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

gemmajenkins0208

Little bit of making do recently with using up the top drawer freezer contents, and also a couple things from the food cupboard. I added 2 things to the top drawer 2 days ago but there really wasn't a lot left in there and I'm taking one of the 2 recently added things out tonight to take for my meal at work tomorrow.


No mending.


Have minimised the last 3 Christmas sweets! And the final box of Mince pies hurrah! Packing binned and recycled as needed. Also minimised a conditioner. I always seem to use up conditioner first... when this happens I just continue using the correlating shampoo on its own until that runs out and then start on a new shampoo and conditioner. Also managed to finish an ancient bottle of elbow grease spray! Bottle in recycling. Now I can start using the Method spray I bought quite a while ago!

Siebrie

Or buy shampoo and two bottles of matching conditioner?

gemmajenkins0208

Siebrie said:

Or buy shampoo and two bottles of matching conditioner?

Yeah I could do! I have stocks of hair care that I got on holiday last year so can start using that when this shampoo runs out, then when that's gone and I actually need to buy some more I'll get 1 shampoo and 2 conditioner.

YorksLass

Minimise (yesterday): Two men's jumpers to SA clothing bank.  Soft plastics to Co-op recycling bin.  Hopefully used up a few calories after my trek to the pharmacy to pick up my meds.     

Minimise (today): A cushion cover that doesn't mix or match with anything.  Two lots of metallic knitting yarn (gifted to me quite a while ago) that I'll not use.  All on CS pile.

Make Do (today): Several ends of bar soap grated finely into a jar and covered with boiling water to make liquid soap to use as hand wash or for laundering hand knits.  Meal plan done for the coming week using what I already have in the fridge, freezer and cupboards.

I use a bread-maker and get fed up of the hole in the bottom that the paddle makes so I've changed to using the dough setting, then tipping the dough out and removing the paddle from the pan, then putting the dough back in on the bake only setting.  Result - perfect loaves with just the tiniest of holes from the paddle spindle.  Not sure if this counts as a Minimise (of waste) or a Mend but I'm counting it as a win.  

florianatwobob

Yesterday was some mending of a fashion military jacket. It was nee to me but had been through the wars with a hole in the shoulder. 

Before

After

plumduff55

Make do: while defrosting the small freezer I came across a bag of stewing steak that had been hiding in the freezer for nearly 2 years. I defrosted it and it was fine so I cooked it in the slow cooker and made a lovely Persian dish that I've not had for years. It was delicious and I have 5 portions for the freezer.

Mend:  a friend came over with her battery drill and we drilled holes in 2 plant pots that had become water logged. The water was spraying out of the holes. It reminded me of a gunfight in the old cowboy films where a barrel of water is sprayed with bullets and the water springs out 😂.

Minimise: this morning I sorted and decluttered all my 2023 photos on my iPad. I deleted about 250. I will now pick the best and have them printed.

@YorksLass that's a brilliant idea about the bread maker. I hope my bread maker has that function 🤞

suzeesu2000

Make do - dinner was soup from freezer, also took a joint out for Sunday dinner

Mend - nothing

Minimise - 2 broken plastic containers into recycling, dead plants weeded out and put in garden waste

gemmajenkins0208

Made do with lunch - and dinner that I took to work - from freezer.


This then resulted in some minimising - of said food obviously - and now only have 3 or 4 Tubs of leftovers left in the top drawer to get thru then that drawer will be empty and I can get the drawer repaired.


I also have tonight minimised a sachet of topping mix from an old el paso fajita kit that's been in the cupboard a few months. You see, if you use everything in the kit like you're meant to, it instructs you to use Soured cream, add the topping mix to that and ad it to tour fajitas in the same way you would salsa. Well I have discovered that this concoction also makes a good dip for doritos, so that's what I did.  One sachet of topping mix down, one to go. There is actually a pouch of salsa in there too but I'm not as keen on that as I am the Soured cream stuff, so trying to find a use for it before admitting defeat and binning it.


Oh something else on the minimising front - I have had winter stuff listed on v!nted, all but one knitted jumper sold, and this jumper has been on there for the longest time. Now I don't like to list all manner of random stuff, I sort, then list in groups, then once it's physically out I move onto the next lot. Yesterday I suddenly had a lightbulb moment and remembered partners mum likes knitted jumpers, so I messaged her telling her the brand and size and she'll happily take it off my hands, so as soon as I had that info that then opened many doors. I put that jumper and a couple other things of hers in a bag of hers that I went home with last week, I got the next lot of stuff out, listed it all and then put it all in a bag which currently lives near the door ready for when it sells, and I also have a charity shop bag started. I felt like I did a lot in one afternoon, and that i really got the ball rolling on making do, mending and minimising!

suzeesu2000

Make do - dinner was soup from freezer, also took a joint out for Sunday dinner

Mend - nothing

Minimise - 2 broken plastic containers into recycling, dead plants weeded out and put in garden waste

                  Forgot to add a fishing reel sold on eBay, a slimline storage unit sold on local site 

Wraithlady

YorksLass said:

I use a bread-maker and get fed up of the hole in the bottom that the paddle makes so I've changed to using the dough setting, then tipping the dough out and removing the paddle from the pan, then putting the dough back in on the bake only setting.  Result - perfect loaves with just the tiniest of holes from the paddle spindle.  Not sure if this counts as a Minimise (of waste) or a Mend but I'm counting it as a win.  

I had never thought of that - may well nick that idea! Thanks