Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2017

Luna68

Hi
No i dont think its unlucky I just cant throw old photos away
always back my mind is What IF? no idea why just cant sorry doesn't help you
take care

silvasava

Minimised my stock of Quince from the freezer into 4lb of jam for DH. Had 2 punnets of YS mushrooms to make into soup - got them all chopped with the onions and sauted - the long life milk I used had separated & didn't notice until I'd used half so the whole lot went down the waste disposal
Did manage to freeze some runner beans and french beans - the rain has done some good!
No mending but helped my friend with a slight alteration as her machine was playing up.
Make do - whatever is in the fridge tonight for my tea

osbornbiscuit

Evening everyone.
Well it has finally stopped raining so hopefully I can get the washing out on the line tomorrow.
Been trying to minimise my wool stash as I have joined a group who knit dolls clothes and twiddle muffs for dementia patients. I found a large doll in a charity shop so am trying to knit her a little wardrobe before I send it off. The down side was that whilst in the charity shop they were just putting out of a large bag of knitting wool for 50p a ball (some of them were those enormous balls) so I just couldn't let it stay there at that price, Wool stash is threatening to take over craft room (posh name for box room)
I have sorted out another bag to go to the charity shop and stuff is ready to go on that well known auction site at the weekend.
Have cleared out baking cupboard and out rid of out of date stuff and baked using up the stuff coming close. On a different note but baking related blackberries are out in force around here and apart from the usual blackberry and apple pie or crumble any ideas of using up these freebies.
On a positive note I now have had 3 NSD this week, mainly cos pay day still isn't here and the bank account says NO.
Thinking of ways to bring in extra cash and found an article talking about the things people manage to sell on fleabay, mainly for the craft sections, pine cones for one. We have a pine wood near us so that one is one the back boiler for a while.
The only thing I have mended is a few watches with new batteries so I now have a choice of what to wear.

[Deleted User]

Wow osbourenbiscuit what a great find wool at 50p a ball ,locally even in our CS the wool is always over a £1 a ball.I knit for a children's charity and make blankets and have found often I can buy home knitted small jumpers at boot sales which I unpick ,wash and recycle into wool for my stash:).A baby's cardi for 20p will often give me a good deal of plain white wool that I use to edge the blankets with

Making do with food as much as possible from the freezer as I go away on my holidays in three weeks time and I am just about to sort my menus out for the next three weeks I am out for 7 of those evenings so only 14 dinners to make in this time and I am sure my freezer will help out with them

Minimise I have a box of books to take to the CS tomorrow that I have sorted from my overloaded bookshelf in the spare room.

Mending will be probably checking my DGS school uniform buttons on their school shirts this week as I am at their house anyway keeping the peace between all four of them :):) Not too bad as they are quite good lads really One is at his part time job during the day today and th eldest is roosting in his bedroom studying some work he brought home from Uni :)

RicardaRacoon

Evening folks

It is Friday! Hooray! Flat is clean, laundry hangs outside to dry, shoppinglist for tomorrow is written... Roll on weekend!

osbornebisquit, who could resist yarn at that price? Especially when you knit for charity.

Jackie, great idea with the cheap garnments to get knitting wool from. I guess a plain white kids jumper isn't a bestseller in a CS, so reusing is a great idea.

Since I don't come in here daily I think I will write down my three Ms once a week...

Make do: decided to use a water-vinegar mix as facial cleanser. Don't want to use cotton buds all the time (my previous cleanser was a face soap which I applied with my hands) so I cut up an old face cloth into small squares, ran the sewing machine around the edges and within 20 minutes I had enough of them to last me from one washing day to the next and in case I still need more I can always chop up another face cloth.

Mend:
Had the heel of a pair of really nice shoes mended.
And just did the smallest of mending today while dinner cooked. The tag of a kitchen towel teared and for the best part of a year I thought I would mend it "the next time I do some darning anyway" Today I decided that I might as well mend it now as I always forget it when I do some other mending.

Minimising: a pair of ill fitting shoes, gave me the worst blister in years. Found them at the back of my wardrobe, couldn't remember why I had not wore them more often, but now I do... Will ask a friend if she wants them or else they will go into the donation box.

Will spend the evening knitting socks, drinking tea and watching Mary Berry.

Have a nice evening everyone!

silvasava

My rhubarb has shot up with all the rain we've had so I pulled a load and made rhubarb and Ginger jam ( with extra ginger!) made about 3lb from a kilo of fruit so that will last me a little while ( only me that eats it!)
DH got the dressing table for my friend out of the loft - we'll deliver it to her on Sunday. I found a bag with the carpet remnants from our last carpet so brought those down to be got rid of. I'm trying to get all the junk out of the loft - it's going bit by bit
Made do with brunch from the fridge, remainder of some ham, some grated cheese and used to fill a couple of omlettes. That's all folks!

misstara

Yum rhubarb and ginger jam is my absolute favourite, I'm currently on the last jar that I got from my mum and trying to make it last as long as possible.

Not much MMMing to report, mostly just been using up various food stuffs in the fridge/freezer. Had planned to eat down the freezer in preparation for defrosting it but keep seeing good YS bargains so not getting very far :rotfl:

Working this weekend, double shift tomorrow. I've prepared lunch, tea and snacks so should get a NSD. YS beef for roast on Sunday which I'm looking forward to. Hope everyone has a good weekend

villagelife

Minimizing - have sold a few things in eBay so slightly less clutter and some more money. Walked to the post office to send them about a mile away so hopefully helped to minimise me .
On the way back picked blackberries and then made crumble for tea which helped minimise the cupboards slightly.

Need to do more as MIL has moved into care home so we are minimizing her house. Bags of clothes that no longer for have gone to charity shop. Ornaments have also gone to charity shop.
Towels have gone to RSPCA.
No idea what to do with photos. DH doesn't want me to throw any away. MIL has all the albums and framed photos that her room can cope with.

Mend- mended a bookcase. Easy to do and now feel I can use it without shelves collapsing.

Make do - very little good shopping done so eating from stores.
Have moved furniture(or supervised) it being moved so DS1 bedroom (who has moved out) can be used as an office. Being very strict and only putting things in there that belong.

silvasava

Mistara - I used a recipe for my jam from the BBC Good Food website - easy to do just needs simmering for longer to get a good set. I used cubes of frozen grated ginger in it too - it's come out very gingery! Yum!!
Villagelife - I SO need to have a stint on Fleabay - too much stuff that could raise some Dosh but I do need to get aroundtuit!

osbornbiscuit

My tip for getting cheap wool is to get the volunteers who work there to be your best friends and if you can't see any wool ask if there is anything in the back. I have known one charity shop to have a large black bin bag of wool that was all tangled up and they couldn't be bothered to sort it out. Knitting needles are kept in the back as they aren't supposed to be sold. Offer to donate so cash to take it off their hands.
If they know you knit for charity they might keep an eye out for you. Must admit wool stash is almost out of control.