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2nd - One habit down!
7th - Legend or doorknob?
12th - Blowing noses and budgets
16th - The Powers of Persuasion
22nd - Return of the Blob
24th - Three amazing websites
27th - First in best dressed
30th - Why didn't I think of that?
One habit down!
Mar 2, 2006
What a blast it was turning my Habit Changer calendar over to March yesterday! You see, I've cracked it - I'm a tee-totaller! Woohoo! I can't tell you how good it feels to have finally blitzed the booze from my budget, not to mention my body of course. I'll not pretend it was easy, I actually found it harder than giving up smoking, but I've blooming well done it. I've got a nice bottle of grape juice to take to Book Club tonight!
So, it's time to find a new habit to change and write on my calendar. Unfortunately due to my dodgy leg and lack of exercise (OK, and an abnormal consumption of cheese), I've put on a few kilos in the last few months. Everyone thinks I'm back running again because I'm always in my sports gear, little do they know that I am only wearing my bike shorts because they have an elasticised waist. I almost died a few weeks ago when I went to do up my denim shorts and I caught my stomach in the zip! Apart from being rather painful, it doesn't do one's self esteem any good. The scales say I've put on four kilos since November and all four of them appear to have gathered in the same place. I read in Woman's Day a couple of weeks ago that if you manage to give up alcohol for long periods of time, you will definitely lose weight, so I'm clinging to that hope. It's not easy to diet when you don't eat meat either. I must be the only overweight vegetarian I know!
At least my beloved worm farm likes the huge amount of vege scraps I send their way. I was really chuffed the other day when I peered into the barrel and found baby worms. I'm a worm granny! Mind you, pretty soon I'm going to look like one too - I found my first grey hair last week. I was appalled! I mean, Noel's been grey since he was 21, which he says is due to the stress of living with me, but I was quite proud of the fact I was the last of my friends to get any. Imagine my shock to see this long shiny grey hair defiantly sticking out of my head - zing! Look at me! It's all downhill from here matey! So what do I do now? Am I going to do an Andie MacDowell and spend the rest of my life spending money on dyeing those pesky grays 'because I'm worth it?' or am I going to attempt to carry them gracefully? I think I'll wait until I get a few more before I decide.
My new household budget is going well. I had $33 left to put into savings after the first week. This week looks as though it's set to be even better. Rochelle was watching me use my Spendtracker yesterday as I punched in my expenses and I have to admit it really makes me think before I spend anything. I mean, imagine how much a decent bottle of wine would take out of my weekly savings now? I wouldn't dream of it! My weekly Woman's Day soon got biffed off the shopping list now too. I can't wait to see how much of a difference these changes make to our finances long term! I love being at home these days. I really feel for the first time that I am actually managing our household competently. We're all eating well and I am more organised than I have ever been. The boys started back at school a month ago and the old snack box full of Flippa Dippa's, Le Snacks and Darth Vader muesli bars has not been touched - it just goes to show how much they really like or need them when offered alternatives. The biggest buzz was this morning though, when packing the boys' school lunches. Next week is their school's 125th Jubilee and Liam's class all had to go to school this morning dressed in character as a child from 1881. Strict instructions were sent home about what they were to wear and bring and one rule in particular was about school lunches. No chips or packaged foods of any kind was allowed; only fresh fruit and home made foods were allowed to make it into their school bags. 'Big deal, eh Mum?' said Liam. 'We don't have to change a thing!'
Legend or doorknob?
Mar 7, 2006
I love listening to the stories my Mum tells me about my grandmother. She was a prime example of a Simple Saver! She raised Mum and her three sisters on her own in England for several years during WW2, but they never went without. Rationing was never a problem for her; she had a huge vegetable garden and kept cows, pigs and chickens to keep everyone well fed in meat, eggs and dairy. Nanny made everything from scratch, even her own butter and Mum remembered as a little girl how her mother would always find ways to make the blandest food taste divine, devising her own 'as good as' substitutes when so many items were not readily available during the War. By the time I was born, Nan could no longer walk and my Grandad did all the cooking so I never got to sample her food myself, but even though all my memories of her are sitting in her chair, she still kept busy. She was always making something out of nothing, I even remember her crocheting recycled plastic bags!
These days when Mum watches me cook, she often talks about the things her mother used to do and it amazes me how much I actually still waste, even when I think I'm being frugal. Recently after a big session of vegetable chopping and freezing, I was about to take all the stalks and peelings out to the worms when Mum said 'Why don't you cook those up first to make a vegetable stock?' She showed me how and that's what I did - it smelled delicious! Now I have heaps of natural yummy stock in the freezer to be added to soups and stews and the worms still got to enjoy them when I had finished with them! A heck of a lot nicer than those powdered vegetable stocks too. I am trying to be really resourceful lately, making pasta sauces and tomato soup so I don't waste any of the tomato avalanche tumbling out of the garden. One of Noel's colleagues gave us a huge bag of carrots last week – I mean enormous! I was kept very busy chopping and freezing some and making carrot cakes. The donkeys were most impressed with their feast of peelings! Then Noel's mother gave us a heap of courgettes, which don't freeze so I made courgette loaves and froze them instead. I used to take these kind of gifts for granted, or even worse, leave them to go to waste in the pantry or the back of the fridge, but these days I really appreciate how much money these save us.
Shame then, that even with all my resourcefulness, I still managed to make a huge blunder last week! I didn't even realise I had done it until I was on the phone to Maxine several days later. We were discussing school photos, which had come around again. I was bemoaning the fact that these had cost me $97, which I felt was rather excessive. So did Max, who wondered what I had done differently as she had only spent $25 on a family package of her two children. I proceeded to explain that we were away last year and the kids had missed their school photos being done. This really had not gone down well with the boys and I had heaps of rellies and friends overseas who were owed long overdue pics, so when the photo forms came around, I went the whole hog. I ordered individual packs of both Liam and Ali’s photographs, a $25 family pack AND class photos of both of the boys. The daft thing is, as Maxine pointed out, the family pack was really all I needed. There were plenty of photos of all sizes in that pack – and even a photo calendar and bookmark, which would have been perfect to send overseas. Even if I had gone mad and ordered two family packs, it would have given me more than enough for everyone – and saved me $47 in the process. Through not taking time to read the form properly and think carefully about my choices, I had chosen the most expensive option there was. To use Liam’s favourite phrase, we all agreed I was a prize doorknob.
Talking of phrases, my youngest son came out with a classic line the other day. Our phone lines were down after a storm, so unable to do any work while the boys were at school, I decided to be kind and empty what we affectionately call 'Ali's Mess Basket'. Ali readily admits to being chief mess maker in the house, he never sits still for a minute and in the space of half an hour he can make the most spotless home resemble a bombsite. Because he is so busy moving on to the next mission, nothing gets put away first. So we have a rule that he can get out whatever he likes each day, but at the end of the day everything must be put into Ali's Mess Basket and when the basket is full, he cannot get out anything else whatsoever until the Mess Basket is emptied and everything put away in the correct place. He absolutely dreads the basket being full, which it was on this day, so I knew that he would be very grateful and relieved that I did it for him. When he returned home from school I said 'Look! What is missing from over there?' 'My Mess Basket' he grinned. 'What did I ever-so-kindly do for you?' I asked back. 'Put everything away!' he answered. 'Yes, so what does that make me?' I replied. 'I am a...' 'Cleaner?' he offered hopefully? 'Legend, Ali. The word I was looking for was LEGEND'...
Blowing noses and budgets
Mar 12, 2006
What a frustrating week! After feeling so proud and in control just recently, it feels as though all my good work has been undone - all because I got lumbered with the flu. Well, our whole family did actually and I have discovered an entire week's worth of sickness is not conducive to saving money. My meal plan went out the window as none of us were up to cooking, so the most substantial meal we ate was cheese on toast. Perfectly good home made food went uneaten and perished at the back of the fridge. Technically this should have meant that we were really economical to feed for the week, but unfortunately not, due to the fact I spent over $100 stocking up on necessary 'comfort items' on the one occasion I managed to crawl along to the local store. I couldn't believe it came to that much for so few items which basically amounted to fizzy drinks, ice cream and Cup-a-Soup.
My carefully monitored budget was non-existent for the week - I have no idea how much I spent or what is in my account and worse still, I couldn't even be bothered to use my card in my brain-fogged state and slapped some purchases on the account I so proudly closed several months ago. I was so cross with myself, and even more cross at the heinous illness that drove me to this state. The icing on the cake was at the weekend, when the boys were feeling much better and badgering me to go and 'do something' after being stuck inside for the whole week. It was raining, I was desperate and just wanted to be left alone, so my lovely Mum came to the rescue. She drove us to the nearest town, where the boys had McDonalds, then we let them loose in Video Ezy. They had a 'two for one' kind of deal on, where for every rental you paid for, you got one free. The idea was that they would stock up on videos to take home and watch contentedly for the rest of the afternoon, while I went and hibernated. This plan worked like a charm, unfortunately the total cost of fast food and videos came to more than $60. A hefty price tag for a few hours of peace and quiet and believe me I wasn't proud of my needless splurge, but I was just too ill and exhausted to come up with anything else.
I guess it wasn't all bad though, I mean I did manage to make some savings during the week - even if they were accidental. All four of us had been looking forward to the Super 14 clash between our two favourite teams, the Chiefs and the Crusaders at our home ground. No fewer than 27 past and present All Blacks together at once including our heroes, Dan Carter and Richie McCaw. We had been excited about the game for weeks and promised the kids tickets in the front row, but as the day arrived we knew there was no way Noel and I were going to make it. On the positive side, by not going to the game and watching it on TV at home instead we did save $60. Unfortunately to make up for the kids' disappointment we promised to take them to see the All Blacks play Australia in August, which will probably cost twice as much!
Another event I missed out on that I had been looking forward to was a local department store's end of season sale. With 30% off all children's clothing, I had been really organised the previous week, going through the boys' clothes and making lists of what items they would need next summer. The plan was to buy everything that they needed ahead of time and save heaps on buying new summer clothes for them when the 2007 season came around. Unfortunately I was too ill to drag my sorry self to the store and I was pretty miffed until I saw an ad on television for a Kmart sale at the weekend. Buy one item of kids' clothing and pay only 50% for the second. This was very tempting, as Liam is only nine years old, but he wears age 12 clothes, so most of the time his clothing costs as much to buy as mine does. By yesterday afternoon I was feeling well enough to get along and have a look and I was glad I went. I managed to pick up everything the boys needed for next summer for $190! In previous years I have always ended up spending twice that amount every time summer or winter rolled around, so it definitely pays to shop out of season. A Pumpkin Patch factory outlet also opened in our area a couple of weeks ago, so I thought I would head along for a look. Talk about hell on earth! I have never seen so many bored husbands pushing baby strollers while their wives raided every available rack like women possessed. And with good reason - the bargains were amazing with up to 70% off. A very dangerous place for those with small children, but luckily they did not have much in the way of 'big boys' clothes so I managed to extricate myself relatively unscathed.
Even with my flu-addled brain, I was still impressed with one of my bargains. The food processor my Mum had given me years ago had finally given up the ghost and I was on the lookout for a new one, but wasn't prepared to pay $170 for the ones I saw in Kmart. Instead, I bought an electric hand mixer on special (which even came with dough hook attachments - very handy as I have been making my own bread lately) and one of those 'blender stick' thingy's that you use for pureeing soups, baby food, making breadcrumbs and such. My blender stick even came with a separate chopping attachment and bowl, which meant that I had everything I needed in those two little appliances. I no longer needed a food processor and the total cost of both came to less than $50!
The Powers of Persuasion
Mar 16, 2006
I couldn't believe what found its way into my mailbox earlier this week. It was a party style invitation from Pacific Retail Finance, letting me know in no uncertain terms that all I had to do was say the word and they would lend me whatever money I wanted in order to purchase a top of the range new car, go on my dream holiday or whatever my heart desired. It made the whole idea of borrowing ridiculous amounts of money seem a fun and lighthearted thing to do - in fact, they treated the whole idea as a cause for celebration. To top it all off, included in the envelope was a cardboard 'make-it-yourself' party hat complete with the lender's logo! Before Simple Savings, I would have thought it was a clever, novel idea, but since I have learned to see through these kind of marketing ploys, I was actually quite disgusted by the whole proposal. Is it any wonder people find themselves helplessly in debt when companies such as these are so 'helpful'?
Children are always an easy target for companies to make heaps of money out of totally useless items. The latest fad to be found in every NZ supermarket and corner shop are plastic cartoon figures of The Simpsons - boxes and boxes of them - and every child for miles around is queuing up to spend their pocket money on them, including my boys. What a bargain these toys are too, at only $2.00 each. Before long every family can be like ours, proudly displaying extensive collections of bizarre looking yellow creatures that do absolutely nothing. Actually, that's not completely true; I have heaps of fun fishing them out of the kids' bath every night and meticulously lining them up to dry. At last count there were no less than 16 Simpsons figures adorning the bathroom shelf, meaning in the last few weeks we have somehow parted with $32 in our mission to acquire such an impressive range. How embarrassing, and just when you thought it was safe to go back to the shop, they've opened another box. Mr Patel, our local shopkeeper is understandably very excited about the whole thing.
Forgive me for sounding somewhat cynical, but every so often I am reminded how horribly influential clever advertising or the right well-chosen words can be. Being a dab hand at menu planning these days, I was interested to read a 'super easy' recommended menu plan for busy people in a magazine last week. This was designed to feed a family of four for five nights, so it sounded as though it could be helpful. However it didn't take long to see that the whole plan was made to revolve around a certain brand name - none of which find their way into my shopping basket as a rule, all far too obscure or non-family friendly. I couldn't believe it when they printed the total cost proudly at the bottom - $220. More than $200 to feed a group of four people five times in a week? And that was just the evening meal - no breakfast, lunches or weekends. When I think how I manage to feed our family all our meals for seven days, including baking and the odd luxury item for far less than that, I had to chuckle. It was a pretty sobering thought though to think of all the busy women who might have read that feature, thinking it was just what they needed to make life easier and rushing out to fill their shopping baskets with the necessary gourmet items.
Still, at least I can always find something of interest in That's Life! I know it's not the most intellectual magazine, but at least it's got real people in it, doing real things. I would much rather read about the average Joe's triumphs and tribulations than the latest Brad and Angelina instalment. I find their articles regularly tie in with the Simple Savings philosophy somehow too. Take this week's issue - I was reading an interesting story about a woman from Queensland who took her weight problem of many years into her own hands and reduced her weight from 100kg to 65kg. What an inspirational woman! It was only when I got to the end of the article that I realised I was reading about Annette Sym, author of the Symply Too Good To Be True healthy cookbook. Thanks to the Vault, I already knew how fantastic her books and website are (www.symplytoogood.com.au) I turned a few more pages to find a feature entitled 'Queens of the Bargain Hunters', about a mother and daughter who save thousands of dollars a year with their savvy shopping skills. Brilliant stuff, but to me it felt like old news - I couldn't find anything in that article that wasn't already mentioned in the Vault!
I was doing pretty well this week savings wise, getting back on track after last week's illness blowout. Until today, when I received yet another unwelcome piece of mail - well, actually Noel did, but it was meant for me! Noel was horrified to see he had been sent a speeding fine from a couple of weeks ago - only 8km over the 50km speed limit, but it still incurred a $30 fine. I thought this was most hilarious until he studied the ticket further - and found that the number plate on the speeding ticket was actually that of my car. When we bought my new car last year, he was the one who made the purchase; therefore my car was registered in his name. Unbeknown to both of us, I got nabbed by a speed camera five minutes from home and thanks to me, Noel now has a blot on his impeccable driving record! Classic! I'll never hear the end of it though...
Return of the Blob
Mar 22, 2006
Have you been watching the Commonwealth Games? I have to admit that as a rule watching sport on TV is as about exciting to me as watching paint dry, but I loved watching the men's triathlon event a few days ago. It was particularly inspiring for me as the winner, Bradley Kahlefeldt turned to triathlons after suffering stress fractures in both legs, like me and unable to run or cycle had taught himself to swim. Just goes to show what can be achieved! Yep, watching those guys has got me all motivated again and not before time as Penny the Blob has returned once more. Funny how you talk yourself into bad habits isn't it? After injuring my leg I was unable to exercise, so I decided I might as well go the whole hog and eat whatever I liked - just while I was recuperating of course. I knew it would catch up with me, four months of pigging out tends to have that effect and I could feel the weight gradually creeping on again. I thought cutting out the alcohol would help and indeed it probably would have made a difference, but when you're eating enough dinner for three people every evening it's kind of hard to tell.
So when I hopped on the scales this morning to discover I had put on a total of six kilos in four months, I knew I had to take action. It feels more like 16kg than six and I reckon it looks like it too. I feel bleurgh - tired, lacking in energy and pretty down on myself. None of my clothes fit nicely any more and I don't like what I see in the mirror. It's not a good look when you go out somewhere and have to worry about your zip giving way every time you sit down! I feel really cross with myself too, for letting myself get like this. I really thought that this time I had cracked the weight loss thing and got the balance right, I was feeling fantastic until I injured my leg. After that, every day I stuffed another huge dinner down me, or grabbed an extra couple of potatoes or cleaned up the kids' leftovers I would tell myself 'tomorrow I won't eat so much, tomorrow I'll be good'. It's the portions that do it for me you see; I can eat a LOT. I can easily put away more than Noel does in one sitting. It's not so bad eating enough to sink a battleship when you're running it off each day, but with no exercise it just stays put. I'm only 5kg away from the heaviest I have ever been and I never want to go there again.
So I'm ready! I'm going to tackle my unhealthy lifestyle head on and I'm going to use the Vault to help me do it. There are so many tips to get motivated in there - healthy recipes and eating recommendations, exercise tips and regimes that have worked for other members, without having to resort to expensive gym fees. I'm going to do things properly too, so I don't injure myself again - last time I decided to get fit I went from doing no exercise whatsoever to running 3km on the first day, 4km the next and so on. Is it any wonder my poor old bones were feeling the strain! The old saying of 'don't run before you can walk' is definitely true in my case. If I hadn't gone overboard at the start I wouldn't have got hurt and would not be in this position now.
Some friends of mine bought a treadmill a few years ago and it was only a couple of weeks before it was dragged out to the garage to gather dust. I hinted heavily that I would be keen to borrow it but unfortunately this wasn't forthcoming, though they did give me the number of the company they bought theirs from and said you could hire them at a monthly rate. With the colder months and shorter days approaching I thought this would be worth checking out - that way, I could walk whenever I liked, even at night if it meant I could fit in some exercise, so I gave them a call yesterday. The lady on the other end of the line was very helpful but I couldn't help being a bit flabbergasted when she told me it would cost $150 a month to hire one! Needless to say that idea went out the window.
Nope, the Vault is the way to go! Just by typing in 'weight loss' on the Vault search, I found 118 tips! Typing in 'exercise' gives me 80 tips, 'gym' gives me 52 - need I go on? The question is, where do I start? Watch this space for my new Vault-style fitness plan!
Three amazing websites
Mar 24, 2006
Of course, I'm used to Simple Savings being an amazing website already grin but in my search for Vault information to get me started on my weight loss journey, I have been enlightened - or blown away more like, by three more astoundingly good ones, wow! I typed in 'weight loss' in the Vault index and took a look at the first ones that 'jumped out' at me. The first one was titled 'Do away with expensive weight loss plans', which was encouragement enough for me - I found Weight Watchers a very expensive way to lose a measly five kilos a couple of years ago! Anyway, the hint from Kylie Gray spoke of how her GP had recommended Annette Sym's cookbooks, which funnily enough I was just talking about last week after reading an article in That's Life magazine. Kylie managed to lose eight kilos in the first two weeks - awesome stuff! I had visited Annette's website (www.symplytoogood.com.au) before but only briefly so decided to go back and pay it more attention - what an enjoyable experience! I found Annette's comments and advice really positive and down to earth, from someone who has 'been there and done that' and has heard all the excuses. This website is a great place to go to dispel a lot of weight loss myths and get a sneaky peek of some delicious sounding recipes. Click on 'Annette's Tips' for information that is really helpful and easy to understand.
My first Vault recommendation was motivating enough, but the next one was just mindblowing! A member called Amanda wrote of her experiences using a website called FitDay (www.fitday.com) which you could join for free and track your progress while trying to lose weight. What an absolutely fascinating website! And what a wake-up call. The information here is just staggering, I can't believe it's free, but it is! For example, from my food calculator I can tell you I have consumed 135 calories so far today (OK, well I've only had breakfast!) I'm not sure if that's good or bad but I'm sure I will learn as I go along. I joined up and straight away had a great time working out all the whistles and bells. I can find out each day or week how many calories I have consumed or burned, the nutritional value of what I'm eating and whether I'm meeting the requirements that are right for me. What I did learn is that the little blob on the graph which marks where my body weight is in proportion to my height is that I am much to close for my liking to being classified as 'severely overweight' - aghhh! If I didn't have enough of a reason to lose weight before, I sure as hell do now! I've never been one for weighing food and counting calories, so this website is great as it does it all for you and tells you when you're getting it right. As Amanda says, there is everything you need to track your fat, protein, carbs and calories and monitor your metabolism and activities - every exercise you do can also be entered into your reports and it will tell you how effective it is. I think this could be just what I need!
The third awesome website I visited is that of Oprah Winfrey - don't groan! I always used to scorn daytime television as entertainment for people who don't have anything better to do, but I have recently been reminded what a legend this woman is. For three days straight I tuned in to Oprah when I was knocked out with the flu and every single day she had me in floods of tears with her various crusades - wow, it's just as well I don't watch her every day or I would be an emotional wreck! Anyway, when I got the latest Simple Savings newsletter I read Fiona's recommendations about Oprah's Debt Diet and thought I would visit the website (www.oprah.com). What a fountain of inspiration, I haven't even got as far as the Debt Diet yet, I've been soaking up information about Oprah's weight loss Boot Camp! More great tips from a woman who has been through it over and over. How much more positive can one get after reading that lot!
So, now I have heaps of great free advice on what to eat and what not to eat. Not that I've ever been much of a one for scoffing cakes, biscuits or chips - my nemesis is cheese! I was unable to tolerate dairy products until I was 18 and I think I've been making up for it ever since. It's hard to be a cheese-free zone when you're vegetarian and I read that Oprah's Boot Camp allows one bowl of pasta in 12 weeks - I couldn't survive, I live on the stuff! Maybe that's the problem, but if I don't eat meat I have to eat something! I guess I'm just going to have to deviate a little and make sure I exercise. Starting today!
I've got myself a weight loss buddy too! My friend Maxine has a resolve of steel and she's already started walking, so she's going to come and call for me every morning and we'll walk together. I'm going to dust off my exercise bike and try and manage half an hour each day - doesn't matter if it's at 10.00pm at night in front of the TV, as long as I pedal off my pasta! So, here it is, my Habit Changer for April (I know it's premature but seize the day I say!)
My goal is: To lose 10kg by my next birthday. (FitDay reliably informs me that this is in 268 days' time, therefore I need to lose 0.261kg per week) Sounds easy when it's put like that!
My plan is: To cut down my portions (so that I only eat enough for one person, not a whole family), to track all my food intake on FitDay and to walk and/or cycle every day.
My trigger is: Two actually. One is to stick what I call my 'hippo' photo on the fridge. This was taken a couple of years ago when I was at my largest and I am standing in a bright red swimsuit. It's one of those ones which has a built-in skirt, which I thought would be flattering and hide my hips and thighs, but it only succeeded in making me look like one of the dancing hippos from Fantasia - the swimsuit was ceremoniously burned but the image lives on! My second trigger is my weight graph from FitDay, I have printed it out and I'm going to make darn sure I don't cross the line from 'moderately' into 'severely overweight'.
My reward will be: Once Maxine and I have lost 5kg each, we are rewarding ourselves with a day of pampering at the local spa!
OK, I'm ready! Want to join me? The more the merrier! If you have any tips to share or want to lose weight and get fit and would like some encouragement, drop me a line and we'll lose weight together with the Vault!
First in best dressed
Mar 27, 2006
With all this weight loss talk lately, don't go thinking I have gone and ditched money saving in favour of fighting the flab though, I'm still doing my bit! You may remember I recently saved heaps on buying the boys summer clothes out of season. This was great as I am now sorted for next summer and from now on, I will know to always shop out of season, but I still had the problem of this winter to deal with - with Liam growing like a mushroom, he was going to need stocking up on pretty much everything. I was expecting shopping for winter to be a painful experience. When I was ill with the flu a few weeks ago, I rang the department store whose huge sale on kids' clothes I missed. I gave them the full sob story, how I had desperately wanted to take advantage of their specials but had been too ill to make it. The man at the other end of the phone was very sympathetic and said 'I can't say too much, but keep an eye out as there may be something else coming up in the next month. Are you on email?' I said I was and he told me to go to their website and join their email club (for Kiwis this is www.farmers.co.nz but I'm sure many large stores have one). I duly did so and in the middle of last week I received an email of a sale which was not going to be advertised in the media. It was even better than the sale I had missed - that sale had been 20% of all children's clothes; this one was between 30 and 50% on new season's winter clothes! I took myself along, managed to stock up on everything BOTH the boys needed for this winter AND next and saved a massive $244! Take note I did take care to go through the boys' wardrobes beforehand and wrote a list so I would only buy what they needed. The store wasn't even busy, as so few people knew about the sale unless they happened to walk in. It just goes to show that it really does pay to keep an eye on what the stores are doing and take advantage of any free VIP services they offer.
I find it very interesting that some savvy Vault members actually go as far as to set up a 'clothing budget' and allocate money each week to go into a specific clothing fund. I think it's a really good idea. I admit that I do have one department store card (don't worry, there's nothing on it and hasn't been for months!) which I did used to use specifically for this purpose - buying the kids' clothes. In years gone by I always used to find that whenever I needed to do a big clothes shop for the boys, I didn't have the money so I would use my store card and pay it off. Of course, back then I wasn't clued up enough to wait for sales and keep an eye out for specials in the mail, however at least I did make one rule, that the card was to be used for buying children's clothes only and nothing else. I did stick to that rule but I don't need it any more. The card is from the same store that held the massive sale the other day and I proudly paid cash for my huge swag! I wish I had known what I know now back when my children were babies. I never once thought about buying second hand clothes for my kids - although I did for myself! I always bought new for them and just used to pass anything they no longer needed on to friends or op shops - I certainly never thought about buying and selling my kids' clothes through online auctions. I can only imagine what a saviour that must be for many Mums these days and wish I had been smart enough to do the same!
Mind you, is it any wonder so many new Mums get sucked in with advertising like I was? I was appalled yesterday when I was doing my online grocery shop and a banner popped up on the supermarket website advertising new Huggies Baby Change Mats. Oh puh-lease! How on earth did countless generations before ever do without them? 'Now you can change your baby no matter where you are!' - like we couldn't do it before? When I stopped being so indignant over the change mats, I cheered up considerably to see that once again my grocery bill had dropped yet again, which it has done every time I have shopped online. I certainly don't miss going to the supermarket and my budget and waistline have certainly benefited from me not buying plastic containers full of flashy take-home salads, along with several posh cheeses and half a dozen various dips. Nope, if I want a salad these days I do it the old fashioned way, by going to the garden, picking some tomatoes and cutting a lettuce and mixing them up in a bowl!
Why didn't I think of that?
Mar 30, 2006
One kilo down already, yippee! Might not sound much but I feel so much better already. Actually, I began to feel a lot better from the day I started my weight loss programme. My body is now a 'cheese-free zone' and my little FitDay.com daily nutritional pie chart is showing me I am eating a lot more good stuff and a lot less fat. Maxine and I have been walking every day rain or shine - technically it's only supposed to be for 30 minutes but we're usually so busy talking that it ends up being more like an hour. The dogs come along with us and even Ella is getting some much needed weight loss! So far I have only made a few small changes to the way I eat, but they seem to be making a big difference. One trick which works for me every time is to swap butter or margarine for hummus. Because I love to eat bread and toast, the amount of fat all adds up when I'm slapping huge amounts of spread on, so now I spread my bread with hummus when making sandwiches and I even have my Vegemite on toast with hummus instead of butter. It's really yum, honest! The only thing I have learned is not to buy huge tubs of hummus, even when it's on special (unless of course you know you are going to use all of it) as it will only keep in the fridge for three days. The other down side is that Noel refuses to come near me as the hummus contains garlic and he tells me I could easily keep a whole tribe of vampires at bay. But I have learned to combat that too - I spread some on his sandwiches when I make his work lunch and he doesn't even know it's there!
Another trick I have found which is really helping with the hunger pangs is my fat free vegetable soup. This is taken from a diet I was given several years ago which was called the Sacred Heart diet or some such thing. Noel and I decided to do the diet together and after four days we had to call it off, we were nearly falling over! The first day you ate nothing but this soup, the next nothing but fruit, nothing but bananas and milk on day three and you had to live on steak throughout day four. Sounds extreme huh? Turns out it was actually some kind of extreme weight loss regime for people who are morbidly overweight in hospital and have to drop weight fast before they can undergo operations. No wonder it wasn't enough to keep an active person properly fed! Anyway, even if the rest of the diet was no-go for us, the soup was actually very tasty and can be eaten any time you feel hungry to fill any gaps. You can eat as much as you like as often as you like and I have found it brilliant to settle any mid morning or mid afternoon tummy gurgles. It makes a big batch, costs little to make and you can freeze it too. There is a very similar recipe for this type of soup in Weight Watchers books too, so it must be good for you! If anyone would like the recipe, drop me a line and I'll happily pass it on.
However, the clincher for me is portion sizes. I have actually started serving my evening meal up on one of my children's 'half size' plates and I have learned this is all I need. It gives me enough and I am just nicely full, not stuffed! I think many of us are so conditioned when younger that we 'have to eat everything on our plate' that we can't bear to waste food when it's sitting in front of us - I know I'm like that anyway! So this way I don't waste any of my meal but eat just the right amount. I have also applied this to my other meals too; instead of having two sandwiches for lunch, I have one - and it's enough! Instead of two slices of buttered toast with a whole can of spaghetti, I now have one slice of dry toast with half a can and I don't feel hard done by. It's got to be better for the grocery bill too as many food items now go round twice! Just as I was experimenting with reducing my portions, I got an encouraging email from Simple Savings member Claire Mitchell, saying that portion size was indeed the key, so thank you for that timely piece of advice Claire, I will stick to it!
For some people I am sure these tips are nothing new, and indeed even I am wondering to myself why I didn't think of it before, but sometimes you just need a little reminder or someone to point it out. I have found myself using several new tips from the Vault lately that I have known about for some time, but just hadn't got round to putting it into practice. For example, I have recently started a 'scrap paper tray' which sits next to my desk. I couldn't believe how much paper we were going through, with the kids printing out reams of stuff from their children's websites and games, it was getting way beyond a joke. So often when you print things off the Internet you end up with at least one extra page that only has an inch of unwanted blurb from the bottom of the web page on it and I always used to throw them away. Not any more! Firstly if it is possible when I want to print information from the Internet, I highlight the text I want and copy and paste it into a blank Word document - that way I am not wasting ink printing out buttons, advertising banners and pictures. Also where possible I turn my printer paper over and print on both sides - I find this alone has saved me heaps and really cut down on the amount I use now. My desk is always covered with lists, reminders and notes but at least now I am using pieces from my scrap paper tray to write them instead of grabbing a new piece out of the printer! I cut used sheets of A4 paper down the middle and they fit nicely into my little tray. The Vault also has heaps of ways that you can reduce printer ink costs, I used to go through heaps of black ink but I haven't replaced a cartridge since November! Just type in 'computer printing' in the search bar to bring up some helpful tips.
Another area I have learned to save heaps is washing - not only money, but in precious time! How is it we become so conditioned to 'having to do the washing' each day? I used to feel like Widow Twanky (the washer woman from Aladdin!) doing up to four different loads a day at times - and I have an 8kg capacity machine! So after perusing the Vault I decided to make a new rule that I would only bother to wash when I had a full load. This has been great - I can literally go at least two, or even three days without doing a single load. I save heaps in power, powder and water - not to mention hours' worth of time over a week hanging it all out and taking it down! Like I said, why didn't I think of it before? I don't know, but I'm glad Simple Savings reminded me!