Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2021 3 January 2021 at 6:17PM in Old style MoneySaving 344 replies 53.1K views

misstara

Welcome to the new MMM thread for 2021   Hope you'll all join me again and share your tales of making do, mending and minimising.

misstara

So this evening, I'm using up a whole lot of bottom of the fridge veggies to make a curry - there's butternut squash, peppers, mushrooms, onions, courgettes and green beans.  The rest of the butternut squash and peppers will be made into soup.  There's also quite a few tatties that are almost past it so will make into wedges and freeze for future meals.  We're pretty good at not wasting food but have definitely not been as on top of things as usual so going to make more of an effort to ensure that nothing gets binned.

Need to take down the Christmas cards over the next few days, will turn them into gift tags to use this year.  Also need to find out if the council will collect the Christmas tree whole or if I'll need to chop it up and put in the garden waste bin.

tacpot12

Our old tumble dryer has been making a thumping noise for the last week or so, so yesterday I took it bits to find out what the cause was. Turns out the bearing that the drum spins on had completely worn away, so I have a repair kit coming on Tuesday to repair it. Hopefully for just £27, we will have a working dryer again on Tuesday! 

Thrifty_Taylor

Thanks for the new thread  Misstara 😁 took down all the decorations today & hoovered round. Sewed some bells back on a pair antlers, ready for next Christmas. Hubby used up the last of the turkey in a curry, it was delicious!! 

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Thanks for the new thread misstara 👏

Make Do & Minimise: fried up lo mash, warmed lo pork & sausages, used up potatoes from veg box with peas & baked beans - very tasty. 

Mend: nothing
Took down the Christmas cards, shredded the names parts, sorted the cards into piles - one for bin & one for recycling.

rtandon27

oooo - a shiny new tread!  - may I join?

We've been using up the 'last offs' in the fridge from xmas, twixmas & new year - now down to some cheese that has not been opened yet, but can be stored in the freezer for later in the year & various bits of fruity cheese that we started & will make into toasties for lunch over the next few days.

OH also made a batch of homemade instant hot chocolate, having used up the supermarket own brand version we had in the house.  Not necessarily cheaper than the own brand if we had actually brought in the ingredients, but as everything was already in the house and not being used in any other way, it made a cheap alternative & was much lower in sugar!

StickyTheStickInsect

Thank you for the new thread misstara
I lurked on last years thread but hope to contribute more this year.
Mend : our back door step needed fixing, I've been waiting for ages for my DH to do it and in the end gave up and did it myself. It's a short term fix as I've covered the step and the damage with fablon but it will last a couple of months and if we can't afford a more permanent solution by then, I have enough on the roll to cover it again.

nannygladys

Going to try harder and post more this year on here!
Make do: HM lunch and dinner, getting low on food etc as I haven't been shopping since 19/12!! but Im sure I can last a few more days. Its surprising how inventive you can get!!
Minimise: Not shopping in shops or online since19/12 Sorted some bits for CS when they open again.
Mend: no mending as such, but I have been sewing. This year I want to buy from CS shops for clothes and alter if necessary, or make them by knitting/sewing and knitting more socks- I love knitted socks, especially this weather. Im hoping just to buy underwear and a pair of wellies (as mine have just started to leak - thinking of putting my foot in a plastic bag then put my wellie on, until I get some, lol!!! needed for the lottie)
Take care 
Nannyg

villagelife

I'll try and join in this year more often.
Make do - Food from the fridge. May need to shop soon but all is being eaten up.
Mend- not much done here
Minimize doing well here includes Christmas cards, carpet and floor tiles.
It is the mend I tend to have problems with in this thread

wondercollie

@nannygladys growing up in Canada, we put breadbags over our socks then put our winter boots on.  Protected your socks from the snow overflow.

Laura_Elsewhere

MAKE DO: not going out for my birthday tomorrow... had planned either going for a lovely long walk, c.30 miles away SW, or going to a specialist shop to spend birthday money, c.30 miles away NW... all within Tier-3 but just seems sensible not to travel unnecessarily even though we aren't being told to stay at home (yet)... so we'll make-do at home, and look forward to lots of lovely days out in months to come!

MENDING: A bit proud of myself for my first bit of "Swiss darning" - where you darn so that the darn mimics the damaged knitted stitches. A friend made this jumper and gave it to me and it got two really obvious holes (why are they *always* on the front?!)... I had to salvage some gold yarn from the inside of the jumper, but luckily had some very dark blue that was a reasonable match. Took a few hours but worth it! 

MINIMISE: er, um, not got to that bit yet  

The two holes and the darning (my fingers pointing to the two darns in 2nd pic):