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

Katiehound

Just to point out - probably old hat!- that instead of 'binning textiles' you may find that a local charity (shop) accepts clean old tatty clothes, socks,, bedding etc & gets paid for rag weight.  
Generally this does not include duvets & pillows

Moorviews

Katiehound said:

Just to point out - probably old hat!- that instead of 'binning textiles' you may find that a local charity (shop) accepts clean old tatty clothes, socks,, bedding etc & gets paid for rag weight.  
Generally this does not include duvets & pillows

Thanks, I will make sure that I ask again in our local charity shops. I have previously been told that they only want saleable items but I imagine policies can change over time. They don’t have a rag bank at the recycling centre unfortunately and the clothing bank specifies clean wearable clothing and household linens. 

Sarahspangles

Since OH retired he’s taken over as head chef, but this weekend he has a chest infection and I ‘only’ have a cold so I’ve been pottering in the kitchen. It’s bad timing as we’re due a big shop, but it’s given me a chance to check stocks, use things up and do a shop online. I will bake tomorrow on my non working day.

Make do - making hot lemon and honey drinks for OH has generated lemon peel just when there is the usual National Shortage of mixed peel. So I have some home-made candied orange and lemon peel cooling, any that I don’t use tomorrow will dry in the cooling oven for next time.

Mend - I’m going to count nursing OH!

Minimise - I haven’t had the heart to bake since my dad passed away, apart from scones for OH. I’ve minimised some hard walnuts and pecans by chopping them and they’re soaking in whisky ready for a date and walnut loaf tomorrow. While that’s in the oven I’ll make Christmas cake, I’ve got sultanas, raisins, some hard apricots and the rest of the dates soaking in brandy.

I’m blaming this thread for the fact we had tuna plait for lunch!

YorksLass

Minimise: Lots of old emails from my Inbox.  No doubt there will be more to come in the run up to Xmas from various companies wanting me to part with my cash - no chance!     

Make Do: When I was cleaning the bathroom this morning I realised I had two bottles of shampoo in there, both open.  I decanted one into the other so I have a full bottle that's now in the toiletries stash basket and just one in the bathroom.  I also came across two travel size bottles with bits in, one body wash and one shampoo.  I've added the bits to the hand-wash bottle in the kitchen and returned the clean empty bottles to join their other two pals in the travel pouch.

Mend: Nothing but I need to get my sewing mojo back into gear to reduce the fabric stash.  A sort out is needed so I can donate some (well, a lot) to the CS.  I did part with some a while ago but I've realised there's still lots that I won't use so it may as well benefit someone else.

YorksLass

Minimise: DH's Health Record folder posted back to the District Nursing team.  One book returned to The Little Free Library but, as usual, I came back with more than I returned!  I started on one last night and it's such a good read, I reckon I'll have finished it tonight/tomorrow.  DS wants to borrow it when I've done with it.

Make Do: Tea last night was a mushroom and mixed veg risotto that saw off the last of a box of arborio rice (dated bb June 2022).  It was perfectly fine.

Cherryfudge

I'm waiting in for a delivery today and decided to sort through the basket in the hall where I 'picturesquely' stored scarves and gloves. In the spring it just got warmer weather things or carrier bags put on it so it stopped being picturesque and needed a review. I'd also found an old box of gloves in the loft from when the children were at home, and a bag of random hats that didn't fit in the scarves and gloves containers. There are loads now in the washing machine, including about 12 odd gloves! DH is not a gloves-keeper, but has no objection to wearing odd ones and I always live in hope that the partners will turn up, so nothing's getting minimised from there! I can see some mending will be needed.

I'll count that as making do.

I've also found three pairs of leather gardening gloves (large and small) - does anyone know how to clean them? I washed some and they've gone very stiff and not much cleaner. I think there's saddle soap in the shed so I'll try some of that - they can't get worse than they are.

That will be mending, in the sense of putting things back into use that hadn't been fit for use, but I've not done it yet.

There's also a very large bag of shopping bags, so I want to put the random stray bags in there in the vain hope of never getting another 'bag for life'. All that's getting minimised is mess and needless consumption, but those are still valid to me.

I've minimised a few odds and ends of baking ingredients recently (into Christmas cake and Christmas puddings) but they are still in the house in the form of cake etc. With the cold weather we've been lighting the log burner so are at last starting to minimise the stash of sugar bag 'logs' as kindling. I don't recycle them as there's always a trace of sugar that won't come out, but it burns okay.

I've also found a pouch of hot drinks, sticking plasters, hand cream and boxes of raisins from over a year ago - it was handy to take when babysitting but now the contents need to be used up and restocked. I've just had a green tea with mint and will enjoy most of the others over a few days. I've also worked through two or three boxes of herbal teas from the kitchen so there's more space in the hot drinks cupboard.

Lastly for now, I've finished an online course and cancelled the subscription to the provider, which I wasn't using enough to make it worthwhile. I have half a thought that I might use some of the money saved for a course for my Wednesday job, but I'm not ready to launch into that yet.

Katiehound

Wonder if this method would help your leather gloves, maybe you can adapt the idea?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sCK595S7Lg

(Nancy Birtwhistle)

She  rubs with coconut oil at the end but another video shows waterproofing boots with a chunk of candle wax rubbed all over and heated with hairdryer to melt wax

Cherryfudge

Thanks @Katiehound, those shoes of hers came up beautifully! I don't have cream cleaner (I react to it) but the principle must be a gentle abrasive that doesn't harm leather - I wonder if bicarb would do it (apparently so)? And I already have coconut oil as I use it for makeup removal, as a bath oil and on my hair. Sometimes I even cook with it but not often as it's high in saturated fat and we have a dietician in the family!

I'll give it a try!

Katiehound

She puts the recipe for her own cream cleaner underneath- which I realise you can't see 

this is what it says

Cream cleaner- 100g bicarbonate of soda, 35ml vegetable glycerin and 10ml eco friendly washing up liquid mixed to a paste. Great home made eco friendly general cleaner and no harmful chemicals. Sodium percarbonate (green bleach) eco friendly alternative to harmful chlorine bleach. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) widely available and soaks out stains and softens water. Coconut oil will replenish and soften the leather.

Cherryfudge

Katiehound said:

She puts the recipe for her own cream cleaner underneath- which I realise you can't see 

this is what it says

Cream cleaner- 100g bicarbonate of soda, 35ml vegetable glycerin and 10ml eco friendly washing up liquid mixed to a paste. Great home made eco friendly general cleaner and no harmful chemicals. Sodium percarbonate (green bleach) eco friendly alternative to harmful chlorine bleach. Washing soda (sodium carbonate) widely available and soaks out stains and softens water. Coconut oil will replenish and soften the leather.

Lovely stuff thanks! I will have to keep a look out for vegetable glycerine, it's possibly right under my nose but I've not noticed it.

I put the gloves on, dampened them, sprinkled on bicarb and spent a bit of time rubbing them together. It's too early to see how much effect that's had, but they seem okay. I'm not looking for super-clean as that won't last five minutes out of doors. It would be nice to have them more pliable, though. Once they are dried I'll start on the coconut oil treatment.

Meanwhile I found an umbrella in the old gloves box. It was in good condition and came from M andS so is probably fairly well made, but it smelled slightly and had a couple of stains so I sprayed it with vinegar, rinsed, scrubbed it with soap, rinsed then treated the stains with bleach and it seems to have worked. I also rinsed it under the shower but wasn't paying enough attention so I got drenched, too. It's currently drying over the bath, fully extended to get rid of the creases and allow air to circulate.

All this in the name of not wasting, but I have far too many umbrellas already (I inherited my Mum's collection so they are vintage 1980s). This one isn't my colour so I might offer it to DD.