Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Yippee - new posters :T:j:T. Looking forward to reading your posts

I totally agree with silvasava - there is so much knowledge, support & encouragement here that it makes you feel as if you are part of a large family:D

Make Do: Food from freezer & stores

Mend: currently up to date

Minimise: Wool stash - knitted a baby blanket for CS + found a few more items for CS

MrsSD

silvasava

Morning All.

Welcome Only - hope you get back on track soon - especially after doing so well.

Well the kitchen/ dining room renovations are starting to move on apace. Waiting for the tiler to come now but he hasn't given me a date yet
Make do - food from stocks
Mend - a double plug socket on the wall. The switches were very stiff and it had to be taken off for the wall to be replastered. DH cleaned and lubricated the back and now it works fine and is back on the wall
Minimise - large old panel radiator given to a local chap who collects scrap to help fund a woodworking workshop for boys.
A few more bits and pieces in the CS bag.

CurlyTop

The only Girl

I fully get where you are coming from in terms of having become debt free myself, I too have found that from time to time, I have to remember that just because I have money in my account, doesn't mean I have to spend every last penny of it. It becomes so easy to slip back into the old ways.

I've not got into debt but am very mindful of my spending. We like to eat out but see this more as a luxury now. Part of my 'conversion' was to get a couple of cookbooks - The Takeaway Secret in particular I can recommend. I got a second hand copy from Amazon. It details food that you can get from the takeaway giants and make yourself. We like chinese. I could never get fried rice right until getting this book. Now I don't know why I ever went the chinese. Admittedly the Sweet and sour sauce I can take or leave but I cheat and get a sachet from Aldi for 33p, mix it with chicken and few frozen peppers and there's enough for 2. The savings are amazing. Have you maybe thought about having a go at cooking your own version of the foods you like.

You're on the right thread here, as are most of the Old Style threads. All supported by really lovely people, always willing to show you an alternative or even just to support you. I don't always post a lot but I read every day. This thread continues to keep me on the straight and narrow. A simple life 2018 thread is really good too.

Be strong, keep your chin up. You can do this.

The_Only_Girl

Thanks curly top for the affirmation.

Make Do. Today was a great day! It was a No Spend Day. Packed lunch was last night’s left over beef stew with some steamed broccoli florets. Dinner was vegetable stew in coconut milk using stuff in the fridge and pantry. Packed lunch tomorrow will be left over from tonight’s dinner.

Mend I fixed the handle of the lid of one of the pots (burn hazard).

Minimise. I asked hubby to do the rest of the laundry during the day when the electricity is free due to the solar panels,

house_elf

Good morning,

Make do Made a pie with LO chicken, leek and frozen pastry.

Mend Sewed 2 more squares of a patchwork throw I am quilting. It is taking a long time, but is very mindful.

Minimise Dressing up outfit into the charity bag.

Have a lovely mmm day

silvasava

Make Do - Chilli from freezer stocks for tonights dinner
Mend - The front hem on my long evening dress. Its cut on the cross and has dropped so I'll even it up before I wear it on Friday
Minimise - and LBD in the CS that I havn't worn in years - discovered when deciding what to wear on Friday

Keeep MMMing

The_Only_Girl

Make Do: we were nearly tempted to go out for a meal last night but restrained ourselves. We found some aubergines, minced beef that was “use by” yesterday, grated cheese, chopped tomatoes. Hubby and I turned it into a lasagne using the aubergine as replacement for the pasta. It was absolutely yummy. Lots of left over for tonight’s lunch.

Mend. No physical mending done this week. Lots of uni stuff to do and had a bad cold so wasn’t up to any sewing. I did mend my heart a little bit by seeing friends and renewing connections (pls excuse the cheesiness). I had shut myself a little after my dad died in September. I sang in church yesterday in a trio with my two BFF’s. As per above, it was a step out of my comfort zone especially as the song included a bit of solo parts from each of us, which was nerve racking as I am not a confident singer. Though it wasn’t perfect, the audience loved the song.

Minimise stuff sorted to go to the CS later this week.

RainbowHippie

My goodness, it's been quite a while since i last got around to posting! Hope everyone has been well.

Welcome to new posters, i look forward to hearing about your MMMing adventures!

Silva i hope your plastering went without a hitch and that you're now all nicely de-artexed! (and de-dusted, it's horrible stuff isn't it!)

DnD Congratulations on the job :T i hope it will be enjoyable as well as lucrative
Siebrie, Congratulations also?? on the job loss! it sounds like less of a loss and more of a change. I'm sure you will love having more time to prioritise yourself and the things you care most about
Wraithlady, what a lovely idea making the teddy bears for your niece and nephew, they sound wonderful and i'm sure they will be much appreciated



Make do - without a living room for the last couple of weeks, though now it's painted, new curtains are up and the new sofa constructed it's finally usable again! Also managed to make do with constructing said sofa, then dismantling our old kitchen table, packing it (and 8 chairs - some extreme tetris skills required!) into the car and delivering it to the new owners, and collecting and assembling the new (to us) table all on my own, as OH was either too hung over or in too much of a grump (probably due to being hung over) to help on all occasions :rotfl:Christmas party season is clearly not the time to be changing furniture if one wants assistance!



Mend - Since my last post i've pretty much finished our kitchen - glossed the tiles, windowsill, radiator and skirting in there, decided against re-covering the work surface, and started making arrangements for new sink/taps. While OH was away i also glossed radiators/skirting/woodwork in other rooms that needed it and doors/door frames in the hall, and since he's been back i've thoroughly cleaned and repainted the guest room, washed the duvet our long-term guest had been using (had already washed the pillows), and put the guest room back together so we can properly host again :j Also emptied and repainted the lounge, it does look astonighingly large and bright now it's all ivory/cream rather than dark oranges and reds! The 2nd-hand sofa is a nice light beige so tones in nicely. I bought on ebay and collected 2 sets of new curtains in matching beige/cream hessian-looking fabric for the lounge last week, one set is now up, but i need to cut and fit a hand-me-down curtain pole for the other window as it's never had curtains before.



Minimise - yet more kitchen stuff has been sorted into 'keep for the future/spare', 'get rid' and 'see if friends want' boxes, and now that the guest room is fairly empty i've been using half the wardrobe in there to store things ready for a car boot sale in the new year. There's also loads of storage space under the bed which i've not put anything in yet - amazing how it feels like our house has dramatically increased in size just by having that one room back! Sold some things on Eb*y which i need to post tomorrow. Finally started using my 'new' phone (a fairly recent smartphone a friend passed on to me when he got a new one) and got the Eb*y app - it's a revelation and makes managing sales/communications so much easier. Unfortunately we immediately lent the ancient phone i had been using, and had planned to keep as a spare, to OH's dad, who managed to lose his sim card inside it and break the sim card holder within a couple of hours of having it :eek: So that's also been minimised to the bin lol.

Some of my huuuge yarn stash has been minimised into cute little crocheted bunnies for friends' babies this christmas, and hopefully some more will become a cute giraffe soon. I also finally got my head around knitting a couple of weeks ago and on my most recent work trip enjoyed spending the train journey starting off a pait of fingerless gloves for another gift. Using some beautiful sparkly yarn that was gifted to me so no spends for what will hopefully turn out to be a lovely gift, and i get to practice my new skill! win win

I did actually get round to minimising CDs, sent off a box of stuff (mostly cookery and craft books but some cds) that was worth more than 5p each, and got two big boxes of the rest in the guest room wardrobe ready for car-booting. Not got round to makeup yet though!



Haha, looking back it does seem like i've been very busy the last few weeks! i put it down to having OH out the way for a week or so

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Make Do & Minimise: Food from freezer & stores + minimised 2 full bags to CS

Mend: zip on money belt

misstara

Ages since I posted but always like reading what everyone has been up to and it's lovely to see new posters.

Finally got round to defrosting the freezer after minimising the contents, there were a few random meals towards the end :rotfl: it's now full again after doing some batch cooking.

Continuing to minimise the toiletries stash before the inevitable Christmas gifts. Currently using one of OH's shower gels as there's no point buying for me when he's got a stash.

Christmas presents are pretty much all bought, just a couple of stocking fillers still to buy for OH. I started wrapping them last night but have run out of wrapping paper so will need to get more.

On a late shift today so going to potter about the house, do some cleaning and minimise the ironing pile.