Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

savingpennies

silvasava wrote: »

Ouch Floss - DH's car is due for its MOT in a couple of weeks. Not expecting anything nasty but you never know.
Make do - with fridge leftovers for tea last night, home fries, tomato, bacon & egg ( cholesterol night!)
Mend - DH's jeans and a pair of his overalls
Minimise - me! Have cut down massively on my carb consumption and it seems to be working on the spare tyre!!

Well done Silvasava. I need to do the same; wardrobe full of clothes, I can't fit into and nothing to wear!

DD2 came in with the door from the tumble dryer. It seems it 'dropped off' just like that.:mad: Not sure I believe her as last time it broke it was because OH leant on it. I've already ordered the hinge parts and will mend it myself.
We made do with the left over veg from Sunday's roast and had fishcakes and oven chips last night. Must say the veg tasted even better than on Sunday. I tried a new recipe for the veg (apples, onions, peppers) which were roasted with a sauce made up of: olive oil, demerara sugar, wholegrain mustard. The recipe also said cider vinegar but I didn't have any so I made do with some left over cider.
Off now to do some minimising of my bookshelves. I retired from teaching over 2 years ago and have lots of books I no longer want so I'm giving them to a much younger colleague.

Floss

Floss wrote: »

Am currently in the process of minimising a whole month's wages on my little car :mad: It is service & MOT time as it is his birtbday today which is always budgeted for, but I wasn't expecting a fail on exhaust emmissions (due to a hole, so a full pipe needed coz of the model); rear brakes pads & discs (no mention of any wear issues 5,500 miles ago so not sure about that...) and advisory on both rear tyres (which will need to be replaced). Am not a happy bunny at the total of almost £1k vanishing. On the up side, DH says the work & tyres has just tripled the cars value

Got my car delivered home at 5.45pm, the garage had done everything including the tyres, but didn't charge me for them (knowingly ) so "just" £722

silvasava

As Tosco say Floss - every little helps.
As regards minimising me I'm not following any specific diet - just cutting down on the amount of bread, biscuits, pasta and pastries that I manage to munch. I've increased my protein but basically I'm trying to substitute healthier stuff rather than dieting per se as I don't need to loose weight - just the spare tyre!!!
Made do with chilli from the freezer tonight and realised I need to do some batch cooking - only one pat of chilli left, no spag bol and I noticed I'd got some shin of beef so I think a cooking session is scheduled for later this week.
Minimised my sewing machine to the repairer in the hope he can save it as I couldn't mend it

misstara

Ouch to the car costs Floss but at least a wee bit less than you originally thought.

Cut the top off my body lotion to get to the bit right at the bottom, should do me for a few more days.

Meal plan for the next week has been done and I'll hit the supermarket after work tomorrow armed with my list. Just need to stick to it now.

dolly84

Floss - glad to hear your car came in a bit less, still a lot of money though. Mine is due for it's MOT next month.

I am going to repair the crotch of a pair of DD's tights today, they are those fleecy lined ones and she needs them back quick, also mending a hole in a very sheer top of mine, I like sheer tops but they do fall apart quickly.

Siebrie

Make do:
I had a disruptive day yesterday, going to and fro, never home for more than 20 minutes, but about 5 times 20 minutes. The girls were fed up, as was I. So for dinner we had fries, chicken nuggets and curry sausage from frozen in our Airfryer and frying pan. Not the dinner I had planned for my parents, who arrived yesterday for a week's stay!

Mend:
Took the car to the garage to see what was wrong with 1 door not locking (it would unlock itself....) and it took the mechanic 75 minutes to locate the problem! Now they are ordering the spare part and I have to wait 2 weeks before it's delivered. Luckily, all under warranty.

Minimise:
I gave all the little body lotions I'd received from work (about 20 hotel size pots - all different brands from basic to extremely posh, like Cinq Mondes ) to my Mum.

Treasurequeen

Batch cooking day today: I’ve made four portions of vegetarian and gluten free lasagne, three veggie cottage pies, four veggie curries. So that’s 11 meals sorted over next couple months. I’m making some beaded hanging dragonfly’s as gifts for my Mum, Nan and aunt to use us some of my craft stash.

Minimised a few things, books mostly and will take to charity shop next week.

silvasava

Treasurequeen - lots of lovely home made food for future meals! I've set to over the last few days and made a big batch of spag bol for4 meals and a batch of beef stew that we'll have tomorrow with dumplings - 2 lots already frozen. I had the meat in the freezer - various YS bargains so it's freed up some space. I defrosted an apple & blackberry crump that I found lurking - must have been there about a year!!!!! Tasted fine
I've also managed to clear out my bathroom cupboard and thrown away lots of little travel pots and part used bits that have died in storage
That's about the sum of my make do and minimise but no mend at the moment!
I've managed to really cut down on my carbohydrates this last week, not noticed ,much as far as the spare tyre goes but my energy levels seem to have improved so I'm going to keep it going to the end of this month and see how it goes.

dolly84

It was a horrible rainy day here yesterday so DH and I went through the loft, there is still a long way to go but we took a large bag to the CS and a car full to the tip plus there were a couple of things in there that have been put to good use elsewhere. I feel really, really bad about the tip run as a lot of it was baby stuff (my youngest is 12), we put it in the loft thinking we might have another baby but decided not to and it has been left way too long and is not fit to be used by another family now.

misstara

Today I've went through my makeup bag and chucked out a few dried out mascaras, ancient lipsticks and eye pencils.

Used up a duck breast from the freezer plus some butternut squash from my dad's garden for tea. Also made a big pot of pea and ham soup which will do for lunches during the week.

Hope you've all had a good weekend