Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2021

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Make Do & Minimise: Used los & bendy vegetables to make soup

mandy47

Mended: a damaged umbrella using clear plastic thread, a bit like fishing line.
Minimise: frozen cauliflower that no one liked, made a lovely soup with it instead.
Make do: Accepted some hand me down kitchen wear for DD. She's saving for first home.

QueenJess

Mended: sewed up the holes in the knees of two of my leggings I just use for lounging around the house, although more holes have sprouted now!
Make do: made my own wrapping paper from packing paper.
Minimise: Went through my craft stuff and gave away all the things I know I’ll never use. Also got rid of some baby bits we don’t need anymore.

Ms_Green

I once saw an entire toilet room wall papered with comicbook paper, from floor to cealing & it's great for wraping children gifts..

 

I have too come up with pre-teen girl gifts... for nothing. (they are getting to old for nick-nacks from the gift cupboard and nothing home made will do...have one "free-be" sporting toy saved but havent planed on buying stuff to get more teenage gifts - kid parties are getting expensive )

MrsCD

Mended my pegbag. I made it well over 30 years ago from leftover fabric when I made a skirt. The ends of the coat hanger had started to poke through at the ends, so they were sewn together, and the hook was a bit slack so I shaved a bit wood off a match, put it in the hole and screwed the hook back in, nice and tight.
Good as new!

London_1

One of my grandsons is a trainee teacher, and lives at home on very little cash apart from his weekend coffee shop job, and had spotted a Ralph Polo Lauren cardigan in TX Max for £12. It had a catch on the front from something, and it just needed darning.

Good old Nan came to the rescue with some navy thread and a bit of patience, you cannot see the join and he's delighted as he now has a nice jumper for £12.00 that he assures me would have cost abot £75 new and undamaged.
Bless him he only has two more months to go on his course then he will be qualified, and actually earning a decent wage for the first time in his 22 years. But he has clothed himself from Charity shops for the past 5 years through Uni and on his teacher training course.
He has a great eye for a bargain, and when he used to do volunteering at a local CS the ladies there would all spoil him, and make sure he had anything decent as first choice before it went on the rails .

He always paid for it, as he said the charity needs the cash and I need the clothes I don't think he's bought himself anything new for years .He's a good lad though and never complains, I think I've kept him in underwear and sock for the past five years His parent have four boys and all of them have managed to get to Uni, the youngest one will start course this this September.

The boys all thankfully know the value of money and the youngest last night when I picked him up from his part time job told me he has a good bit of cash stashed towards this September. All sensible chaps when it comes to money ,but then I have helped to bring them all up over the past 15 years when their Mum had to return to work to help out will the bills
Four sons and a daughter meant their school shoe bill alone was horrendous
Make do and mend is just a way of life to them all

JackieO xx    

mandy47

mend, sort of, fitted a new catch on the under stair cupboard door. Had to buy the catch, old one was beyond repair.

minimise, DD had a clear out and we've taken 2 bags of books to the charity, 1 more to go and sold a box full online. Given away photo albums on Olio.

make do, menu plan for this week will be using things we already have, no shopping.

YorksLass

MMM'ing continues chez nous but I often forget to post on this thread - I think it's so ingrained it's almost second nature now.

Make do - I've sorted out my stash of empty glass jars and lids, again (I swear they breed in the cupboard).  Some very pretty small ones have been re-purposed as tea light holders and are now stored with the tea lights.
Mend - sewed two loose buttons back on a cardigan before they come off and get lost.
Minimise - half a packet of roasted veg couscous made up as a side for tonight's salad.
Another minimise - the unwanted glass jars are in a carrier bag ready to go to the bottle bank next time i'm passing.

QueenJess

YorksLass said:

MMM'ing continues chez nous but I often forget to post on this thread - I think it's so ingrained it's almost second nature now.

Make do - I've sorted out my stash of empty glass jars and lids, again (I swear they breed in the cupboard).

They absolutely do.  Sometimes things breed unevenly and you just have a pile of jars or a pile of lids

Make do - well I was going to buy new duvet covers for the bed as ours are 10 years old, but actually there is nothing wrong with them, new ones cost a fortune and I found myself unimpressed after a 5 minute look online.  So the old ones stay as I shouldn't be wasteful.

Mend - my leggings sprout holes almost daily in the knees and I am forever sewing them up.  The fun of crawling on the floor with kids!  I was on top of it, but got another hole yesterday to sew up.  They are only used in the house, so doesn't matter what they look like.  Will keep mending them until I can't anymore.

Minimise - far too much to mention.  I've been on a major decluttering spree and managed to purge around 500 items (some digital stuff like photos) in the last month.  I will have order!  Now if I could only figure out how to stop kids bringing the stuff in...

MrsCD

Did a bit of an alteration on a skirt. I've never liked how it was gathered across the front, so I've unpicked it and put pleats in. I'll see what it's like after I've ironed it, and if it's ok I'll do the other colour skirt too.