Nonfiction Book Reviews

In the cheapskate community, Amy Dacyczyn reigns supreme. And it’s not hard to see why, when you flip through her books.

Amy originally started out by producing a newsletter with tips she thought were helpful. She eventually put those tips into books, and produced three amazing books that every tightwad in the country owns (bought off eBay at a discounted price, of course). They are (originality in naming not being her strong suit) The Tightwad Gazette I, The Tightwad Gazette II, and (drumroll please!) The Tightwad Gazette III. I know, you didn’t see it coming, did you? Neither did I.

Lack of originality aside, there is little here to criticize. Seriously. This is the frugal person’s Bible. Too often, a “how-to-be-frugal” book will simply regurgitate the same tips over and over again. (Great example here. Or here’s another one that did it too, although not to the same extent.) How many times can people say, “Save up money and pay cash for big items” before publishers start to say, “Wait a minute, I think this has been covered before”?

Apparently a lot.

Amy stands at the pinnacle of frugalness for a very good reason: None of her “tips” are recycled stuff that someone slapped together from an hour of Googling. Amy never takes the easy way out by saying, “I’ve heard that it’s cheaper to…”

Instead, she sits down with a calculator and figures out, down to the penny, how much something will cost. And then she does it again the other way. Math is not my strong suit, so she completely lost me when it came to some of her calculations, but I was mightily impressed by her conclusions.

Here’s an excerpt on freezing food in bulk that illustrates that point nicely:

The first step was purchasing a humongous, $7.99, 2,000 foot-roll of 12-inch-wide clear plastic wrap from a warehouse store. One could make the argument that free bread bags are cheaper, but this wrap costs just 4/10ths of a cent per foot and allows a stretched-tight wrap that gives good protections from freezer burn. If this quantity is too much for you, we found that store-brand plastic wraps are 6/10ths of a cent. (But be aware that name-brand wrap costs as much as 2 and 3/10ths of a cent per foot.)

Am I just the laziest person alive? I never, no never, would have thought to calculate something like that down to the tenth of a penny.  She does this constantly.  Reading her books is like peering into the mind of a frugal genius, truly.

If you’re really observant (as are all of my readers, naturally) you might have noticed that I reviewed book #3 first.  I did that to make the point that you don’t have to read these books in order.  She does refer back to stories in previous books occasionally, but she always makes sure to give enough of the backstory that you’re not lost.

My only gripe (boring name aside) is that there isn’t anything more to read.  Amy Dacyczyn has retired, and is no longer producing newsletters, books, or even a simple blog. Others have tried to fill the gap by producing their own books and blogs, but none of them are as good as The Frugal Zealot.

Amy, we miss ya.

5 out of 5 stars

Hava

I picked up Living Well on a Shoestring: 1,501 Ingenious Ways to Spend Less and Have More by Yankee Magazine on a whim.  I tend to like “how to live thrifty” books, and am always looking for a new money saving tip.  I’ve already reviewed America’s Cheapest Family and I have several similar books in the queue.

Well, this thrifty living book left me with mixed feelings.  I would read an entire section where there wasn’t a single new idea that I hadn’t heard before, and then the next section I would read a tip or two that I think, “Well, I wouldn’t necessarily do that myself, but at least it is new idea.”  Overall, there just wasn’t much originality to the book.

Then there was a tip that was completely and utterly wrong.  It was in the getting-out-of-debt section, and it advised the following:

Do you have a credit card that has gotten out of hand, and you have to struggle to pay even the minimum balance every month?  Do yourself a favor: Cancel the card immediately.  That way, you can’t make new charges while you’re getting the balance under control. Living Well, page 28

Warning!  Warning!  Warning!  Do NOT, any ANY circumstances, follow the above advice!  Once you cancel a card, the credit card company has exactly zero reasons to work with you.  It makes your credit report look even worse than it already is, and your credit score will drop.  Your interest rate will likely zoom up into the stratosphere because, again, the credit card company has no reason not to twerk you off.  In fact, they’ll kinda want to because they want that money back so they can lend that money out to other people who will borrow it over and over again.  You, however, are officially no fun: You’re never going to borrow anymore money from them.  Why play nice?

So that part made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.  Then there was the section about saving money, where the tip was to assign each household chore a specific monetary value that you would’ve had to pay a housecleaner in order for it to be done, and then pay yourself that amount.  No, wait: It gets even better.  They said to put the money in a savings account instead of spending it - that way, you’ll have a nice fat savings account, and a clean house!

Yeah…Not so much.  If I could afford to pay a cleaning woman to clean my house A) I would and B) Why would I be reading this book?  And even if I did, do you honestly think I’d have the self control to clean my house, give myself money for cleaning, and then not spend that money?  Not a chance, Sunshine, not a chance.  But it wasn’t just cleaning the house - they suggested doing the same thing for mowing your lawn, repairing household appliances, and other chores like that.  I wasn’t impressed.

There were a few ideas scattered in there that I hadn’t heard before, but overall, it was a recycling of the same generic tips you hear everywhere, not to mention a few tips that completely led you astray, and more tips than I care to think about that just left me scratching my head.

I just can’t give Living Well higher than 2.75 out of 5 stars.  It was a disappointment - there are better books out there on this subject.  I’ll be reviewing a favorite of mine, The Tightwad Gazette, later on.  Watch for that.

Havs

PS Looking for some thrifty tips?  Be sure to visit A Frugal Mom here at Today - she’s got a great blog packed with good ideas.