Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2017

Siebrie

For those wishing to try doing their laundry with vinegar, please read your machine’s manual! My manual says to NOT use vinegar, because it will eat away at the aluminium parts.

This week we are eating our way through the fridge and freezer, and for the very first time I have issued a food buying ban, and it seems that dh is actually following! I only need to buy a loaf of bread and we’re good until Sunday, when we leave for my parents’ for a week.

I have mended 9 items of kids’ clothes.

My Aunt gave me a nice woollen cardi, and I have been wearing it almost every day as it’s soooo comfortable. It wasalso rather old and sad looking, so I have bought a little machine to shave the little wool balls off. It now looks smooth and neat again.

house_elf

Boxing Day,

DH and I have traditionally started a DIY project on Boxing Day, but this year we are tackling the clutter!

Make do: We made do with leftovers for lunch. Very nice it was too!

Mend: Had to remove lots of excess glue from the nest of tables, where I have been making poppers into Pointsiettas for a party. (A la Kirsties Handmade Christmas). Used the hob scraper tool.

Minimise: DH has minimised a pile of paperwork in the study. I had to go through my share of the pile. Now have a bag of stuff to be shredded.

Feel like it was a good start :j

pineapple

Hello I'm a bit late joining this thread but here are my plans for next year.
1) Make better use of money off deals if it is something I regularly buy anyway
2) I live in the sticks where everything is expensive so it is probably worthwhile making a monthly trip to civilisation to stock up
3) I'm retired - cash poor but time rich - so plan to star entering free competitions.
4) Switch off the flippin lights! I'm on E7 so peak hour electricity is expensive.
5) Do up the kitchen on a budget - ie replace cupboard doors etc.
More to follow...

silvasava

Pineapple - as well as competitions there are lots of organisations that pay you for surveys, either with cash or vouchers. You can even earn £50 by doing the government surveys! I'm sure there is a thread giving details.

[Deleted User]

Re the vinegar: I have been using white vinegar instead of 'conditioner' since 1963, and in that time I have had two washing machines, one of which was second hand in the 1980s, and I am now on my third.

I am not too sure if there is any aluminium in any of my machines, but vinegar in the conditioner drawer, and half the amount of washing powder/liquid in the detergent drawer, with the rest made up of soda crystals and my wahing machine is sparkling, and I only use the boil wash once a month for towels etc, the other washes I use is the 30c wash which is a 'light' 30 minute wash twice a week. My existing machine I have had for 6 years and looks like new, hopefully it will see me out

I am at Dds and been playing cards with the DGS and doing a bit of knitting when the TV is on. Helping to make do with all the left over stuff at DDs and ensuring the boys aren't over doing the sweet stuff too much Life will get back to normal next week fingers crossed :):)

Happy New Year to everyone


JackieO xxx

mrs-moneypenny

I hope everyone is well sorry I've not been. Out much for the latter part of thisthread I certainly intend to join in more next year x

house_elf

Morning

Make Do: Made washing ‘Gloop’. Makes me very happy to use this instead of expensive laundry products.

Mend: Can’t think of anything I have mended. I am working on a quilt which we brought back from India about 10 years ago. The patchwork has become tatty and starting to fall apart. I have spent my evenings for the past year or more, hand stitching the quilt back together. I had hoped to finish before Christmas, then I moved the goal to New Year. May have to be before our Anniversary now!

Minimise: I have finished making my poinsettia poppers for Friday. Used some crepe paper I found in the Xmas wrapping paper stash, so only had to pay for the poppers , which I wanted anyway. Looking very kitch! :rotfl:

No decluttering has happened yesterday Hoping for a more productive day today,

crazytree

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous yet peaceful Christmas! Ours was nice.:D
Next year's projects are supposed to be a new kitchen. Decluttering the spare rooms, finishing knocking down the wall in the front yard (it's half gone!), getting the gutters looked at, minimising my books coz I use Kindle now, and getting properly organised for blogging.
It's a bit less ambitious for this week....
Today I'm going to minimise the amount of leftover Christmas food in the fridge. Most of it will be made into meals and frozen separately for the rest of the month. I need to plan the menu for the rest of the month making sure to include all the Christmas stuff.
Dog toys need to be mended again. New hound is super-destructive with toys, she likes to open them up and remove their insides :eek:. And she looks sooo sweet!!!
So today will be a day of organisation and planning, and I'm hoping to have time to minimise the amount of cat hair and muddy pawprints decorating my house by doing a bit of cleaning! The holiday is over!!!
Tx

pineapple

silvasava wrote: »

Pineapple - as well as competitions there are lots of organisations that pay you for surveys, either with cash or vouchers. You can even earn £50 by doing the government surveys! I'm sure there is a thread giving details.

Thanks. I'm already a member of Pinecone though these days I don't get many surveys. Perhaps because of my age but probably because I fail miserably at being a good consumer!

pineapple

house_elf wrote: »

Boxing Day,

DH and I have traditionally started a DIY project on Boxing Day, but this year we are tackling the clutter!

Make do: We made do with leftovers for lunch. Very nice it was too!

Mend: Had to remove lots of excess glue from the nest of tables, where I have been making poppers into Pointsiettas for a party. (A la Kirsties Handmade Christmas). Used the hob scraper tool.

Minimise: DH has minimised a pile of paperwork in the study. I had to go through my share of the pile. Now have a bag of stuff to be shredded.

Feel like it was a good start :j

Tackling the clutter here too. Anyone else have drawers, cupboards, sheds etc that mysteriously fill up? :huh: The thing is, when my kitchen gets done, I will have to clear as much as possible - which will have a knock on effect throughout the whole house. So the idea is to de-clutter every single space to help with the refurb and make room for the clutter I want to keep. :rotfl:
I used to live in Uganda where there wasn't such a thing as 'private' refuse so I got into the habit of burning everything identifiable. Plus I know someone who experienced an attempted identity theft by someone going through people's rubbish, so I am extra paranoid and burn everything - even if it just has my name and address on it.