Fiona Lippey,
Miser Extraordinaire and
founder of Simple Savings

Hint of the Week Competition

Hi,

We are now giving away one 12 month membership per week to the person who donates the best tip to the Savings Vault. Everyone can enter. If you are already a member you win an extra 12 months added on to your existing membership.

This week Kasey Ball has won 12 months membership to the Savings Vault with this great hint:

Our piggy bank furnished our first home

We furnished our home from scratch and paid entirely in cash, thanks to our piggy bank fund! Having recently moved out of home for the first time, trying to purchase all of the household necessities was a huge task. We panicked for a while, then sat down and made a list of every possible thing we could think of that would need to be purchased. These included:

- Furniture and furnishings
- Appliances
- Moving costs
- Insurance
- Initial food shop

We then split that list into 'absolute necessities', 'would be usefuls' and 'not really neededs'. This list proved handy when people asked what we would like for a housewarming gift, but also as a great savings incentive! We put a price on each item we needed and then re-wrote them in order of priority. Finally, we printed off the list and put it next to a huge piggy bank.

From then on, we started to put all the money we saved into the piggy and crossed off items as we saved enough money. It was a huge incentive to see all the essentials crossed off, particularly big ticket items like the fridge, all from little savings. Every now and then our piggy bank money was all deposited into an untouchable bank account until we needed it. Then when we saw products on special, such as the cheap mattress we bought, we were able to snap them up using the savings we had. Whenever an item cost less than the anticipated price, the leftover amount went straight back into savings. We also spent a lot of time going to garage sales, trawling eBay and in op shops looking for the best possible price. Our patience and dedication paid off. We eventually saved the $7000 we needed in under three years and now have a fantastic home with no debts!

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The best way to win a membership is to write helpful, interesting, unique and error free hints. You need to include how much money you saved, how you saved it, what you did and how much you paid. The more detail you provide the more likely you are to win a 12 month membership.

You do not have to answer all the questions to enter the competition. Each hint entered is judged separately. If you send 5 hints. They will be considered 5 separate entries. Which means you have a much higher chance of winning by entering one or two top quality hints than if you entered twenty brief, vague tips. Quality is everything!

If you do not have an answer to a question, or it does not apply to you, please leave it blank.

Thanks for giving it a go. Good luck!

Many grins,
Fiona

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Help Needed:

Share the House, Halve the Cost?

This month Sylvia asks:

"I am a widow and have had a male friend for three years. We live in separate houses and take it in turns to cook for each other every other night. We go away on holiday together and get along fine. We are both on a pension and finding it is getting tougher and tougher to stretch our money from payday to payday. My friend keeps suggesting that we should live together as it would basically halve our expenses but as well as the thought of giving up my independence, I am a little concerned with the legal aspect of setting up home together.

"His idea is to sell his house and move in with me. However, I'm not sure what would happen were I to pass away first (I am 67, he is 71). My own house is left to my family and I am worried that after two years, he and his family could legally be entitled to half of everything should I die before him. Although we would be living together, our friendship is only platonic and neither of us would dream of using the other's money or assets to our own advantage. However, the savings would be so great at around $1000 a month that I am starting to feel it is worth giving some serious thought. I would really love to hear any advice members could give on how we could make this living arrangement work legally, as well as anyone who has possibly been in a similar situation!"

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