Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

mumf

My dear wife informed me that the lid on our small chest freezer was broken ( the hinge ) and that we needed to buy a new freezer! NO WAY! Ten minutes and a couple of minutes,and Bingo!

New freezer indeed...

mumf

That should read 'ten minutes and a couple of rivets' .Predictive typing!

Prinzessilein

Hallo all!

I have finally moved into my new flat - WHAT a stressful experience! We did a fair amount of moving ourselves - but needed help with some stuff (I am disabled, Mum is an OAP no way could we moves stuff like the bed!)

My brother was going to do some carpentry for me - I want a couple of shelves in the kitchen, stuff like that. Unfortunately he has had a relapse of one of his conditions and was unable to get here, so we had to look for a local chap - FINALLY got one to come and do 'small' jobs and he is hoping to fit us in this coming week (all the little jobs can easily be fitted in on one day).

I decided to 'make-do' with the carpets the previous occupants left - a little shabby in places but a rug thrown over it covers that up!

Mum and I have 'mended' - sort of, by reusing two sets of curtains. And a friend gave me a 'nearly new' set of curtains for the living room which needed taking up and also the rings removing and tape for hooks put on instead...they are now up (but only tacked up for the shortening as we need to wait for someone with a sewing machine!)

Lots of minimising - this place is quite a bit smaller than my last place.

The magnet that holds the door on my DVD cabinet shut got knocked out of whack during the move...I will have to look at some way of fixing it - that or finding some other way to get the doors to close!

Advent Sunday today - so my tree will go up (very minimised - it is just a table top version - and I never use lights- straw stars and wooden decorations) and my other decorations too ...I will be giving them a good sort out too - and decide which to keep for my new place.

I will be looking at baking festive bread soon - I do some every year, for me, and Mum and for pressies too....Spiced Orange and Cranberry was very well received a few years ago...Fig and Walnut always goes down well....this year I am thinking of Almonds with spiced Cherries, maybe a hint of Honey....Mum does her own Stollen, so I will do a swapsie with her a loaf of bread in return for some Stollen.

Have a good weekend folks!

pinkypig

Hi everyone

Can't believe another weekend is over. I haven't posted for a while but the MMM mindset is becoming established and I now think before I spend.
Make do. Had LO pancakes from the freezer rather than making fresh ones. Warmed up with some honey on they were lovely.
I also got a half price duck from Asda which I roasted for dinner. I also managed to get enough meat off the carcass for a stir fry tomorrow and made soup with the bones and roast dinner LO which was delicious. That will do lunch tomorrow and there's 4 potions in the freezer.
I roasted the peelings off the potatoes and made Hugh FW Potato Peel soup which is really tasty. There was enough for four portions.
I used the duck giblets to make stock which I used as a base for gravy and the soup and turned the liver into Duck Liver pate which is really nice but a bit richer than Chicken Liver pate. It was a bargain at £5 for a 2kg bird but using every bit made it even better:j
Mend. A small tear in the seam if DS's coat and a hole in the knee of my favourite jeans.

Hope you've all had a good weekend
PP x

[Deleted User]

Wow you have had an impressive buy with your expanding duck Well done on using it all up.

Today I shall be making more squares for my charity blankets
No mending at the moment
but my friend and I will be making do with a nice lunch free of charge at Brewers Fayre at lunchtime as I have a £20.00 voucher that must be used up by 30th November.

All from collected points on my card.My eldest DD has a caravan that her and her OH use every weekend during the summer and for the odd week and the nearest pub is a Brewers Fayre and she uses my loyalty card during the summer and clocks up the points

pinkypig

Hi everyone:)

Had another NSD which is good as I'm desperately trying not to get sucked into unnecessary spending, especially the seasonal sort!

Make do. Soup made with yesterday's left overs for lunch with a toasted YS pitta filled with salad. Dinner was hoisin duck noodles with HM sauce (which I've never made before). It also needed peanut butter which I didn't have so I made some using Jack Monroe's recipe. It was really easy and has a nicer texture than the bought stuff (doesn't stick to the roof of your mouth). The hoisin sauce was also very simple and really tasty. The kids loved it so I'll definitely do it again,particularly as it was just store cupboard ingredients.
Minimise. A book I've just finished passed on to a friend

Mend. Nothing

Hope you've all had a good day.
PP x

Floss

I've been minimising today by using up store cupboard stuff....

Rocky road for the kitchen staff in work has used up a packet of chocolate fingers and 1/2 pack Rich Tea, a Curly Wurly, a tube of Smarties and some chocolate - all removed from DH's radar

Christmas fridge cake for my BF & her hubby has used some o.o.d. Christmas spiced biscuits (obv. hidden from DH VERY well last year!), the lingering half jar of mincemeat from last year and the rest of the bar of chocolate along with a glug of brandy (why is there always half a jar left?!)

Lunch was tuna mayo with celery rolls, finishing mayo and celery. DH is having eggs for tea, probably as an omelette as I will be at work.

Have minimised the laundry but slightly increase the ironing pile

Lynplatinum

Hiya All

Well, the aliens havent come and taken me back home :(so am still on this planet :rotfl: and living the MM&M life!

But you might think that I've gone off world as I havent been in touch. It has all been v hectic here. My DS2 has come down to stay for a few weeks and is getting stuck into all the silly jobs that I cannot do myself due to the arthritis - which is very fustrating as I used to do all my own DIY.

So:
Mending: a hole in the duvet cover that I was about to put on his bed (me) ; round door handles changed for lever ones (DS2); bureau hinge mended (DS2) BTW the bureau was originally going on a neighbour's bonfire until I rescued it!; shelving unit put up (both of us); computer now wifi enabled and printer drivers found on net and installed so printer now works! (DS2); speakers put onto computer (DS2) Phew!

Making do: Lots of food eaten up including 2 portions carrot, lentil and cumin soup; 2 portions leek and potato soup; 3 large bananas in a chocolate, pecan and banana cake (DS2's favourite cake!); most meals HM but he has had to capture and consume 2 pasties since he has been down here!! Decided that DS2 can build new components into old computer case so that will save money and bring my computer up to date using components that he does not need once he updates his computer! turned cold so fished out all my old jumpers and realised I do not need to buy any more this year as all are in serviceable nic!

Minimising: the old decking which was green and slimey and rotting (DS2 has broken it all up and a tip run calls tomorrow!); two more bags of shredding when out for the bin me this week!; still eating down the freezer prior to a defrost!!; finished a book and dropped it into the CS

So MM&M has become so much part of my lifestyle that I cannot go back to the bad old ways!!! Son is v impressed with all the walking and loves the new house - so that is good. He too is MM&M and is looking at ways of using up wood that I have already got to build a bed in the smallest bedroom for me - rather than buy a new one as the mattress is perfectly serviceable! He is also v happy to eat YS or special offer and especially HM so that it makes him much cheaper to feed!

BTW Jackie O - the soda bread freezes fine but wrap it up well as it can dry out easily.
Princess - so glad you are at last in new flat!!! Brilliant!! moving is a drag but it is great once it is done!
Nurse Maggie - what a pain re fuel costs in your new place. Have you tried a bit of 'backstaging' - get a quote from an energy company person to fit a new 'combi' boiler. Then tell the Housing association what it would cost. then (cos they still wont agree) get your local councilor involved on the lines of 'why should the poorest and most disadvantaged in society have to put up with the most expensive heating systems when new and more efficient ones are available?' (presume some as savvy as you would already have swapped providers to get the cheapest as all tenants can now do?)

Am looking into other methods of heating than E7 and when I find out more and have estimates I will report back!

Anyhoo must go to bed but just wanted to drop in to say 'Hi folks' to everyone.
Nite all

[Deleted User]

Thanks Lyneplatinum for the heads up re the soda bread. Sounds like you have really settled in well in your new home and how handy to have a son who is willing to share your frugal ways as well.
I am making do with stuff from my freezer and store cupboards as much as possible this month as I have a hefty bill due on the 19th to power flush my CH system.It will be paid from my 'rainy day' fund ,but I want to rebuild that back up asap.
Not much at the moment in the way of mending thank goodness as its not my strong point , although my youngest DGS has presented me with a pencil box he made at school and asked me to paint it for him in red and white his favourite footies teams colours .So that will be a 'rainy day' project for when I am stuck indoors because of the weather.

Minimising must be done soon in my small study as I am getting a bit knee deep in paper work.Just need a bit of sorting out and definitely a good bit of shredding as well.I am lucky that if I bag up all that needs doing my eldest DD will take it into work where they have an industrial sized shredder (she works in a special-needs school) and it will be done a lot quicker than I can do it as my shredder is a handle turned one :):)
onwards and upwards chums
have a good and frugal weekend


JackieO xx

Lynplatinum

Evening all!

Well more minimising here - have taken all the decking to the tip with DS2 today + loads of garden waste - which to be honest I have been putting off moving! So that is a good job done!

Mending: nowt

make do: Lunch was some YS wholemeal pittas and chicken from the freezer drizzled with hosin sauce and salad + a cuppa tea overlooking St Micheal's Mount (a great reward for our hard work going to the tip and going on adventures round the lanes of Cornwall looking for woodyards and hardware stores!! They were locally owned and so MUCH better than all the big names - not only in terms of price but service and variety of goods!) Then we went to Morr!sons and got YS baby sweet corn and mange tout packs for 30p each and fresh mackrel in lovely condition for £1.50! DS made a fab thai type sauce for the mackrel with chilli (already in freezer) garlic (always in house) lime (on YS) and soy. Yum Yum Yumy tea!!!

So tomorrow off to my friend's village Christmas Fete in her local church - have been volunteered to do the refreshments and DS has been volunteered to move my friend's large potted Christmas tree in from the garden and to put up high Christmas decorations. It is so nice to think that some folk live such an untroubled life and their biggest problem is to decide which Christmas decoration colourway to go with this year!!! Bless 'em!!! May there be many more such folk in the world!

When I got divorced we couldn't afford a Christmas tree so we made a 'Swiss' one - took some branches from the garden and painted them white and hung 25p worth of baubles from the Charity shop !!! Boys still reckon it was the most elegant Christmas tree ever!!! :rotfl:

Anyhoo am looking forward to my weekend in a traditional village and putting up Christmas decorations!!! and DS is looking forward to my friend's award winning and amazing pasties!

Frugal on folks! Have fun!!