Can you believe it’s Simple Saving’s 23rd Birthday!!

We still can’t. It’s amazing to think that it’s been 23 years since A Current Affair rocked up to our home and filmed Sam opening his first birthday presents.

Even more incredible is that my 21 year old daughter Jacqui is now learning the ropes. It’s been great watching her have a wonderful time answering emails, getting to know everyone and enjoying the buzz of helping people.

It’s been a fair few years since our last newsletter. But with the cost of living going through the roof, we couldn’t sit back any longer. People need help more than ever, and that’s what we’re here for. So we’re back, bringing you monthly newsletters and a brand new course to help.

In this month's newsletter you’ll find ideas, recipes and printables for making affordable gifts, as well as an update from Simple Savings land, a link to our next meet up and info about our new course the “Going Lower: $50 Challenge”.

What is your Simple Savings Story?

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While the computer can tell us that, it can’t tell us all the interesting stuff. So… what is your Simple Savings story? Jacqui especially would love to hear it because as part of her training she’ll be reading and responding to as many of your emails as she can, so keep the stories flowing! And of course come share and meet other Simple Savers in our free monthly meetups!

Join our friendly community on Zoom on the first Saturday of each month at 2 PM (Brisbane time) to chat with other Simple Savers and to talk about monthly challenges, Going Lower as well as any other Q&A. These meetups are for everyone! Anyone with the link below can join. Just keep in mind, there are limited spaces so it's first come first served.

Next meeting:

November 1, 2025 2:00 PM Brisbane time Zoom link

If you are a Going Lower member you will soon have access to the recordings from past meetups. Just keep an eye on your inbox and the Simple Savings Facebook page, we will have a link there for you within the next few weeks.

$50 Challenge: Going Lower

With prices constantly going UP, keeping your food bill down seems more and more impossible. Yet, the Going Lower Girls, a long running Simple Savings Group, have still been keeping their weekly shops down to $50 per person. Whenever we tell people this, their jaws drop, and they ask “How are they doing that??” So we’ve made a desperately needed course on it.

After reading through the 15000 page Going Lower thread, we’ve summarised it into an easy to watch video course, with 18 Challenges that teach you the strategies, skills and habits to enjoy life while flipping a middle finger to inflation.

The course has all the bells and whistles but most importantly it is designed to do with a friend. Everyone who buys the course gets a second free membership to give to someone they care about. So even if you already know how to save money, you can use it to lift someone else up, get back on the wagon, or simply have fun learning together.

We were advised to sell the course at $297 because “they’ll earn it back in a couple of shops” but that’s not what we’re here for. So while the final price will be $97 (starting from the 31st October) at the moment it’s just $47 AUD.

If you want this price now click here.

Get the Course

Making Christmas Gifts

This month’s main challenge is to save money by making fun, creative Christmas gifts. To help you along, we’ve gathered a few ideas for printable and consumable gifts from some of the big names in SS land. Below you will find:

*A “Gift of Memories” that you only need to print and bind from the lovely Claire M *Some clever prints to turn simple cooking into funny gifts *As well as a few of Sandra’s favourite gift recipes to create and compare

Claire’s Printable: Gift of Memories

The magnificently marvelous Claire M has made the perfect printable gift. An A4 printable booklet containing 100 prompts to create a “gift of memories”. Which you can use to create a gift of your memories for someone else or give to someone to ask them to share their memories with you.

Download Gift of Memories

Gifts for a Giggle

In the Lippey Household we like making delicious food and ridiculous jokes. When it comes to Christmas the two go together like bubble wrap and spare time.

Over the years some of my favourite are:

Chocolate Syrup packaged up as Troll Blood

In the early days when Facebook was ruled by Trolls. We made Chocolate Syrup, placed it in jars and labelled it as Troll Blood.

Click the button below if you wish to print the label to add to a jar of chocolate sauce

Download Troll's Blood Label

A Jar of Hair Lice

One of our favourite home made gifts were jars of Hairlice. It looks and sounds terrible, but it is a delicious, aromatic sugar blend that tastes absolutely divine when added to coffee instead of regular sugar. It makes a slightly sadistic and humongously hilarious homemade gift.

Other ways we have enjoyed the hairlice are:

• added to warm milk
• dusting shortbread
• sprinkling on sponge cakes
• sprinkling on pastries
• added to Chai

This recipe yields about 900ml, enough to fill three small jars or two medium-sized jars.

Ingredients

• 2 cups white sugar
• 2 cups raw sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

• Add all ingredients to a Thermomix or blender.
• Blend on high for one minute, until well combined.

• Spoon the mixture into clean jars and seal tightly.

  Hair Lice Label

The final step in making HairLice as a gift is to label your jars. Download the HairLice label file by clicking the button below. Print the labels, cut them out, and attach them to the jars using a glue stick.

(Jacqui made the label. Hasn’t she done a great job!)

Download Hairlice Label

Sandra’s Recipe Corner: The Battle of Two Slices

Sandra’s Apricot Slice is a Christmas favourite in her house, requested by both Peter and Geniene every year. There’s a trick though. Sandra has two slice recipes with the very similar ingredients, and every year when asked to choose Peter and Geniene simply cannot decide on a favourite. Saying things like “I’m not sure, maybe we can try both?” and “Oh, is there a difference?”.

So if you make both of these slices, like Sandra does each Christmas, let us know which one you think is best (Macadamia Nut and Chocolate or Apricot and Coconut). Maybe we can give the mysteriously indecisive Peter and Geniene a helping hand.

Macadamia & Apricot Chocolate Slice (No Bake)

Ingredients

• ½ cup dried apricots, chopped
• 2 tablespoons rum or brandy
• 250 g dark chocolate
• 125 g shortbread biscuits (any brand works well)
• 75 g natural macadamias
• ½ can sweetened condensed milk

Method

1 Soak the chopped apricots in rum or brandy for about 10 minutes to let them soften and absorb the flavor. 2 Break the chocolate into pieces and melt it in the microwave on medium power for about 4 minutes, stirring occasionally until smooth. 3 Lightly crush the shortbread biscuits into bite-sized chunks using a rolling pin. 4 In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, soaked apricots, crushed biscuits, macadamias, and condensed milk. Mix until everything is evenly coated. 5 Press the mixture firmly into a foil-lined bar tin, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon. 6 Refrigerate until firm, then slice thinly.

Perfect with a cup of coffee or as a sweet treat straight from the fridge. Keep refrigerated for best texture and flavor.

Apricot and Coconut Slice (No Bake)

Ingredients * 250 g packet of Arnott’s Granita Biscuits, finely crushed (use a food processor or rolling pin) * 1 cup dried apricots, finely chopped * 1½ cups desiccated coconut * 395 g can sweetened condensed milk * 125 g butter * 1¼ cups of dark cooking chocolate * Sliver of Copha

Method

1 Line the base of a lamington tin with baking paper. For easier handling, scrunch the paper into a ball first, then flatten it out so it stays in place. 2 Melt the butter in a large microwave-safe bowl, then stir in the condensed milk. (This can also be done in a saucepan on the stove.) 3 Add the crushed biscuits, chopped apricots, and coconut. Mix well until everything is evenly combined. 4 Press the mixture firmly into the prepared tin and smooth the top. 5 Place the tin in the freezer to chill while preparing the topping.

Chocolate Topping

1 Melt 1¼ cups of dark cooking chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat for 1 minute, then continue in 10-second bursts, stirring between each, until smooth. 2 Add a small sliver of melted copha to the chocolate and stir well. This helps make the chocolate easier to spread and gives it a lovely glossy finish. 3 Pour the melted chocolate over the chilled slice and spread evenly. 4 Refrigerate until set, then cut into squares to serve.

Notes

• Arnott’s biscuits are great to stock up on when they’re on special. For a gluten-free version, use gluten-free biscuits instead.
• Plaistowe chocolate is excellent, but Aldi’s cooking chocolate is a close match and often more affordable.
• Copha is handy for many chocolate slice recipes. A block stored in a sealed container in the fridge keeps well for over a year.
• This slice is similar to the apricot and macadamia version — both are delicious and suitable for those who prefer gluten-free, lactose-free, or low-fructose treats.

Bye for now, see you next month!

Thank you for being part of the Simple Savings family. Here’s to saving smart, sharing stories, and having a great life together.

Many grins,

Fiona, Jacqui and Sandra