Make Do, Mend & Minimise

mandy47

Still making do/minimising xmas food. We had 6 boxes of biscuits and 7 boxes of chocs bought has gifts.
Finished one tub of chocs with the assistance of nephew and niece. Opened first box of biscuits yesterday. They're good dates so we will spread them over the year. Not something we would normally eat so may take some to work for the  [locusts] colleagues to demolish   

Still eating 5p potatoes and veg. Meat from freezer.

Mend, sort of. Changed the filters in the dehumidifier. Seems to be running better now. 

YorksLass

Make Do
- As always at this time of year, more than a fair few meals will be made courtesy of freezer and cupboard contents, fresh food stuff will be bought as/when needed and I'm aiming to have cash left in the grocery budget at the end of the month.
- I had a completed cross stitch to frame and had a frame but no mount so I did a DIY version from some stiff white card.  Maybe not perfect but not bad either, so acceptable!

Minimise
- First 2026 bag of CS donations started off with four packets of metallic embroidery thread that came as freebies with a crafting magazine.  They're incredibly difficult to work with and I don't have the skill or patience, so out they go.
- Jigsaw puzzle added to CS bag
- Dead biro binned
- Used some heavyweight iron on interfacing from sewing stash to back the finished cross stitch (gives durability and hides untidy stitching)
- Xmas Baileys finished     

Mend
- Food inventories checked and updated to keep me on track when shopping ie don't buy more of what I already have!

Jojo77_2

mandy47 said:

Still making do/minimising xmas food. We had 6 boxes of biscuits and 7 boxes of chocs bought has gifts.
Finished one tub of chocs with the assistance of nephew and niece. Opened first box of biscuits yesterday. They're good dates so we will spread them over the year. Not something we would normally eat so may take some to work for the  [locusts] colleagues to demolish   

Still eating 5p potatoes and veg. Meat from freezer.

Mend, sort of. Changed the filters in the dehumidifier. Seems to be running better now. 

I only just realised the de humidifier had a filter 😳.  I cleaned it out & washed it just before Christmas & its made such a difference,  quiter as well. 

Make do: Still eating out of freezers - leg of lamb which was supposed to be eaten on new years day but none of us wanted it as weve all had this flu bug, so having it today. 
Going to get some baking in the oven too whilst it's on - just cookies or something. 

Minimizing: going to finally get the last of my spring bulbs potted up. 

Mend : sort of - I've recently learn to crochet & nearly done by first blanket , but I need to work out the new type of stich for the border- might have to search on you tube this evening. 

Back to work fir me tomorrow after two lovely weeks off- role on retirement 

Green_hopeful

We have been eating out of the freezer. I did the Fast 800 diet last year. I have managed to minimise my Christmas weight by making more meals from the book. I am pretty good at finding recipes for what we have so I don’t need to shop. 

My husband was embarrassed by his desk when my son visited. He has sorted through all of his paperwork and thrown out a big box full. You can actually see his desk. 

I have been painting a room that will be our spare room. It was last done about 8 years ago. The ceiling paint fell off the ceiling so I guess there was no mist coat when it was originally painted. 

I bought a couple of new duvet covers. Unusual for me. They don’t go with anything we own so I have recovered the chair in our bedroom with an extra duvet cover. 

I have also been relining our kitchen curtains. They are super long so I can’t face making them again so I have taken them down and cleaned them with upholstery cleaner and added a second lining in pink ticking. I have done two and have two more to go. While they were down i cleaned the curtain poles. It’s so nice when they are cleaned with Pledge. They slide so much better. 

elly68

Minimise -started clearing out clothes from my bedroom
make do eating down the freezer  so no chicken dinner today one had mini sausage rolls and the other steak need to do a shop tomorrow .
mend i might struggle with this however changed bed last night and i dont know what hubby is doing with pillowcases but cant mend it think he is turning into a werewolve and shredding them luckily had new ones so they have been opened x
hope i keep this up for 26 x

nannygladys

Going to try and join in on here as I'm trying to live more simply, frugally and when the weather gets better grow more fruit an veg in the back garden this year.
Make do: I'm using all the Xmas food up before I buy anything else to eat.

Mend: I haven't mended anything today but I do have a small pile of bits and pieces to mend and alter, so hopefully I'll get around to those in the near future.

Minimise :Like many others I have started a CS bag off, and I'm starting in what I call my craft room, but it looks more like a dumping ground! so I'm going to try for a bag every few weeks until it's looking tidy again!

Working_Mum

Hello and happy new year to everyone, 
I love this thread and it certainly helps keep me focussed on living sustainably.

I am in the process of exiting my office after over 20 years there! I now work from home which is totally doable and will save me over £1k per month between the rent and energy bills. My house feels like it fills up with stuff from the office and then goes down again once I have sorted everything through.

So far I have minimised from my office:-
1. rise and fall desk
2. all old computer kit, cables etc - to a guy who is "micro-mining" them for precious metals
3. 2 x office chairs
4. 1 x ergonomic chair
5. tonnes of stationery and pens 
6. cleaning equipment
7. bookshelves
8. kitchen stuff - kettle, toaster, microwave
9. mugs, crockery and cutlery
10. plants
11. step-ladders x 2

I have either Freecycled it, given it to charity or friends who needed it.

I have also started a charity bag which I can drop things into as I uncover them and pop them to the chazzer on my way past - this helped me last year stop having things accumulate in my home.

On the "make do" front I have given myself a £50 grocery budget for January as I have so much food in my cupboards and freezer. I think it'll be tight but doable - those of you who follow the Grocery thread may have read that I have saved £1700 on my groceries in 2025 compared to 2024 spends. I plan to retire in a year so this kind of focus is helping enormously.

I have also re-painted a couple of frames to use with prints I was bought at Christmas - they now look coordinated with all of the other pics in my utility room so I am pleased with the result.

I haven't got anything to declare on the "mend" front I am afraid - I made 3 Christmas decorations from a broken bracelet I picked up at a chazzer - does that count!!??

I have replaced a set of shelves I use in my garage as a store (my kids called it Mum's Shop!!) with 2 solid wooden cupboards from my office stacked one on top of the other - they don't take up much more space than the shelves but I seem to have been able to get a lot of stuff in there - I can now see everything clearly which has helped me plan spends for the forthcoming month. It feels more secure and given I "minimised" 6 meeces from a drawer in my kitchen during November I feel better for having everything edible (including bird and dog food) locked away

I think that's it other than to thank everyone for their contributions in the last year and wish everyone luck for 20216.

((WM))

YorksLass

A little more Minimising:

- I seem to be forever receiving marketing emails from companies I've bought the odd thing or two from in the past (no doubt trying to drum up business) but hopefully I'll not get so many now as I've not only deleted the emails but have also unsubscribed.  Declutters the Inbox and removes temptation to spend!

- Bottle of shower cream used up and bottle recycled

Jojo77_2

@YorkLass I'm doing similar i try to unsubscribe a few each week, starting yo feel better knowing i can now see important things quickly 

Esmeralda2662

Hi everyone, here's my starter for 2026.

Make do: Lunch and dinner from Christmas food and freezer. Pudding was some key lime cheesecake made on Sunday for my friend's visit.

Mend: Glued the leg onto a fairy tree dec and a miniature skater from the village scene (i nearly said village people!) back onto his skates ready for next Christmas. He was new this year but flew out of the packaging and hit the table.

Minimise: Bag of mags from friend given to another along with a 5-CD audiobook and a toy sealion for her grandson. Boxed up some bits for CS. So much to do it's overwhelming but a few items a day and i hope to see some progress as we want the house valued so we can downsize.

Also minimised the Christmas tree and decorations back into their boxes and into the loft.