Gails Blog

I was shopping on Danforth Avenue yesterday morning. This is my old neighbourhood and it felt great to be back in the buzz. Now that I live in the bush (which I looooveee), it’s a treat to come back to my old stomping grounds and see what’s new.

One of the drawbacks of living in the country - which is counter to what you’d think when you were getting ready to move there - is that the fruits and vegis aren’t as varied or as fresh as you can get in the city. So I took the opportunity to stock up for Christmas.

I bought a lot of stuff: red peppers, mangos and cilantro for a soup I promised Alex I’d try to make for her. We had it together in a restaurant and I’m determined to reverse-engineer it. (Yes, I’m working backwards from what I remember it tasted like last summer. Wish me luck.)

I bought gobs of fruit. I’m feeding about 14 Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Boxing Day (which is Ken’s b/day). With so many people in the house, it makes sense to make a HUGE fruit salad and then let everyone pick out the stuff they don’t like.

I found fresh basil. My basil plant has just given up the ghost and I clapped my hands in glee when I came upon the beautiful fresh basil. And lemongrass. So I think I’ll make a nice curry tomorrow with chicken, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, maybe some cauliflower, potatoes, and the Kaffir lime leaves I found in a Korean store when I was shooting in Guelph.

I love to cook. I can’t believe the number of people who blow their budgets eating out when home-cooking is such a pleasure and so much more cost-efficient. I gave one couple I worked with the challenge of making dinner for their extended family using only $40, about 1/10 of what they would normally spend taking everyone out to eat. They only spent $38! It can be done,  people. The couples I work with often have to give up their eating-out ways because I give them so little money to live on. Then they discover the sheer joy of working together in the kitchen, creating a meal, enjoying their togetherness along with the food.

As I’m filling my arms with berries, mangos and tangerines, a woman and her husband stop to talk. They love the show. And they want to know how much of what I do sticks.

It’s a good question. I get this question a lot. My best guess is that we work wonders with about 80 percent of the people I meet. Ten percent fall into the nebulous gray area: will they, or won’t they stick with the plan? And ten percent are lost, some from the get-go. I’m shooting the last show of season five right now (season three is on the air), so that’s 65 people in total that I’ve worked with on camera. That’s a lot of people who have been Gailed! And many of them exceeded my expectations.

It seems the reach of the show is wider than I initially thought. I left the fruit stands and headed into the local grocery emporium for hummus and pita. The pretty young lass at the cash register recognized me and told me how much headway she’s making with her debt. Good for her.

Good for you all. It is no easy task facing up to your debt. But as many of you can attest, if you have the guts to face up, ‘fess up, and get moving towards your goal, the feeling you get is FANTASTIC! People are writing to tell me how excited they are to be debt-free. Wow!  And when couples appeal to me for help now, they ask me to “come kick my butt.” Ha!

The reason why so many people are embracing the idea of being debt free isn’t simply because it’s a good idea. It’s because they have me kicking their butts. So here’s my challenge to all you recent converts:

Get yourself a butt to kick and kick it hard. Show whomever you’ve chosen the error of their ways. Show them how you turned things around. Show them that they can be debt free too. And tell them, once they’re on their way, that it’s their turn to partake of some butt-kicking.

When you’ve kicked a butt, write and tell me. Better still, post it under Have Your Say. This is where I’d like y’all to talk to each other.

Happy Holidays to you and your family. Here’s hoping your pantry is full and your heart is happy.

p.s. check out the new article, Got A Raise?

This entry was posted on Saturday, December 22nd, 2007 at 9:17 am and is filed under Challenge!. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.