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A journey to financial security
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Just caught up on your diary M- well done on the house savings and the bit of eBaying!Tortoise is exciting! We’ve got a massive hebe at the front of the house, I wasn’t a fan but the bees love it at the moment so I’ve changed my mind. The fact that tortoises eat them as well made me smile but i can’t see it being a useful fact! 😂MFW 2021 #76 £5,145
MFW 2022 #27 £5,300
MFW 2023 #27 £2,000
MFW 2024 #27 £6,055
MFW 2025 #27 £2,350 /£5,0000 -
Thank you @powerspowers . Well you never know when there might be a passing tortoise 😂
Nearly the weekend! Should be another low spend weekend as the football is on tonight so we won’t be going anywhere. It is also my Saturday evening to work and will be working on Sunday as usual. OH and I are going on a spa day on Monday which was a Christmas present from his parents. I am really looking forward to it and it includes a two-course lunch and 1.5-hour treatment so we will not need to spend anything.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend
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Hiya
tortoises are very exciting. What breed are you getting?
We got tortoises when I was about 8, grew them from babies to adults and my parents still have them and they have babies every year. I know a lot about them as I was most excited about them and have looked after them by myself and hatched many many eggs hehe.
Sorry if I'm repeating advice you've already read as it sounds like you've done a lot of research.
Thought it would be useful to share my experiences, just incase any of it is useful.
If you have any questions let me know - they might not be big enough to go outside for a while, ours are a smaller breed though, they couldn't go out for 3-4 years apart from on very sunny days And be careful about birds picking them up when they are small and that they have a covered area in their outside enclosure. Try to give them something they can burrow into with some hay on top.
Tortoises are total escape artists as well, they will climb on top of each other and they can dig.
Tortoises eat for England too. They eat so much salad, you would not believe. If you are near a beach, do occasionally go search for some cuttlefish as its great diet supplement and free
Our tortoises favourite food is ice plant. They would eat it all day if they could but its more of a treat food.
Heating them throughout winter is very expensive, especially as they will need to be a certain size before they hibernate.
Its best to talk to local vets in advance and try to find one that knows about tortoises and keep a spreadsheet of their weight as changes in this can be a good indicator of any issues.
Tortoises have a lot of personality and can be very fussy. They really are funny and so interesting to watch. They are really hard work and very expensive though.
Mortgage start: April 2024 - 295k Current £256k
Emergency fund: 13.5k/15k
Current mortgage free year: 2054 2039
Mortgage free diary: Snug & Sorted: Our Race to Mortgage Freedom
The little joy list
Books read: 41 (2024) | 12 (2025)1 -
Hi @kaycastle I was hoping someone here might have some experience so thank you!
They will be Hermann’s and all going to plan they should be coming from family of a close friend who are in a similar situation to your parents with babies every year. These will be a year old, and they just want them to go to good homes. This is great for us as we had already decided a year ago that we would like Hermann’s.
Yes I was of the understanding that they would need to be indoors most of the time but then when I have researched it says to put them outside as much as possible so I think that it will be best to have somewhere outside for them to go on those rare sunny days as well. I think we will try and use some chicken wire or similar to make some kind of lid for outside.
That’s a great tip my office is 5 minutes’ walk from the beach so I will try and find some cuttlefish there.
I have seen (and held) a tortoise in the waiting room of the vets that I take my dogs to so I’m pretty certain there is someone there I can see but I will give them a call to double check as well. And of course the dogs will be kept well away from the tortoises which won’t be too difficult as they are very small dogs.
Some people have said that they are very easy to keep as pets but I can tell from my research that if they are looked after properly then there is a lot more to it. In your experience what sort of supermarket salads are suitable I am seeing a lot of conflicting advice online?
Thank you again and I expect I will have more questions!
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No worries
We have spur-thigh tortoises but I would say Herman's are a lot easier and do get into hibernation habits better from what I hear.
Also for the salads those bags of mixed salad leaves, cos and romaine lettuce is what ours eat. Nothing more complicated than that.
Forgot to mention the most easiest thing as well, they love dandelion leaves and even the flowers and its another free way to feed them and really healthy for them too.Mortgage start: April 2024 - 295k Current £256k
Emergency fund: 13.5k/15k
Current mortgage free year: 2054 2039
Mortgage free diary: Snug & Sorted: Our Race to Mortgage Freedom
The little joy list
Books read: 41 (2024) | 12 (2025)0 -
Well @kaycastle there are plenty of weeds in our garden so that's good news for the tortoises. Thank you.
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Hi All,
The weeks seem to be going by so quickly. No work this weekend as its OH’s 30th birthday. We are hosting a BBQ for nearly 30 people tomorrow. Still lots to prepare as have only bought burgers, sausages, and cheese. I was concerned that the weather wouldn’t be good and we would have to cancel so didn’t want to buy too much too early. However forecast is now looking excellent so will pop to L1dl at lunchtime and B and emm this evening and hope for the best! To be honest I have never been that keen on attending these types of things let alone hosting one so I hope all goes smoothly. I will probably be found hiding in the shed with a bottle of wine
In money news it’s pay day today and my own house savings are up to £12,850.00. It’s been a slow month for Pr0lif1c but have earned a few amaz0n vouchers from other survey sites. Still no closer to deciding whether to start overpaying my BTL mortgage again. I think the sensible thing to do is wait until I have a bit more saved in the BTL account for any maintenance costs.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend
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Who needs more food when you have cheese 😋???Mortgage start: £65,495 (March 2016)
Cleared 🧚♀️🧚♀️🧚♀️!!! In 5 years, 1 month and 29 days
Total amount repaid: £72,307.03. £1.10 repaid for every £1.00 borrowed
Finally earning interest instead of paying it!!!1
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