Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2017

[Deleted User]

Make do - lunch today will be a rice salad using some onion rice I made yesterday, some cold chipolatas and whatever needs using in the salad drawer in the fridge.

Mend - repainting the porch with leftover paint from the lounge to freshen it up prior to valuation by an estate agent next week.

Minimise - lots of boxes of books and bric-a-brac to charity shops and will carry on sorting again today. I will not move with all the possessions I've accumulated over the years. Clean slate and calm rooms will be the order of the day!!!

villagelife

Minimised some books to the League of Friends shop at work. Still have many more to go though. A few at a time helps though.
Sorted out a cupboard and rubbish into the bin. Found stuff to ebay and a container that I am already using to keep samples in so they are visible so I will use them up. Have already used a moisturiser.
Not much mending apart from my sanity by being in the garden.

[Deleted User]

mending : well more sewing up really I have around 100+ squares to sew up for blankets for the Making Miracles charity Last Saturday I was at The Big Knit at Rochester Cathedral and everyone knitted like mad for two hours to produce a couple of boxes of 6" squares These now will be sewn together to make baby blankets to be sold on the stall at Medway Hospital.I had a big bag dropped off at my house yesterday and spent last night sorting them all out into sizes and colours .This morning I shall start sewing them all together As its vet wet 'n'windy here I can put my feet up, and watch TV and sew away for several hours at least this morning
I made some sausage rolls and some shortbread for tonight's Round Table quiz night, so I shall have nibbles to take with me

I have dug a large bacon chop from the freezer and will have that with some mash and cabbage for lunch, so thats my making do.
Have a good day chums and keep warm and dry if possible

YorksLass

silvasava wrote: »

Yorkslass - OOD suncream is a good moisturiser too if you run short.

I'd forgotten about that one, thanks for the reminder! :T

Slowdown wrote: »

Minimise - my stock of apples. I stewed the cooking apples picked yesterday and stirred in a couple of spoon full of mincemeat. It is the most delicious taste. Yum

I sometimes do this in reverse i.e. add chopped apples to mincemeat to pad it out.

Mend - me! A cold was threatening mid-week but I think I've beaten it into submission with paracetamol, hot lemon drinks, plenty of sleep and doing only "the necessary".

Minimise - Ballpoint pen in the bin (no ink left and not refillable). Old brick of a mobile phone (minus SIM card of course) and charger went to council recyling centre. I thought I still had the box and manual but couldn't find them so I'm guessing they must have gone in an earlier trawl of kipple. Used postage stamps sent off to local hospice - not sure what they do with them but it's on their list of "wants".

Making do - the usual of not wasting food.

silvasava

Make do - culled the last of the rhubarb and made 3lb Rhubarb & Ginger jam
Mend - nothing Tablet playing up but its beyond my capabilities so will have to find someone techy to mend it for me
Minimise - Rhubarb and sugar and ginger into jam but not much else going on!

house_elf

Make do: Made chicken stroganoff using left over chicken & left over half a bottle of wine.......yum.

Mend: have arranged with a friend to get lights fixed in the kitchen. Can't switch them off at the moment!:eek:

Minimise: have put a few of DH trousers into CS bag. Hope it will be full by the end of this week to go to BHF shop.

Need to be very disciplined with MMM ing this half term. Very cross with myself that I wasted most of the summer hols. :mad:

RainbowHippie

Welcome to all the new 'faces', lovely to see more people joining the thread and finding it useful! I love reading all about everyone's achievements and tips on here.

I've been catching up and realised i haven't posted for over a month, oops! Have been doing quite well on the MMM front, just been super busy and time really does fly at the moment!

We have two house guests at the moment, one long-term ish, and one probably for the next month or so. It's lovely having friends around and being able to help out, but also means a bit of adjustment in terms of how we live! Our most recent addition has meant i am 'making do' with working in the conservatory rather than my usual office (which also doubles as a spare bedroom). We've also moved around a lot of furniture and got rid of a large desk (keeping the smaller and nicer one i actually use) and shifted a hand-me-down futon to make space for a table in the conservatory. Futon will shortly be handed on down once again to some local friends. The drop-leaf table i'm currently working at is a lovely dark wooden one i got for £40 from a charity shop when OH and i first moved in together about 5 years ago, and since then it has been a dining table, workbench, sewing table and now desk in various different houses so we have definitely had our money's worth!

Someone mentioned hanging on to old hiking boots - i have to add that i have had the same pair of walking boots since i was in my early teens (am now 32) when they were passed on to me by a family friend whose teenage son had outgrown them. They are faded and in no way fashionable after all these years, but are the comfiest shoes i've owned, still waterproof and still very supportive. I actually bought a new pair a couple of years ago, as my old ones are really not the most attractive, but the new ones were so uncomfortable i ended up selling them on and sticking to my ugly comfy boots!

Mending - a bikini top whose thin straps have never felt entirely adequate by adding thick halter straps made of fabric from the too-tight sleeves of a too-short dress i had in similar fabric. I liked the fit of the dress once the sleeves were gone, so turned under the arm holes and added some extra fabric (left over from a previous project) to the bottom for extra length. Very happy with the results and wore it out over the weekend. Have also mended a few holes that had appeared along seams of various items of clothing. I have noticed this happening much more frequently recently - i think all our clothes are reaching 'that age'! I am still stubbornly buying no clothes this year and honestly can't remember the last time i was tempted. I am having fun re-making various items and getting my new-clothes fix that way without spending a penny.

Does anyone else have tomatoes that have fruited but are still green? Mine seem to have produced a fair few fruit but none have changed colour. They are outside so i thought they were just taking their time, but now a bit worried that the season is coming to an end and perhaps i should just pick them and do something with them green in case they go over. It's the first time i've grown tomatoes and i know there are many experienced growers on here so any advice much appreciated!!

Hope you all have a great week xx

[Deleted User]

Making Do - Thought I'd like to matching lamps to go on the bedside tables in the bigger spare room and then realised that I had a Pebble Lamp and DD2 had sent one home to go to a boot fair. They are different sizes but look really nice and give a good enough light to read by, result!

Mend - We have two battered chairs that are in the bedrooms because they're too disreputable for downstairs, thought I'd like to replace them but this morning I found a really nice sturdy remnant of furnishing material in a dark grey material with a woven pattern in the same colour just big enough to recover the two seats. He Who Knows will rub down the wood and paint it to match the room it's in and we'll have two new chairs, result!

Minimise -have bought a new set of wooden utensils for the kitchen and they will replace a lot of mismatched old wooden spoons that are cluttering up utensil jar. Rejects are in the log basket waiting to be used on the stove next time we light up, waste not want not!

crazytree

Hello Rainbow Hippie, I'm very much not an expert gardener:(! But I can answer your question. If your tomatoes are still green you can pick them and put them in a paper bag with a banana. No, honestly!!! Apparently bananas give off a gas that ripens other fruit. I had the same problem last year and that's what I was told to do and it worked!:T I've still got some green tomatoes outside so I might be doing the same again this year...
Hope this helps

Floss

Mrs LW, depending on what you have used your wooden utensils for over the years, you may be in for a few coloured flames when they burn!