Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Joint effort from my DH & I

Make Do: Somerset Chicken two night’s on the trot :drool: boiled potatoes both nights - green beans Monday & broccoli & cauliflower tonight

Mend: DH has done some ‘coopering’ work on a wooden garden tub - has repaired it & stained & weatherproofed it. It looks wonderful & it will be the recipient of my Silver Birch (25th wedding anniversary present from my DH :heartpuls)

Minimise: Vegetables from the freezer & almost all potatoes used up

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Make Do: Food from freezer & stores

Mend: DH made a rack to hang his hammers & is continuing making a garden table.

Minimise: Freezer contents & los to make a spicy vegetable soup

VfM4meplse

I have no idea why I haven't looked at this thread before, its great!

I usually think in terms of necessary / desirable when I shop, but the concept of make-do, mend and minimise is a much smarter initial step!

Hopeless_Case

My old (and cheap Mr T) slippers are falling apart and I was going to buy new ones, but I'm going to see what I can do sewing them up - if I can just make them last til Xmas, I can always ask for new ones :rotfl: - I think this is make do and mend!

Hopeless_Case

Hopeless_Case wrote: »

My old (and cheap Mr T) slippers are falling apart and I was going to buy new ones, but I'm going to see what I can do sewing them up - if I can just make them last til Xmas, I can always ask for new ones :rotfl: - I think this is make do and mend!

Well that was a tough mend - it was the sole which had ripped, and it was a really tough material. I've got really sore fingers now, and I had to use superglue to seal it as the material looked like it might rip again - just hoping to get another couple of months out of them!

RainbowHippie

Silva it sounds like your dining room is going to be very classy in its new blues and greys Love the idea of apricots in the banana loaf! Bet it was delicious!


Olliebeak and Wraithlady, well done to you both on your handbag-related ingenuity!



Making do this week has all been food-related! Mainly a big sugar-free banana loaf that i made to use up loads of bananas (the recipe calls for about seven!) then shoved in the freezer before a recent trip away as i knew it wouldn't get eaten in time. Defrosted it yesterday and i had slices toasted for breakfast and lunch today, will finish it over the weekend. It's much more bread-like than the banana cake loaves i normally make, and very nice. I've also started a 'weird stuff to use up' box in the kitchen (came across all sorts of odd condiments, cup-soup sachets, half-finished packets of unusual grains, etc while decorating the kitchen) and have been trying to look there first whenever i want something to eat. Varying degrees of success so far - took some cupasoups on a site visit with me yesterday and we are planning pizza for tea tomorrow which should take care of the pineapple chunks. Tinned okra and jackfruit though?! and two packets of sushi rice?! lol i'll find something to cook with them i'm sure...


Mend - lots to do on this front this week. Not had much time as work has been very busy but things keep going wrong so the list is growing! Tonight i'm going to try to dismantle the washing machine as it's been making some horrible rattling noises and i think there's a coin or similar stuck in the drum. It feels like quite an intimidating task but i don't want to pay someone to come out unless it's really necessary (especially not after the recent fridge-fuse incident!) so i've been watching loads of videos online on how to do it safely, so, fingers crossed!!


One of the side-lights has gone on my car recently - the replacement bulb has arrived so i just need to watch some videos on how to change it. And yesterday the boot catch, which has been sticking slightly for a while, has locked up completely so i had to put the back seats down to retrieve something from the boot. Not sure yet how to remedy this but i'm sure the internet will help me find a solution I've also got a couple of sewing bits to do on clothes for me and OH that are fairly urgent. Plenty to keep me busy!!


Minimised a full-length mirror and some baking stuff to a local friend yesterday, nice to find it all a new home. Minimised several items of clothing to the eb*y pile a couple of days ago while swapping my clothes round (summer clothes into the attic and winter clothes into the wardrobe, mmmm snuggly jumpers!) and also listed our old, massive sofas on eb*y so hopefully they will be gone fairly soon.



Hope you are all having a good and productive week. Happy MMMing! xx

RainbowHippie

A quick update on the washing machine mending - pulled the blinking thing apart, removed the heating element, checked inside the drum... nothing! Checked the coin trap, pump, sump hose... nothing there! So i have no idea what on earth was making such a racket. I've put it all back together and will try doing a wash at the weekend (listening carefully of course!) The one good thing is that while turning-in the big rubber door gasket to get the front panel off, i found a tiny tear which might explain some intermittent leaking over the last year or so :rotfl: I found a packet of OH's Sugru and have used a bit to plug the hole. It takes 24 hours to set so it will be Saturday before i can wash anything, but one more day won't kill us! Hopefully i've not missed out any bits putting the machine back together lol. Will let you know if it explodes! xx

Wraithlady

RainbowHippie - when that happens to me, it's almost 100% certain it's a lump of long red hairs causing the problem!

Make do - Made my own Staffordshire Oatcakes from stock - and very nice they are too!

Mend - A few more of the endless pile of mending, and one awaiting the parts - one of my bra's underwires snapped (no, I wasn't hurt, it was very securely sewn in) so I've taken it out, just need to buy a replacement

Minimise - large bag of stuff gone to the charity shop, since found several books which should have gone as well. Several other books I will try and sell on eBay

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Make Do: Bolognese sauce two nights in a row - Sunday night with Rigatoni & tonight with spaghetti - yummilicious :drool:,

Mend: one pair of knicks

Minimise: 5 bags of compost, 4 bags of ground cover, olive tree branches thinned out & olives picked. Olives now pickled - will take 2.5 months before I can taste test

RainbowHippie

Phew! It's been a busy couple of weeks. Hope you are all keeping well.



Make do - with leftovers from the weekend (did lots of cooking at we had guests), browning bananas, and anything else quick i could lay my hands on! for lunches this week.



Mend - Quite a bit this week! Managed to strip a couple of walls in the kitchen of their ancient and ugly wallpaper, which was so thick and had been painted so many times by previous owners that it was starting to fall off the wall! Unfortunately after getting it all off i realised it had been there for a reason, and spent a good few hours filling and sanding. After an extension many years ago there had evidently been very little attempt to smooth out the walls where kitchen counters, back door etc had been as they'd decided just to paper over them. The walls are now bright white and as smooth as i can get them! They are fine in daylight but in artificial light some ridges/lumps can be seen, but on balance i am happy with the fruits of my labours. Did consider hiding the problems with lining paper, but i am not at all confident wallpapering so the excessive sanding seemed the lesser of two evils. Comforting myself with the probable number of calories burned in the process! Kitchen walls and ceiling now done, just cupboard doors to finish and sink/countertops to refresh. Getting there gradually!



Also i finally got chance to do some sewing today, so mended 2 sets of OH's trousers that have recently been torn, took in the sleeves of an old hoodie of mine (used to love 'bell sleeves' but now i find they get in the way), and am in the process of taking in a very old pair of hugely baggy corduroys to more of a boot-cut style as i need more wearing-out-of-the-house trousers:rotfl:I've had these particular pants since i was 17 (nearly half my life!) and let's just say my fashion sense has become a little less 'metal' since then... Not done a lot of sewing recently and i've really missed it so it was nice to have a productive couple of hours this afternoon.



Also in the mending pile is a lovely purple velvet jacket given to me this week by OH's mum - they are also having a big minimise at the moment, must be catching! It's currently a bit big for me, but a nice style and i will hopefully be able to take it in to fit.



Minimise - few more things in the eb*y pile, plus been minimising some of my yarn stash into crocheted hats that i'm hoping to sell on eb*y/facebook. Been looking at pattern to make a couple of festive gifts for friends' kids - an elephant and a giraffe are current winners, but there are 4 or 5 young children to potentially make for so i'll keep looking.



Happy MMMing everyone, hope you all have a lovely weekend xx