Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Had a lovely afternoon in the pub with friends, having a roast beef lunch and playing games. Only had one half-pint of cider as am not much of a boozer. Very pleasant.

Was given a belated Xmas pressie whilst there and came home and have ironed the paper and ribbon and put away in their respective places handy for re-use.

Found an almost-complete sewing project which I completed in 10 mins and that's now in the donation bag. Have had a good tidy-through and finally put all the washing away.

Have also had a lovely bath with my new pressie bath products, so am relaxed and happy and ready to read for an hour or so before bedtime.

FunBrum

Hello MMMers!:hello:

Everyone has been very busy!:T

I've finally mended/turned up an apron for my sister today, and reduced a king size quilt cover, to a double. It was in good condition so it now fits the quilt in the spare room.:D

Today was the first time I've been shopping since New year's eve! I only some t £20.39, and £12 of that was clothes for my grandsons birthday. :j
I'm still getting lots of free food and my freezer is stocked with soup that I replace every week, so down to a minimal on grocery spending. In fact, I don't think I will need to go shopping until well into next month!:money:

silvasava

Funbrum - when I've 'resized' quilt covers I try to put the openers down the side instead of at the bottom. That way the quilt can be used to top & tail so the one end doesn't get so worn.
I made a crochet scarf a while ago but it wasn't right. Realised I've made it too wide so am in the process of unpicking and remaking. At least with a crochet hook in my hand it stops me eating the last knockings of the Christmas chocolates

Lynplatinum

evening all

Well, I recovered from my lazy day yesterday and got up full of it! Got down to the shoe shop Brant!antos before 10 am! but they did not open till 11 so I went into Sports D!rect. Found a pair of walking boots for £29!!! which fitted! Also got a pair of trackie bottoms for £5 (for doing my yoga daily and slopping round the house in (warmer than trousers ). Then finally gave in to the sight of a Karrimo!r fleece in purple reduced to £15! OK its not MM&M but all were needed and still had £40 left over from said budget! Well pleased!! As I have toned up (but not lost weight previous fleece had got so loose it had become a wind tunnel and it was my son's from 10 years ago!! This fleece is smart and can be worn by me to work!

But then recovered my MM&m ways and walk to L!dil where I spent £13.25. That was fine because I spent nothing at all last week and so had £20 to spend!! Have replaced all the salad veg and topped up the butter and eggs - also went wild with a special offer of a 1kg smoked gammon for £3.25 that will last for at least a week for sanis and some will be frozen for when my son comes back up from Hastings!

Minimised my use of gas by putting a jacket potato in the oven and filling the oven with baking gammon and a chocolate cake for the week.

Also went for an hours walk with my friend to test out said boots - gone form pretty purple bit on them to mud - as it should be :rotfl:
Going to check NBI and then to bed - nite all

PS Mrs MP your cross stitch looks great!

misstara

Mrs MP lovely cross stitch, the cushion will look great

Kerfuffle I would never have thought to make crisps from potato peelings - do you just put them in the oven with oil and salt?

Currently munching on the bread I made yesterday, rest is sliced and in the freezer to use over the next few weeks. Our roast last night was yum with plenty of leftovers, think we're going to have stir fry tonight and stew tomorrow

Mended a pair of wee trainers - the insole bit kept sliding about. I just stuck it down with double sided tape (all I had, making do as well ) so not sure how long it will hold for but we'll see.

Managed to minimise 1 DVD to the charity shop pile :rotfl: so not far along with that. It's a start though

Right best get ready for work, hope everyone has a good day.

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

That is lovely Mrs. MP!

Lots of MMM built into my plan for today. I'll be minimizing my bus and yoga expenditure by switching to a Monday class. Since I already have to pay for a pass for work and the class is £1 cheaper this will save me a bit of money. I'll also be e-mailing the bank we've moved our savings to. They need me to certify some copies of documents to prove my identity. I'm going to see if they'll accept certification from a teacher as we know plenty of those, hopefully that will save paying to have someone do it.

I'll be making do with a sandwich made from a bread roll leftover from last night's tea, some hummus and whatever veg I find for my lunch. Tea tonight is a salad made with warm orzo, chickpeas and the celery going bendy along with a packet of feta and a few other bits. We'll make do with cous cous as we don't have any orzo and minimize the celery as well as making do with some chickpeas from the cupboard. Total outlay for tonight's meal was 75p for the feta from Ald! and it will do for lunches for a few days as well.

I didn't get my coat mended yesterday--I forgot and knitted instead. I am, however, up to the arm shaping on my second sleeve so the cardigan is progressing! I've also found a couple of summer dresses in the wardrobe--one is too snug at the top and the other is a bit short. Both were CS finds, but I can easily re-make both. The short one will make a lovely blouse if it is just hemmed and cutting the bodice off of the top one (it has an empire shape) will mean I can easily turn it into a skirt so they've been added to the re-make pile along with the black silk skirt. I'm not sure when I'll have time to tackle them, but they should be done in time for summer.

camelot1001

Gosh Burtha, slow down, you're making me tired!
Lovely cross stitch Mrs MP.

Made (knitted) another bootee yesterday and made a start on the poncho. Also sewed up the bootees and hat, need to make 2 little pom-poms for the hat (Tea bag shaped).

Minimised some roast beef from the freezer for dinner last night and made do with the veggies in the fridge.

nicki_2

Had a weekend of making do and minimising. No mending though still.

- Started knitting another square for a patchwork blanket I'm making. It'll either be kept to be used at home or donated to the homeless depending on how it is when it's done. If its bad I'll keep it lol
- DD bought my birthday gift & a card for less than £10 which was taken out of the Xmas savings fund so I didn't have to go out to the cash machine. Considering her budget was £20 I'm impressed. This has minimised overdraft interest charges for another couple of days She then wrapped it using paper we already have in from a gift for her dad from last year.
- Instead of going grocery shopping yesterday I made a loaf in the breadmaker, then used my slicer to slice it into even slices. I used the bread setting but the slices are a little thick so the next one will be done on "cheese" setting. I then reused a bread bag from a loaf which I'd kept to store it in. This morning all but 2 slices are gone so I'll have to put another in and slice it thinner!
- Also baked 3 dozen chocolate cakes using hot chocolate we already had in which used up some cake cases. I have loads left though!
- Used the uht milk I had in rather than going to the C0-0p for milk (2 for £2 as opposed to 89p in A5da) postponing the grocery shop until today.
- Tea was a pulled pork pack from A1di which I won't be buying again. It was a tiny piece of meat (about the size of my hand in length but not width) in a bag inside a much larger box. :mad: We had it with salad which has cleared 90% of the salad drawer out.

Today I'm going grocery shopping. I have a list, but I'm going to check the prices are still right as I did it on Friday night. Little things are making a difference here. Hopefully I can keep this up for the rest of the year.

fuddle

I have never thought about ironing gift wrap GQ. I 've now

I have sourced 2 tension rods at a very reasonable price so about to order them in a moment. The reason being I would like to make a bath room privacy screen for the window - ruffled fabric attached top and bottom with the rods. The reason why I think it's MMMing is because every house we live in we buy a blind and end up just leaving it to avoid fixing holes and touching up paintwork. This way I can take it with me with the intention of it fitting any sized window and by using this method we wont be damaging the walls.

nicki_2

Just remembered that I minimised over the weekend by throwing out a pair of old trainers which had gone mouldy, and after a good vacuum I'm hoping to salvage the walking boots which are also covered in mould :eek:

I also minimised an open jar of cherries I've had in the fridge for weeks. I opened it and it fizzed! A good sniff tells me they've gone off so out they go and the jar into the recycling.