Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2021

YorksLass

^ ^ ^ ^ - Yummy snack!

Baking day today and I've made a large custard tart, 12 almond & coconut tarts and 8 fat sultana scones, all from existing stocks, so stuff minimised and cupboard space claimed back.  Win win.  I'll freeze half the scones and tarts, otherwise they'll not hang around for long.

I've also used some chicken stock from the fridge as a soup base and now have 4 portions of veg & pasta soup that will do a couple of lunches for us.  I'll do a large loaf tomorrow.  Meal plan done for the week and we'll easily get through without any more shopping so my purse can stay closed.   

On the mending front, I've sewn back the knicker elastic that was coming adrift from the legs of two pairs - took all of 2 minutes!

Thrifty_Taylor

Yum!
Well done ladies. Re: the padded gilet, I've always sewn any tears, (do clothing repairs for people), but another seamstress recently told me about tenacious tape, which is a roll of clear, sticky tape, a bit like the patches that you ordered 😊

I've been on the garden this afternoon, I took some homemade compost & used it as a mulch under our apple tree cordons, transplanted some rosemary from a trough, into a new herb bed, then weeded another raised bed & planted some asparagus that had been in pots for 2+ years. Tidying & reusing what we have already, & if it helps grow some foodstuff, even better!

London_1

Just been down the garden with my two milk container watering cans
I filled them up from the cold water in the shower before it ran warm enough to shower

I have a large old plastic bowl in there which catches all the cold water so it doesn't just go down the drain. Once full I can fill my two pint milk cartons with the perforated lids and carry them easily down to water the potatoes and onions

No water goes to waste and my spuds get a good drink of water .I have 15 plants up now out of twenty planted  at Easter so I'm really pleased.
 DGS Ben is delighted as he planted them before he went back to London a couple of weeks ago to his teaching job. He will be home at the end of the month at half term so he will be able to 'earth 'them up for me. .He is so enjoying this bit of veg growing and is looking forward to digging them up and taking them home to show the children at school how easy it is to grow stuff.

I did some minimising this morning as well and one of my five kitchen junk drawers has now been decluttered and later I have a bag of books for the charity shop.

Making do for Lunch today will be the two tuna and sweetcorn fritters I made from left over stuff last week and froze I just mashed the whole lot up with some left over potato dipped in flour and egg and breadcrumbs and froze them

So they will be light fried at lunchtime and a small salad to go with them.My tin of sweetcorn and tuna went to three meals for me .the first mash with some garlic mayo and fresh ground pepper all mashed up the second was a couple of big spoonfuls in a jacket spud and todays one with the fritters made from all the left over bits .:) so three inexpensive meals out of a small tin of sweetcorn and a small tin of tuna with just a bit of salad and a jacket spud to help streetch it a bit .

Doing my best to stay away from shops and use up what I have in store at the moment . I discovered I have a bag of 6 rock hard pears in the bottom of the fridge ,so I may did them out and peel and poach in a little water with some honey and cinnamon just to soften them a bit and either top with a crumble mix or just some nice gloopy Birds custard. They will do a good three days pudding, and I might, if the weathers nice have several days of soup and pud meals as they are quick and easy to do. I quite like  soup with crackers and cheese followed by a pudding I find that fairly filling .and is also minimising some food stocks.

I think since I had been grounded for weeks at a time when I came out of hospital in January I'm quite happy to just find something to eat from  my stocks if I can, I'm not really missing trailing around shops at all If I do need anything Its usually just bare essential sorts of stuff like fruit of veg. I have a good stock of UHT milk at the moment I think perhaps the only thing I may need is some bleach
Tomorrow is coffee morning day so I may get it when I go to coffee morning. I seem to find more than enough to do just pottering around indoors the rest of the week. 

Youngest DD gave me a couple of geraniums in pots and two sunflowers in pots for my garden that she'd grown from seed so if the weather holds I will have a wander round the garden to see where my gardener can put them when he comes this Thursday. 
I'm ok watering but I'm not much good bending or kneeling because I'm still attached to my drain. 
Hope everyone has a good a productive week and the sun continues to shine down 

JackieO xxx

Laura_Elsewhere

Minimising" First time in my life I have sold any of my books, but today 9 paperbacks and four hardbacks went to a good, trustworthy second-hand bookshop... all duplicates apart from two which were two triplicates, so it really was time they went, but still... 

We did some mending this afternoon, various small things and made a proper list of other things to mend.

We plan to make do for proper storage of my double-pointed knitting needles, of which I have a couple of hundred - my husband is going to cut various bits of copper piping to length and we'll fasten them together with wire, and use some piece of flat wood or board as a base, and then the knitting needles can be stored upright in their different sizes, lengths and materials. 

oystercatcher

I've been eyeing up new bath towels but instead decided on a shabby chic repair of a couple of them , one with a hole from a bleach spillage and one which was starting to rip at the edge. Patches of pretty patchwork cotton zigzaged on both sides of the hole and they are both perfectly functional and I think they look quirky and pretty. No-one will see them in our upstairs bathroom anyway!

mandy47

Replaced the silicone sealant in my bathroom today. I had enough left from the last job I did so no spend. The tip was dried and blocked so I cleaned it out with an old meat skewer. Bathroom looks fresher and cleaner.
Sorted my winter wear to pack away and summer wear to put into wardrobe. I have a few items that I know I will never wear so I've put them on olio. Hopefully they will go.
 

YorksLass

We must have been in the same frame of mind @mandy47!  I've been through my winter clothes today and have minimised 4 pairs of leggings and 5 long sleeved tops.  They're still good - I just don't wear them - so they're now in the CS carrier bag.

I've also dug out 3 hand knitted cardigans that get very little wear (too big) and will, at some stage, unpick them/unravel the yarn to re-use.

Siebrie

We renovated the upstairs and are currently without a wardrobe in any of the 3 bedrooms. DD1 now uses a low open bookcase, DD2 has the same, but with doors. Husband has an old (proper wood) Billy bookcase, and I have a metal shelving unit. We cannot afford new wardrobes yet; husband didn't want me to put up the old bookcases and shelving units, but I was tired of living out of plastic crates, so I just did.

London_1

minimised some more of my book stash to the local CS, I am slowly cutting down and repurposing my books to other people and the local CS. I'm hoping to move possibly the end of this year or maybe early spring of next year and certainly don't need all the books I have accumulated in my study.

DD said she will go through my wardrobes and sort out stuff for her Vinted site, and stuff for CS. I have far too many clothes that just don't get worn anymore. I am minimising almost daily if I can because I have to think ahead towards the move and really won't need half the stuff I have.

JackieO xx 

YorksLass

Minimise #1 - Have finally managed to take a bag of unwanted items to the CS.  

Minimise #2 - Another 400g of DK yarn used from stash, so that's another new cardigan for next winter.

Minimise #3 - Returned several books borrowed from the Little Free Library.

Make do #1 - Sourced 7 buttons from stash for the above cardigan.

Make do #2 - Bought a lovely pair of curtains from CS for my kitchen for £3.99.  Lined, machine washable, beautiful fabric and in excellent condition - they look hardly used.  They're the right width but will need shortening a bit.  I was going to make a pair but this is a much cheaper option than the fabric I'd chosen!

Make do #3 - The metal waste bin in my bathroom has started to rust - I've had it ages, so no matter - and I've replaced it with a glazed terracotta coloured plant pot holder that wasn't getting used.

Mend - On the list, a candlewick bedspread that's wearing very thin at the top but otherwise is OK - the kind that has a flap at the top to fold over the pillows.  I've cut off the worn/torn bit and will hem the cut edge the next time I have the sewing machine out.