Fiona Lippy, Shows Us How To Get Simple Savings:

Fiona Lippy is our inspirational person for this month. She has set up the saving website www.simplesavings.com.au. This site has around 14,000 different ideas on how to save money. We talk to her about her views on debt and getting smart with money.

Tell us about how you started to get smart with money?
Originally I was a sad Sally (aged 22) which meant I spent way too much money and I didn’t have a clue about how to shop or buy my groceries or anything. Then my husband and I had a very steep learning curve. We only had $20 to last us the week. We had $10 we needed for bus fares to get to our new jobs and back and $10 to cover our food for the whole week. Instead of our flatmate lending us money, she showed us how to buy food for the whole week. How to make that money stretch out so it lasted.

Before you got smart with money; let’s talk about silly things you used to purchase?
Geez, that’s a hard question, Lean Cuisine is up there with my most stupid. Half as much food for twice the price.

What do you think is your best purchase over time?
Husbands aren’t purchases are they? One of my best decisions was to marry my husband. However, being serious, I have a very old decrepit kitchen. It is 35-years-old and has no pantry. After we first moved here, my shopping bill went up to $360 a week, because I have no pantry. So my husband, Matt went and got a metal cabinet from Bunning’s and we put that in our garage, and this is now our food pantry. Now we buy in bulk and save $10,000 a year.

Can you tell us any interesting stories of people you have personally helped get out of debt? How did you help them achieve this, and what changes did you see in them? 
Jackie Gower is our biggest success story. (We interviewed Jackie about six months ago. Click here to go to this interview. )  Jackie really was the true sad Sally.

If someone came to you really drowning in debt, what would be your first bit of advice?
Don’t laugh, but it would be to get your health sorted out first. Because if their health is not good, then they can’t tackle their debt. The further we get into this, the more I see health and debt are tied. You have to get your health right as well as working on your debt. Does depression lead to spending or does spending lead to depression?

What is your opinion on credit cards?
I hate them... I know people think you can be smart with them, but they are a trap. We hear all sorts of excuses from people like, I need it for security. I need it for safety; what if someone dies? If something goes drastically wrong and they urgently need money, they like that they don’t have to ask a bank or someone else whether could lend then some money.

It’s like leaving a chocolate cake in front of you forever, and saying that’s just for when you are really, really hungry. You always know the chocolate cake is there. Credit cards put temptation to people who really don’t need it.

I hate the idea of ‘buy now and pay later’ because people think they will have the money in 18 months. However, if you don’t have the money now, you won’t have it in 18 months. If in doubt, go without.

What do you think of the marketing of credit cards?
I once saw an Anne Geddes’ credit card and I thought it was the most disgusting thing I have ever seen. All men should have pink credit cards and women’s credit cards should be just as embarrassing.

If you could go back to your 16^th birthday and give yourself advice about money, what would you say?
Start investing NOW. Shares and property; it doesn’t matter which one you choose as long as you are taking money out of your wage and putting it towards something for life. And don’t touch it!

Have you got anything to add for our readers?
Think about this, every $15 saved is an hour you don’t have to work..

Thanks for your time Fiona. It’s great to know about other people and their situation and how they have changed.