeze portions. I realised that I waste a lot of money on food, due to poor planning and a lack of motivation to shop/cook.

I'm grateful for upcoming redundancy payout, but I have debts worth 80% of my redundancy pay. But I am not well enough to work straight away as I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. So I am getting a bit anxious about how to approach my debt and my money management. So I am very grateful to this thread, I have picked some ingenious ideas so far

silvasava

Clare1a - think you might need to take a look at the ACAS website. They have all the relevant up to date information and if I remember rightly you can email them to query anything about employment terms.

angela110660

Morning everyone on a very auspicious morning! Am going to minimise the amount of tv and radio I consume for the next few days as it all becomes quite overwhelming with all the opinions given. Going to crack on with some cupboard sorting, batch cooking and first of all - going to my aqua class to liven myself up and try to further mend my stiff back. Have a good day all.

mrs-moneypenny

I've got a huge pile of stuff to take to the CS over the weekend so that will minimise about 8 big bags full of stuff from our house.
Still lots more to go.
making do with something from the fridge/cupboards toninght for tea.
And plan to minimise a couple of glasses of wine later this evening.

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

Great to be back on here and reading all your news + stepping back in admiration at the amount of hard work MM&Ming folks are doing! :beer::beer:

Well, I have finally exchanged on both houses and will hopefully be able to move in on 5th July! Am currently staying with my Cornish friend who is having me to stay for the next 11 days!! Have been here for another week already! Wow where does time go??

Previous 10 days I stayed with one of my Writer's Circle friends for Writer's Circle; then with another friend for a few days and went to a rock concert at the O2 with her and to look at wedding venues with her (she recently got engaged at 46 - so pleased for her - after naff ex-husband she and a previous boyfriend have got back together ahhhh ) ; then went to stay with DS+ DIL+ DGD (who is so cute at 4 months old - keep on wanting to hug her!!!)

Am just so fortunate that folks ask me to stay with them! :cool:

Well, the Buddhists say that 'life gives us only lessons and gifts - once you learn the lesson it becomes a gift!' So what have I learnt?? And how does it apply to MM&M? I have learnt that:
1) you can live with a sports bag of clothes for 2 months (doing a wash once a week at someone's house
2) that most important paperwork in life can fit into a laptop bag and one arch lever folder
3) that my little laptop and new (gift from friend as he did not want it anymore) smart phone and a book read (from CS) are all the entertainment I need
4) that basic cooking materials will fit into one plastic box (steamer + frying pan with lid+ chopping board +knife + big stirring spoon+ 2 sets of cups/plates/bowls +cutlery
4) that good friends are the best thing ever!:A

In a way I am scared of getting all my stuff back as it just feels like I will be getting a whole bunch of complications back?? Does that make sense folks?? :rotfl:

Had a cheap evening out last night with my friend down her local pub: quiz night+2 1/pts beer + charity raffle tickets = £5 = 5 hours of entertainment!! and a real good laugh! We came second and my weird knowledge set came in handy -(I know what George the 4th looked like and when Pink Floyd's biggest grossing album was - see what I mean??) Does that count as making do???

claire1a - feeling the fear and doing it anyway is v empowering!! Try out teaching in anyway you can to check it is what you want to do. While you may have a gardening leave clause in your redundancy package (quite common now - if you work in any job where strategic information could be accidentally passed on) then you could still do things to make/save money that are not formal work that month. Such as:
1) Swap time - for example - I dog sit for a friend and she cuts my hair
2)Skill swap - you mend some one's coat - they clean your car
3) make somethings to go on a craft fair stall - once the month is over
4) Do a Martin's review of your bills (under the debt section of the site) - are you paying too much for energy/insurance etc - the first time I did this I saved myself £750 per year.
5) Check for PPI/bank charges reclaims etc you could be eligible for (also on this site) I have made £2600 over the past 18 months doing this.
6) Sell your stuff and anyone else's that they wish to donate to you on e-bay/fbook - not a huge money spinner but useful!!

And if this little lot doesnt keep you busy enough - use the month as an opportunity to declutter (more for ebay/fbook) and free up your life to enjoy studying!
Hope this is useful and not telling me grandma how to suck eggs as they say.
Sorry for the long post guys but Ive been out of if for so long and have missed chatting to you all! :A take care!nite all