Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

Lynplatinum

Evening all

Bloomin silly spell check on here makes me doubt my sanity at times - it wants me to spell the thing with 4 wheels that was used as a mode of transport in the 18th century as WAGGAN - the correct English spelling is as above!!!! I ve checked on OED!!!! :mad:

Anyhoooo - Mrs Moneypenny - those folded books look quite simply lovely - if they were only gonna be binned then you have rescued stuff from the tip :j
Vulpix - bless you - having just got rid of all my plaster dust I know exactly how you feel!
Mrs CD - thank you - it looks really good!! I have cooked my cake for this week but I will definitely try it next week! :A

Well have been off having fun all day today!!! Both of my students cancelled so I went out for a pub lunch with my friend Jim (no chance of romance folks he is gay and wonderful and lovely and deserves to find someone nice rather than users - he is well off and retired and gets sad because he can spot the users a mile off - bless him):A Great fun; good company; 3 pubs visited; great food - The Old Mill in Newton Blossomville if you are passing - and spent £8 of this weeks happy stash on a wonderful giant warm salad of celeriac + leaves in a mustard dressing with black pudding and 2 poached eggs! Really delicious and not something I would faddle on and make for myself. When eating out it is kinda my rule of thumb to have something that I wouldnt make myself either due to the ingredients being too much for one person or it being too much faddle!!! Jim, because I was driving bought all the drinks (a half of beer, coffee, and cranberry juice!) Next time he will drive. :beer: :j

Back on bandwaggon (IT IS an O!!!! :mad: )tomorrow but a lovely time had today!
Well done all you industrious folk today!
Nite all

HOWMUCH

Today I took DGS out for the day used my bus pass, then I used a John Lewis voucher for a free coffee and cake. We had carrot cake DGS ate more than half. We had a good look around and then caught the bus into the next town where there's a Lidl got some kg the special offer apples 2 X 1 kg @ 59p each and a Savoy cabbage at 45p. The works book shop was moving and selling everything half sale price I got a great baby and toddler knitting book it's got a fabulous pattern in for an Arran sleeping bag type thing. So that's going to be my next project and minimise some more of my stash so won't cost anything. Lots of other patterns in I will use great for £1.50

savingpennies

VJsmum wrote: »

leqving my lecturing job to do a full time PhD, I am very excited. I will miss colleagues but not much else...

Funnily enough further study is on my to do list, though in my case an MA this September, which means I must get on with the de-cluttering.

I went to the cinema today with my mum (silver screen Odeon) it cost all of £6 for the two of us to see the film and a cup of tea/coffee and biscuit. Mum insisted on paying, as I drove us there and then took her shopping. Good film too, Lady in the Van.

vulpix

Mrs M,you are talented.What a good idea to help the charity,well done you.x

FairyPrincessk

Morning all,

VJsMum--that is a record. I'm picking up my second January batch today. Makes me think I should plan a small celebration when all of the marking from last term is finished.:D

Lyn, I have a similar policy when eating out although I also like to try things I might be able to adapt or copy.

I've got a long day ahead of me, but jacket spuds for tea so nice and easy. We're doing well at sticking to simpler meals for right now. The jacket spuds use up the second half of the pack opened last week, so I guess that is minimizing although it doesn't feel like it as we're not in the habit of leaving them to fester anyway.

I'm not sure if there will be anything in the way of mending today, but I'll be eating a burrito bowl for lunch so that will be another making do.

We've just about finished the giant french fancy. I don't think it is a cake I'll make again in this form. I've got a bit of baking chocolate so I'm thinking something chocolate for later in the week. I've been doing around 3 cakes every two weeks, which is more than usual but it keeps OH from bringing home treats every time he stops off for milk.:rotfl: I'd rather eat homemade cake than bought treats most of the time anyway. It also means mending the budget a bit--new specs for OH and a couple of other non-negotiables have made it a tight month, but I think we'll stay on target anyway.

FairyPrincessk

Forgot to say Mrs M--those are lovely. I've seen them on pinterest but never had a reason to make them. I'm glad they've made use of something otherwise getting binned.

mrs-moneypenny

Thank you for the kind comments about the books, I enjoy trying different crafts but the house would be stuffed to the gills if I kept everything I made so I enjoy the making and am happy to pass on as gifts or to the CS. It's the one we take all our excess to so they know me quite well. It felt good stopping the books going to the shredder or wherever unwanted books go.

Definately getting the sewing machine out today as I need to get my mending done else I'll miss the slot this thursday afternoon and Friday are paid stuff, tonight is a school meeting and tomorrow night I'm babysitting DGS for the first time so expecting my hands full then as he doesn't sleep in the day apart from power naps and it's the first time dd2 has left him so I'll have my hands full I think. Really looking forward to it.

Anyway off to shoo the boys out and set the sewing machine up.

Have a good day all.

beautiful_ravens

Hello all,
On the 'making do' front, Ive realised that one of the most useful things I have for quickly 'revamping' tatty stuff or finishing off things I've made out of other things is spray paint. Not exactly a massive shock I know!
We have a local shop thats just like a pound land [except things arent all a pound] where I get this car spray paint for £1.29 a can
It looks like this -

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51AUbxljdsL._SX300_.jpg

I have loads of it now in various colours, and have upcycled many things; one of my faves is respraying honey/jam jar lids to make matching sets of storage jars for beads, craft stuff, kitchen things etc.

Other re-sprays -

Resprayed an ugly brown-painted plaster dragon ornament, a white plaster mirror frame and 2 white plaster bookend things to make them all look like pewter

Many jam jar lids to make sets!

An old tobacco tin I was using for keeping needles in

A large Pandoro cake tin that was transformed into a waste bin

A metal stool makeover

The ironing board legs when they looked a bit tatty.

Its got to the point where I look at something I might chuck away and think ''hang on, I could spray this a different colour and then use it for...''

So todays [7.30am] make do was spraying a very tatty lid from an old glass storage jar so I can re-use it to keep rice in. The original chrome paint had half worn away, revealing white plastic underneath, so it got a quick respray in silver and is already dry and in the cupboard containing the rice.

Good luck MMMing today

nicki_2

Mrs MP - Fantastic book folding! Did you follow pattern from somewhere? DD made one for her dad and his wife for their first anniversary last year. The other day I found one online for a Jack Skellington one I'd like to do for DD but I have no idea where to start with what folds to make.

MrsCD wrote: »

Nicki We've been using Aldi and Lidl's toilet rolls for over a year now, and they're ok, maybe not quite as soft as Shades, but alright to use.

We used to use whatever was on offer but when we moved here we discovered that the toilet in this house couldn't cope with branded ones like Andrex or Cushelle so we switched to smartprice. Then DD started getting sore (she was only 4 when we moved in) so we upgraded to the Shades and I've been buying them ever since as we only really shopped at Asda. Last January the toilet finally gave up and the landlady had to replace it so we're going to try again. I've heard great things about nicky toiletroll from Homebargains so I thought I might give that a go since I'm regularly in there now lol

Yesterday we ran out of our normal olive spread, so rather than buying a new tub I decanted some of the big 2kg tub of soft spread I use for baking into the empty tub. Now I'm only buying 1 big tub of spread we might actually use up the whole thing before the use by date and by putting some in a separate tub if it accidentally gets left on the worktop only a small amount risks going off rather than the full big tub Plus we shouldn't end up with toast crumbs in the baking spread lol

Minimising was minimal I threw some unusable catalogues for work in the recycling, re-used unused order forms/bags and re-used 20-ish catalogues to put through potential new customers doors. Since each book costs me about 15p new, it's about time I started trying to get a second use out of them. I put 39 books out last time, I've lost 18 of them between them stinking of smoke/perfume/dogs, having stuff spilt on them, kids/dogs getting hold of them so they're ripped or drawn on, rain damage despite them being in plastic bags, I loose 2 every time to the ones I put into the local school as I tape the collection/delivery dates on to the covers so they don't get lost and then there's a few I didn't get back from customers. I'm hoping to increase my customer numbers and therefore increase my income.

Oh, and another minimising I did was when I placed my order last night, I didn't do my normal "I'll have one of them, and one of them" shopping. I just ordered a few bits I know I'll use to 'demonstrate' to customers (aka use it myself when speaking to the customers and try the 'soft sell' route of 'I'm actually using that lipstick myself and I find it....." ). With one thing and another I earned an extra £11 after costs which is impressive and will go towards paying off my overdraft I'm keeping track of how much extra I make, as when you reach a certain level of sales you get better discounts. I want to see whether I can hit that level if I don't do the clever ordering and then if it is worth my while or if I'm just best sticking with what I'm doing and earn the extra cash.

Today I'm cleaning the house and opening all the windows to let the fresh, dry if chilly air in. I'll be switching the heating to frost mode, putting a jumper on the dog and working hard to keep warm and not waste money on the heating! I'm also doing 'occasional' laundry of the curtains and I plan on drying them outside. Its the first dry day of the year and I plan to make the most of it and rid the house of its stuffy smell.

[Deleted User]

Mrs CD that looks a lovely recipe thank you for posting it.Do you think it would freeze well if sliced and wrapped ? as I am the only one who really enjoys pineapple in my family.I know I could probably polish it off in a week but I would rather slice it up and have it as a treat (better for my hips as well ):):):) Anyone in a similar situation I often enjoy cake but I like to have it as a treat and not every day.I have two slices of decorated carrot cake in the freezer which is the tail end of one I made at Christmas it froze very well.
JackieO xx