Fiona Lippey,
Miser Extraordinaire and
founder of Simple Savings

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Jun 8, 2010

Eek, sorry it's been so long, I had no idea! I've discovered lately that Hidden Gems are not just places but also people. For example, I love shopping at my local Caroline Eve store. Caroline Eve is a women's clothing chain here in NZ, I'm not sure if they are in Australia or anywhere else. Anyway, although they sell excellent quality clothing at great prices, I wouldn't call a high street chain store a hidden gem exactly. However, there is one special lady there who most definitely does qualify as an absolute diamond in my book and that's Lola. You'll find Lola most days at the Caroline Eve store located at The Base in Hamilton. I walked in the other day and immediately she said 'Oh hello Jackie, lovely to see you!' I didn't realise she even knew who I was but after she had helped me find what I was looking for, I was paying at the counter when she said 'You know, I really must buy your book. I went to visit my mother in the Hawkes Bay the other day. I've been a bit worried about her as she's just gone on the pension and I thought she might be struggling a bit to make ends meet. I asked her how she was getting along and she said 'Oh don't worry, dear! I bought myself this book called The $21 Challenge. It's written by these two lovely ladies and the recipes are just wonderful, I'm getting along just fine!'

So that's how Lola knew who I was! As you can imagine, to hear that really made my day but it really got me thinking of all the times Lola has helped me. Believe me, she is no ordinary shop assistant. She has a real eye for what suits people, knows how to hide all the 'lumps and bumps' and is honest about what looks good and what doesn't, whilst still always coming across as polite. When I told her the other day I wanted a skivvy (polo neck), she said 'Are you sure it's a polo neck you're after? I think a turtle neck style is more you!' As always, she was right. My favourite blouse is one Lola picked out a couple of years ago. I hadn't even noticed it in the shop and would never have picked it out myself but I love it more than any other item of clothing. She always helps mix and match, offers practical, helpful suggestions and takes price into consideration. Where I would have picked out the first black skivvy I saw, she went and found me three in varying prices and fabrics, saving me $20 in the process! She has helped me so much over the years I thought it was about time I gave something back, so a few days later I found myself back in Hamilton and presented Lola with her own copy of the $21 Challenge book. I hope she enjoys it as much as her mum!

I also had quite a bit of 'hidden gem' help with a birthday present last week. Alex turned 18 on Thursday and we wanted to give him something special. We came up with the idea of getting him a cartoon done by Steve Panozzo. Now there's a real hidden gem! You will have seen Steve's work in the Simple Savings newsletters every month since February 2006 but of course we only see Sally and Hanna, not the fantastic artist behind them. Steve is amazing, he can draw anything! Including Alex in the guise of his favourite Japanese manga character, Naruto! All I did was email Steve a couple of photos of Alex and told him to Google 'Naruto' and in less than 48 hours I had an amazing full colour cartoon. All I had to do was print it off and get a frame for it. Couldn't have been easier! Technically... the printing it off part was easy but finding a big enough frame and surround for my A3 size cartoon was a bit more of a challenge. There wasn't a single one to be found and I needed it that day as Alex was coming with us for our long weekend away!

Fortunately another wee gem came to my rescue. Alice and her husband Peter are the owner operators of Benjamin Moore Colour Plus in Huntly. It's technically a painting and decorating shop but this couple have turned it into much more, including artwork, framing and wonderful, unique gifts. Alice is super helpful and just so cute! She helped me go through every frame in the shop but we couldn't find anything that would fit exactly. The pair of us were all out of suggestions when Alice's face lit up with a smile and she said 'I know! I'll ask Peter to cut the mat surround bigger for you, so it makes the right size!' This was a painstaking job and it took Peter an hour to get it exactly how he wanted it but all the while Alice was happily chatting to us in the shop, showing the kids all the funny novelty gifts and making them laugh. The wait was well worth it, when Peter triumphantly brought out the finished picture. It was huge and looked amazing! The frame set the colours off perfectly so they jumped out at you and Steve had captured Alex's features with incredible accuracy. We wrapped it up and smuggled it into our luggage and presented it to Alex that evening. Once he had stopped falling about laughing at seeing himself transformed into a ninja, he was absolutely gobsmacked at Steve's attention to detail and said it had to be the most awesome gift he had ever been given. A brilliant result - and all thanks to my two precious gems!

If you asked Ali what his favourite hidden gem is, he would say in a flash 'Papaiti Station'! It's hidden alright, so well hidden in fact I doubt whether I could even find it by myself! I first wrote about this magical place a few months back and we were all excited about going there again, this time with Alex also in tow. He had heard so much about Ali's favourite place that he wanted to see it, and all the wild animals who roamed it for himself. I have to admit, I was a little concerned how this techno-kid of the 21st century was going to handle several days with no computers, no phone and no video games! However I needn't have worried. As soon as we arrived he spotted a pack of cards and roped the boys into a game and any spare minute thereafter was spent playing cards, Scrabble or Monopoly. By the end of the trip, both Liam AND Alex were beating me at Scrabble!

The guys' aim for the trip was to bring some venison (or in Ali's case, wild pork) home for the freezer. Liam's aim was to catch a trout and mine was to spend as much time as possible in the outdoor spa. Unfortunately the only one who achieved their goal was me, thanks to the inclement weather but everyone had a ball trying nonetheless. Even though they came home empty handed nobody really minded. No matter where you look the scenery is so breathtaking that you're just glad to be there. Ali, by now a veteran of Papaiti Station of several years, always makes it his mission to show me around as much as possible. The first day was freezing but beautiful and sunny, so he took me on a three hour bush walk to show me where they had been hunting that morning. All the while we went along his keen eyes scanned the hills and ridges, talking nineteen to the dozen. 'Look at that mum, there's a nice red deer hind - oh, two, no three, no four! Ooh look, one's got a fawn with it! There's two ginger pigs and two black ones - and there's some goats, look at the horns on that grey one!' His eyes were like a little bird's darting everywhere, while my own aged ones struggled hopelessly to keep up. We continued walking steadily and I didn't realise just how high we had climbed until Ali turned around halfway up an incline and said 'Look!' 'What? I can't see anything!' I squinted, looking in vain for yet another well camoflaged animal. 'There, straight ahead!' he pointed impatiently. 'It's Mount Ruapehu!' I blinked and took a second look and - WOAH! There it was! This enormous snow covered mountain looked close enough to touch.

We scrabbled up the rest of the steep ridge. Ali kept a brisk pace, still looking out for unsuspecting wildlife, while I puffed along behind. 'Mum, can you PLEASE do something about your breathing?' he asked as nicely as he could. 'I can hear your heart beating from here - you'll scare the animals away!' At last I pulled myself up and over the edge and there we were, on top of the world. That's what it felt like anyway. I can't describe how exhilarating the experience was! There was mountain after mountain, as far as the eye can see and enormous gullies bursting with wildlife down below. I couldn't help wishing that Ali and I had brought a picnic, then we could have sat up there all day, just watching the world go by. I was so proud of my wee boy, who knew every hill like the back of his hand and so grateful to him for sharing his knowledge and this awesome view with me. We may not have brought any food or drink but I did bring my camera and I took heaps of photos. Unfortunately in my haste to capture the moment I pressed the wrong button and when I got home there was nothing on the camera! I vowed to go up again the next day but the weather refused to play ball and the rest of our stay was spent shrouded in mist.

One thing's for certain, when you go to Papaiti Station you have to be prepared and pack plenty of food. It's a heck of a long drive to the shops if you discover you've run out of milk! So I made heaps of goodies to take with us - good honest tucker for long, cold days in the bush! Everyone seems to love these recipes so much that I'll share them with you here:

Rhys Mellow's Vegetable Soup

This, quite simply is the best soup we've ever tasted! It comes from one of Noel's colleagues, hence the name. Rhys is a trendy young bachelor who is a dab hand in the cooking department and is well known around the saleyards for bringing his wonderful home made soups to work, rather than buy his lunch from the canteen like the other blokes. Ali, on tasting this soup described it as 'pure gold' and has since bestowed Rhys with the prestigious title, 'King of Soups'! So here it is, for everyone to enjoy!

1 x bacon hock or bacon bones

1 x 210g packet King vegetable soup mix

1 cup Sun Valley soup mix (I couldn’t get that so used a cheapo generic brand)

500ml chicken stock

1/3 pumpkin

1 kumara (sweet potato)

1 potato

1 onion

1 celery stick

1 carrot

1 parsnip

1.5 litres water

Peel and roughly chop all your veges, then throw into a large pot with all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil and simmer gently on low heat for two hours. Remove the bacon hock and pull off the meat, then put back in, bring up to the boil and cook for a further 15 minutes. Test and add salt and pepper if needed. Done!

Couldn't be easier! Noel, Ali and I are soup fiends from way back but even Liam loves this soup. The boys scoffed it at every opportunity while we were away! I also took a bacon and egg pie with me. Alex says he never used to like bacon and egg pie - but he loves this one, and so does everyone else who has ever tried it! It's real title is Leek, Ham and Egg Pie but I just adapt it to use whatever I have. If you don't have any ham I just double the bacon in the recipe and it works just as well.

Leek, Ham and Egg Pie

Serves 6

2 leeks (or you can use onions)

2 rashers bacon (or more if you're not using ham)

2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1/2 cup milk

1/2 wholegrain mustard

2 - 3 sheets flaky or puff pastry

1/2 cup grated cheese

1 cup chopped ham

4 eggs

Sesame seeds

Splash of extra milk to glaze

Trim and thinly slice your leeks (or chop the onions if you're using those instead). Wash and drain the leeks thoroughly. De-rind and chop the bacon.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add your leeks and bacon, cover and cook gently until the leeks (or onions!) are soft. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. Gradually add the milk, stirring until the mixture thickens. Remove from the heat, stir in the mustard and set aside.

Line the base and sides of a 20cm dish with pastry. Spoon your leek mixture onto the base, then top with cheese. Sprinkle the ham over the cheese if using, then break the eggs on the top.

Season well with salt and pepper, then use the rest of the pastry to make the pie 'lid'. Trim so the pastry fits inside the dish and use any leftover pastry to decorate. Brush the top with milk to glaze.

Bake at 220C for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180C and cook for a further 20 minutes. Enjoy hot or cold. YUM!

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All things bright and beautiful    

Jun 22, 2010

Darn it, I can still barely squeeze a loaf of bread into my freezer, it’s so full! I’ve decided I’m going to make a head start on July’s challenge instead, to save $50 a week on our expenses. As it turns out, I’m already half way there this week! Even if it was by accident. Rugby season is well underway again and Liam asked me yesterday if we could please add the Rugby Channel to our Sky TV subscription. As it was being advertised for only $1 extra this month I agreed and rang Sky to request the new addition. I had been moaning about the increasing price of Sky for some time and to be honest it's always been a bit of a bugbear of mine. I hate paying so much money to watch TV - especially when we only watch a couple of the channels. As far as I'm concerned all it does is encourage people to waste their time watching more TV! However the males of the house insist it is an essential, as otherwise we wouldn't be able to watch most of the live sport year-round. Oh what a shame that would be...

Anyway! So I rang Sky and got a very nice, helpful lady. I told her what I wanted and while on the phone I thought I would just check to make sure that we were only paying for the basic package and not paying any extra for things that we didn't want. Thank goodness I did - turns out we were paying almost $25 a month extra for two channels we didn't even know we had! The bloomin' cheek of it! 'So haven't you even watched the Country Channel?' the lady giggled at the other end of the phone. 'No we have not! Or the Rialto Channel either!' Needless to say she cancelled both of these for me quick smart but I was pretty miffed to think how long we had been paying for these via direct debit, blissfully unaware. It's not the first time this has happened either, so I urge any NZ customers to ring Sky and check you are only paying for the channels you want and actually use. Who knows, maybe it will help with your $50 challenge for July too!

It certainly hasn't been a good week for phones in our house. My trusty mobile phone died abruptly and was unable to be resuscitated and Liam's got stolen out of his school bag. Which was precisely the reason why we have never allowed him to carry more than the most basic phone and all students know the risks of taking their phones to school but it's still a horrible thought to think that some lowlife has been ferreting through your stuff. Still there's always a positive I suppose. In Liam's case, he found a new phone on Trade Me which houses not one but two SIM cards. This means that, no matter which plan his friends are on, he can always get the best deal when he texts or calls them! Whilst my replacement phone isn't as technically advanced as Liam's, it's actually helping me become more organised, which is of huge value to me! I borrowed Liam's old phone for a few days when mine died (before his got stolen!) and discovered it had a calendar / to-do list type function, which pops up each day on the screen. Being the type of person who would forget her own head if it wasn't stuck on, I found this absolutely invaluable! When I replaced my own phone I enquired if the one I was looking at had the same function and it did. As another bonus it also had $150 off the usual price - done deal! Since then, I haven't forgotten a single thing! Unlike a diary, notebook or pieces of paper, which I inevitably put down and leave somewhere, together with all my reminders, I carry my phone with me all the time. Now I can type in my appointments days in advance, as well as any chores, shopping items or whatever. Already I can tell this wee gadget is going to save me a fortune!

Also, I can't remember if I told you this already or not but I have recently given up wine. Yes, really! Hard to believe after all these years but I have finally cracked it. Which means I am doing even better than I thought on my $50 challenge! As with so many of these things like smoking or whatever, when you give them up you don't always realise how much you're actually saving when it's just sitting in the bank. However, even if I haven't noticed the difference in the bank balance yet, I've certainly noticed the difference in the recycling bin! I only have to go to the recycling station once every two or three weeks now, instead of every week! That's got to be good! I wonder where else I could save?

I could always be like Liam I suppose and not spend a single cent at all. At 13 he currently has over $2500 in his 'car fund' for when he is old enough to drive. Just the other day he put $500 into it from his pocket money account. 'I figured I might as well, there's nothing else I need', he reasoned. That's after he bought himself a replacement phone too! Noel can't understand how he does it - to him it looks as though Liam's always buying things but on the contrary, he's only looking. There's nothing wrong with dreaming! On the rare occasion he does buy something, he usually goes and sells something on Trade Me to make up for it. He refuses point blank to buy anything he doesn't need and only buys things which he knows will have a good resale value. I reckon there's a lot of adults out there who could learn from this kid!

Mind you, he's not really that much of a kid any more. He might only be 13 but he is at least 15cm taller than me! I posted a photo of him on Facebook this week and a lovely member called Linda commented how nice it was to see the boys growing from toothless boys into young men. I realised that she was right - I've been writing my blog for over five years now and they've definitely changed a bit! This is how they looked at the start, aged six and eight.

And this is how they look now!

Liam, aged 13

Ali, aged 11

I guess you could call them my own hidden gems! And talking of gems (oh Penny you're so slick!), this is one gem which should never be hidden. Now usually I'm in no position to tell anyone to spend money but this one is special so I'm going to tell you all about it anyway. For a long time, Forum members have followed the courageous story of an adorable girl called Imogen, who was diagnosed with cancer when she was just a wee tot. Time and time again our hearts have gone out to Immie and her amazing family as they battled on and prayed for a happy outcome. Sadly however, Imogen passed away in May, just a few days after her sixth birthday. Life can be so unfair but Immie will never be forgotten and remains in the thoughts and hearts of many members. I discovered by chance that Imogen has a very talented grandmother, who makes the most beautiful ladybird jewellery, inspired by Immie. Part proceeds of each sale go to the Children's Cancer Institute. Each piece of jewellery is bright and beautiful, just like Imogen herself! I treated myself to a cherry tomato coloured ladybird pendant and proudly wear it every day. I adore it and think it's worth every cent and much more!

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