Fiona Lippey,
Miser Extraordinaire and
founder of Simple Savings

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The REAL Secret...    

Apr 2, 2007

I have to admit, I've been feeling pretty smug over the last few days. You see, I've been hearing a lot about 'The Secret' in the Discussion Forum and it sounded pretty interesting, so I was very keen to watch it when it aired here on Friday night. Who wouldn't want to know the secret to achieving happiness in all areas of your life? So I started watching and was indeed impressed by the positive vibes and encouragement beaming from the celebrity panel. Even the Sad Sally in me was struggling to get out and buy the book and the DVD. But the more I watched, the more something became apparent to me - I didn't need it - and for a change it had nothing to do with the price. I didn't need it because I was already happy. As far as I was concerned, I had already found the secret to a perfect life a couple of years ago and that was when I joined Simple Savings. If that sounds over the top or corny, I assure you it's not at all. For starters:

Simple Savings is my secret to WEALTH. Joining the site got me out of debt, managing my money and saving it. I attract more money every single day by learning to keep it in my pocket.

Simple Savings is my secret to RELATIONSHIPS. Working towards saving money together has resulted in a happier, more honest marriage, without any of the previous worries or guilt from overspending. We have firmly established goals - the same goals - and work together as a team. It has also resulted in me being a better mother. My children are now showered with all the love and time they need, instead of being showered with toys and possessions that mean nothing. We all enjoy many more happy times together without the need to spend any money and I believe my children will grow up much better people being raised as Simple Savers.

Simple Savings is my secret to SELF-WORTH. In the not-quite three years since I joined the site, I have made countless changes for the better and I walk with my head much higher now because I know I am making the best choices every day for my family. The 'Time is Money' equation has helped me to see what I am worth, as well as everything else around me. Simple Savings has also taught me how to look and feel good on a budget and make healthy choices and, while I'll never be a size eight again, I finally feel comfortable in my own skin.

Simple Savings is my secret to HAPPINESS. Every single day I look outside at our thriving garden and all the things we have achieved on our own land, I appreciate it more. The reason we still have our wonderful, productive corner of paradise is due to Simple Savings. It is the sole reason I was able to wake up to my spending habits in time and stop us from going under and losing our home. I can't think of a better place for us to be.

I could go on but you get the idea! I'm not saying The Secret isn't fantastic too but I have to admit, I was hoping for something more. Like the poor solo mother on the show who was $40,000 in debt. Apparently they had already been helping her and I couldn't wait to see the results but they were nothing like I expected. There were the panel of experts smiling at her indulgently and saying 'Don't see yourself as being in debt - see yourself getting OUT of debt. You can do it!' That was it? Sorry but it didn't cut it with this saver. "JOIN SIMPLE SAVINGS AND START NOW!" I wanted to yell at the TV. 'Take the woman around her house and show her how she can save money on every single thing in her life! Do something!' But no - that was it. Maybe I should email Oprah and ask her to bring the poor lady back for a one hour special with Fiona and compare the results!

Another thing which has had a significant effect on my life lately is this hint Organise your life and reap the savings. Now if you're already an organised person, this revelation is nothing new but for a household as chaotic as ours, it has worked really well. This hint sounded a lot like me so I decided to try really hard to get organised and stay that way. The first job I had to tackle was cleaning out my car. The state of it had been bugging me for ages. Every time I needed to fit an extra child in the car I had to make room by throwing everything from the back seat into the boot but after a while the boot was full and there was literally no room left in the car to fit ourselves in! It took me three hours to clean my car inside and out and by the time I had finished there were three baskets on the ground - one full of my stuff, one full of Liam's and another full of Ali's. There were also three rubbish bags of everyone's rubbish to match. What a state to get into - you can imagine what a horrible job it was. I even found a backpack containing Ali's lunchbox from when he attended his zookeeper course over two months ago, the contents of which were quite a sight to behold. I presented the kids with their baskets and bags and told them to put everything away in its right place and that I never wanted to drive such a filthy car again. From now on I was the proud owner of a CLEANMOBILE and straight away I felt so much better. For some reason, sorting out my car led to becoming more organised in all sorts of other things. I have learned that to stay organised I have to S-L-O-W D-O-W-N instead of my usual mad dash and this actually results in getting more done. I also started taking a leaf out of Noel's book and making a priority list each day. With his job he never knows what is going to crop up from one day to the next so he has to prioritise as he goes. He has often told me to do this due to the squillions of thoughts always going round in my head but I have only just started to take any notice. Instead of trying to fit in 20 or more jobs in a day and not getting time to do half of them, then feeling guilty about all the things I haven't achieved, I now keep a short list of just four or five tasks. Before I write them down I ask myself 'What is it I actually need to do TODAY, that can't wait?' and by doing this I have found life doesn't have to be a permanent cycle of chaos. I get everything done that I need to achieve and don't need to waste precious brain space worrying about everything else until another day!

Talking of worrying, several people have asked me how Liam is doing since he began suffering from anxiety attacks at the beginning of the year. The good news is, he's doing great! Apparently he is genetically pre-disposed to anxiety, which I felt was rather a misconception until the two of us went out together last week. I was feeling a bit guilty as I had just bought a bottle of V, which is usually $3.50 or more but I couldn't resist buying my favourite guarana drink while it was on special at $2.90. As we passed through the Warehouse check-out, I told Liam I needed to visit the bathroom and he said he needed to go too so we agreed to meet on the bench outside the two conveniences. Being a nice new Warehouse, it had super nice clean toilets and I thought to myself what a nice public convenience it was, although I didn't much like being surrounded by mirrors, particularly when I sat down! Anyway, there I was, trying not to catch sight of my own reflection whilst on the loo when I heard the door bang shut in the cubicle next to me. I looked down and through the large gap underneath the separating wall, I spotted a huge pair of man's boots. Immediately I went into panic mode. 'There's a man lurking in the women's toilets! What does he want? I'm all alone in here, oh noooo!' I decided the best bet was to get the heck out of there as fast as I could before he had a chance to carry out any undoubtedly evil plans, so I burst out of the door and legged it to where Liam was waiting calmly on the bench. My heart was thumping nineteen-to-the-dozen and I tried to hide my distress from Liam to avoid causing him any extra worry but I was in such a state I didn't know what to do next. I couldn't bear the thought of any other poor unsuspecting woman meeting a terrible fate in the Warehouse loos and told Liam I was going to have to go and tell the security guard that there was a man in the ladies' toilets. Being only ten he didn't quite get the seriousness of the situation and just laughed like mad at the thought of some silly bloke walking into the wrong toilet, so I had no choice but to tell him about my terrible fright. Immediately he stopped where he stood and rolled his eyes. 'Mum - did it ever occur to you that it could have been a WOMAN wearing MAN'S boots? I saw that person walk into the ladies' when I was sitting on the bench - it was a woman wearing work boots and fluorescent overalls! Honestly Mum, you dork', he tutted, 'Fancy you worrying about something like that!' Once he had suitably convinced me that there was really no need to go back into the Warehouse and save womankind from the nasty toilet monster I couldn't stop laughing myself. 'Phew!' I breathed a sigh of relief as we reached the car. 'I need a drink - now where's that 'V'?' and immediately remembered where it was - still sitting on the floor unopened in the toilet cubicle with 'SOLD' plastered across it. My expensive, guilty treat. 'Oh no! There's no time to go back for it now!' I groaned. 'Serves you right, Mum, you shouldn't have bought it in the first place!' ribbed Liam, who had great fun for the rest of the day regaling the tale of how his Mum got spooked by a 'man' in the toilet. I can see now where he gets it from!

PS: I couldn't resist mentioning this cute hint for Magic Easter Bunny food! I would love to give that a go - if only I hadn't got sprung last year!

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No more supermarket!    

Apr 20, 2007

You know, I've been berating myself a bit during these school holidays. Not for big things, like taking the kids out and about - most of those activities have been free anyway but there have been more fast food meals in the last fortnight than I'd like and an awful lot more lollies and treats going out of Mr Patel's than I would normally allow too. However, I have since realised that, at least in other things, I am actually doing a lot better than I thought. In fact, I would go as far as to say I'm doing a heck of a lot better than the average person - at least when it comes to managing the grocery budget anyway. It's been bothering me for a while now that here we are in the latter end of April and I haven't had a 'decent' supermarket shop since last November. By that I mean, I've set foot in the supermarket maybe two or three times but haven't actually purchased anything more than bread, milk and whatever meat is on special. It was praying on my mind that it really must be high time I did a BIG SHOP. So when Noel took the day off earlier this week to spent some holiday time with us as a family, I insisted that we all visit the supermarket together as we must be needing heaps of stuff by now and I wanted everyone's input. Dragging one's husband and children unwillingly round a supermarket is always heinous at the best of times but this time it was even worse than usual because before we even got half way round, we realised that we just didn't need to be there. Thinking we were going to spending a lengthy time in the supermarket, I had primed the kids before going inside, making a game of it and challenging them both to find the best price on whatever it was we wanted to buy but we never actually got round to doing that. We grabbed a few essentials from the Pak & Save's 'Aisle of Value' which was a good start; then the boys caught sight of the Pick & Mix bulk bins and decided they NEEDED a bag of Gummi Bears. As I joined them, filling up a few bags of my own, I grew more and more annoyed at the sight of Noel wandering aimlessly around the fruit and vegetable department - round and round he went but not once did he pick up anything.

In the end I had to say something. 'You know, you really could be a bit more helpful, this job is bad enough as it is! Why don't you get what you want, instead of just wandering around looking at it?' I glared at him. 'That's the thing - I don't want anything!' he replied. 'Everything here is cheaper at Mr Patel's'. As I looked around, I could see he was right, so we agreed we would just pick up whatever fruit and greens we needed from him on our next visit. From there we proceeded to the meat aisle but we didn't need anything there, having a freezer full of bulk meat delivered just a few weeks ago. The same happened at the seafood counter - we had already caught enough fish at the weekend to keep us going for quite some time yet. Bread and milk we also discovered was much cheaper at Mr Patel's. As we went around I couldn't help thinking of one of the first SS hints I learned, 'Sometimes the corner shop is cheaper'. No matter how we tried, we just couldn't fill our trolley up! 'We could buy a cake, Mum', Liam offered helpfully. 'We could matey but we don't need to, because I can make you one', I explained, much to the delight of an elderly lady standing next to us. 'Good for you dear!' she smiled. Ali got the same answer when we ambled up the biscuit aisle a little later on and even he had to agree there was no point buying chocolate yoghurt when we already know how to make it ourselves too. As for the convenience food aisle, I couldn't remember the last time our dinner came out of a jar, it would be a good couple of years ago now. Sophie Gray and the Vault cured me of that! Being as I don't set foot in a supermarket very often, I am always shocked and amazed at the array of new products to hit the shelves since my last visit and this time I wasn't disappointed either. The biggest laugh I got was when I spotted a sachet of 'Bangers and Mash' flavouring - just add water and chuck it over your sausages and mash. 'Since when has bangers and mash needed artificial flavours added?' I raised my eyebrows at Noel in disgust. 'That's criminal!' We finally got our BIG SHOP over and done with and instead of the two overflowing trolleys I had envisaged, our single trolley wasn't even half full. 'Hmm, maybe we didn't need so much after all,' I said to Noel. 'Well I did wonder why you were going in the first place', he pointed out. 'But - but, you're always complaining we don't have any food!' I spluttered. 'Not any more - in fact I haven't done that for some time. I'm like you now, I look in the pantry and make things from scratch when I'm hungry - haven't you noticed?' Er - no, I hadn't, but now he mentioned it he hadn't actually complained of having no food for quite some time. 'Tut, I wish you'd told me that before,' I mumbled but then realised something. 'Do you know what I've learned from this experience? I've learned that we don't actually NEED a supermarket any more!' Noel agreed - I suppose after not using one for five months we had probably already proven that but this just confirmed it - we really don't need to go to the supermarket!' It might sound strange but it was so liberating coming to that realisation! All those years of trundling off to the supermarket religiously every fortnight and filling up my trolley with $400 of stuff each time flashed before me. Of course, it was just habit, I never paid any thought to whether we actually needed anything or not. What an incredible difference. So that's it - we'll just continue growing our own food and topping up as we need it from good old Mr Patel. No more supermarkets for us, hooray!

I was feeling like a pretty smart shopper I can tell you - until I got home and opened the mail to discover I had somehow neglected to pay last month's phone bill! 'How on earth did that happen?' asked Noel, pointing out the $7.50 extra I had been billed in late fees. I don't know! I can only think it happened because it's the only bill I don't pay online or through direct debit, I must have put it away and forgotten to write out a cheque later. Apologies to anyone still waiting for me to send their copy of the $21 Challenge Survival Guide too, I have finally got my new laptop set up and will get it through shortly. Tut - even that proved a costly exercise. I couldn't understand for the life of me why I couldn't connect to the Internet and blamed it on the new Windows Vista program with all its whistles and bells (come back XP, all is forgiven!) In the end I had no choice but to call out my local expert Greg, who found in about three seconds flat that the reason I couldn't connect was because Tui had chewed through the cable. Again. So, he took away the old cable and promised me a nice new one a few days later. I duly picked it up and went to plug it in but found that I couldn't turn the laptop on - it seemed that for some strange reason it hadn't shut down properly after Greg's visit a few days before and it was now in a permanent state of limbo. I couldn't turn it off properly either, so highly embarrassed I called Greg again. 'I've killed my computer already!' I wailed, much to his amusement. 'I'm obviously just not meant to have a laptop'. He promised he would be out again in a day or two so I had no choice but to sit and wait. Twenty-four hours later, Noel came along and attempted to have a look at it but I brushed him aside - after all, this is the guy who doesn't even know where My Documents is on the computer, how would he possibly be able to help? 'I can't turn it on or off!' I grumbled, 'I've tried everything'. 'Have you tried unplugging it?' he asked. 'Of course I have - it doesn't make any difference, it still runs on a battery', I snapped. 'Have you tried removing the battery?' he suggested. 'No, but it won't do any good', I insisted. Upon which he unplugged the laptop, removed the battery and - the lights went out. 'Now it's off', he said. He then popped the battery back in, turned the computer on - and it worked. 'Thank you!' I breathed a sigh of relief - it was going to be a bit embarrassing calling Greg back and telling him he no longer needed to come out but at least we had now saved another call-out fee. 'Tut - and you're supposed to be the computer whiz!' Noel laughed. Yep - I'll never hear the end of this now, I should really add it to the 'What is the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you' thread that's currently doing the rounds in the Forum!

I have managed to make a few small savings recently though. One thing I have learned as an SS member is to at least try and fix something before throwing it out and I have been applying this to clothes lately. Over the past few months I have gathered up a pair of Noel's work trousers with a broken fastener, a pair of Liam's brand new trousers, worn once with a bloomin' great hole in (which looks suspiciously like a Tui chewing attack), a winter shirt with half the buttons missing, a bra with the underwire poking out and a pair of Liam's pyjama pants where the stitching has come apart. Once upon a time I would have thrown all these things out but instead I went on a hunt for all the things I needed and would you believe I found all my supplies at the local Post Office? The joys of living in a small town! I picked up a pack of needles, a reel of cotton (I had lost these essentials years ago), a packet of buttons, a hook and eye and an iron-on patch. Mum helped too and in next to no time we had the lot fixed, ironed and ready to go again. I felt so productive! It cost just a few dollars and they all look as good as new. I still have enough of the patches left to fix plenty more holes too!

This morning is freezing and the boys are enjoying a nice warm breakfast in bed. I'm a bit worried about how much of their scrambled eggs on toast is going to end up IN their beds but I was feeling like a nice kind Mummy this morning. OK, I wanted to get on and write my blog in peace too! Also, there's something about the cold weather that always makes me head for the kitchen. I suffer from overwhelming urges to make soup and tummy-warming breakfasts for everyone, whether they want them or not. At least we have more than enough eggs for me to indulge this habit at the moment. My chickens have finally got the hang of egg-laying and they are little stars now! I used to detest chickens before I had my own, all squawking beaks and scratchy feet but I have really got quite attached to my girls now, who would have thought! For anyone else who is in need of some cold weather comfort food, I can highly recommend the spicy recipes for Nachos from the Forum. We tried these last night and they were absolutely divine! There are some great new hints again this week; one of my favourites which is also very timely is this one, No lights allowed in daylight hours. I am forever telling myself that we need to make more of an effort as a family to turn lights off but I always forget - this hint could be exactly what we need! It's been especially obvious during the school holidays, I'll often walk into the lounge in the middle of the day and find all the lights on, or that the kids haven't even bothered turning their bedroom lights off and it really bugs me but it's up to me to make sure we all keep up a constant effort. If you search for this hint in the Forum, it will explain how it's done, I can't wait to have a go!

We've still been following the ABC holiday programme and today is 'M'. I was just thinking this morning that we haven't even been to the movies this holidays and a friend has just called to see if we want to go and see 'Meet the Robinsons', so today is the perfect 'M' day to go! As I said before, we haven't done too bad this holidays - our two favourite outings were actually free ones. Liam went to meet the Chiefs again on Monday, in a free event organised for local rugby-mad kids. He got to attend a training session with his idols and loved it - it's not every day you get to tackle the likes of Sione Lauaki! The guys were great and it was a brilliant, well organised day. Best of all it was free! As also mentioned, we caught a lot of fish a few days ago too. Noel, the kids and I, two of Noel's colleagues and a black Labrador called Rupert went to the Seabird Coast which is about half an hour from where we live. The weather was perfect, we took a long fishing net and the guys waded out to sea to see what we could haul in. We caught over 20 flounder, one nice snapper and the biggest John Dory any of us had ever seen. Everyone on the beach came up to see what we had caught and then to top it off, one of the locals performed a spectacular aerobatics display right above us. 'How's that for free entertainment!' marvelled one of the watchers. What a bonus! We spent all afternoon playing on the beach and as it was getting dark we all sat and munched freshly caught fish and chips. 'I just can't think of anywhere I'd rather be right now!' smiled Noel's mate and we all agreed. Until Ali piped up 'Yes, but Mum it's supposed to be 'H' day today and we haven't done a thing beginning with 'H'!

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