Debt Free by 40 Debt Diary

gallygirl

I made a lovely pumpkin, orange & thyme soup last weekend. Basic pumpkin soup recipe, plus zest & juice of an orange, sprigs of thyme in the soup as it cooks and some leaves to serve with.

Slight problem in that I decide to make a lantern with pumpkin so had to scoop out flesh rather than chop up - took hours!!!! Still, I enjoyed lantern even if kids didn't (youngest is 19!)

Hope you have a good night our pink & fizzy friend!!!!

oakdale_minx

£30 done!!! Pink fizzy half done!! Pizza made and in the oven...took out a few frustrations squashing the dough and stopped short of throwing it in the air and trying to spin it.....knew I'd have a use for that pizza oven I drunkenly bought one Friday night from bid up a couple of years ago!!!!!!!!! Pity I can't remember whether it should be on bake, toast or broil........

Listening to the glitz mix on the radio (wave 105 if anyone fancies a good boogy - it's online) and did a mad dance whilst drying the dishes........who needs to go out on a Friday night!!

OH called 10 mins ago. He is going into town and presumed I was going to my old local pub. Nope!! I'm off to find a Friday night DFW party if there is one!

beach_3

Younhave really cheered me up up what an emtertaining thread, good luck with everything

Beach

oakdale_minx

beach wrote:

Younhave really cheered me up up what an emtertaining thread, good luck with everything

Beach

Come over to the DFW party I'm having!! never had a party at my place before!

Bunnyinthelights

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm, pumpkin soup!
Love it, almost a nice as PUMPKIN PIE! (oops, have I just outed myself as 'North American'?) I lllllllllllllllluuuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrvvvvvvvvvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee pumpkin pie, with cream.
Sigh, going to bed now to dream of it!
Bunny x

lulu650

oakdale, just spent 30mins whizzing through lots of your posts and you are a real inspiration to many posters here.
The very best post was when you almost got rid of your OH. I hope it doesn't take you too long before you realise how much he is taking you for granted. You deserve someone a hell of a lot better.

oakdale_minx

He isn't out of the woods yet..........he's definitely on probation........

Had a fab DFW party night last night, party goers were a bit thin on the ground, but there quite a few viewings so there must have been a few other people lurking around bopping away to their own musec.

Got my car insurance stuff from Sheila's Wheels and a statement from my savings account which I thought was empty. It has £13 in it - not exactly a sum to get excited about, but it felt like putting an old coat on and finding a £10 note in the pocket!

Plan for today is to do a bit of AQA and make some soup. As OH is out again tonight, I'll do a bigger chunk of AQA tonight. I've got half the pizza dough left from yesterday, plus a bit of cheap plonk left in the bottle, so that's dinner sorted!

Might have seen a car to replace mine. It is sucha tough decision. MOT is booked for Friday, so the test itself will be £40. then I know the exhaust needs at least a new mounting and possibly a new bak box. Then there is the unkown of what else could need doing. It's a 13 year old car with 187k on the clock. Other than it's little tantrum last weekend it has never played up and I'm loathe to get rid just because it might cost £150 or so on the MOT. But a squeak in the clutch has now developed and the part I cleaned up is only a temporarything - it could start stalling again at any time and the part is about £90 to replace. The car I've seen is the same age - L reg. And it's another Vauxhall, a Cavalier. It has an MOT and tax for a year. It's £450, private sale, so that could be negotiated down.

I just don't know. Soldier on with my faithful old Carlton, or swap for something as old that might give me 4 or 5 years of cheap driving again.

I really need an automatic. A spinal cord injury left my left foot and leg with no sensation and I can't feel the clutch under my foot. Add in the back pain I have when driving and I know I need an automatic. The plan was to get to Spring whe I would have my bank charges back, some money saved and my £1700 in back pay. I then planned to spend about £1500 on an automatic car with the plan that it would last me 5-8 years minimum.

Don't know. The old me would have just said, stuff it, change the car. The new me is a bit more cautious, but I don't want to pour money needlessly into the Carlton.

ZTD

oakdale_minx wrote:

The car I've seen is the same age - L reg. And it's another Vauxhall, a Cavalier. It has an MOT and tax for a year. It's £450, private sale, so that could be negotiated down.

I just don't know. Soldier on with my faithful old Carlton, or swap for something as old that might give me 4 or 5 years of cheap driving again.

I really need an automatic. A spinal cord injury left my left foot and leg with no sensation and I can't feel the clutch under my foot. Add in the back pain I have when driving and I know I need an automatic. The plan was to get to Spring whe I would have my bank charges back, some money saved and my £1700 in back pay. I then planned to spend about £1500 on an automatic car with the plan that it would last me 5-8 years minimum.

This is a better plan than buying a similar aged banger.

oakdale_minx wrote:

Don't know. The old me would have just said, stuff it, change the car. The new me is a bit more cautious, but I don't want to pour money needlessly into the Carlton.

Right, my thoughts on this are...

1. Soldier on with the Carlton if you can - depends on the MOT - but be looking hard for another car. Be thinking "months" rather than "years". Put away a certain amount of savings each month earmarked for car replacement. I know this is the new "tight" you, but you need it.
2. Look for newer cars than the one you've got - it's no good letting the age of your car increase as time goes on. Would your Carlton have been this reliable if it had started out being this age? Buying a cheap car doesn't mean it'll be cheapest overall.

oakdale_minx

Ihave to say ZTD, this is my thinking. By next Spring, I will have all my back pay and I should have all my bank charges back by then. On top , I will have my AQA money. Ideally, I'd like a car that is roughly T reg, but then a newer car could be just as unreliable, luck of the draw.

Think I will put it through the MOT on Friday and take it from there.

oakdale_minx

Roasted Pumpkin, Red Pepper and Coriander soup anyone???




I've just frozen the rest. Made 7 very generous portions and is a bit scrummy. Worked out at about 16p or so a portion.