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

Moorviews

Make do - I made Mushroom soup for lunch yesterday and a large batch of Carrot and Coriander soup to use up my older vegetables. Also, chicken fajitas as I had peppers which were going over and some long life wraps. I used Cajun seasoning as that was what I had in already. As a substitute for sour cream I stirred some chipotle sauce into Greek yoghurt. Both of these worked really well. I have trimmed the remaining stems of coriander and put them into a mug of water in the fridge. I find they keep fresh for a few days like this, especially if the stems are clear of leaves. 

Mend - Patched and darned a pair of jeans for Mr MV, which has brought them back into use. I had to undo a leg seam but that wasn’t difficult to restitch. To try and give some more longevity to the knees I applied iron on cotton interfacing to the inside of the legs. Shortened and hemmed a pair of my pyjamas so they don’t drag at the heels. 

Minimise - paperwork into the shredding sack. Some garden waste to the recycling centre along with some metal bits. 

Green_hopeful

Not trying to compete with @yorkslass on chicken meals we made Mary Berry’s Coq Au Vin pie. I made it with white rather than red wine. It was really tasty and we used the veg and stock from poaching the chicken to make soup. So we have 8 portions of pie and five portions of soup. We also had some left over stock so that has gone back in the freezer.  Used a lonely noodle nest in the soup. 

YorksLass

@Green_hopeful - Gotta love rubber chickens!      

Sarahspangles

Make do - I spent the weekend havering over buying some expensive Birkenstock slippers/indoor shoes. But decided to make do which means…

Mend - I’ve washed my current M&S suede moccasins and now need to replace the cord which broke. I’ve got some matching embroidery thread which I can twist or plait to the right diameter. I won’t get much more life out of them as the sole is wearing but I feel spending three figures for slippers needs sleeping on!

Minimise - me and my cold spent the weekend mostly on the sofa with a laptop. I minimised emails then moved to OH’s taxes. As well as - hopefully - having proved his bill should be lower, the process of him going through paperwork released a shredder-full of stuff he didn’t need to keep.

We’re about to have a difficult conversation about what, if anything, I still want to remove from my parents’ house, as the sale is about to complete. One of my sisters has done a sort of photo survey of what remains. I chose some things when we first cleared the house but I’m really conflicted about whether things like boxes of family history stuff should be kept. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Cherryfudge

Sarahspangles said:

We’re about to have a difficult conversation about what, if anything, I still want to remove from my parents’ house, as the sale is about to complete. One of my sisters has done a sort of photo survey of what remains. I chose some things when we first cleared the house but I’m really conflicted about whether things like boxes of family history stuff should be kept. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Could at least some of this be digitised?

And that's a lot to spend on slippers so perhaps if you wait a few weeks, there might just be some unwanted gifts on Vinted or Ebay...

YorksLass

I don't envy you @Sarahspangles - I was in that position 13 years ago and found it really hard to decide what to keep/not keep.  In some ways it was a bit easier as I don't have any siblings but in others it was harder because it was purely down to me, plus I had to be ruthless as I simply didn't have the storage space.  Over the following years some of the things I did keep have now gone and I'm left with just a few sentimental items.  I wish you luck.

Sarahspangles

Cherryfudge said:

Sarahspangles said:

We’re about to have a difficult conversation about what, if anything, I still want to remove from my parents’ house, as the sale is about to complete. One of my sisters has done a sort of photo survey of what remains. I chose some things when we first cleared the house but I’m really conflicted about whether things like boxes of family history stuff should be kept. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

Could at least some of this be digitised?

And that's a lot to spend on slippers so perhaps if you wait a few weeks, there might just be some unwanted gifts on Vinted or Ebay...

One of my brothers had access to a fancy scanner so he did photos and very selected papers like certificates. These are in a shared drive; I would like to collate a very few into something that might interest my children, with information about my grandparents and parents and the villages they grew up in.

I think I’m just panicking now because I haven’t sifted these papers personally. I took on sorting out the books and papers relating to societies and research which was the largest collection to deal with. Anyway, I’ve emailed my siblings (Mr Collins: “for she has several”) to say I’ll go to the house if there's a work party but otherwise I am going to let things go. As I’m the nearest I/we have spent most time there since Dad died and I’m finding it progressively harder rather than easier. 

And yes, “unwanted gift” slippers would be perfect. I like Birkenstocks because they do a narrow. I’ve lived in slippers since I began home working and I think I’ve got through four pairs at £25 each in four years. As I’m retiring, something with a more robust sole would be good for warmth and practicality.

amber03

I have a sibling but he was neither use or ornament as they say. It’s hard clearing your parents house out, items have lots of sentiment and memories. I had to be ruthless as I realised I would be taking nearly everything as they were happy memories of me being at home with my parents. Xx

Green_hopeful

@Sarahspangles we cleared my in laws house last year. We brought back more papers than we should have done but we thought my husband could sort them out. Turns out it’s too difficult for him so I will get round to it some time. We got categories of things to sort through and then decided if we wanted to keep or gift anything. We kept quite random things like heart shaped stones but not much big stuff. His sister had no interest at all in the process or helping. Once everyone had taken what they wanted we did a freecycle open house where people could take anything they wanted. We did a couple of open garages when preparing the house for sale so the freecycle people knew what we were doing. We cleared a six bedroom house in a day. 

We still have a few things to sort but it’s not so bad. 

YorksLass

Today I've started minimising all the unloved/unwanted/not needed gubbins from the spare bedroom and I wish I hadn't!  I have bags and boxes piled up in the hallway   - DS will have a fit when he sees it all 'cos it's definitely going to need more than one trip to the CS!  Still, needs must and I console myself that someone else will benefit.  On the plus side, once I've decided that something has to go I'm not tempted to take it back but, even so, the sooner it leaves the house the better.