Smashing up my washing machine was fantastic fun

I recently took delivery of a brand new washing machine and, instead of paying £45 for recycling the old one, I decided to take it to the tip myself.

But I hadn’t realised that washing machine drums are encased in concrete and therefore weigh a tonne.

My wife suggested removing the top lid of the machine and then smashing up the concrete to lighten the weight. I loved this idea and assembled my tools ready to bash the living daylights out of it.

I put my son’s swimming goggles on, got the sledgehammer ready and attacked the machine.

Chunks and sparks were flying off in all directions and after about 30 minutes the concrete had been totally smashed to smithereens.

I was then able to remove the drum from inside the machine.

I then chucked all the debris in the back of the car and set off for the tip.

This was the best fun I have had in ages – and the fact it had saved me £45 made it even better.

Lou: I don’t generally get too stressed. I’m quite a laid-back person, so it takes quite a lot to get me worked up.

However, if there is something on my mind I always have problems falling asleep and there’s nothing worse than lying awake all night worrying.

My top technique is to read a book before bed to try to take my mind off whatever the problem is.

I also enjoy yoga and I find you can use yoga breathing techniques to relax and help you sleep.

So I end up lying in bed, breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth and counting to 10 over and over again!

It chills me out, but I imagine it has the opposite effect on my boyfriend...

Perhaps next time I’m feeling stressed, I’ll give Jez’s washing machine-bashing technique a go.

The problem is that method requires having an unwanted washing machine handy – and I’m not sure I could do without mine.

JEZ: SADLY, NO GIRLS WERE EVER WON OVER BY MY MIX TAPES

This week it was revealed that there would soon be a weekly cassette tape album chart.

This is amazing. I used to be a massive fan of cassette tapes and would often use my DJing prowess to record mix tapes for the girls I fancied at school.

I would then gift-wrap the cassettes before handing them over. Sadly, none of the girls were ever won over by my choice of tunes.

I also remember Sunday nights recording the chart on cassette and trying to stop the recording before Mark Goodier or Bruno Brookes spoke.

The great thing with tapes is they are re-useable and you could get so much use from one good-quality cassette.

But they would occasionally chew up your favourite album.

LOU: CATCH-UP APPS ARE GREAT, BUT THEY CAN CAUSE PROBLEMS

These days I hardly ever watch live TV. Because I have to get up so early for work, I tend to catch up on things the next day so I can get an early night.

It’s so easy with all the catch-up apps on my TV and means I can watch whatever I want whenever I want.

However, apps like Netflix and Amazon Prime can cause problems too. Last weekend my mum, my sister and her boyfriend all came to stay and we decided to watch a film.

But while my boyfriend fancied watching a thriller, that’s really not my mum’s cup of tea and either my sister or her boyfriend seemed to have already seen everything else!

In the end it took us over an hour to decide what to watch. By which point we were all so tired we very nearly went to bed instead.