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

mandy47

Taking advantage of the dry weather. 
Treated 3 raised beds and a large planter with wood stain.
Painted the garden bench.
DH spread chicken manure around the garden and hoed it in. 
Weeding all done.
Had everything we needed left over from last year so only cost us time so I'm counting it as make do.

Minimised 
Empty stain pot in the bin.

Nothing mended today.

mandy47

Attempted to mend my vacum cleaner. The wire split just where it goes into the housing. 
The plan was to cut off the couple of inches where it's damaged and refit existing cable.
Unfortunately it needs a particular tool that I don't have to open the housing.
Quite annoying because this has happened previously with other electricals. I have a number of tools that can only be used on individual items. 
Why can't all appliances have a universal screw?

Moorviews

I don’t think manufacturers want us to tamper with electrical appliances now. If you have a repair cafe near you, they might have the right tools and be able to help. They have qualified volunteers doing repairs with the aim of keeping things in use and out of landfill. 

Having said that, if we can gain access to an appliance we usually attempt a simple safe repair, plug change etc. 

mandy47

Unfortunately our local repair cafe closed down. 

London_1

Make do : chicken kiev's from freezer with left over baked beans from yesterday

Mend sewed a seam up in my favourite cardi it was on my To-do list now on my Been done list  

Minimised : lots of china bits from my kitchen cupboards to the local charity shop


JackieO xx

YorksLass

Next bag for CS started with one ornament, no particular financial or sentimental value and it's one less thing to dust.  

This weekend's food Make Do's: Home made tomato & red pepper soup, beef & veg casserole using beef from freezer and veg from fridge, plus pearl barley to pad it out a little.  Delicious with mini Yorkies.  Half a bag of potatoes that were sprouting were peeled, cooked and mashed - some to go with yesterday's casserole and the rest I've used with poached basa fillets to make 6 large fishcakes.

Today's food Make Do's: Salad for tea tonight with the addition of a home made pasta pot (orzo pasta & mixed beans in vinaigrette).  Easy to do and cheaper than shop bought.

I think know my kettle has sprung a leak from the water gauge on the side    so I'll have to look for a new one.  I do look after them but I've never been very lucky with kettles, whether cheap or expensive.

Currently "Mending" some plain white cotton pillowcases by soaking them overnight with stain remover.  Tomorrow I'll give them a hot wash and hopefully they'll be white again, especially if I can dry them outside in the sun.  Apparently we are due to have some - fingers crossed!  They were at the bottom of the pile and obviously haven't been used for a while.

Cherryfudge

mandy47 said:

Unfortunately our local repair cafe closed down. 

A bit of a long shot, I know, but might there be one somewhere in reach? Visit a Repair Café Near You (repaircafe.org)

YorksLass said:

I think know my kettle has sprung a leak from the water gauge on the side    so I'll have to look for a new one.  I do look after them but I've never been very lucky with kettles, whether cheap or expensive.

Would it be possible to seal the leak with a dab of glue? I don't think either kettles or tin openers are made 'like they used to be'.

My making do: H'm, I can't think of anything.

Mend - isn't a mend so much as an 'improve'. Lots of work in the garden trying to reduce a river of ground elder. There will be ground elder there for a while yet, but the garden looks a lot better.

Minimise - two tops to charity, threw out some fridge bits that honestly aren't going to be eaten.

YorksLass

@Cherryfudge - Thanks for the suggestion, I might give it a try although I'm not hopeful as the hot water would probably melt the glue.

Today I've hot washed the pillowcases I had soaking overnight and dried them outside.  Whilst not as pristine white as they would be when new, they're definitely white again and smell beautifully fresh.  I'll iron them tomorrow - pillowcases are one of the few things I still iron and I don't mind doing them.

Grocery delivered arrived early afternoon with everything present and correct, no subs.  A tub of soft cheese has come down by 14p and a bag of potatoes has gone up 10p so I'm 4p in front - whoo hoo!  I used some of my loyalty points to stock up on a few pantry items.  I've still got just under half of the month's grocery budget left and, fingers crossed, might even get to the end of the month with some cash left.

Today's food Make Do's: Have made a loaf of bread, a jug of custard and a tub of egg mayonnaise for sandwiches.  Tea tonight is pork steaks in h/m BBQ sauce, jacket potatoes and broccoli.  Pudding (if wanted) can be said custard with either individual microwave Xmas puddings that I bought YS earlier in the year, tinned fruit or a thick slice of ginger cake.

Last night I sewed up two of the raglan sleeve seams on the yellow sweater I've been knitting and will do another one tonight so I can knit the neckband before finishing the rest of the sewing.  The end is in sight!      Can't say the same for the photograph albums though as I haven't touched them yet.

plumduff55

I've not been on for a few days so shall try and think of anything. It would be much easier if I posted every day then I would remember what I'd done 🥴.

Make do - Family visited for lunch on Sunday.  As usual I cooked too much (macaroni, quorn sausages & garlic bread) so had leftovers for dinner on Sunday and lunch yesterday and today. Thank goodness it's finished now 😂.

Mend - I shortened the sleeves on another 2 tops I'd bought. I like wearing 3/4 length sleeves so shorten most tunics and tops where suitable. My dgd brought a white disney sweatshirt through on Sunday. It had a bad make up stain on it - 11 years old and already experimenting with make up 😳. I soaked it, scrubbed it and rubbed in loads of Vanish soap several times and the mark is practically gone now. I bought her the sweatshirt for her birthday (her choice) and I did think at the time it was a bad choice of colour. 

Minimise - I donated 2 tops to the local charity shop.  I try to always practice ONE IN ONE OUT so as I bought 2 tops I had to get rid of 2. This stops me buying too much as I have to think what I'll get rid of. I've also finished knitting myself a cardigan and scarf. This minimised 700g from my yarn stash.

I shall try and post more often

Katiehound

mandy47 said:

Attempted to mend my vacum cleaner. The wire split just where it goes into the housing. 
The plan was to cut off the couple of inches where it's damaged and refit existing cable.
Unfortunately it needs a particular tool that I don't have to open the housing.
Quite annoying because this has happened previously with other electricals. I have a number of tools that can only be used on individual items. 
Why can't all appliances have a universal screw?

I remember some years ago my Dyson 1 needed attention and I asked the chap in the market hall what to do! Of course he said 'Bring it in'- then I explained that it was abroad at my holiday home. He very kindly explained what to do- it needed a new piece of flex but the screw driver needed a star shaped head.
Wonder if that is what you need?
Might be worth a look at espares website?