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

Green_hopeful

Minimise. I have had that nasty cough throughout the whole of December. Fortunately it resolved without antibiotics. My husband had two lots and was very poorly. Anyways just as I was starting to feel better I noticed some fluid filled blisters on my torso. I was suspicious and disappointed to see that I had shingles. I really suffered with chicken pox as a young adult so I wanted antiviral drugs to minimise the risk. The chance of getting a drs appointment is so slim that I went to our local pharmacy and it turns out pharmacists can diagnose and prescribe antiviral drugs. I am on day 7 of the rash and day 5 of the antivirals. You have to take them early on.  Fortunately I have been really lucky and it has not been too bad. So I am hopeful that I have minimised my shingles symptoms. 

Mend. Number six step child donated her TV to us as she has got one of those ones that looks like a frame. In exchange I shortened her curtains and stripped and glued her original Bakelite door handles. One of the back plates had been broken and painted in place. I got some superglue and glued it back together and then glued yoghurt pot plastic to give it strength.  Her mum took them back today and my step daughter seems really pleased. 

Cherryfudge

Make do: Turned a lot of bits of scrap paper into a 'notebook' using a bulldog clip.

Mend: I'm attempting to mend an old flask by replacing the innards but at the moment we are at the stage of two adults and some WD vs flask, and the flask is stubborn. We are keeping trying, though. We've also been trying to assemble a chainsaw and had to admit defeat and ask the shop who said it's so jammed that it's faulty, and we need to send it back. All in all, not a great day for assembling or disassembling, let alone mending.

Minimise: Put an item in my bag ready to donate tomorrow.

Green_hopeful

Make do. I am still working through my frozen apples. I made some apple sauce with russet apples. I found half a jar of homemade mincemeat in the fridge. So I made a bread and butter pudding. I based it on an old Waitrose recipe. You put a layer of white bread without crusts in the bottom of a lasagna dish. Put whatever filling you want in eg apple and mincemeat. Top with another flat layer of bread. Then whisk eggs and sugar together. I used 3 eggs and 120g of sugar.  Add some milk about 1.5 pints and some cream if you have it. And pour the custard over the bread. Cook in a Bain Marie (tray of water) until it looks cooked. Probably about 30 to 45 minutes. I like it a bit crisp on the top. It’s like a cross between a bread and butter pudding and apple Charlotte. The recipe doesn’t seem harmed by my relaxed approach. 

Katiehound

Well, I finally got my green bleach. It's not a cheapie! it cost £16 for 3L (powder) and all of the others were dearer (pro rata)
 I nearly didn't get it: ordered last? Weds? due to be delivered by 8pm yesterday- nada, nothing, zero, 
This morning I looked at the email .... now it says "Delivered!"

When, where? Note on the front door until I went to bed.

Seems that EVRI decided to deliver at my 6ft back gate (never use it as the gate has dropped) Dustbin day today!
Not even a photo to notify me.

Words fail me.

Just soaked the plastic bucket- looks good
Think I haven't used enough powder in the china sink, it will be a learning curve!

Floss

@Katiehound you need to dissolve it in a small amount of boiling water and then dilute to tepid with cold, and you will only need a tablespoon at a time so it should last a while. For whitening stained teatowels or dish cloths I leave them overnight.

shandyclover

Make Do:- Using up what is in the house for meals while family are away, trying to avoid shopping. Made a big pot of thai butternut soup with tofu for work lunches through the week. Tofu and butternut are both from Ol*o.
Mend:-Hubby went to a winter sports exhibit, there was a popup workshop there promoting a B2B solution for ski clothing repair, they replaced the zip on his ski jacket for free making him very happy!
Minimise:- A few bits of daughters sold on Vinted she'd left behind in recycle bag.

florianatwobob

I have a successful glass mend. A mouth blown glass decided to separate stem from base. It was a nice ‘downward V’ break along the original join so after some research (including consulting a friend who does fused glass work) I applied a layer of ‘large monkey brand’ glue and with with the application of brown parcel tape and gravity I hoped for the best 

24 hours later

YorksLass

Nice mend @florianatwobob.  

Minimise:
- One biro binned, all ink used up. 
- A small pot of hyacinths that I bought before Xmas for the kitchen window ledge.  They were a beautiful, almost luminescent, dark blue colour and had a gorgeous fragrance.  I was thinking about saving the bulbs for next year to put in the outside planters but decided not to because I know from experience they will come up straggly, having been cultured for indoor use.
- Half a bottle of branded laundry liquid passed on to my neighbour.  It cleans well and has a fragrance that lasts for ages but sadly I don't like the smell!

Make Do:
- Like others, using up food stocks that I already have.  I'm on a Low Spend January for groceries and so far have spent just £33.54.  The only thing I'm likely to need for the rest of the month is fresh milk.
- Have started to use a hand cream that came in a gift box of toiletries, very useful as I've just run out so won't need to buy any more just yet.

I think I'm on the third (or maybe even fourth) pass of decluttering and have noticed I'm now releasing things that were previously kept for "Justin".  I ask myself if I were to let go of something, how easy would it be to get another one and how much would it cost.  If the answers are Easy and Not too much, then out it goes!

Katiehound

Poor little hyacinths! Just put them in the garden . They will flower for quite a few years. (Or become snail fodder!)

If anyone is still collecting used postage stamps I have found a cheap way of donating them . (We have no collections locally anymore) I went to the library yesterday and paid 10 pence for a print out of a pre paid label for RNIB.
You can send up to 1kg in A4 envelope. I have a stack of stamps to go.

Details here: https://www.rnib.org.uk/get-involved/fundraise/do-your-own-fundraising/save-your-stamps-for-rnib/

YorksLass

@Katiehound - I might have done if I had a garden!  Sadly, just a small paved patio with planters.  The slugs and snails would probably appreciated them though - there's certainly plenty of them around here.