Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

DawnW

Dizzy_Imp wrote: »

Delurking again to say how much I love this thread - everyone is so creative, inventive and thrifty. Once we are back on our feet and our house repairs are done, I'll definitely be joining in more.

WRT to MMMing - my girl pup minimised her back left toe yesterday as she severed it through the joint and had to have it amputated. Consequently, I minimised my lunch The vet mended her foot as best she could and we are making do with a food bag and elastic band to keep the bandage as clean as possible...

I'm hoping today is better.

Oh dear, hope pup will be ok

[Deleted User]

Good Morning chums well I
Minimised my ironing (folded most of it and put it away )
will Make do with something from the fridge or freezer for lunch/dinner
and Mending will be ...well knitting really as I intend to put my feet up and watch tv and knit this afternoon

Well done on finding your house in Cornwall Lyn,I think when you tell people how you can live well and enjoy life on so much less they think that perhaps you are either starving yourself or sitting in a darkened room all day :):) when nothing could be further from the truth

I certainly don't starve and eat really well (too well sometimes )I have lots of activities that don't cost a fortune, and I like to make the most of them.
I use my library quite a bit and if I go to the cinema with my friend we split the price of a ticket as I have a CEA card which gives me one free ticket for my 'carer' as I am registered disabled.This card costs me £6.00 per year and more than pays for itself.
Museums and art galleries are usually free and I have an English Heritage pass that I buy yearly and my grandsons are on it so we get to have lots of days out in the summer which only cost me the price of the diesel to get there and we always take a picnic lunch and drinks from home.
Looking on local sites to where you live will also turn up all sorts of things going on that are either free or cost very little. My local council site is very good
I go on a Healthy Living walk weekly run by the local council ,a gentle stroll for around 45 minutes with a free cuppa and biscuit at the end :0
My probably one expense per year is my U3A subs which cost me last year £15.00 Great organisation and we have locally over 340 members and 38 different interest groups .I could be out seven days a week going to different things but I also have three DGS that I look after after school and during the holidays.Yet I can live and enjoy myself on very little actual expenditure.I save it for our family holidays in August when DD,son-in-law and four boys plus myself two dogs and the hamster all have a fortnights holiday on the IoW.Great fun and we all have a great time I keep a separate amount in my purse for my 'Happy Cash Stash' for treats when and if needed.My food budget is set aside from that and at the moment I have spent less than £15.00 this month and that was mainly on things I had run out of :):) so it is possible to live a busy and happy life on very little I think :):)


JackieO xxx

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all. Ouch dizzy poor pup hope she's going to be ok and it wasn't too expensive.

Hope all are well.
Just done the shopping so minimised some of the contents of my purse. Got a small but growing mending pile I need to work on.
Finished reading a book yesterday so it went to school for their library. Started another one now- I am trying to minimise my book stash.

Edit
Just helped Dh to mend a punchbag-hed hit it a bit too hard and split the seam around the bottom, it doesn't owe him anything as he paid a tenner about 10years ago for it 2nd hand. We've used about two rolls of ductape (from the stash) but it now looks pretty sturdy again.

wildthing01

I'm feeling a bit better today (have had a virus) after spending the whole of yesterday on the sofa barely moving. I had terrible restless leg syndrome by the end of the day, and had had to endure some pretty horrendous telly (was a bit too ill to focus on reading), what utter rubbish there is on during the day - I'd forgotten as I haven't watched daytime TV for years! Still, it must have done me good to rest as I do feel better today.

Am minimising the dust/clutter etc by tidying and cleaning the house, ready for some friends coming later. Have also had the hideous task of minimising DS's hair - he hates having it done, he's terrified of the scissors and the clippers, but it's done now for another six weeks. I'd let him grow it long but it's not the sort of hair that grows well - it goes all scarecrow-like!

Will be finally getting round to finishing mending DS's old coat tomorrow, as I'm fed up of it sitting in my room half-done, looking at me.

No real making do today....

JackieO, I agree re living well on little, especially re activities etc. When I first had my kids I thought I had to spend lots of money on specialist activities for them etc, but now I know you can entertain kids very cheaply/for free, and I wish I hadn't been taken in by the whole 'middle-class parental guilt' that makes you think if you're not paying for music and movement classes, and baby signing, and baby yoga etc etc, you are somehow a bad parent.

Luckily I learned quickly. We are lucky to have several lovely large country parks near us, with nature trails, sensory trails, fantastic playgrounds etc, all completely free. We take their bikes or scooters, and a picnic. We go fruit picking for wild cherries/blackberries etc, which they love (although sadly they don't love eating the fruit), and which technically makes a profit! They are really happy even just with a short walk to the local playground or skate park, or riding round the village on their bikes (with me panting along behind!)

We have some brilliant child-friendly museums near us which are mostly free entry and always have free activities on during school holidays. We also go to the garden centre, which the kids love as it has lots of interesting things to look at, including a pet/fish section and a small play area, (plus if we're feeling flush, the grown-ups can have coffee and cake while they play!)

We do do some paid days out, usually through Groupon or BOGOFs etc if we can, and a couple of years ago we bought annual Merlin passes in the Jan sales, which was great as after the initial spend, we could go to the parks as often as we liked 'for free' (we have a couple near us), and they def paid for themselves, although DH wouldn't let us go to any paid attraction that wasn't Merlin that year, so after a while it did get a tiny bit repetitive!

Anyway, there is an amazing amount of stuff out there to enjoy for free or very little, and the things we do really encourage the kids to develop their imaginations and keeps them active. It takes a bit of research, but it's all out there! I keep a list now in my phone of local-ish places/activities, with info re any entry fees/parking costs etc, and if we're at a loose end, we choose one depending on how much we can afford to spend.

samanthaneww2d

Ches wrote: »

Scones - just to add, don't twist the cutter when cutting them out. I don't know why but it stops them rising. Also try Paul Holywoods scone recipe (BBC Good Food site) as they are amazing.

I never knew you were not supposed to twist- learning all the time thanks

HOWMUCH

We've always done cheap fun things with our 2 children when they were small. We are now doing the same with our DGS going to the local parks with HM sarnies. Playing in rock pools on holiday and looking for nice shells and pebbles and sea glass. It's so true the saying 'Best things in life are free'. We use our bus passes during the summer and take DGS into the near by city and he loves playing in the water fountains we always take his shorts and a small towel, if we are late coming home his treat is a warm sausage roll if we've eaten all the sarnies. DD calls these days Momma and Roo on tour.

FunBrum

plumduff55 wrote: »

Hi, it was Paul Hollywoods recipe I tried. The one with some bread flour and they were lovely just flat . Going to try them again and hopefully get them right this time.
Many thanks xx

My nephew-in-law has just finished wished filming with Paul in Russia for his new series. He said the pastries are delicious, especially in Italy and he put on tons of weight!:rotfl:

I think living frugally is a mindset and you can live cheaply, or as I prefer to call it, inexpensively, very easily if you focus on what you want out of your lifestyle.

I've been minimising my homemade veg soup this evening
Not muchmending. Or making do

ancientmum

I have been tidying up and wondering what to do with old candles in glasses, the ones that will not light any more because they are too low in the glass. Has anyone got any tips please?
I don't want to throw them out if I can re-use them.

meritaten

I have two 'burned down' jars of candles on my worktop right now. I also have a carrier bag of old candles I want to grate and melt down with the jar candles and stick a new 'household candle' in the centre to make the wick. I did this once before and it worked quite well - this time I intend to melt the wax very very slowly in the jars and try to stir the 'new' wax into the old to get a 'raspberry ripple' effect. I don't know if it will work - but, nothing ventured nothing gained!

zaxdog

Tempted by takeaway tonight but instead had a lovely Thai red curry made with YS chicken, YS veggies, freebie noodles and a sauce from the press stash :j

Tomorrow is a hike at a local beaver trail (will take a canvas bag for any wood lying about in the last 1/2 mile or so) then a car picnic from leftovers and press stash and I'll have a read in the car while OH has a gold pan

Dinner will be: YS pork joint, tinned tatties, peas & carrots so a total of £1.05 :rotfl:

Making do will be sanding down old coffee table and re-painting with leftover chalk paint instead of buying a new one...............