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

mandy47

Minimised 
Sold 2 silver necklaces and a silver bracelet. 
Sorted through a pile of old paperwork and got rid of all of it. 
Another bag of stuff for the charity shop.
DD will be moving out pretty soon and she's had a wardrobe binge. 3 large bags for charity. Wish I was 3 sizes smaller I'd be tempted to a few bits.

Make do
Used up salad for dinner. Last of chicken portions from the freezer.

Mend
Glued the end back on the end of the bathroom windowsill.
Managed to unblock bathroom loo  horrible job but saved calling someone out. I'm sure there's an underlying problem because it keeps getting blocked. 

Cherryfudge

Plenty of making do and minimising, though I think it was the day after I last posted, mentioning I need to loose some weight so I can get into things better, that I bought a new dress. In my defence, I can never find a dress for a special occasion that I'd feel comfortable in, so when I saw this and loved it, I got it.

Make do: I'm trying not to buy things for going away (city break to Rome) so I have dug out floppy hats, sunglasses etc, and little bottles to put toiletries in. I even found a plastic bag for the 100ml containers of liquid, left over from some previous flight.
Dinner for the past few days has been from the freezer but most of the resulting space has been used for things that may not keep in the fridge while we're away.
I used up some eggs and lemons making lemon curd, and some other bits and pieces to make a corned beef curry (health bonus points for sticking in carrots and sweet potato that weren't in the recipe but were hanging round in the fridge).

Mend: I've just reattached a strap to an evening bag that I rediscovered during The Great Floppy Hat Search. I also put a few house plants in bigger pots which will rejuvenate them - not quite a mend, but in the same direction. Plant pots were all pre-loved.

Minimise: During the above search I found some old paperwork that's now in the recycling. I also needed a selection of sticking plasters for holiday blisters and combined the remains of two boxes of them. Most of what's left are tiny and impractical, but at least there's one box the fewer. I also chucked out some random junk I found while searching, and recycled a shampoo bottle that's been nearly finished and cluttering the bathroom for too long.

mandy47

Minimised 
My bank account 
Paid plasterer for a job well done.

Make do
Used nectar points to buy this years jam sugar.

Nothing mended today. 

Cherryfudge

Make do/minimise: I made a Laksa soup for my main meal using things that need to be used up. That recreated space in the freezer and pantry as well as adding to my repertoire and clearing some out of date items. Then for tea I made cheesy coleslaw, which used more of the 'needs using' items - so I'm happy about both of those.
I've searched unsuccessfully for a book I bought last year that's going to help me learn Italian, but I suspect someone tipped it off and it's sneaked into some hidden recess. However, I found a small Italian/English dictionary which might be more useful in the short term.

Mend: nothing today.

Minimise: recycled a magazine and threw some plastic tubs in the recycling.

Katiehound

Not sure if this is 'make do' or 'mend'! but currently washing & reproofing 2x no-longer-waterproof jackets. Luckily the solar panels are working today....
 Trial run before I do my Seasalt (cost a fortune) coat. 
 Managed to get Nikwax wash & proof liquid x 1 litre of each for £18.29- enough for 10 garments.
just the day to line dry.

Katiehound

And one of those jackets did need mending- well, what do you expect, it has to be up to 20 years old! (Good old Regatta)

Not sure how good the proofing is- I'm sure there will be a day to test them out shortly!
. My Seasalt  coat looked- worn. Not very pleased and won't be buying another

YorksLass

With the arrival of better weather - well, a few days of it - MMMing has taken a bit of a back seat as I've been out and about as much as I can before it disappears again.  I did manage to change the lounge winter curtains for summer ones and have washed the winter ones.  They dried beautifully on the line and don't need ironing - happy days!  

Meantime, Making Do with existing food stocks has been continuing (when is it not?) and I now have some gaps in the freezer.  I've defrosted some mince and have a batch of bolognaise sauce on the go, some for tonight and the rest will be frozen for another day.  I'm not too bothered about the tubs of h/m ready meals being in there, it's more the odds and ends that get buried.  Example: three hash browns, a couple of potato cakes, a tub of mixed beans etc.  I'm on a mission to use them up!  A pleasant find on Saturday was two choc ices that we thoroughly enjoyed.  I have a small grocery delivery coming tomorrow and have deliberately not ordered anything for the freezer.

I've finished knitting another ladies sweater so that's 400g of 4-ply cotton gone from the stash.  I've a second one on the needles and a third just needs the neckband doing before I can sew it up.  I'll not count the yarn used for these until they're finished.

Last week I spent the last £5.36 of Co-op rewards on my card to treat us to a punnet of strawberries and a tub of cream.  I also got a packet of dry egg noodles and two tins of mandarin orange segments for the pantry stocks.

Today I minimised about 90 minutes of my time getting me and DH registered with the new PatchS system that GP surgeries seem to be adopting.  I like to think I'm fairly PC literate but I'll admit I was scratching my head at times.  Hopefully I've done everything correctly.  I'm not surprised our surgery is running a couple of open day sessions at the local community hub next week to help patients with how to register, use the system etc.

Right, I'm off to see if I have some spare batteries for the clock in the living room.  It's still working but is losing around 5 minutes per day and keeps on resetting itself so I think the batteries may need changing.

TracyS66

@yorksLass we have odds and ends dinner every now and then, i cook all the odds and ends and we have a buffet! No one minds having 1 waffle, 2 onion rings and a fish finger LOL

mandy47

Befor and after pics. My mother was given this old chest almost 70 years ago.she recently asked me to take it to the carity shop. I decided to try and upcycle instead. Quite pleased for a first attempt. 

Cherryfudge

Love those colours @mandy47, and I think we have the same carpet!