In recent years thanks to the downturn of our economy Make Do and Mend has become more and more popular, for some people it has been out of necessity, for others just because! I have always been a bit of a Make Do and Mend kind of person, I love arts and crafts, I love making something because it means so much more than something bought which every Tom, Dick or Harry could get hold of in their local high street store. I would like to do more – I’d love to try my hand at dressmaking – but for now, I make what I can, fix what I can and use the pennies that I have saved to treat my family or myself to something nice.
Money-Saving Sites
When shopping for new things I tend to do a lot of research online first to find the best deals and I like to keep abreast of money-saving sites. I was contacted recently by Smart Shoppers which is an online community to find and share fun and thrifty ways to save money and make do and mend. You can find everything on tips for running a household, crafty ideas for kids, upcycling or cleaning tips you wonder how you lived without!
Hackney City Farm
To give us more of an insight and to fully introduce us to Smart Shoppers, a group of families were invited to Hackney City Farm last week. The children were kept entertained doing arts and crafts, making these gorgeous flowers out of tea light foils, pipe cleaners and buttons, printing stamps out of cardboard as well as colouring, painting and anything else messy! They had a tour of the farm, had their faces painted and lots of and lots of fun!
Homemade Skincare
As for the Mummies . . . we were treated to a course in how to make your own skincare which was great fun and I’ve been having a play with a few more recipes since we came home. On the day we learnt how to make a Lime & Ginger Body Scrub, Strawberry & Banana Face Mask, Honey & Oats Facemask and Lavender & Oats Bath Bags. Keep your eye on the blog and I will be posting recipes for you soon . . .
We were treated to the most delicious lunch I have had in ages, the soup was AMAZING and I really must get the recipe – I can still taste it now! I had never been to or heard of Hackney City Farm before but it was a great place which was really well attended by the local community. At lunchtime, the restaurant was PACKED which just goes to show how good the food there really is.
Downtime for Mums
In the afternoon we Mummies did what we do best, we TALKED! We shared advice, opinions and talked the hind legs off the farm donkeys. Earlier in the week, we had each been sent this really cool box of goodies with a proviso. We had to bring the gorgeous heart-shaped notice board to the farm with us complete with our top 5 tips on how to save time and money.