Make Do, Mend & Minimise in 2025 (and 2024)

Green_hopeful

We have had three sons, their wives and four grandchildren aged 2 to 8 staying. I have kept my boys lego and playmobile since they were kids. We got them out of the garage when the tiny grandchildren had gone home. They took one set each and a ukulele with them. Their mum was reluctant to take the ukulele, perhaps she didn’t want to have to listen to it forever, but we packed them off. I then sorted the Lego into appropriately aged sets. Over 3 and over 5 and tried to sort the rest into the sets. It took all day and there was quite a lot of miscellaneous debris in there but i have done my best. It means when the little ones come back we can play with it. I am going to take it as a minimise. 

We are going away for the weekend so I have been using up the leftovers from having 13 people in the house. We have been trying Michael Moseley Fast 800 recipes. We had sausages with onion gravy and cauliflower mash. Its a revelation to make mashed cauliflower. It tastes fine and practically no calories unless you add butter and cheese but we would do that with potatoes anyway. Used up a red pepper and courgette. 

YorksLass

@Cherryfudge - It is a good idea, especially in these cash strapped times.  It started about four years ago with just tools but has evolved to include lots of other items such as camping equipment, decorating stuff, party/events materials, hobby items for photography, sewing etc, board games, children's play equipment and all manner of other things.  It's run on a pay as you feel basis for members (proof of ID and address needed) and loan periods of 1 to 2 weeks.  Their website has an inventory that shows if what you need is in stock or out on loan with an expected return date.  A good way to borrow something you might only need once or to try something before buying new.

@Green_hopeful - I'm not surprised that took you all day!  You must have the patience of a saint.  

Today's Make Do is to use up some bacon, I'll have some for tea tonight and will cut up the rest for a quiche.

Nelliegrace

I stitched a 2 inch L shaped tear in the side of a cotton sheet and patched it using a piece from an old cotton handkerchief. The rest is in my sewing box for another day. 

Baked a large plum crumble, and stewed more to use up some of the ripe plums from the garden. 

Added a grated carrot to tea loaf recipe. 

Tied my hair in a pony tail and trimmed it, something I have done since lockdown. The village hairdresser is on holiday, but we have three new barber shops where the staff  pretend to cut each other’s hair all day. 

London_1

Minimised a box of hotel freebies my eldest Dd brought back from her last trip to New York I had 6 small bottles of Shower gel,shampoo & conditioner
i have three screw lidded bottles that I decant them into with label on the front and they are in the downstairs shower room as when my grandson come to stay (4 of them ) at various intervals during the year being single chap it doesn’t occur to them to bring things like that so they get used uo
my DD goes to New York twice a year to see my grandson and family and her and her OH always stay in the same place and she takes her own stuff with her but brings back the freebies for me to use up. I also get small bars of soap which also end up in the downstairs shower room we have an upstairs family bathroom and I have my own en suite so with three bathrooms stuff gets used up pretty easily.

i made do with some  left over bolognese from the freezer for lunch

this morning I mended a frayed towel with some hemming tape and also sewed two tiny holes that must have caught on the towels when they were in the washing machine Took me about half an hour of hand sewing but now the towel is looking ok and that too can go in the downstairs shower room as it’s mainly the lads that use it when they come off the beach after swimming 

Pretty productive day bearing in mind it was really hot today as I got two big lines of washing washed,dried and put away so the washing baskets have been emptied as well 

JackieO xx

shandyclover

I don't think I'm doing very well on toiletry minimising, I accepted 2 shopping bags of shampoo, lotion, and bodywash from my mum who is clearing out after a move. Most things were opened so couldn't be passed on to charity or homeless shelter. I've decided to try and use them up and save some money towards some big bills we are expecting.

Minimised 2 large camping tents to a charity collecting for refugees in Ukraine. Our big tent days are over now, though the girls all have their own 3-4 man tents if we do a big family camping trip again.

Had some bruised blueberries from Ol*o, usually I freeze them but no room in the freezer so made vegan blueberry muffins and passed on to DD and her landscaper fiancé who always need snacks.

Mended the laundry rack with some zip ties to last a bit longer.

YorksLass

I'm feeling very pleased with myself today as DS and I have taken a bin bag and two carrier bags of stuff to the CS as well as the donated tools to the tool library.  I'm really happy they can make use of them, plus my under stairs space is clear for the first time in a long time.    I have no plans to fill it back up again as my Grand Declutter has reached the stage where I'm happy with what I've got and I'm now at maintenance level i.e. one in, one out.

Also on the Minimise list are two old drawers I was using for storage but have given to DS to chop up for kindling for their fire pit.  Two more books returned to the Free Library, none came home with me.  DS took the two biscuit tins full of copper fittings to the scrap merchants for cash that I told him to keep towards the cost of the petrol he must have used over the last few months ferrying me about.  A win-win for all.

On the list is another 400g of knitting yarn used for yet another jumper, now sewn up ready for winter.  Busting the yarn stash has been immensely satisfying and now all I have left is one more batch of yarn plus a box of oddments that I'm using for baby blankets to be donated at some point to the hospice for one of their fund raising fairs/fetes.  The fabric stash is next in the firing line!    

For anyone struggling with letting things go, I'd say keep at it and you'll eventually reach the end.  Every little thing that leaves the house is another thing less to annoy you.   It's taken me about four years to get to this point but it's so good to be able to find things easily, plus cleaning is so much easier and quicker.  More time to enjoy the things I like to do!      

Datchet

Feeling particularly smug as managed to repair a non-functioning electronic car key…. And as some of us might know how horrendously expensive a replacement is… all it took was a magnifying glass, and a comparison to a neighbours car key…

the above was today’s triumph! Today’s downside: In a burst of thrifty energy I tried to pick the last of the Victoria Plumbs… but one of them already belonged to an angry wasp…. Ouch.

London_1

Minimised : a box of oddments to go to the charity shop later this week when it stops raining

Make do : some pasta bolognese  from the freezer that was left over (thats lunch sorted for me )
 Plus this afternoon I shall make some tomato soup from the left over tomatoes that are clogging up the fridge We had a bumper crop, more than we could eat really, so soup will be made so more lunches sorted for tomorrow and Thursday I think

Mend : re-sewn some buttons on my tatty old cotton cardi that I absolutely love as its ideal for wearing around the house
My DD keep threatening to junk it, but its comfortable, and I only wear it indoors when it gets a bit chilly, and I just like it
 I think I paid about £2.50 for it about 5 years ago in a charity shop and it looked brand new then. Funny how one can get attached to one thing  for no apparent reason

I'm getting ruthless about a lot of things, and still decluttering, but my old cotton cardi is definitely staying with me 

Onwards and upwards chums

JackieO  xx

YorksLass

Despite thinking I'd reached the end of the Grand Declutter, I'm still finding odds and ends that can leave the house.  How deluded I must have been!  

Over the weekend I re-organised the dressing table drawer contents (undies, socks, nightwear) and pruned down the sock stash.  I took two new and unworn pairs (too small, although they were supposed to be my size) to the SA clothing bank donation bin, bagged and labelled.  Two old (er, 21 years old to be precise) cotton nightdresses have literally been chopped up for cleaning cloths (now lint-free after so many washes over the years, so ideal for windows and mirrors) but I did rescue the pretty buttons from them to add to the button box.  I know I have some nice cotton fabric in my stash to make replacements over the winter, ready for next year.  Nothing elaborate or difficult, just a long sleeveless shift shape.

This week's dinners are all courtesy of the freezer: chicken casserole (Sun), spag bol (Mon), a chicken & garlic kyiv (Tue), cod & parsley fishcake with mushy peas (today), mac'n cheese (tomorrow) and a piece of chilli & lime coated fish (Fri).  There's still enough in there for another 3 weeks' worth of dinners! 

Best of all, this morning I had an email from the tool library thanking me for the weekend's donations and to say a couple of items have already gone out on loan.  This was so nice to know as getting rid of DH's tools caused me no end of anguish.  I could almost hear him saying Nooooo, don't let this, that and the other go!      

London_1

We are definitely sisters from a different mister YorksLass I too like to recycle as much as I can, and I have a job this afternoon to do.

I have a small table with drop leaves in my sitting room and on one end is small drawer with a stash of past their best old face cloths. I have about 4-5 at the moment  I think .
Usually once they start to get a bit 'crispy and rough' I give them a good boil with the towels and dry and tuck them away as a winter job.

Then when I have a quiet afternoon I get them out, and I fold in half and cut them so I have two halfs, then fold the half again and sew up the cut  seam so its like a mitten I can then use them as cleaning mitts as my right hand and arm doesn't work too well to hold a duster anymore because of lymphodema, but I find it easier to pop the mitt over my hand and use them for dusting ,cleaning etc then when I have a good few they get thrown into the washing machine when I do a boil wash.
 I usually keep a couple in my car to wipe the windows with in the winter when they get steamed up with condensation as well so zero waste and they are used until they really get too far gone to use anymore  

I grew up in the age of make do and mend, and my late Mum would be horrified at the waste today.I think the wartime generation were the original recycling generation years before it became thought of today

My lunch today is from the freezer as I have some left over chicken curry that will go nicely on a small jacket spud DD is out to her friends today so it will just be DGS Mikey and I for a small snack  lunch then we have our main meal in the evening when my son-in-law comes home from work 
My DGS Mikey only has until the 27th before he goes back to Uni so I'm feeding him up as he is far too thin.

What a great idea sending the tools to them when I moved last year I gave my late husbands stuff to my young neighbours as they  were really happy to have them as I think they were a bit short of the cash to get any and they were trying to do stuff on a shoe string She is a lovely lass and helped me a lot over the years especially when we were in lockdown  and there was no point me taking it with me as my son-in-law already had a full box of bits himself.

As my old Mum would say 'Use it up lassie or pass it on to someone who can' bless her she was a tiny little Scot who was kindness to everyone. Even 50 plus years after her death I can still hear her voice in my head at times

Well the sun is shining so my washing will be on the line shortly
take care

JackieO xx