Make Do, Mend & Minimise

YorksLass

Yesterday I gave my under sink cupboard a clean and sorted its contents before putting them back in; I binned a tin of shoe polish that's gone hard plus a couple of really manky cleaning rags. I also decanted a part-bottle of diluted shower cream that I use for hand washing into the one on the kitchen window sill, empty bottle rinsed out and gone to recycling. Not much I know, but it all helps and the cupboard is tidy and organised. 😁

This weekend's challenge is to incorporate as many fridge oddments as I can into the coming week's meal plan - without anything going into the freezer. Some kind of soup and a vegetable risotto spring to mind.

YorksLass

This week's Minimising has mainly been of the food variety.

From the freezer: a cooked mince base (cottage pie), chunks of cooked chicken and coconut milk (creamy chicken curry), a h/m mac'n cheese, two crumpets and two slices of h/m banana & walnut bread.

From the fridge: The last two Xmas carrots (with the cottage pie), a couple of mushrooms (risotto), 3 spring onions and some needed-to-be-used cherry tomatoes (in the curry), one apple (in porridge) and two thin slices of smoked pork (sandwich). The only fridge oddments left to be used are a small portion of mushy peas (with fish for tomorrow's tea) and the remaining spring onions (earmarked for a cheese sandwich).

I also mashed the last banana and stirred it into custard for a pudding. The food bank has benefited from a donated YS tin of grapefruit segments. I bought two tins earlier this year but wasn't overly keen.

Also minimised this week's junk mail to recycling; for some reason I've had two identical batches through the letterbox. 🙄 Some document shredding got done and I've added two pieces of crockery to the CS bag that's still waiting to be taken once the weather perks up a bit. The bag isn't in the way and can carry on living under the stairs for now.

As for Make Do, one of my Justins has been utilised - an empty stain remover laundry powder plastic tub and scoop. Not something I use a lot of but I bought a replacement that now comes in a cardboard box minus a scoop. All good for the environment I suppose, but I think the powder would go lumpy once the box is opened so it's been decanted into the tub and the box recycled. Glad I saved those! 😁 I've also been using some hand-knitted gilets as an extra layer over jumpers during this cold spell.

As for Mend, the sewing pile is still glaring at me. 😕 Ah well, can't be perfect all the time! 🤣

Cherryfudge

Realised it's been eleven days since I posted.

Make Do: instead of buying potatoes, I remembered the ones I grew for Christmas and didn't eat as we had some of the 5p Christmas ones which have lasted us a while. The entire contents of one home grown potato bag came to enough for one meal - perhaps open ground is better?! I always seemed to get quite a few when I grew them there.

Mend: an additional two pairs of spaghetti straps have been resewn (much more comfortable without the little plastic sliders that were irritating my back). I retrieved a child's straw bag that had been DD's and has been hanging around for ages. I managed to get a big ink stain out of the lining and reattached it, so it will go to DD's little girl.

Minimise: I sorted out a freezer drawer and threw out a few bits that had been in there a very long time and had freezer burn and a lot of ice build-up. I've also sold a pair of shoes and posted those off. It's nice having a bit of space in the freezer! I've also started to wrap some Christmas presents - late not early! They are waiting till I see my sister, but there's no need for them to take over the spare room in the meantime. Completed ones are going in a box, colour-coded for recipients.

mandy47

Busy week.

Minimise

Still eating meat and fish from freezer and about 20% of veg. Getting through meals I bulk cooked and frozen.

2 bags gone to charity. 1 more waiting in the hall for next trip into town.

1 bag of toiletries waiting for olio collection.

Cut more logs and stacked.

Mended

Another seam repaired in my thermal top.

Make do.

Freezer food as above.

Super six and offers when shopping.

Can't Believe I keep so much stuff.

Clothes I know I will never wear again.

Toiletries that were unwanted gifts.

Odd wine glasses collected over the last 40 years.

Not Any more. All off to charity and olio. At least someone can make use of them.

Green_hopeful

mend: our smart Eufy vacuum cleaner, Luna, has been sulking since i was away. She could still speak but didn’t want to do any vacuuming. After trying a few things I contacted eufy who were very nice but not very helpful. Anyway as a last resort i took her battery out and reinstalled it. Hey presto she is working again.

Our upstairs Eufy vacuum cleaner, Obidiah Shuttleworth, named after an 18th century composer, had a disaster today when one of the cats regurgitated her dinner and he tried to clear it up. He is currently drying in the kitchen having been thoroughly cleaned. The cats keep finding random pieces of cat food and eating it. Could have been worse, it could have been a poo.

YorksLass

Having done a lot of clearing out over the last couple of years, I'm at the maintenance stage and am keeping on top of everything including operating a one in/one out policy. However, I do still find oddments to put in a CS bag that tends to hang around for a while under the stairs, but I'm happy to say the latest one has now left the building! 😃

On the flip side, DS has recently moved back in with all his goods and chattels. Luckily, I always keep one spare bedroom set up as a guest bedroom so he does have somewhere to sleep and store clothes, shoes etc but the second smaller spare room is filled with bags and boxes, the contents of which will need to be homed. He has said though that he's going to sell some of it so not everything will have permanent residence. For now I'll just keep the door closed. 😁 I'm also educating him in the art of using up toiletries before buying any more - he has far more than I have but at least he smells nice!

My gas boiler service is due next week and that will give me the opportunity to empty the pantry where the boiler lives and go through the tins, packets, jars etc to check the dates on them and remind me what's in there. I'm not expecting any nasty surprises but you never know.

YorksLass

I've been to the hairdresser's this morning and minimised a lot of hair - about 3-4" in length gone - not to mention the cash to pay for it. So worth it though - I feel (and look) years younger! 😊

I've ordered some new short sleeved sweaters (nice bright colours for summer, half price sale) to be delivered this weekend; if they fit and I like them I'll minimise the same number of T-shirts to the CS. One in/one out.

Next week's meal plan is making do with a goodly amount of stuff from the freezer, all I'll need to buy is milk and fresh F&V. This afternoon I've trimmed the stalks of a bunch of yellow carnations and changed the water to make them last for another few days. Full price was £3.50, reduced to £1.65 less a 50p MOC so not too shabby for the £1.19 I paid three weeks ago. 😁