Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

savingpennies

Good afternoon everybody. Gosh quite a discussion about 'stuff' going on here.
Candygirl: I love India and went on 4 trips with work and hope to go back in a couple of years just to visit the friends I made there. It's certainly true that travel broadens the mind. It makes you look at your own lifestyle and wonder why we bother over things that in the long run don't really matter.
Minimise: Over the weekend in an attempt to minimise stuff I gave the bathroom a thorough clean and tidy. I went in with several shoe boxes to help me sort out the toiletries. Result? I don't think we will need to buy any shower stuff for another year; we seem to have shampoo for every know hair type known to man; and my 2 DD could stock Boots with all their face cleansers/polishers/moisturisers. So I have banned everyone from buying anything until it is all used up. Even my OH had 7 cans of shaving gel. quite a bit of stuff.
Make do: I made roast chicken yesterday with cauliflower and broccoli. I used the broccoli and cauliflower stalks to make some veg soup with a couple of carrots and an onion thrown in. It made a lovely lunch today.
No mending, I seem to be on top of it.

mumto2monkeys_2

Make do: home made soup for lunch from old carrots and some of the abundance of red lentils I just discovered in the back of the cupboard.

Minimise: stopped at CS on way out and took 5 bags that have been living in the back room for weeks. :o:o

Mend: nothing fixed, but cracking on with the crochet. Also attempting to mend myself by booking a doctor's appointment. Have been letting a few things niggle on, so finally going to get myself sorted.

mrssnowy_2

mumto2monkeys wrote: »

Make do: home made soup for lunch from old carrots and some of the abundance of red lentils I just discovered in the back of the cupboard.
.

m2m-love lentil soup but it gives me indigestion,however if I make dhal I am fine. !!

minimised my home insurance by £30-with the original providers ,on automatic renewal,so price compared then phoned ins provider.Result.
Transferred money to ISA acc from PO reward saver. Miserable interest but that is what it is.
Uniform allowance tomorrow morning as I am off to yoga now.
Dozed on and off most of the afternoon as I seemed to be awake coughing for ages in the night.
Should have been knitting twiddle muffs.

mrss

WeeMidgie

Hello everyone
Make do:
Put together a belly pork casserole & cooked it in the Remoska using odds and ends up. Didn't have an onion so used a large leek instead.
Mend:
Fitted two new lightbulbs in my bedroom
Minimise:
Huge clearout of books and CDs, split between ziffit and the local hospice shop. And some odd bits of gold to Hatton Garden Metals. The running total for the two days clearing has just gone past £400, which is going into long term savings.

silvasava

Minimised more of the paper mountain in to log rolls for the fire. Painted a piece of wood that trims a shelf on the boat ( will be fitted in the next few weeks) Minimised a handbag I sold on Fleabay yesterday.
DS invited us for dinner tonight but his plans have changed so I've pulled a Chilli out from the freezer for us.
Have a good evening all x

iamsalt

Evening everyone
Left work early today as I am still trying to minimise this cold, and still had a 1hr40 minute commute, I had plenty of flexi built up and I think it was a good use of that.
Tonight is finishing the packing ready for holiday, I wrote lists in advance so I have packed less for this trip of 10days than I have done for a week in the past, and I have decided to take more books this time as both oh and I read voraciously on holiday. I never have made the move to a kindle as we often leave the books for others in the hotel.

Making do with supper this evening, leftovers from yesterday's sausage casserole
Not sure whether this counts as mending but I am trying to finish hemming and binding the armholes of a summer dress I started making about 7 years ago, I found it again the other day when tidying up, and thought it would be good to get it done to take on holiday with me. Once the cat has finished snoozing on it (they seem to "own" anything on a flat surface that I want to use or work on) I shall get on with it.

I haven't yet braved the toiletries drawer yet, I know it's one I need to address.
S x

[Deleted User]

Thanks Candygirl for the chickpea curry recipe I shall make some tomorrow and it will help use up some of my chickpea mountain of tins that my DD keeps buying me
If she sees dented tins in Asda she buys them thinking Oh mum will make something from those and I do but for some reason just lately I seem to have amassed around a dozen or so tins of chick peas !!! So chick pea curry is on the menu this week :):) I shall be making do with the curry whilst minimising my stock a bit :):)
JackieO xx

VJsmum

mumto2monkeys wrote: »

This is exactly the conclusion I am reaching. I'm 36, so have another 30 years in front of me in work (at least) unless we break this whole addiction to buying things. We've come a long way from what we were like a few years ago, before MSE, but I still haven't tightened up enough and I'm a pest for falling into buying what I think are solutions to why I'm so unhappy: if I buy this book/item of clothing/cleanser etc, suddenly my life will be transformed. It sounds really stupid writing it down, yet I think we have been incredibly brainwashed. I'm a child of the glossy magazine 90s, believing if I worked hard, I could buy the life of my dreams. Sadly, I've worked so hard I've made myself sick and I had the life of my dreams all along, I was just too busy to realise it.

Change is happening now before I collapse under the weight of it all.

Have a look at some of the minimalism websites, I like
Becoming minimalis
Be more with less
Melissa camara Wilkins
No side bar
The minimalists

They help to keep you focussed on not buying and appreciating other things in life

lollyfin

Hi all, I'm still working on minimising our spending and am finding a monthly meal plan a huge time/money saver.
I mended a pair of DS thermals he wears on his motorbike, a seam had come apart so two minutes with the sewing machine and they were just like new. So saved him a bit of cash and kept him warm.
I'm still getting great use out of my local library and that's saving me a fortune as well. Instead of just buying the books I fancy I'm ordering them and returning when I've read them...saves on cluttering up the house with loads of books as well and the staff are great at recommending authors I've never tried before.

Siebrie

My mending pile is growing again....


Good news: my parents will come on Friday, and stay for 10 days. I'm sure I'll have time to do my mending then, as we sit chatting of an evening. And we'll be minimising the stuff in the pantry, and we'll be making do with whatever is in the pantry.