Saving money with DIY Car maintenance

Treeboy here.

My wife has bought a new car, well new to her, its a 2012 Seat Ibiza ecomotive. Does 80 miles per gallon of diesel and is £0 road tax. Unfortunately she choose to buy now and not save by getting the car on fiance. The price of the finance is offset a bit by the fuel and tax savings but it is still an extra bill. Due to our location she requires a car to get to work and ferry our brood around to various children's parties, which destroy the soul, etc.

The old car has to now go. However there is a slight problem. The oil light on the dash board goes on at random times. Now the oil level has been checked and the problem has been identified as a faulty oil pressure sensor at the front of the engine. Probably cost about £80 to fix at the mechanic.

I decided after some google research to do the job myself. The oil pressure sensor is located at the front of the engine in her car and it took about 55 seconds to replace!!! What a saving.

I also set about replacing a blown bulb in here dashboard as you could not read the odometer and mileage, making the car hard to sell.

Who will buy a car where the oil light flicks on and off and you cant see the mileage? Maybe somebody might but they will give you bugger all for it.

Then when i got the bulb out I went to get a replacement and nobody in any of the car part shops had ever seen one! I had to go to the dealer and pay £3 for the bulb which was a special LED apparently.

Rebuilt the dash and of course had 2 screws left over. I cannot figure out where they belong but everything seems secure so to hell with them.

I reckon  I have saved about £100 in parts and labor doing it myself.

Trees are teaching me Finance....

I spend a lot of time among the trees. It can be quite meditative.

Finally gave up after 100 years of trying!

Quietly thinking about money in a local park.  All around me stood tall trees of various species. I started to see a lesson right before me . Something about the trees called to my inner nature child.

1. Trees have multiple roots, leaves and branches. Conventional wisdom says that to have one source of income is a weakness. What happens if that single source of income is lost and you have lots of bills to pay? Bedlam, that is  what.
Imagine if trees had one big leaf to catch light and make energy. What happens if the leaf is removed, no more sugar. Instead they have thousands, all adding a little bit passively. 

Lesson? Have multiple income streams makes you harder to kill.

2. Trees keeping going even when things look bleak. They set seed and attempt to grow on cliff faces, and often succeed. 

Lesson?  Work with what you have and make the most of it. Be a force of nature that is difficult to stop. Make small increments of growth forward and outward .

3. Trees grow quickly at the start and then slow down.

 Lesson? Invest for high gains when young and then once established make slow and steady growth just like the rings of a tree.

4. Trees form symbiotic relationships with fungi increasing their range and nutrient gathering capabilities.

Lesson? Don't be a loner. Learn and gather what resources you can from people who have access to stiff you don't.  Give and you shall receive.

5. Trees takes chances in life. The perfect shape for a tree from a strength point of view is a cone of solid wood covered in leaves. It would be hard to blow over. However small and stable misses out on lots of light opportunities. 

Lesson? Take chances now and again. Being safe all the time is boring.

6. Trees don't heal they seal. When a tree is wounded it closes off the wound and seals it.

Lesson? Seal off problems and move on. Don't put to much effort into worrying about wounds in your finances.  Seal the leaks and move on to making more income leaves.