I haven't been in the chat room, but I'll offer my opinion and hope people will be polite and civilized if they've already heard this.

Lilyfestre, it doesn't matter whether or not you're playing just for your own enjoyment. What matters the most is the number of hours you play. I change my violin strings every 6 to 12 months, and I'm always surprised at how much better the violin sounds. If your string keeps going out of tune, the problem is much more likely to be the peg than the string.