Make Do, Mend & Minimise

mandy47

I've finished stripping and sanding an old chair. It was left behind by the previous owner when my DD bought her house. I was hoping to wax it but stripping it has revealed a bit of damage and the chair is made out of 3 different types of wood which may take the wax differently. So I've decided to repaint it. I already have a tin of white furniture paint. When it's finished I'll go through my fabrics and make a nice cushion for it.

Replaced a lost button on work trousers.

Used up a number of tinned beans. Batch cooked a bean chilli for freezer.

Cheapskate

Hello again everyone

Make do: right now I'm focussing on using what we have in the cupboards/fridge/freezer to stretch money and not waste food, helping me to get back to creative cooking as well, cutting down on food spends before winter.

Mend: I have two ancient basket chairs that need some TLC, bits of the weaving have come undone and I'm debating whether to spray paint them as they now look a little sad, but they are over fifty years old!

Minimise: unnecessary spending of all kinds - streaming packages are being downgraded or cut, no clothes shopping for myself unless charity shop, using vouchers I already have, or if I actually need new undies etc.

A xo

Esmeralda2662

Hi all, nothing very exciting to report but here goes.

Make do: Wanted to wear my summer top but the V at the front is a bit low for me so I used a tiny brass safety pin to pin it closed a bit higher up.

Mend: I think my shoulder ligament injury is finally mended so I cancelled my physio appointment and discharged myself but will continue with the exercises they prescribed. Somebody else might be glad of a quick appointment - I know I was.

Minimise: Used up some OOD sweet potatooes and shallots to make some curried sweet potato soup. Also found some onions that were starting to look a bit past it so chopped them up and froze them for cooking in the future. Onions not wasted and will hopefully save time chopping next time I cook. X

Green_hopeful

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82094452#Comment_82094452

i had a revelation, i don’t like low cut tops either. Its sometimes not that they are low cut but that the shoulder seam is in the wrong place. If you take them up at the shoulder they sit better. I have spent years wearing vests and camisoles to avoid showing too much cleavage. I could have just adjusted the shoulders.

Esmeralda2662

Thanks for the shoulder seam info, @Green_hopeful. That sounds a much better idea than using a pin! I'll have a look and see what I can do.

maryb

I haven’t posted on this thread but read along because I really like the ethos. I on the fashion on the Ration thread though I haven’t managed to stick to my ration most years. Still,it keeps me thoughtful

But recently I’ve managed to do quite a bit of MMM

Had to go to a wedding and had a nice shift dress in duck egg blue but thought I would need to buy a short cardigan jacket from Hobbs to make it formal enough. Vented might have had one but I saw the forecast and decided to wear a white silky scarf which was big enough to drape like a pashmina and it was fine and a lot less hot

DH’s bath towel was frayed along the side edges and they don’t do that colour anymore. But I had some bias binding in the exact shade so trimmed the frayed edges and stitched on the binding and it looks like new. Feeling very smug about that

Planning on minimising some feather pillows that have lost their oomph by opening up the ends and combining the contents of three pillows into two. Feather and down pillows are expensive so I’m hoping this will give them a new lease of life while at the same time reducing the number of past their best but too good to throw out spares. Have to wait fora still day as you have to do it outside and there’s been quite a breeze the last few days. Don’t want to end up looking like I’ve been tarred and feathered

Esmeralda2662

@maryb had to smile about your pillow stuffing. It brought back memories of me and my husband buying 5 secondhand eiderdowns to make into a duvet in the 80's because proper duvets were expensive in those days. We filled the bath with the feathers but what a mess all through the house. The duvet was never much good as the feathers always moved to the foot end. Our friends made one too but somehow ended up with a wooden clothes peg inside their duvet!

maryb

LOL haven't done it yet but we'll see how it goes

Cherryfudge

I don't think I've posted here since May, sorry.

We gathered up the lead scraps from having our roof replaced and took them to the scrappy. Nowadays you have to provide all sorts of ID but we got £14.50 for it and it's not going to waste. I've since found another couple of very small bits but it's not worth a special trip so they are cluttering up a window sill. Unfortunately we went out for lunch which was more expensive than we remembered for that venue, but at least the scrap money reduced the impact on the bank balance.

The sewing machine has at last come into use: last night I repaired a pillow case and two tote bags and now I'm on the look out for more projects so I can increase my skills.

Minimising - several items have sold on V1nted, though I've also bought various things there so it's more a case of slowing the rate of house-fill. Today I aim to list something else and also start sorting out drawers. I worked out we have enough drawers to do one a day for a month and still have a handful untouched! Of course I won't manage one a day but something is better than nothing.

I also had a big fridge clear out the other day and decided a few things were no longer fit to eat. I feel bad about food waste but food poisoning won't help either. At least now it's easier to see what's in there.

Making do - we have been gifted lots from various gardens and the courgettes will be added to leftover chicken and baking potatoes for dinner tonight. DH has a big bag of cooking apples and we've donated blackberries to the giver of apples, which helps both households with our surpluses. There is still rhubarb to use up, and this year's greengages are ripening fast. We have discovered the joys of blackberry curd but it doesn't keep for long so I am limiting how much I make.

Cherryfudge

Some more progress, though there's probably more in the house than ever: I've been acquiring books since I last wrote here.

Make Do: Using up cheap thread off a sewing machine bobbin to do hand sewing (my machine has expensive tastes).

Mend: three pairs of DH's socks.

Minimise: a small bag of donations and one item sold. One pair of socks discarded. Alas - a couple of pints of milk and a tub of hummus were also thrown out as too far past their date, and a part loaf of bread was declared horrible by DH so that has also gone (though some slices went to the wild birds).