Make do (with)

If you “make do” with something, you have to use what you have at the moment; you have to make a plan with what is available - even if it is not the best or ideal. You improvise until you can have what you want later.

1. I would love to have air conditioning in our apartment, but for now we will have to make do with fans.

2.  Before I got my first computer I had to make do with going to an internet café and also storing all of my important information on a USB/ pen drive.

3. If you don’t have a car, you need to make do with public transportation or getting lifts (rides) from friends.

4. When you make do with what you have, you are being resourceful. You use your creativity and ingenuity to improve your situation when you have limited resources. During my first months in Brazil, we didn’t have a washing machine, so I used to put all of our clothes into a big plastic tub, climb into the tub and run on the spot, churning the clothes with my feet. I had to make do with a plastic tub until we could afford a washing machine.

Settle for

When you “settle for” anything, you are accepting second best or something that is inferior to what you really wanted – because you have limited options, or what you want is not possible.

1.  I would really love a house right on the beach one day - but if not possible I will have to settle for renting an apartment with a sea view.

2. If I ask for a pineapple juice when I am at a restaurant, and they don’t have any, I usually settle for an orange juice.

3. If you can’t get into the course at university that you really want, you may have to settle for something similar… or even consider studying another career. Sometimes life doesn’t work out the way we want or expect.

4. What brand names do you have to settle for because the product that you want is either not available or much more expensive?