Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

camelot1001

Minimised some christmas pressies yesterday, it's the first time I have managed to catch up with some friends. It was great to see them, hope we manage to see each other more often.

Made some more baby bootees with the wool I had left, may make another little hat too.

Made do with contents of fridge, freezer and cupboards and made a thai curry, very tasty. I bought a rice cooker yesterday, I think it will get lots of use as it can steam veg too.

Love to hear of all your MM&Ms, you are such a talented and resourceful bunch!

meritaten

I've minimised ALL my hardback book stash! got the bookfolding bug and have taught my DD, my granddaughters and a couple of their friends the really easy 'heart' one. and I am a complete beginner myself.
(btw, DDs best friend was thrilled with her 'OWL' book gift!), but its a problem - I may have to spend more money on 'supplies' - but DD had the bright idea of doing 'Wedding Themed' books..............and selling at wedding fairs. so we may recoup our costs and perhaps make a little profit? I am going to donate my practice books to a very local charity. I have never seen anything bookfolded round here so hopefully they well sell from the 'novelty' aspect.
Mend - a hook which was holding my dressing gown on the bedroom floor fell off, held on with a sticky tab - so I got out the hot glue gun and glued it back on..............hopefully that will hold.
Make do - I kept back the cauli stalk from yesterday intending to chop it and put in freezer - but in the mood for soup, so grated it and simmered it gently with water and a little milk, some salt and pepper and a veg stock cube. blitzed with the hand blitzer and (I had to add a bit of butter) delish soup!

Lynplatinum

Evening all

Wow Pauline - that is a brilliant weight loss!! where do you go swimming?

Apologies Mrs CD - I obviously got the wrong person who posted the wonderful pineapple cake recipe - it is totally yum and some will be taken down to my kind friend in Cornwall who is putting up next weekend.

Making do - made a sweet potato curry from stocks - it is v yum and their is enough to freeze one portion and to eat again tomorrow.
Mend - nowt but pile is looking at me for tomorrow morning!
Minimise - have got rid of last can of coconut milk in curry tonight - from now on I shall use the block stuff as it is smaller to store and better for using in smaller quantities.
Spent this morning talking to F!rst Direct - soooo helpful I want to leave Barclays but already have an FD account - yet they are still willing to transfer everything over without a problem!! Am leaving Barclays due to their Carp Customer service!!! they are slowly turning to machines in their branches to do most of the cashiers work. However, one cannot get to see a Personal Banker for 3 weeks no matter how urgent the matter - when you do see them they just try to push products on to you!! Grrrr :mad:
Anyhooo soon the stuff will all be moved over!:)

So perhaps you might say I spent the day mending my bank account :rotfl:
Nite all

camelot1001

Lyn, if you have a B&M store near you they do small cans of coconut milk (165g), very handy. I always end up throwing away some of the larger cans.

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Hope everyone is as well as can be.
Ds2 minimised the contents of his wardrobe last night, there's a nice pile of smart shirts that don't fit him on the landing that can go in a CS bag today.
I plan to get the sewing machine out and sew the patchwork I cut up yesterday.
Read a Michael morpurgo book last night, enjoyed but will pass it on to the school today as the oldest class like reading them.

Have a good day all

angela110660

Stepping out of lurkdom to say you can freeze unused coconut milk in little icetrays. I use a tin for two curries so always save the half a tin for the next curry I plan to make. Love this thread.

nicki_2

FunBrum wrote: »

Cheers.....I had an allotment for a few years but gave it up when I moved and it was too far to travel.:(
Only have a front garden now and a back patio with decking so grow a small amount of veg in large pots. I do get lots of freebie veg as well!:D

What sort of pots? I want to grow some fruit/veg myself but the dog likes using my flowerbeds as a toilet (until I can get some new fencing to go around it, hopefully he'll stop then!) so I'm thinking pots, maybe wall planters for lettuce and strawberries? I'd use hanging baskets but we're in a bit of a wind tunnel here. I have no idea as my last attempt at growing anything about 10 years ago was eaten by the wildlife in the ground and from next doors overgrown garden (which has now gone ).

Lynplatinum wrote: »

....they are slowly turning to machines in their branches to do most of the cashiers work....

Natwest are doing the same. I make a point of going to the cashier. I have used the paying in machine 3 times in 2 years due to the size of the queues, twice for cheques and once for notes for my savings account which I had to pay into my normal account and transfer over as I don't carry that bank card around with me but I couldn't afford to stand in the queue for half an hour.

Not been doing much MMM, but yesterday when ironing I noticed a pair of my jeans had a hole in them (I always wear them out in the inner thighs) so they've been put to one side to be used to make a knitting bag for me as I'm currently using a handbag which I need to be able to use next week:rotfl: That may be a weekend project but we'll have to wait and see.

plumduff55

Hi, not posted for a few days, just been really busy.

Friday's visit to ds ended up being an epic journey and I think I would have rather spent the money on petrol !!! I drove 4 miles to catch the express bus for first part of my journey. The bus whizzed by me when I was about 20 yards from the stop. This was 10 mins before it was due. I sat in the car for 45 mins then went to the bus stop again. Was waiting 30 mins before bus came - this was actually the bus I thought I'd missed, it was running over an hour late as the Forth Road bridge had been closed due to storms. Twenty mins into bus journey the driver pulled into another bus station and announced the bus was being taken off the road and we would have to get another bus. Got onto an overcrowded and really drafty service bus and arrived at Glasgow knowing that I had missed connecting bus to go to sons. Eventually arrived at sons 3 hours and 50 mins after leaving home. This journey would usually take 2 hours by bus or 1 hour to drive. I was very MSE and had taken a small bottle of juice and some crackers and cheese With me, so i did have a little picnic on the bus and no need to spend money. RANT OVER 😄. Journey home Was fine.

Over the weekend I have MINIMISED wool ( finished knitting toddler jumper, hat and mitts for Xmas). Food - more crackers and cheese !!!

I MENDED Dgd's purple cardi that I knitted. The buttons kept coming loose so I took some purple thread with me to sons and stitched the buttonholes a bit so they are tighter.

Today I am going to MEND 2 pairs of linen trousers I had with me on holiday in October. I washed and dried them in the ship's laundry and they have shrunk in length. I am going to put a false hem on them, this will make them about 1" longer, so should be wearable then.

MINIMISING - need I say it - more crackers and cheese. But it's another cheese now as I'm opening the Wensleydale and Cranberry.

I will also be minimising more of my wool stash but this will be a long ongoing process as i probably have enough wool to last me 10 years :rotfl:

Have a nice day xx

FunBrum

Hi nicki....I use anything I can get my hands on. Terracotta, plastic, stone. Everything i have has been donated to me, some huge and some small. I have hanging baskets and a 3 tier thingy, which is great for strawberries. I plant flower seeds and plants as well as veg, so it all looks really pretty. This year I'm going to be adding veg to my front garden in between the flowers to create a kind of pottage garden effect.;)

Today's I've taken a bag of clothes to the chazza shop to minimise my friends wardrobe.
making do with food from my friends store cupboard.
mendingor rather cutting up squares for a quilt I'm starting

silvasava

Howmuch - thanks for the tip for Farm Foods - I bought 2 packs of Tuna so I've got some instock now. Made the fishcakes & they're in the freezer for later this week maybe. I've still got sugar left from last year for my jams so didn't take advantage of that.