Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

mrs-moneypenny

Morning all
I'm working on a large crochet blanket so that's helping minimise of few balls of wool.
The mending pile was s growing so I need to tackle that.
Working on a cross stitch kit a started a couple of years ago, I'm determined to to buy any more crafting stuff, I've got more than enough for several years.

savingpennies

Mended:
I replaced the broken hinge on the tumble dryer yesterday, that DD2 managed to break last week. I almost forgot how to put the thing back together but got there in the end.
I also cleaned the shower heads, soaking them in some water with a bit of vinegar. I was going to replace one of the showerheads, as OH had pushed some of the rubber nozzles in when cleaning (he's been banned from touching it since). But I worked out how to dismantle it and put the nozzles back in place and it's working now. That's saved me buying a new shower head.
Minimised:
We finally put the last of the Christmas decs away. They'd been put in the garage until we'd found the time. We took the time to sorth through the stuff and as some of it we hadn't used, so we either took it to the tip or put in the charity box.
Have a good day everybody.

Lynplatinum

Hiya

evening all. I have just had to catch up from pg 5 - where does time go - with my little 2 year old GD + 2 large dogs living with me - it seems to go in cleaning up and preventing disasters. 'DIL' does not seem to be with it half the time to foresee what is about to happen!!

Some very good news here about what you folks are doing. So I am reporting back on my aims for January:

1) I achieved 23 out of 31 NSD days in January (excluding direct debits for power; phone etc.
2) I minimised 30 things which were:
2 hair ribbons
4 jars of dried out lotions
2 lace hair ribbons
1 jewled hair bobble
2 rings
4 fancy decorated hair grips
1 jewlery box
1 empty box that contained a broach a long time ago
2 keys (to what i dont know)
1 folding hair brush
3 other grips
4 magasines
2 bags of shredding
2 jars of jam (that had just a little bit left)
1 arch lever file that didnt work

Am going to do the same in Feb this time, instead of focussing on my hair accessories drawer - Im going to be revisiting my jewelry box (es) and exploring what I havent worn for ages and deciding if i can get rid of it - since its mostly costume jewelry it will be a case of donation to a chazzer rather than selling it!!!!!

anyway folks - the baby needs to go to sleep so I cant be in here typing anymore! (its a very small house)

I am also aiming to be on here more often!
Plus 22/28 NSDs - how are the rest of you doing who joined in this idea?
take care all!!!

Siebrie

I've cut the feet off a pair of girl's tights, so they can be worn as leggings.
I've mended small holes in 5 pairs of girl's tights and leggings.


My Mum and Dad were here for a week, and my Mum kept urging to throw out all these items. She is very frugal, and used to handmake our clothes when we were young, due to a limited budget. She knows how much we make and wants us to not worry about repairing stuff, and spending our time on 'nice' things and outings. Fact is, I get a really warm fuzzy feeling when I mend and repair items

misstara

Currently eating up the contents of the freezer so that it can be defrosted. Almost there so hopefully can get it defrosted at the end of next week when I'm off work.

Really not that much else to report - work is very hectic at the mo so pretty much everything else has taken a back seat. Should get better in the next couple of weeks.

Hope everyone has a good weekend

SillyLily

Soooo...has no one posted here since Feb 9th? Or can I just not see it? I miss you guys! You keep me motivated!!!

lizziebabe

Hi everyone - would like to join in. Have to declutter as need to sell my house and downsize. Also funds are low at the moment so will use up food in freezer and drawers.

Maybe by posting I can sort out my stuff and life. :eek:

mcculloch29

I've been running down my cupboard stocks, resulting in some more inventive meals.
Jack Monroe's recipes are fantastic fo this, as many rely on just a few storecupboard ingredients.

I had saag aloo with some run of the mill spices, 1/3 of a large tin of spinach (a la Popeye) and a tin of potatoes. Another tin of potatoes got roasted with some frozen sausages that should have been used at the end of October, but there was no freezer burn, and they were fine.

Today I had a puff pastry pizza, with one of Heron's two packs for 60p ready to roll puff pastry. It was a pizza rosso as I had no cheese. Tomato puree, anchovies, finely chopped onions, and sundried tomatoes.
It was lovely, but the acid overload from the puree plus tomatoes was a bit much for my tummy - this is a newish thing, I guess I'm getting older. Mind you, it was a lot of both..

I got an Amazon Pantry* order the other week when the weather was really bad, and getting to the shops wasn't possible. Other than that, I've barely shopped since Christmas - one big shop mid January.

I have a small shopping trip tomorrow, organised by Age UK, and a bigger shop scheduled for Monday.

*If you have an Amazon Prime account, you can get a wide range of non-perishable groceries delivered via Amazon Pantry. Brilliant for bulky items like bumper packs of loo roll, and kitchen towels, multipacks of cans, big bottles of fabric conditioner, squash, etc.
They also do Morrisons' own brand stuff, so you don't pay through the nose.
If you buy four items from a certain list, you can have free delivery, They aren't ridiculous items. I bought an Airwick spray, some Weetabix, some squash and some cans of soft drink for example. I would have bought two of them anyway, and the cost of the others was below the amount for postage.

misstara

SillyLily wrote: »

Soooo...has no one posted here since Feb 9th? Or can I just not see it? I miss you guys! You keep me motivated!!!

All seems to be very quiet on the MMMing front.

We're still eating down the contents of the freezer and I hope to defrost it on Sunday. Tonight we had a Chinese takeaway (OH's birthday treat) and it was very yummy. The place we got from does certain dishes gluten free if you let them know so I had honey chilli chicken . OH cooked rice in the flat while I nipped out to get it so a few pounds saved . The plan was to have the leftovers tomorrow for lunch but I was a greedy guts :rotfl:

I'm now off work until Monday, tomorrow I really minimise the enormous ironing pile. My plan for over the weekend is to go through all my clothes and put all the things that are too big/unflattering to the charity shop.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

:wave:SillyLily & lizziebabe & all our other MMMers,

Maybe some of us are posting on other threads - I know I am posting on several others e.g. Daily Thread, 5 OS Pleasures, A Simpler Life 2018, No Clutter to be Seen + Love Food, Hate Waste. I will try to pop in every month or so just to keep the thread up & running.

MAKE DO

I am currently trying to use up freezer, fridge & larder contents. Am having some success by virtue of having lists of contents, weekly menu planning & being a bit more inventive. Have also been making soups & finally using the hand blender I won several years ago (I used to enter 30/40 competitions a month & not just for prizes I wanted to win as I used to give stuff to family & friends. Only postal entries so as stamp prices increased I reduced my entries & now only do TaB - one second class stamp a week:))

MEND

Repairing our clothes (mine & DH) after they have been washed & dried, even darning our good quality socks, tightening pan handles BEFORE they fall off:o. DH has also joined in - filling in holes in walls, utilising old wood to make ‘cages’ for the pipes in the airing cupboard, motorcycle maintenance, putting new batteries in gadgets so they come back into use and the big one - decorating + sorting out the creaking floorboards upstairs (sounds like a herd of elephants when either of us walks around:eek:).

MINIMISE

Since 1st January 1535 items :j have gone out of the house - this includes cardboard boxes emptied & sorted, dismantled & recycled; all our clothes, bed linen & towels sorted & either kept, Rag bagged or donated to cs; 50 year old paperwork shredded; bric a brac to cs; mountains of Notebooks & Pens rationalised with excess donated to cs; hundreds of books either recycled or donated to cs (apart from ‘keepers’), DVD Collection culled & cs reaping the benefits; several trips to Recycling Centre/Tip to get rid of bits of carpet, dried up paint, old fence panels, gadget cables etc.

The decluttering & decorating are ongoing and apart from food nothing much is coming in.

Sending positive vibes to one & all. Every bit of lo food utilised, every button sewn back on & every item out of the house is a success - pat yourself on the back & make use of those times when you can do a blitz:T Most importantly do NOT berate yourself if you have a slow day:)

Good luck

MrsSD