Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

dolly84

I've been doing following 'The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning' for a while now and am using that to get rid of stuff we don't need. This week I went through my jewellery and binned broken bits and gave some bracelets and necklaces (costume) to CS.

I have a little MMM dilemma. Last weekend I bought DD a new pair of school trousers from Asda, I have had their trousers many times and they have been fine. On day 2 DD came home with a torn seam, I can easily repair it but they are brand new and should last longer than 2 days but if I take them back they will give me a new pair and chuck this one out. What should I do?

And - I haven't bought from Amazon for over 3 years now, hell would have to freeze over before I used them again. They were the first company to go on my boycott list.

Floss

Dolly they should get returned to HO for quality checking their supplier. I would return them. Similar issue - a £4 pair of opaques went on at 4.30pm on Saturday, car ridecto a party where mostly sat or stood (nothing agile!). Bu 7.30pm the left leg had separated from the body along the gusset area :eek: They have been laundered and will be returned tomorrow.

Siebrie

Still mmm-ing here!

Carefully going through stocks, trying to catch small holes before they get too large to mend, emptying the freezer to defrost it.

Husband has booked his ticket to his motherland; he will be gone the whole month of May. So we are now eating down the freezer, we will defrost it, and then fill it with homecooked meals for me and dds to eat while he is gone. I think I'll buy a set of these alumimium boxes with cardboard lids, so that I can write the contents on it properly. Every type of affordable sticker I have tried so far, has come off.

I am using up an old lipbalm, Yves R0cher grape extract. I do not particularly like it, but I have a cold, and dry lips, and it does the trick.

Today I am working from home and I really dislike it: no proper workspace, only a laptop (no screen, mouse or proper keyboard). The company I work for hires one floor in an office building, and we are changing from normal offices to open plan/flexible spaces and paperless. I am in the legal department, so we have plenty of paper. The idea is that people will work from home more often; well, I will not. They better provide me with a proper desk or else I will just bark at anyone trying to claim whatever desk I claim first

mcculloch29

Twelve years ago I can remember being told that paperwork would be cut back drastically in adult learning, (I am an adult education tutor, now working as an instructor from home, in a truly paperless working environment),

When I left the adult learning service, six years ago, we still had seventeeen pieces of paper for each learner in our teaching files, with an average of ten learners per course.
That's not a small wodge to cart around when you teach six to eight courses per week.
Had a book leave with a friend this afternoon. I have far too many cookbooks now, some lovely ones too, (Flora Sheddon, Izy Hossack, both free to review) but lovely is not always the same as 'useful.'.
After six months ownership, I can donate, and think I will do so.

dolly84

mcculloch29 wrote: »

Twelve years ago I can remember being told that paperwork would be cut back drastically in adult learning, (I am an adult education tutor, now working as an instructor from home, in a truly paperless working environment),

When I left the adult learning service, six years ago, we still had seventeeen pieces of paper for each learner in our teaching files, with an average of ten learners per course.
That's not a small wodge to cart around when you teach six to eight courses per week.
Had a book leave with a friend this afternoon. I have far too many cookbooks now, some lovely ones too, (Flora Sheddon, Izy Hossack, both free to review) but lovely is not always the same as 'useful.'.
After six months ownership, I can donate, and think I will do so.

I am constantly horrified by how much paper our school sends home with my children, they are just not thinking about the alternatives and that goes for the whole reducing, recycling and re-using process really.

Treasurequeen

Afternoon everyone, managed to get outside and get some much needed vitamin D. Mended two necklaces that had broken. I have a fully stocked freezer all with homemade batch cooked meals so that will do me for a fair while. Making do with stocks from freezer tonight. minimised a few nick nacks ornaments from around the flat that I don't particularly like but was given as gifts throughout last year. I will drop them off at the charity shop next week with a few paperbacks. A NSD for me today I think its my 5th one for February which for me is good as I am addicted to ebay.

SillyLily

Glad you're all back! I missed you!

Today I've

Made do - reused an old box / packing material to mail out a package. Used the front cover from an old journal to make a birthday card for a friend. I was going to buy her a card, but I couldn't find any I liked and therefore could not justify the price the shop was asking. I really like how my homemade card turned out!

Mended - sewed up a hole in a sweater, replaced a burned out light bulb

Minimized - finished up a bottle of vodka! only one drinks-worth was left in the HUGE bottle. Made some room in my cupboard. working on minimizing some hair conditioner I don't like. It was given to me by a friend that didn't like it either, but she knows I am frugal and would use it. I am alternating it with conditioner that I DO like to both use it up AND stretch out the bottle that I do like.

[Deleted User]

Hi chums
I am still trying to minimise the blooming pantone
that my DGS g/f bought me for Christmas (I didn't open it until mid Jan and its still soft and edible ) I tried it with icing on top (wasn't keen ) then stuck some tinned fruit with it (made it Ok'ish but a bit soggy)Now I am just eating it with a dollop of custard on top and will probably use the rest to make trifle with. Blooming thing was BIG, weighed 1lb 10 ozs :):) and there is onlyme to eat it as the DGS aren't keen

Started to make some Christmas knitted bells for a friend of mine who is a trustee in a small local charity. That's inbetween making the Linus Trust blankets, and also some baby blankets for the Making Miracles charity. The last lot of baby blnakets did very well and were all sold at £10.00 each which helped the charity no end as I had made 12.

Making do: with what I have in store foodwise and have only been shopping once this month, but I did have quite a few meals out with family etc as it was my birthday plus I had a couple of freebie meals with vouchers from local pub chains :)

Mended an old lamp that I fished out of the cupboard, it ony needed a new plug on it (reason why it had been shoved in the cupboard I think )


so quite happy with my MMM ing this week

cheers chums

JackieO xx

YorksLass

misstara wrote: »

All seems to be very quiet on the MMMing front.

I think it's the February doldrums! Everyone's all fired up with enthusiasm in January but come February that seems to disappear and the lack of sunshine doesn't help either. BUT ... the few bright days we've had recently have shown up the cobwebs and general winter dingyness, so I know there's a lot around the house that needs attention.

SillyLily wrote: »

Used the front cover from an old journal to make a birthday card for a friend. I was going to buy her a card, but I couldn't find any I liked and therefore could not justify the price the shop was asking. I really like how my homemade card turned out!

Made some room in my cupboard. working on minimizing some hair conditioner I don't like. It was given to me by a friend that didn't like it either, but she knows I am frugal and would use it. I am alternating it with conditioner that I DO like to both use it up AND stretch out the bottle that I do like.

Well done with the birthday card. I know what you mean about shop prices. That said, I got x5 smashing ones on Friday for a tad over £4. I get them from a market trader in Leeds market; it may only be a very small stall but he has a vast selection and all have nice pictures and verses - and he's very reasonably priced too, so I'm more than happy to give him my custom. I'll be going to him again at the end of May, ready for the next batch of birthdays, and at the beginning of November for the Xmas ones.

On the hair conditioner front, I have a super one that came as a Xmas gift from DD. It's an Argan oil cream in a huge tube and, although I didn't ask where she got it from, I suspect it was Lidl as she does most of her shopping there.

JackieO wrote: »

Started to make some Christmas knitted bells for a friend of mine who is a trustee in a small local charity.JackieO xx

You've just reminded me, I have a large bag of yarn oddments that I need to take to the CS. I know I won't use them but perhaps some other crafty person can.

A few weeks ago I minimised the yarn stash a little and have knitted a jumper for DH. This week I'll be minimising the "to be sewn up pile" by sewing all the pieces together. :rotfl:

I've been doing lots of de-cluttering and have a huge amount of stuff (bric a brac, books, CDs, curtains, bedding, crockery etc) set on one side in one of the spare bedrooms. Now I need to get my arris in gear to actually get it out of the house! :rotfl:

My doormat (and those of neighbours) was minimised this week - not by me but by the Council. To explain, our Council is updating its tenancy agreement in line with changes in legislation and one of the new T&Cs is that tenants living in flats and maisonettes are not allowed doormats. I'm guessing that's because of the Grenfell tower disaster. Fair enough. But this doesn't come into force until July and the current tenancy agreement says we are allowed them if they are non-slip, bound round the edges and not curling up to cause a trip hazard. And that's precisely what we had. Methinks our local Housing Manager has jumped the gun on this one. Tbh, I'm not going to argue the point with him but I think my neighbour might have something to say!

I've also minimised Vod*fone from my life and have switched my PAYG mobile over to O2. I don't use it much other than to have it with me when I'm out and about in case of emergency or need to ring for a taxi. Vod* charge 30p per min but O2 is only 3p per min, so it's a no-brainer. I've topped up with £10 and also got a free further £10 credit as a welcome and believe me, that £20 will last me all year!

Other than that, it's the usual making do with food stocks and having as many NSDs as I can.

buildersdaughter

YorksLass - we have 2 excellent mats that are non-slip, very thin, goes through the washing machine and is years old. I wonder if your Housing / Tenants Association could buy a job lot cheaply?

Anyway, my friends have saved me scraps of ribbon and fabric from Xmas gifts, for the lavender bags I'll be making next summer.
I have used a lovely scrap of printed cotton to be the yoke lining for a denim jacket I am making.
And we are still eating the 'Xmas' biscuits!