Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2016

Lynplatinum

Hiya

Iamsalt - good luck with that job - it is always good to have less of a commute!
Misstra - I am sure you will do well with the assessment - these things are so stressful.
Sounds like you had a great day out Shortiepie
Jackie O - I just wash, dry and freeze chillis whole - they slice easily if taken out a couple of mins before you need em and you can chuck half a one back in if you only need a bit. However, I would recommend freezing em in a box which can be IDed easily - they tend to get a bit battered if bounced around the freezer for a while!:D:D

Fun Brum - hope you get better soon - am recovering from my cold but am still totaly shattered and can only do stuff for 10mins before having to sit down and then falling asleep for half an hour! It feels silly but I am lucky that I can cancel work (although it doesn't help the finances) and have the luxury of being ill in peace!

One non - food comfort has been the DVD of Outnumbered that my friends gave me for Christmas a few years ago - it still had me giggling! Anyone thinking of having kids should be made to watch it first - just so they are sure they want to get into this! My kids were just like the little girl and the younger boy - always asking awkward questions in clear piercing voices and experimenting with things!! What comforts you folks when you are not quite well??

Also made do with food from stores; mended my wheat bag again - think Im gonna have to start patching it which would mean covering up the elephants on the material! Which would make me sad as it used to be a standing family joke: Putting Mummy's Elephant in the Microwave - it did half get some strange looks from folk :rotfl:
Minimise packaging and papers - where does it all come from each day!!!???
Nite all

mrs-moneypenny

Thank you for the really kind comments about my dress, in days BC (before children) I was a trained machinist and a ladies clothing factory and even ached the dizzy heights of sample machinist. My eldest is 30 this year so it was a while ago! But I do still enjoy sewing and should do it more often.

Minimised some left over mulled wine last night in a mushroom stroganoff won a bottle at Christmas and we don't really drink it. Mental note to find more cities to finish it off in the next couple of weeks.
minimised loads of papers into recycling, still have some to shred but need to look at shredder as its decided it doesn't want to work.

Taking some wool and a book out today as I may be camped in a waiting room for a while and get twitchy if I don't have something to do.

Have a lovely day all.

savingpennies

Good morning all. It's wet and miserable here today but we are off to town to get some more rail tickets on the voucher offer that got us to York last week. This week we are heading off to Skipton.
imasalt: I wish you success with your job application and hope you feel better soon FunBrum.
Minimised some of me by going swimming yesterday (hopefully). I have a little routine warm up then fast/slow/different strokes and then cool down.
In the afternoon OH and I started sorting all our bedroom drawers out. We managed to fill two black bin bags with stuff we no longer wanted. Some stuff I am hoping DD2 will sell for me on fleabay. The next job will be the wardrobes but that can wait until next week.
Make do: finished off some fishcakes I had made. They had tasted a little bland last time, I think because I forgot to add something like paprika. So I made a spicy tomato sauce with some onions, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a couple of chillies I had grown and dried last year.
No mending, though I found a hole in the pocket of my track suit bottoms I use to go to the gym so will do that when I get the sewing machine out next.

FunBrum

Thanks for your kind wishes.:)

lyn I know what you mean....I feel exhausted, and have never slept so much. I'm just going to spend the day on the sofa watching trashy films!

wildthing01

Hello All, not much MMMing here as have been extremely busy with work and quite virussy as a result, so feeling tired and blah!
Wish I had more time to MM properly, reading about everyone's fantastic knitting, crocheting, sewing and cooking skills makes me feel a bit inadequate! I used to sew a lot before having kids and made curtains, sofa covers, even made my own ball gowns for the balls at uni! but most I do now is mending holes and some converting/customising of clothes. I could never make clothes without a pattern though.

Likewise while I cook from scratch, I do need to follow a recipe - I'm not very good at knowing what goes with what and making it up - I did post on here that I'd made some sweet potato soup but couldn't find a recipe that matched what ingredients I had in, so made it up, well it was ok but not great and I'm not going to bother again. Need to look in my soup book and make sure I have the ingredients.

I learnt to knit when I was 6 from my Nana's neighbour, but she never taught me to cast off, so I started a scarf and just kept adding to it over the years - by the time I was 16 it was about 12 feet long and had ribbon and all sorts knitted into it! I unravelled it in the end and I've not tried since. I don't have much patience for fiddly things like knitting, crochet etc - I always realise I've made a mistake and then can't be bothered to unravel it and fix it. DD is into loom bands and always on at me to help her, but it drives me up the wall! DH has suggested I try adult colouring to de-stress but I think in my case it would be very much the opposite!!!

I am finding this thread very inspirational though and it's really making me think about using what I already have, so together with NBI, I think I'm making some real inroads into the finances as a result!

HOWMUCH

Hello fellow MMMer's, it's been a wet horrid day here in Yorkshire.

Mend had to put a new 13amp fuse in the toaster.
Make do made Broccoli and Stilton soup used BBC goodfood recipe and used YS Shepherds Purse Harrogate Blue I got a couple of months back £2.22 reduced to 29p
Minimised some of my YS items from fridge and freezer.

Good luck imasalt with the job process and hugs to those who need them. x

wildthing01

HowMuch, I really need to get to grips with the YS thing - you seem to do so well with it! Do you always go later at night or is it possible to get stuff earlier in the day - only asking as I usually have my jamas on by 8pm so not going out after that!

HOWMUCH

It depends wildthing, MrM's round here reduces to about 50% around 2pm then what's left seems to get reduced at 7pm down to 9p. MrT's big reductions are again about 7pm, Sainsbobs vary I got mine at about 7.30pm Asda I find the best day is Sunday about 3.30 it's only one of those little ones any artisan bread is reduced to 5p. The co-op near my DD does half price about 12pm but they are still expensive. So it's luck of the draw I never go out especially to go get YS I just call if I'm passing at the right time. I've had some of my best reductions in the School holidays when they've over bought and peeps have gone on holiday. And the weekend Saturday and Sunday plus Monday night when the use by date is just enough to get them past the weekend.
Hope this helps x

Lynplatinum

Evening all
Busy today - working/driving from 1.45 till 7.30! Still feeling a bit rough but ooodles better but I am trying to take it a bit easy!
Make do: rissotto for tea for me and DS 2 (who has come to stay and mend bits of house for a week) from ingredients already in (Leek,chicken and lemon) and made a cinnamon and pear upside down cake from what I had in - did not have enough almonds to grind for recipe so I ground some walnuts as well! It worked!:j

Mend: some more socks and turned an old t-shirt into rags
Minimise: pile of paperwork to do with house - did all the photocopying etc required and re filed it all! Also minimised the last of the chocolate stock - that was such hard work :rotfl:

wildthing01 - my local Mr Ms minimises twice - once between 4 and 5 and again about 7pm (CMK or Westcroft) mid week there is less of a scrum - at weekends ccertain folks turn up there and are MOST unpleasant. I feel sorry for the poor staff - with whom I have brief but polite conversations who then mention that things may go down more in a certain time frame. Polite empathy is not just good for both parties but can have more practical rewards - provided one is discrete and doesnt get them into trouble. As someone else says I only pop in if passing at an appropriate time.

Need to do this again soon as while DS2 is here whole loaves of bread can disappear in a day!
Nite all

HOWMUCH

Right I've just looked at some of the YS items MrT's baby salad leafs went from 79p to 44p then 4p. The finest all butter and cheddar scones went from £1.50 to 90p then 75p then 15p. The veg couscous went from £1 straight to 5p. I left my friends at 6.45 and was back home by 8 - 8.20pm. My OH came in the shops and he has mobility problems so it takes time, bless him. I must say there wasn't no one about I think it must have been the weather. I could have had more of the couscous, but I've had it before and only keeps for a week and will not freeze. They had bags of stir fry which could have been used for soup if only I'd had room in the freezer. I could have filled the house with 5p daffodils. The Asda salsa £1 to 41p then 14p. Sainsbobs panini's £1.20 to 59p then 29p, the fruit tea cakes £1 to 49p the 24p. Moroccan couscous £1.50 to 75p then 39p.
So it all depend when you go as to what reduction you get, I always speak to the staff and respect them my son used to do reductions when he was younger and he hated it, people grabbing off of him and people should take things walk around the shop and then take them back at final reduction time to get reduced further. He used to say but you've got it in your trolly I can't reduce it anymore and if they did and a more senior member of saw it they would get into trouble. If the person put it back in the cooler then it was removed and thrown away like other items they find on shelfs when people just dump food around the shop when they decide not to buy. Staff can't sell because they don't know how long the food has been unchilled.