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Fingers crossed re the car. Ours was looked at on Monday but not heard anything.LTotal Debt Dec 07 £59875.83 Overdrafts £2900,New Debt Figure ZERO !!!!!!:j 08/06/2013
Lucielle's Daring Debt Free Journey
DFD Before we Die!!!! Long Haul Supporter #1242 -
Sadly if the DPF actually fails, then it can't be regenerated - regeneration is something that is meant to happen in regular driving. The issue I have is that over the past few years the car has been used for too much town-based driving, with the occasional longer trip or run into London on the commute, but of course that commute involves lots of crawling along in traffic, even on the way home I rarely get the required 5 minute run at a steady 65mph which is what mine needs for regeneration! Had we known what was coming with first Covid, and then the change in habits, this one wouldn't have been another diesel to be honest - I'm not really suited to having one any more.
I am hoping that it could turn out to still just be a sensor, so we'll see. It is possible that it could have been the sensor itself that was sending messages to the car not to allow the necessary amount of fuel through. If it IS that, then there will definitely be some changes in the way we split the car use out!🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
Fingers crossed it's the sensor... DPF complaining and repeatedly going into limp mode in the fast lane of the M3 was what made me decide to replace my car last time
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I was exceptionally glad it didn't go full limp mode - but it was that possibility that made me so wary of trying to get it home. Thankfully the breakdown recovery chap was of the same mind and as soon as I mentioned the distances involved he immediately noted it as an "advised customer that the car should not be driven!"🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her5 -
Morning all - and happy weekend!
the Just For One Day musical on Thursday night was absolutely superb, we both loved it and came out grinning, I’m thoroughly reminded of why I love going to the theatre as well! The plan to go to the weather/cutlery chain pub for tea was scuppered by the one we chose being SO busy we stood no chance of getting a table, so we wandered along towards the theatre and opted for a portion of chips each washed down with a beer from a favourite pub just opposite.If anyone gets the chance to catch the show on its national tour I would highly recommend it - excellent cast, band and production.
in other news, MrEH spotted that our snowdrops are nearly out in the garden this morning - spring is on its way!
MSE Stuff:
- popped into Sainsbugs at Holborn on 5e way home on Thursday and found a couple of packs of (well known brand) falafels for 71p each so those are now in the freezer
- shopping yesterday came to £7.46 in Al’s - just walking round there is definitely proving money saving on all counts, I’m less tempted to buy extras because I’ll have to carry them back, and I’m not tempted by deals that have been pushed in front of me as I would have with Lil’s and the app.- a few bits still needed - MrEH’s milk, butter (could wait until next week) tomatoes and bananas.- the reduced bread basket had toasting muffins at 30% off so grabbed a couple of those - now in the freezer.- made katsu curry sauce for the first time yesterday - used the standard recipe on the G00d F00d website but added a tablespoon each of ketchup and soy sauce as suggested in the slightly revved up recipe on there. Absolutely delicious though - half eaten last night and half has gone in the freezer. Used the last two chicken breasts from the YS’d batch that were in the freezer, sliced and fried off with some breadcrumbs added for the crunch to top it off, and served with rice.- decided to nab the last portion of the chicken orzo bake from the freezer for my lunch today, MrEH is at rugby.- DW ran overnight on cheaper electric, and has been emptied this morning
- WM also ran overnight and the full load is now out on the line as we have sunshine and blue skies here!Some heavy duty spendiness this week personally as I have paid for my pass to the big airshow in the summer. £332.75 from my airshow account, and I will need to give some consideration to the balance in there as it is a little lower than ai would like ideally at this stage, although it can probably be dealt with by a bit of redirection of surplus/a couple of months where other savings pots aren’t funded.Plans for today are relatively low-key, we need to get to the farm shop for Seville oranges, as it is marmalade season, then MrEH will be heading off to the rugby club. I may walk down with him and continue on a walk by myself, or might instead see if I can get my bike sorted out and ready to ride, although that may depend on whether the seat is soaking wet, that needs investigation! It needs air in the tyres anyway so that job can certainly be done. This afternoon I intend to go through the pictures I took last Friday which I’ve not even looked at yet!🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her8 -
Well done on the shopping Billy bob bargains!
I do love a theatre trip.LTotal Debt Dec 07 £59875.83 Overdrafts £2900,New Debt Figure ZERO !!!!!!:j 08/06/2013
Lucielle's Daring Debt Free Journey
DFD Before we Die!!!! Long Haul Supporter #1244 -
A show, chips, and beer sounds like a brilliant night out 🍻https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6466032/an-in-between-phase/p1
'self-blame can be as egotistical as self-praise... any work worth doing is greater than we are... we must not overrate our importance to it, either for good or ill' Margaret Kennedy Lucy Carmichael5 -
Morning all - Monday again? How did THAT happen?!
Quiet but productive-ish weekend, managed a fair balance of doing not much and getting the things that needed doing sorted!
MSE Stuff:
- Farm shop visit was done - £6.88 spent on marmalade oranges, a yogurt for MrEH (favourite brand AND flavour, and that's the only place vaguely locally we can get them), a bulb of smoked garlic and a reduced price bread baguette
- Quick stop in at T's for bananas, milk & tomatoes - £2.82
- the baguette served to bolster my lunch, plus our tea on Saturday so was well worth its 50p
- lunch yesterday was a "use it up" bake involving the leftover christmas veg, roast potatoes and parsnips, final few rashers of streaky bacon and a piece of chorizo plus some cream - all from the freezer and combined with some additional potato and some peas.. Topped with cheese, and it shared the oven with a rice pudding which got some dollops of christmas mincemeat in it and was very tasty indeed! Used brown sugar in that instead of the granulated the usual recipe specifies. A tasty lunch with lots of odds and ends used up!
- First batch of marmalade made yesterday - 8 jars from that including two big clip-top ones.
- Prep for second batch also done, the sliced peel is sitting in the water and can be switched on as soon as the peak rate drops off this evening.
- Tea last night also saw lots of using up of random bits from the freezer - a half box of mozzarella sticks (xmas picky bits), smoked salmon (also from christmas) and a bit of the charcuterie box we bought at Ludlow Food Festival, froze and have been gradually eating our way through with cheese and crackers!
- Downstairs loo cleaned with the free bottle of (rather good) bathroom cleaner I was sent to trial a while ago, and my new Sm0l floor cleaner which also seems to be quite good.
- Meal plan is now drawn up through to mid February, although as always it will be subject to change as and when bargains appear.
- WM & DW ran overnight - not the cheapest of electric but still better than paying at the standard rates! The WM load (bedding and tea towels) got thrown on the airer before we left home this morning.
I'm finding using that planner book I bought quite helpful to keep track of things I want to do and also habits I'd like to foster as well. It's encouraging me to get my Yoga done - but I'm also trying to be a bit less rigid about that than I have been in the past, as much as I'd like to do it "regularly" 4 times a week is absolutely fine, I haven't "failed" if I miss a day, or even a few days, and with luck that might also mean I stick at it longer too. I'm noting things like wanting to blog more regularly as well as that is something I really enjoy and it would be nice to build it back up again.🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her10 -
I note we have a new text editor for the forum, with easy access to lots of emojis (although sadly not the Martin spinny head one I fear!) - ironically after all these years of us not being allowed to have 🙄- it now appears. Any money on how long before it becomes the single most used emoji on the forum?!
Theoretically it appears to make light work of adding photos etc as well…let's see…
Ooh - it does indeed. F-18 hornet and Spitfire, in case anyone was wondering, funny what you have just hanging around on your computer isn't it! 😁 here's hoping it works as well on mobile/tablet as it does on PC!
Last night's tea was a very satisfying sausages (lamb, rosemary & garlic) with mash (potato and parsnip) and beans (added smoked paprika & allspice, as usual) and gives two sausages left over to be sliced to have with this evening's couscous. I'd been planning straight potato mash, but that would have meant venturing to the shed to top up the levels of tatties as there were only two in the bag - venturing to the fridge was far more pleasant!
Batch 2 of the marmalade was dealt with - we were very slightly short on granulated sugar for that, but as I currently have two bags of caster sugar we opted to top up the final 250g with that instead - much more MSE than going to the shop for a fresh bag of granulated! (Although I have added it to my list, it will be bought the next time I head to FF's). I commented when we were prepping the oranges that they seemed extremely juicy this year, and so it proved as both batches made more jars than usual - indeed, in spite of MrEH having brought in more than he imagined we'd need, the final bit last night is currently residing in a bowl in the fridge! 😂 I did labels for the first batch last night, and will do batch 2 tonight. How in earth it's all going to fit into the cupboard is another question entirely!
WM ran last night on moderately cheap electric - hopefully MrEH has remembered to stick that load (rugby kit) on the airer first thing…There will likely be a further load through this evening as well I think, as I want to get caught up ahead of the weekend when we will be off celebrating a pal's birthday.
🎉 MORTGAGE FREE (First time!) 30/09/2016 🎉 And now we go again…New mortgage taken 01/09/23 🏡
Balance as at 01/09/23 = £115,000.00 Balance as at 31/12/23 = £112,000.00
Balance as at 31/08/24 = £105,400.00 Balance as at 31/12/24 = £102,500.00
£100k barrier broken 1/4/25
Balance as at 31/08/25 = £ 95,450.00. Balance as at 31/12/25 = £ 91,100.00
SOA CALCULATOR (for DFW newbies): SOA Calculatorshe/her7 -
There's no way the Spitfire is coming out of that duel/race well! 😜
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