Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

plumduff55

Hi everyone, still making do on the heating front. Engineer coming first thing tomorrow morning to try replacing another part. This started on 12 th December and at first the problem was intermittent but had no heating now since before New Year and really fed up with it.

Mending - not really, but I did finish a purple cardigan for my granddaughter who is 3 on Saturday.

Minimising - I am making a small A5 folder full of Christmas recipes, card lists and tips etc. I was looking to buy a small presentation folder but my friend had one from her work which I have covered with Xmas paper and it is just perfect. I am also going to cut down A4 dividers instead of buying new A5 ones. I do not have a printer at home so I emailed my recipes etc to myself and printed them at the local library. It did cost 15p per A4 sheet but as I don't print often it saves money on the cost of a printer and ink.

Still minimising Xmas food stash. Why is it last year I only bought 1 speciality cheese and everyone wanted cheese and crackers. This year I bought loads of cheese and not one person had crackers and cheese. I have used the caramelised onion cheese in cheese sauce and also in a quiche and it was lovely. I shall be having lots of meals including cheese in the next few weeks.

Advice please - Can a full chunk of cheese be frozen or do you have to grate it first?

Have a nice day xx

mrs-moneypenny

plumduff ive frozen both grated and chunks of cheese. Both worked but all I'll say is that you have to then fully defrost the chunk before you can cut it while frozen cheese can be taken out as you need it.

Tonight's tea will be veggie lasagne using what we have in.

Hughesfamily

Morning all
Lyn, I agree with Gran 3 -let them know in advance that you will not be available for when the p00 hits the fan and that they have to get themselves sorted. As a single parent myself, I know exactly where you are coming from on the having to go to work! I'm in today despite a raging headache and feeling like pants - plus I can't preach to my 5yr old about the merits of hard work if I just sit at home can I?

Not much MMM'ing form me, small one has been off colour so the evenings after school / work have been spent watching films (we already had) and snuggling on the sofa and early nights for us both. Fingers crossed we start again soon as we have enough to get rid of in our little house.

We have 2 children's parties to attend this week so I took advantage of the sales and bought a stash of kids gifts, enough for 4 parties for £11 and bought the 10 for a £1 cards from card [EMAIL="w@rehou$e"]w@rehou$e[/EMAIL] so minimise expenses there.

We're living out of the freezer so far this year with exception of fresh fruit and veg so spend this year on food is £22.14 so I am quite happy that and we YS some minced pork yesterday at 42p a pack from Mr T as I spotted it, along with 11p cherry toms &15p shortcrust pastry when I had to nip in to get something for work. I forsee some meatballs in tomato sauce coming up in the future along with pies to use up the bits of meat I have stashed in the freezer and some veg.

nicki_2

plumduff55 wrote: »

Hi everyone, still making do on the heating front. Engineer coming first thing tomorrow morning to try replacing another part. This started on 12 th December and at first the problem was intermittent but had no heating now since before New Year and really fed up with it.

When we had an intermittent heating problem it turned out to be a hairline crack in the heat exchanger I think. It meant it was constantly leaking just a little bit and I was having to top up the pressure more and more often. Eventually the crack grew to such an extent that I was topping it up 2 or 3 times a day. When we investigated repair costs it was cheaper to have a brand new boiler fitted! :eek: A temporary fix was doing using a chemical poured into the radiator and pumped around the system but that eventually clogged the filter up and caused the boiler to repeatedly fail as it couldn't drain properly. My landlady has very kindly had the same boiler she has in her house fitted and we've had no problems since *touch wood*

savingpennies

Morning all.
Minimise: I put a bag of clothes out for a Leukaemia charity yesterday. DD2 had cleaned out her room, so there was pile of washing and pile of stuff she no longer wanted. She was then busy on Ebay listing some of her better stuff she no longer wants. Today she is going to list some stuff for me.:j Another filing cabinet drawer to sort out today. Most of it will probably go in the recycling bin, the rest I will shred and throw in the compost bin.
Make do: Bacon and mushroom pilaff last night, with bacon from freezer and some frozen mixed veg.
Mend: some lightbulbs in the bathroom have gone and the one a the front of the house. I think I may not have the one in the bathroom so that may mean a purchase but I note Aldi/Lidl are selling LED lights this week so might go down and see if they have what I want.
Have a good day everybody.

MrsCD

Make do/Mend - I have 4 old Christmas cushions which have lost their plumpness, so I've unpicked one side of them and will put zips and new pads into them. I'm out this afternoon so will get new zips but glad I don't have to throw the covers out.
Minimized - DH has finished the last of the Christmas cake today.

Hughesfamily

MrsCD wrote: »

Make do/Mend - I have 4 old Christmas cushions which have lost their plumpness, so I've unpicked one side of them and will put zips and new pads into them. I'm out this afternoon so will get new zips but glad I don't have to throw the covers out.

We did this last year with 8 of ours and offered them on freecycle, someone collected some for a craft project she had and the rest went to the local dogs home for bedding.

Secretstasher

Well I am exhausted tonight, one of my work days and it's been a long one, although very enjoyable ��
Minimised - store cupboard , or rather my dd has as she made a quick pasta bake using what was in cupboard and done chicken left over from Monday. We had words this week and she has obviously listened, so could say minimised my stress levels too...
Mended - in process of sewing on a button lol
make do - including tea in that as not sure what else am doing re that today.

Hope everyone else had a good day. Think I will be asleep before long though - every so often my sleepless nights do catch up with me and I sleep for about five hours solid ��.
Night all

HOWMUCH

Minimised some roast chicken from DD fridge which was going to thrown out because they wouldn't use it today. I had a chicken sarni for lunch and the rest is in my freezer which will be turned into a chicken and mushroom curry next week.
I'm burning the freebie candle and the house smells lovely.
That's all folks.

lynnejk

Evening folks


Made do with HM potato, cheese and onion bake with baked beans and
Minimised burger stock as DH had two.
Mended a couple of loose pan handles and a pan lid


Lx