Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2021 3 January 2021 at 6:17PM in Old style MoneySaving 369 replies 57.5K views

CraftyLittleLisa

I have had a little bit of making do and minimising this weekend just gone.  I spent a good portion of it cooking and baking to use up food that was getting passed its best.  I had loads of carrots that really needed using up so I made a delicious carrot cake (some of it went in the freezer as there is only me here to eat it and I can't eat it all before it goes off), a good saucepan of carrot soup for my lunches this week (and one portion in the freezer), a veggie sausage casserole using lots of bits of older veg which ended up being one portion for the freezer and two evening meals.  I also made some oatmeal biscuits using some left over oat pulp from making oat milk.

On the crafting side I have found enough left over fabric from another project to make a t-shirt.  All the pieces are cut out, I just need to start stitching it together.

As to mending - does my broken toe starting to heal count :-:wink:

thriftwizard

Oh ouch, Lisa; hope the toe does mend quickly!

Quite chuffed with myself this week: 
Make-do: Some time between lockdowns 1 & 2, I picked up a big, beautiful pure wool handkitted jumper at the recycling warehouse, where I go to find new stock, and quite often fabric, not to mention interesting things to wear! The jumper's gorgeously warm, but had a 9" roll neck, which I'm afraid irritated the life out of my skin; I tried wearing it with polo-neck cotton jumpers underneath, and even with a silk scarf round my neck, but the horrible scratchiness always came through because the neck was just so long. So I undid the side seam & unravelled just over half of it, then picked up the stitches on a circular needle and cast it off again at that length. I've left the side-seam open for an asymmetric neck, and popped a stitch in at the side to make sure it stays away from my actual neck! I'm no knitter; I spin, weave & crochet, but knitting is the Dark Art; it falls off the ends when you're not looking!
Mend: Two more wool jumpers needing a darn here & there have been sorted.
Minimise: I've finally started listing the excess fabric from a rather surprising auction buy on Ebay, and it's vanishing fast! I think I've had to go up to the post office just about every day this week. So far I've earned over 4 times what the lot originally cost; I thought I was bidding on 2 boxes of fabric, but it turned out to be 6 boxes and 2 tied-up-sheets-full of fabric! Luckily I have a friend who makes costumes for period TV dramas, who took half of it straight off my hands to make petticoats etc. but then lockdown struck & I've been unable to take the remainder out & about with my stall. Now we need the room it's been stored in, as DS3 is returning home when his PhD funding runs out at the end of February, so it's got to go! And thankfully, it is going, at last.

Mrs_Salad_Dodger

Make Do & Minimise: Food from freezers & stores
Mend: Glued ‘glider pads’ to footstool storage box

Wraithlady

Make Do - see Mending
Minimise: clearing out the fridge. all those jars and things pushed to the back including a bottle of sauce best before April 2013. 
Mending: Replacing the waist tie on my comfy pair of jogging pants

Laura_Elsewhere

Minimise: We discovered a major shopping trip had resulting in a mis-buying - a dozen litre-cartons of "juice drink" full of artificial sweeteners, instead of fruit juice... took it back to exchange (same price), but the supermarket won't take returns just at present unless things are faulty. 

So the local food bank has benefited...   

Make Do: meals from our freezer-drawer of home-made ready-meals. 

Mend: finally finished a pair of wrist-warmers from a friend from wool leftover aeons ago. Washed and drying, ready to pack up tomorrow and post. 

CraftyLittleLisa

I have a couple of things to report from this weekend.  I minimised the last of my harvested apples from the allotment into stewed apple adding some out of date stemed ginger in syrup and put some into a crumble and the rest into small portion sized jars for the freezer. 

On the crafting front I minimised some fabric remnants into a t-shirt.

As to mending, my TV remote hasn't really been working so my brother gave me a spare universal remote controller and I managed to set it up.  I can now use my TV properly.  A minor success for me as I am a bit of a technophobe.

I don't think there is anything else to add this week.

MrsCD

So far today I've mended DH's night shirt. A button tore off so I had to reinforce the fabric before I sewed the button back on.
I've also at last sewed a hanging loop into my heavy skirt. I can hang it up again!
Also DH bought a mask online but the ear loops were too tight, so I found some elastic and made long loops to go over his head instead. It doesn't aggravate his ears that way.
I'm going to minimize some of my stash of mugshots for lunch with some chopped ham and veggies.
Making do with what we've got. Not buying any more 'stuff'!

2Scratters

Morning Peeps,
Make do - Still working our way through the freezer store meals, well they are soups really. Today for dinner will be noodles with bread and butter. Love the simplicity and dipping into the not too much juice Aiming to have an accurate record of NSD too as never properly done that.
Mend - not much in the house but DH is doing plenty in the shed, if that counts?

Minimise - is moving along as clothes are being moved slowly back into the decorated bedroom and those that are not going in there are going out
2Scratters

House_Elf_2

Morning All,

Make do: DH wanted some chilli jam to go with Cheese and ham toasties. We have not been able to find any in the supermarkets locally, so I have made 3 small jars for him🙂
Mend: Repaired a couple of Christmas stockings, by replacing the tops with fluffy material from the lining of an old coat. Very pleased with the result. I just hope I can find them again next Christmas 🤣
Minimise: I have set myself a little challenge for February, to sort a draw, shelf or cupboard a day........I am behind already! However, top drawer in the sideboard is done, and the blanket chest in the living room. 

Have a lovely day 🙂

CraftyLittleLisa

The only thing I have to add this week is I had to make a soup so I made do with some old veg I had and it was actually quite nice.  I suppose that could be a minimised as well.

Actually on the minimised side there is one other thing.  When I took a sock off the Thursday evening I realised that there was a very large hole in the heal of it.  It was very much past redemption so that has gone out.