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Make do, Mend and Minimise in 2018

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  • YorksLass
    YorksLass Posts: 1,689
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    JackieO wrote: »
    Hi I was given a huge Pandoro cake at Christmas and was wondering if I slice it up I could freeze some as its far too big for me to eat in one go it weighs 1lb 10ozs :)what do you think I would have to juggle my freezer around a bit to get he slices in

    I think it would be just fine Jackie, juggle away! ;)
    YorksLass wrote: »
    Will be taking down the decs/cards/tree tomorrow and am hoping I have some spare bulbs as the tree lights decided to conk out on NYD. :(

    Well, that mend didn't happen, not through lack of trying though! We (1) checked the fuse in the plug - nope (2) checked the fuse lamp on the string of lights - nope (3) checked all 49 other lamps - nope. :mad: By this time, the air was distinctly blue and it wasn't just DH either! :o So the tree lights "mend" turned into a minimise into the bin. I've also bagged up some baubles that I haven't used for some time but won't take them to the CS until about November (not sure they'd want them just yet). I've put a reminder in my diary 'cos no doubt I'll have forgotten by then. :D

    I've joined the 2018 No Clutter to be Seen thread and am up to 15/2018 items so far. Not a huge amount, but it's a start.

    Still making do with existing food stocks, very little needed just yet.
    Be kind to others and to yourself too.
  • mcculloch29
    mcculloch29 Posts: 4,972
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    My cleaners* are due later, so hoping to get a bit straighter. Just commenting to subscribe.
    *I'm disabled, so they are a necessity. Hoping to reduce gradually this year!
    Erma Bombeck, American writer: "If I had my life to live over again... I would have burned the pink candle, sculptured like a rose, that melted in storage." Don't keep things 'for best' - that day never comes. Use them and enjoy them now.
  • mrs-moneypenny
    mrs-moneypenny Posts: 15,519 Forumite
    edited 9 January 2018 at 9:55AM
    Morning all
    Lyn and pipkin I'll join you in getting rid of 30 things this month.
    So far
    5 items of clothing from y wardrobe-clothes bank
    7 ood tins from food cupboard


    I also have a ridiculous amount of unread emails around 40,000 so am determined to minimise these down
    SPC~12 ot 124

    In a world that has decided that it's going to lose its mind, be more kind my friend, try to Be More Kind
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 17,413
    First Post I've been Money Tipped!
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    mccolloch I pay for a gardener to keep my garden tidy from March to November and its £12. for an hour once a fortnight, and I think its money well spent as I do not bend as well as I used to .

    He is a semi-retired chap who will also do odd jobs if I need him to I never feel bad about the money as it gives him a few extra quid (most of my friends have been put on his list ) and I my garden always looks nice and neat.

    Still making do with what I have in the food cupboards ,although I am out to lunch today with my DGS Ben as he is off back to uni tomorrow and tonight I am at quiz night at the local pub where I get the quiz and a small supper for £2.00 :)
    Will sew another line of squares together for the charity blanket this morning
    I have minimised some more paperwork to the recycling this morning as well so feeling quite productive today :)

    JackieO xx
  • YorksLass
    YorksLass Posts: 1,689
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    I also have a ridiculous amount of unread emails around 40,000 so am determined to minimise these down

    :eek::eek::eek:
    Be kind to others and to yourself too.
  • mcculloch29
    mcculloch29 Posts: 4,972
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    JackieO wrote: »
    mccolloch I pay for a gardener to keep my garden tidy from March to November and its £12. for an hour once a fortnight, and I think its money well spent as I do not bend as well as I used to .

    He is a semi-retired chap who will also do odd jobs if I need him to I never feel bad about the money as it gives him a few extra quid (most of my friends have been put on his list ) and I my garden always looks nice and neat.

    JackieO, that's great. I only have a small area where things grow, a single flowerbed at the front of my townhouse and two at the back, plus a patio area to de-weed. My grandson does it sometimes - for a tenner. The local gardener charged £40 for two hours work. That was because he had to dispose of the rubbish. I decided subscribing to the 'brown bin' scheme for garden waste in our area was more cost effective, and so it proved.

    My cleaners come as a pair and work for an hour for £22. Today, only one cleaned, the other helped put all the Christmas decorations away. I have quite a lot, and she zipped up and down stairs merrily, storing them very neatly.

    One of my cleaners took the Christmas cards, so that's them minimised.

    I shopped for the first time since before Christmas yesterday, so I had done well on the make do front.

    I am lucky enough to have a Heron Foods in my town - here's a list of some of my bargains yesterday, from my Heron Foods/Farm Foods - spot any good buys? thread
    Erma Bombeck, American writer: "If I had my life to live over again... I would have burned the pink candle, sculptured like a rose, that melted in storage." Don't keep things 'for best' - that day never comes. Use them and enjoy them now.
  • Hello all!

    Happy 2018 to everyone. Been busy lurking on the 2017 thread, only the odd post.

    I have been decidedly naughty and un MMM like so far this year! I was lucky enough to receive a small amount of money for Christmas and I have chosen to use it on many of the post Christmas, reduced priced treats :D Bottles of lovely wine, charcuterie meats, lovely French cheeses - I REALLY like the first 2 weeks of January for this!

    However, prior to putting the Christmas tree up, I minimised 10 :eek: binbags to the cs, 1 bin bag of rubbish and 2 of recycling - I am not even sure where I managed to fit it all!!! I still have a strip along the wall of the spare bedroom to go through, but that is stuff full of memories so I am leaving it until I have a little more time to go through it properly and scan things etc that I want to keep.

    I also managed to secure a set of 5 Tefal pans to replace my completely clapped out pans, 2 sets of pyrex dishes to replace the rusty oven tins and a VAX carpet washer in the sale - £95 for all of them! It was going to cost £80 just to hire a carpet washer for a weekend and that meant having to do them all at once and the faff that entails - a win in my book :D

    I got a new cooker around 3 years ago which went bang on Christmas Eve :eek: whilst starting my Christmas Day cooking :mad: However, the lovely 'know it all' team had sent me a reminder to 'renew my extended warranty' so I managed to get it repaired (well the grill replacement is being fitted next Friday) for free - well, the princely sum of £20 originally :T I have renewed it for another year, just in case - will get too expensive after it is 5 years old.....

    Back to the real MMMing now though as I want to revamp the living room using only a couple of pallets and a few things I have already....... my creative side is whirring away.......

    look after yourselves xxx
  • mcculloch29
    mcculloch29 Posts: 4,972
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    I agree with having Christmas treats in January!
    I got some lovely charcuterie meats for a pot-luck party buffet next week for pennies at Heron.

    I had a Spices of India order arrive this morning, which keeps me out of Mr T's for the things that A!di can't provide (dried milk, green lentils, chai tea, tinned spinach, popcorn kernels, larger quantities of turmeric, pearl barley), It's not the easiest website to navigate, but the service is excellent. As you can see from the items I've just listed, it's very much not just spices of India that they sell.

    My tree went back upstairs and will have Christmas No. 38 in 2018. I've resisted buying more decs in the sales. I collect special ones, so huge packs of coloured glass baubles don't appeal.

    I will have to gird my loins to minimise my bookshelves, but this is hard for me. I was an army wife for years and parted with so many precious books on house moves, that parting with any now is a bit difficult. However, I will have to eventually, so might as well continue, loads left last year thanks to the BHF house collection, but more need to follow.
    Erma Bombeck, American writer: "If I had my life to live over again... I would have burned the pink candle, sculptured like a rose, that melted in storage." Don't keep things 'for best' - that day never comes. Use them and enjoy them now.
  • dolly84
    dolly84 Posts: 5,851
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    Hi all. I'd like to join in this year. I am having a challenge of not buying anything new this year unless there is no alternative. So far I have bought a beautiful second hand chair for my living room, collected it locally - was fun getting it home as it is massive. I am due to collect a second hand metal bed frame on Sunday, this is for DD's room. I have taken one large bag of clothing and games to the charity shop today along with another bag which was only suitable for ragging.
    Debt Free and now a saver, conscious consumer, low waste lifestyler


    Fashion on the Ration 28/66
  • Hiya All

    Due to the personal circumstances described above I shall be a bit erratic in posting but am on the MM&M case. :j
    Feel free to join me in my 30 days = 30 things declutter, pipkin71 and Mrs Moneypenny! I suspect later in the year we will need to encourage each other!

    Doing well this month as have decluttered MINIMISE so far:

    1 book
    2 bags of shredding
    some stuff from 'hair' drawer - moved intact rather than sorted out as I just ran out of time! List is at home as I am currently house and dog sitting for my friend again while she is off on a Caribbean Cruise! (she's earnt it though!) :D

    NSDs =10/31

    MEND = nowt :o

    MAKE DO: although I am at my friends and she said 'help yourself from pantry and freezer' I don't like to be too cheeky so I bought some stuff from home such as a packet of brown rice we had doubled up on; some excess fruit; some museli which wont fit in the large Kilner jar in which it is supposed to live (really pretty jar not Kilner but something else but its octagonal and works like a kilner - it was a chazzer win some years ago!) So kinda making do also gonna finish up all of friend's stuff such as tomatoes and bread which will/may go off while she's away! Am also, interestingly, making do with very few clothes for the fortnight - mostly long sleeved t shirts with a lovely warm jumper over the top + jeans. My friend will be perfectly ok with me doing a wash while im here and she has a large drying rack up on the wall over a radiator which dries stuff overnight! So that is a form of minimalism! :D

    anyway hope to back on here sooner cos I wont have the family around!
    Nite all
    Aim for Sept 17: 20/30 days to be NSDs :cool: NSDs July 23/31 (aim 22) :j
    NSDs 2015:185/330 (allowing for hols etc)
    LBM: started Jan 2012 - still learning!
    Life gives us only lessons and gifts - learn the lesson and it becomes a gift.' from the Bohdavista :j
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