Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

GreyQueen

The minimising is cracking on apace this morning, with the family hair salon running as Mum has run the W@hl trimmers up the back of my hair (I cut the rest myself with thinning scissors). She's now doing the boys and the long-haired cat is looking nervous............:rotfl:

Seriously, a pair of electric hair clippers is a very MSE tool and the outlay will be recouped in only a few cuts and the savings just go on and on and on. Even the financial independance blogosphere sings the praises of 'in-sourcing' many things, including your haircuts.

Once dried off from my shower, I shall be packing the family car with the Stuff I am taking the my local chazzer, which will free up some space here. Plenty more decluttering necessary, but I have my own life to lead and living to earn.

I was going to walk up to the supermarket this morning for bread and milk, as have been away from home for about 10 days, then decided with a bit of organisation, I can do it at the other end this afternoon, tying in with a chazzer drop-off and a visit to my indy greengrocer nearby.

So, I'm minimising the expenditure of energy and time, too.;)

Hard_Up_Hester

My local surgery want me to lose weight but they offer no advice, they just insist everyone goes on the Lighter Life diet!
When I queried it the Dr said 'It's only £55 a week and think how much you will save by not drinking any wine' as I rarely drink and never drink wine I can't say I was impressed.

GreyQueen

Lol. Hester, how the other half think we live - I spend under £55 a month and would soon be bankrupt if that was my weekly bill.

Over the past 10 days I have had a share of two bottles of white wine, had a small sherry most nights, and have drunk two 330 cl beers. And that will probably be it for alcohol until Easter Sunday lunch, whereupon we will probably share another bottle of wine.

I intend to cut down on sugar in the coming months, which will probably result in weight loss, but I have to finish eating the Christmas chocolate first.:rotfl:

Wednesday2000

VJsmum wrote: »

Have you thought about Project 333?

http://bemorewithless.com/project-333/

I am in my second cycle of it and love it. I am not as strict as Courtney. I probably have around 40 items and only count bottoms, tops, jumpers and dresses - not accessories and shoes as well (which is what Courtney does). I also decided that my seasons would be different (for example I am on the winter season of Dec, Jan and Feb). It makes it so much easier to get dressed and I, in fact, look better than when I operated on a bigger wardrobe because I really am only wearing things I adore.

I tried to do that, but like you I did end with more than 33 items. It is a great way of thinking about clothes and what you actually wear, and what you actually need.:)

lollyfin

Quite a productive day here today so far,
Making do I've used up the last of the pastry bits some bacon and cheese and made pasties for lunch
Minimising the hat and scarf I made my DGD to her house and mending....I have a couple of skirts that I want to try and alter from going out at the bottom to being straight so once I've caught up on the housework I'm going to have a look on YouTube and see if there are any instructions on how to do it as I can't sew....yet :rotfl:

THIRZAH

JackieO wrote: »

I have some left over brie does it cook well in toasties ??

I would never have thought of using it in those. Just thinking it could make a nice warm lunch with some sliced tomatoes for mid-week.I'd have to get a couple of slices of bread from Dds though as I no longer buy bread indoors and just eat Crackerbread and Philly spread

We liked it. I put a bit of cranberry sauce in too. It was the first time I'd tried it but have had brie and cranberry paninis in pubs. I keep a toasting loaf in the freezer as there's only two of us now.

Floss

JackieO, brie is nice in vegetable soups or pasta sauces, just a small bit gives a lovely creaminess without too much cheese! Usually I freeze it in ice-cube trays, then transfer to a box for use straight from the freezer.

misstara

Fab to see so many new faces on the thread

Following on from FairyPrincessk's post about goals for this year, I'd like to post some of my own
- definitely going to try for at least one screen free evening a week, I don't watch much TV but do seem to spend a lot of time on the computer
- I'm getting better at meal planning and wasting less food but could do better. Me and OH have also agreed to try out at least 3 new recipes a month as we tend to eat the same meals over and over so it would be good to be a bit more inventive.
- I'm planning to be debt free by the end of this year so hoping that MMMing gets me there a bit quicker
- I'd also like to do a proper tidy out of the flat, we have been living in this flat for over 9 years and seem to have accumulated so much stuff so hopefully a lot of minimising going on this year.

Tonight for tea we're having toast and pate which uses up the rest of the pate leftover from new years day. We are also busily minimising the christmas cake :rotfl: Spent £5.49 on some groceries today and am hoping that will do us for the week as we have heaps of food in the freezer/cupboards.

FairyPrincessk

Evening all,

So nice to hear about everyone's goals and little successes.

We've just had a tea of courgette fritters made from a bag of YS courgettes bought last week and not used. I've also made a big bowl of shredded cabbage onion and carrot which can be dressed in the evening to go with various teas which has helped minimize the shopping budget this week.

I had a clear out while I was doing the weekly bedroom tidy/linen change etc. I got rid of a few scarves, some toiletry bags and other various bits and bobs. On the way to do the shop OH and I made a quick delivery of books to the CS. Will take us another few weeks to work through the rest of the donation pile, but its progress.

I've tidied and cleaned my work space, ready for tomorrow and I've finished off another few small toiletry bottles given as gifts etc. that were lurking. I've also set aside a pile of spinster socks and used a few already for the dusting.

Hopefully we're off to a good start--I'll also be starting a list for myself of things to do on screen free Thursdays. I might even put some things into my shopping basket ready to go so I'm not tempted to give in to routine!

WeeMidgie

Decluttering the fridge for meals, I made a creamy sauce using up the end of a tub of hummus mixed with some tomato salsa, poured over steamed broccoli and cauliflower florets, with cubes of Camembert dotted over and some chopped nuts.

Last year's calendar has now gone out to the recycling bin. And I sorted out the phone which had lost its ability to amplify sound. All I did was unplug everything and reassemble! But it did the trick. De-bobbled a favourite jumper using scissors, strangely satisfying and the jumper looks like new again. Ditto my grey denims which I refresh once a year with dylon dye. My clothes are old friends and it's nice to treat them to a facelift once in a while!