Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2017

mcculloch29

Saved myself £15 today, as I have done so continuously for about the last four years, by cutting my own hair. In the last twenty years I've probably had my hair cut professionally less than ten times. It is chin length, in a bob, very straight and fine.

With such shortish, fine hair a pack of hair colour can be split to make two treatments for me. (This only works with the hair colours that have 50 ml of colour and developer. ) When Aldi's Carino hair colour was on Specialbuy I bought two packs as this is the cheapest good quality hair colour I've found that meets this brief. Aldi no longer sell hair colourants as part of their main range, unfortunately.
So my hair colour will cost me £1.25. It's the remaining half of a pack I used earlier this year, in lightest brown.

Edit: You split the hair colour pack by pouring half the bottle of developer and squeezing half the tube of colour in to a plastic bowl and mixing it in the bowl. Do not attempt to save mixed colour, it doesn't work.

villagelife

Must post here more often.
Minimised food as I delayed shopping for about 5 days. We ate ok but DS2 complained that no snack food.
Had some bananas that had gone very black and so made banana loaf. Made do with mixed nuts instead of walnuts.

Shortened pair of DH new trousers but still looking at the pile of mending.

affordmylife

The towels are dark red and a perfectly fine to match but I'm bored with them. They're staying!!! Lol.

Been cooking up a storm today. Bake well tart. Shepherds pie. Chilli. Steak pie. Broccoli bake. I love cooking and this lot will see us through the week xx

Floss

affordmylife wrote: »

The towels are dark red and a perfectly fine to match but I'm bored with them. They're staying!!! Lol.

Been cooking up a storm today. Bake well tart. Shepherds pie. Chilli. Steak pie. Broccoli bake. I love cooking and this lot will see us through the week xx

Lol! I know what you mean I recently dyed our maroon towels a lovely rich purple because I was bored with the maroon ones!

I've been baking too - ham cheese & tomato quiche and some rhubarb tarts to use up the pastry & the remains of some roasted rhubarb from the fridge. I've also put in some almost-past-its-best veg in to roast for tea, I've got a couple of pork chops out of the freezer to go with them.

Fonque

Hello,

I'd like to add my 2pennthworth as the occasional mender.

I live and die in my boots (2pairs on rotation) and barring exceptionally warm weather I wear my ankle boots everyday. However as the soles are made of rubber they do tend to wear out around the heels, even though the leather uppers are still fine.

In order to make them last I was made aware of a product thats basically liquid rubber in a tube, skateboarders use it to make thier shoes grip better (I used a brand called Shoe Goo)
I put tape around the edges of the heels to create a wall, try to squeeze out some goo and then level it off using the height of the heel as a guide. It's a bit fiddly at first as they stuff is like tar and stinks (do it outside) but now its means my pairs of boots should last a bit longer.

I've also darned my socks this year at the ankle where it rubs the fabric away and I have plans to dye my trousers as they're looking grey rather than black.

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
Hope everyone is well.
Mended 4 pairs of trousers for mil so they can go back to her, I bought a hat some silk flowers and scarf at the car boot for a total of £2.50 and need to change the band and decorations on the hat to make it coordinate with the suit she'll be wearing for dd2s wedding this summer.

affordmylife

Hi there

I've had a work day today but had a great idea whilst I was there and I've researched it since. Taking cuttings from a fig tree and growing them on. Not sure what category that's fits into.

I'm continuing with my crochet cushion covers as gifts and I might gift fig trees too if it goes well.

Thinking ahead to warmer months to make jam etc. I love preserving xx

Athome1

Morning all .. today I am making do with 3hrs sleep! Had an appalling night and now it is time to get up I finally feel sleepy!
I am taking my 96yr old aunt for lunch later and my local Sizzler do some really good meal deals so I can treat her without breaking the bank.
No making do (well no more than usual) or mending .. not that I haven't got some to do!
I don't post much but I do enjoy reading everyones posts. Best wishes to all x

[Deleted User]

Minimising my paper clutter today I swear it grows while I'm asleep

Not so much mending as making I have promised 100 knitted poppies to our local Royal Engineers museum so got going on Tuesday and am really doing well with them I think I should hit my target by the beginning of June hopefully, did 9 last night .Very easy to make and they look really nice
Making do with a shepherd's pie from the freezer for dinner tonight as I am always late home on a Thursday night as Dd doesn't get in until 6.45 and my son-in-law is at Uni today and won't be home until 7.30, but I don't mind as its just a case of zapping it in the microwave

Hope you all have a good day
Cheers JackieO xx

Siebrie

Sown a button back on dd1's favourite dress, mended a hole in another dress, a rip in a skirt, reattached the parts of a gypsy-style skirt that's a favourite of dd2, darned five pairs of girl's tights, cut the feet of another pair to make leggings because the hole at the toe was too large to darn. There is more mending to do, but I am tired now and can't thread the needle anymore.