Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

Siebrie

Mended: two tiny holes in a woollen rollneck sweater. I have lost my job a fortnight ago (it's a relief after 11 stressful years) and I will be home fulltime for the next few months, so any warm items of clothing are close at hand to keep heating costs down.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Siebrie, re job loss but lots of luck in finding a new, less stressful job when you start looking

Make Do: Food from freezer & cupboard stores
Mend: N/A
Minimise: Couple of kitchen items into CS bag

Siebrie

The jobloss comes with 11 months severance pay and 60 hours of individual outplacement coaching, so I'm good. Already sleeping much better and being a nicer mum.

dND

Every cloud has a silver lining Siebrie Do take the time to d-stress properly and I hope you find something over the next months that you really want to do. Deborah xxx

Wraithlady

Make do: making teddy bears from my never-ending stock of fabric scraps (Probably need some more stuffing, though) as Xmas presents to my niece & nephew, instead of buying expensive plastic tat.

Mend: Hems and cuffs, mainly, but am replacing the elastic in a waistband for one of my favorite skirts

Minimise: Aforementioned furry toys, also using up carrots in the fridge to make soup. Started another CS bag - I keep finding things!

Siebrie

Minimised/make do: some cubed dried exotic fruit (from a bagful wombled at work last year) mixed in with my homemade granola. The dried fruit is not so nice to snack on, but is a nice addition to my morning yoghurt.

Mended: a bra washing bag, a hi viz bag cover, a fitted sheet, dd2's jacket hood which had two burn holes from torches in the parade she walked in :eek:, husband's T-shirt. Took dd1's school backpack to my parents, hoping they can fix the zip. I have tried, but did not manage.

Pauper1

Hi everyone I'd like to join you please. I am trying to become debt free but more than that I have a yearning for a simpler life. ideally I'd be living in an off-grid yurt in the woods, growing all my own food and weaving my own clothes, but as I have no real skills that probably won't ever happen :rotfl: so I am taking mini steps instead. I have taught myself to crochet over the last few weeks, and I'm practising sewing again. I've recently made bath bombs from stuff we already had, some reusable makeup wipes from old pjs, a toy sling for my DS and his doll, and I've got some foraged fruit to try making some jam. This thread feels like it goes with all my eco-dreams quite nicely :j

silvasava

Pauper1 - welcome to the thread
Lots of tips and encouragement here - a wealth of knowledge too so pull up a chair

Pauper - forgot to say - there is a sewing thread too!

Siebrie

Pauper1, welcome.

I amnot a great knitter, crocheter, or seamstress, but I can handle a needle well enough to mend items, prolonging their life, and sending less to landfill / ragbag, and saving a bit of money.

Some of dds' leggings have been mended 8 times by now, but because I check them carefully after each wash (the leggings...) and catch any holes when they are still small, the mending doesn't show. Usually three or four stitches suffice. The threads I mend with are inherited from grannies, aunties, and donated by Mum when I moved out as a student.

The_Only_Girl

Hi all, they said It’s better late than never. So I hope you don’t mind me joining in so late in the year.

I used to actively participate in several forums here on MSE but due to various reasons, I have been absent for a year or so. I per my signature, I was lucky to become debt free in 2015 after a long and painful journey of lifestyle modification. After that,I slowly managed to hit my target for my 3-6 months emergency fund. Then came the period of false sense of security followed by the loss of focus and a string of major emergencies which drained my emergency fund. My husband and I have just finished writing up our budget for December and we were both horrified to discover that our emergency fund has significantly dwindled and now down to £2100 (£12000 target). We also reviewed our spending in November and we were utterly disappointed with ourselves having gone way over the budget. Our take aways and eating out being the number one culprit for the overspend.

Now I am still wide awake at 4:20 am filled with the realisation that if are not careful, we will be heading towards the slippery slope of debt again. This forum maybe just what I need to keep me in the straight and narrow and get the emergency fund back up again.

Make Do. We nearly went to a certain American/Italian restaurant for a lunch yesterday but we decided to eat out of our freezer/fridge instead, saving us a fortune. I cooked salmon with pesto and cheese toppings and buttered spinach.

Mend. I am an avid sewer and I love sewing my own clothes but I am currently doing my Masters via distance learning so I haven’t had much time to sew since the term started in September. But today I re-arranged my sewing pattern stash. I cut out the pattern of my next project, when and if I get the time. I know it’s not sewing or mending but it gave me my “fix”.

Minimise Tomorrow is a big clean up day so I will report on the minimise aspect in the evening,