Rating: 
Summary: Decide what to use from this book and ignore the rest
Review: Although there are some reasonable suggestions in here, and I now know I'm not alone in washing out Ziploc bags to reuse, I'm worried at Amy's encouraging families to give up a second income using the advice that where she lives, in Maine, people on less than $30,000 per year incomes (this must have gone up since the book was written) can get subsidies on their mortgage. Call me old fashioned, but doesn't this sort of thinking encourage people to live off the state instead of working when you're perfectly fit and able to do so, leaving less for those who are in true need of it? I also was horrified reading about her advice on homemade baby formula. The health of your children is priceless, and to jeaopardise that could be the costliest mistake of your life.
Like a previous reviewer said, take it with a pinch of salt.
Rating: 
Summary: Frugal Living at its Best!
Review: Amy Dacyczyn is like a breath of fresh air - blowing in the energy to try new, creative (yet inexpensive) ideas yet cleaning out the old routines that have kept us in ruts (and our bank accounts at a deficit) for years. Amy challenges the reader to embrace these ideas with a touch of cleverness and a big dose of humor. Amy's suggestions for frugal living are simple, well researched and fun...when your neighbor sees you stapling the vacuum cleaner bag closed, they will either share in your excitement or start looking for a new home! The best thing about Amy's books are the validation you receive for your efforts to conserve, reduse, reuse, recycle, rethink and reinvent! Your self esteem will soar, and so will your savings account!I would be remiss, however, if I didn't mention that Amy would never condone buying her book new at a book store or even through a discounted internet service (sorry!). Amy's recommendation is to find a used copy, share the copy your friend already owns, take it out of the library, or at the very least, buy a new copy with several of your friends thereby reducing your cash outlay. Now, doesn't that make sense?!?
Rating:
Summary: A must-read book
Review: Amy Dacyzyn is that rare thing in contemporary America--a person who believes the American dream is still attainable. She believes that people's financial goals are attainable, not through earning more but through saving more. This book focuses on teaching readers the basics of a frugal lifestyle; readers are told how to save money on everything from groceries to weddings. Far from merely giving helpful hints, _The Tightwad Gazette_ shows the reader how to figure out what is the most economical alternative among many, how to calculate savings, and make thrifty choices--skills they can then apply to their own unique situations. In addition to the excellent practical advice, Dacyzyn has some interesting things to say about the psychological side of frugality; she clearly believes that saving money is fun and, before they're through with this book, her readers will too
Rating:
Summary: The four stages of Dacyczyn
Review: CURIOSITY: at first you are intrigued and amused. Squishing toilet rolls so that children can't pull off more than a few sheets at a time! How amusing! Scraping all the leftovers into a large container in the freezer then mixing them up into a kind of soup when its full! Ooooh, gross! What an odd eccentric person! How entertaining! Wait till I tell my friends about this one!ADMIRATION: ok, here's a person with clear goals who worked singlemindedly towards them without losing sight of the importance of friends and family in their life. The tips and hints in this book and the others are secondary to the philosophy; tracking your spending, costing out your time, moving from selfish consumerism to acquisition based on need. There is stuff I can learn from this person. DOUBT: I'm really not sure I could live with my Hi-Fi propped up on bricks and a plank of wood, even if it will prove useful for a domestic project afterwards. And some of this stuff, e.g. the "switching lights off or leaving them on" debate, sounds frankly obsessional. I wonder what some Prozac would do for the Tightwad Lifestyle. Plus, there's more than a hint of hopeless narcissism in the "Frugal Zealot" secret-agent type fantasies, and the constant anecdotes about the "movement" spreading worldwide. BOREDOM: I'll admit it. I gave up after about two-thirds. Sorry, Amy, but eventually your life just started to grind me down and make me feel sad. Your book is best regarded as an over-stuffed collection of hints on saving money, and if anyone wants to buy it they should take your advice and borrow it or get it used.
Rating:
Summary: A variety of ideas for a variety of readers
Review: I bought this book on a whim off the bargain shelf at Barnes & Noble. Since then, I have read and re-read it and cluttered up the pages with annotations and sticky notes. It isn't just the usefulness of the suggestions that keeps me coming back, but also the author's whimsical writing style. Clearly, she doesn't take herself too seriously, but she does take saving money seriously. There are no lengths to which she will not go--from stocking up on sale-priced food to recycling vacuum cleaner bags--to avoid wasting money.
Notice that I did not say "to avoid spending money." Her whole point is that there are things worth spending money on and things not worth spending money on, and which is which will vary from person to person. Her own splurges include a big New England farmhouse and six children. But as she points out, this is what frugality is all about: spending less on the things that aren't important to you so that you'll have plenty of money for the things that are. As she puts it, there's no right or wrong way to be a tightwad.
Sometimes, it's true, she can come across as a little obsessive. But after all, when you're trying to crank out a newsletter of money-saving tips every month, you probably can't afford to skip over any idea, no matter how trivial it seems. The idea is not that you're going to save enough for that New England farmhouse by buying clothes secondhand, or by cutting your kids' hair yourself, or by canning your garden produce--but the more of these things you do, the more it all adds up. You have to make your own decisions as to which money-savers are worth the time and effort for you personally.
I'd like to point out that other reviewers who have been criticizing some of her ideas appear not to have read very carefully. A lot of people have attacked her for "recommending the use of homemade baby formula," but if you read past the first two paragraphs of this article, you'll find that she specifically *doesn't* recommend the use of homemade formula; she *does* say that breast-feeding is by far the best for babies; she points out that although formula is expensive, it's best to look for other ways to cut expenses first; and she urges anyone who's thinking about using a homemade formula to check with a pediatrician first. Also, she never suggests that you use half as much ground coffee to make a pot; what she says is that you can reuse coffee grounds by mixing them with some fresh coffee--about half the amount you used for the first pot. (I admit this isn't the best tip in the book. I tried it and never managed to get the same amount of coffee out of that second pot. But it's not an inherently absurd idea.)
Overall, this book is well worth the 10 dollars or so you'll spend on it. If you're not already an accomplished saver, the tips in this book will probably save you many times what you spend on it, and even if you are, there are plenty of useful ideas to be gleaned from it. Plus it's nice to know that you're not alone.
Rating:
Summary: For the Seriously Frugally Minded
Review: I grabbed this book eagerly at the library. I have renewed it twice, and am really enjoying the read. I think the amount of flack that Amy is receiving in these reviews simply backs up her assertion that tightwaddery is a lifestyle for the select few. Apparently I'm a good candidate for tightwaddery, because I'm not laughing. In the book she says "When Oprah had a show on cheapskates, I didn't laugh, I took notes." That's me.
For instance, this Halloween we carved pumpkins on the night of trick or treating, as she suggested. We did this so that we could use the pumpkin up without it rotting. The next day I brought it inside, cut off the burned spot, cut it in chunks, steamed it, peeled it, cooked it, blended it and froze it. TEN cups of pumpkin puree. Out of one pumpkin. That's enough for 25 loaves of her holiday pumpkin bread. That's exactly what I was looking for when I picked up this book. Good old-fashioned thrift.
By the way, I feed my family leftovers, much to the horror of some of the reviewers. My mother fed me leftovers. I think we must be pretty spoiled as a nation to be that upset at the idea of using our resources as fully as possible. I cannot imagine making dinner and throwing out half of a good healthy meal. I also recycle Ziploc freezer bags. This is not gross! We are living in a nation that promotes disposable everything, from one-use toilet brushes to one-use cameras to one-use dish rags. Manufacturers are continually coming up with more and more of these things. If you only use it once, you have to buy more, and subsequently Line Their Pockets with your hard earned dough. They are suckering us! Washing something in order to reuse it, especially if it's something that you'll just buy more of otherwise, JUST MAKES SENSE. Frugality is about being thankful for what you have and using it to the best of your ability. It is very satisfying to me to be able to take some wheat kernels and turn out a loaf of bread. My kids are not wasteful, at least not as far as food goes because they know that food comes for a price. I'm not on food stamps, I'm self-sufficient, my 6 year old could practically bake bread on her own, they appreciate new toys and especially new clothes that grandma buys them.
I truthfully don't think her ideas are extreme, except for the homemade baby formula thing.(Okay, maybe the juice can lid wind chimes were a little out there.) Nevertheless, most of her ideas do have practical application. She has a little design for turning a large-size marshmallow into an easter bunny shape by cutting it a certain way. I tried it today and it's really cute, and once again satisfying to hand make. I guess I have never been in an affluent environment, so I have never had everything handed to me on a silver platter. If you think leftovers are table scraps, garden produce is uncivilized (where do you think the store gets it?) and powdered milk is a deadly sin, please try and break free of the pop-tart culture that is being shoved down your throat. The rest of the world does not live in an such an extremely wasteful culture as this. Don't get me wrong, I'm thankful for all the blessings that I have by living in America, I simply don't want to be sucked in by those who would have me hoard excessive junk paid for on credit to be cool and fit in. I'm looking for true freedom, financial freedom that I've earned through hard work and resourcefulness. That's true happiness.
Rating:
Summary: How to Save ($$$)
Review: I have mixed feelings about "The Tightwad Gazette" by Amy Daczyczyn. Some suggestions are practical. The observation that consumers are expected/encouraged to spend all that we make -- and if our incomes increase, to spend still more -- The concept that one should not merely restrict, but *prioritize* spending -- clarified some assumptions I'd already had, and made me re-think other assumptions. But other suggestions are so absurd as to be simultaneously cringe-inducing and hilarious, as when Amy suggests cutting a piece out of an intact sock to patch its holey mate. Is my arithmetic wrong, or would the end result of all that effort be zero intact socks instead of one? Sometimes it seems like Amy doesn't comprehend what money is *for*. Here, she suggests "saving 50%" by lathering once, rather than twice, with shampoo. There, she suggests using half the usual amount of coffee when brewing a pot. This is advice we're supposed to be paying for? I'm perfectly capable of figuring out on my own that half as much shampoo/coffee costs less than the full amount. Suggestions like these are not only inane, but also miss the point on some basic fundamental level -- they're like saying that leaving your car in the garage improves its fuel efficiency. Of course half-strength "coffee" would be cheaper -- but it would also be undrinkable. I think what most consumers want to know is how to get the most value out of whatever amount we do spend. If Amy knows where to get coffee for half price, she should tell us -- if not, she shouldn't waste our time and insult our intelligence trying to persuade us that brown water is just as good. Morning comes early around these here parts, buckaroo, and those of us with day jobs don't take kindly to folks messing with our caffeine! Admittedly, it's difficult for me to evaluate the content of this book objectively, because while reading it, I developed a pronounced distaste for the author. She's currently in a tie with the authors of "The Rules" for the author whom I'd least like to meet. If I were more compassionate, perhaps I'd find the book a fascinating account of a mind that gives every indication of suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder. As it was, I just found it annoying. Every page radiates self-congratulatory smugness and narcissism, if not outright megalomania. There's way too much guilt-tripping of non-tightwads, too. At one point, she posits a scenario wherein her neighbor nervously justifies an expensive phone bill. Get over yourself, Amy! Just because you're obsessed with money doesn't mean everybody else is, and nobody who isn't terminally codependent could care less whether you approve of their phone bill. As anyone who reads this book will see, Amy has some appallingly extreme attitudes/practices -- as when she rhapsodizes about how much she's saving by dressing her children in thrift-shop clothing and feeding them leftovers and powdered milk -- which was particularly grating in light of her continual tiresome references to her many pregnancies and grandiose description of herself as a "matriarch". I wondered what the matriarch was doing with the money she saved that was more important than buying food, milk, and clothes for her children. This would be distressing enough, at least at the bizarre extremes to which Amy takes her "philosophy" -- at one point (I swear I am not making this up), she suggests decorating a cake with *ten-year-old candies*! -- but she's also inconsistent. There's an irritatingly puritanical "this-is-good-enough-for-the-likes-of-you" tone underlying her advice, which somehow doesn't apply when Amy wants something expensive, e.g., her vintage farmhouse on a sprawling plot of land, "with attic, basement, and barns for storage". Vintage farmhouses on multi-acre lots are cheap neither to buy nor to restore nor to maintain -- nor, presumably, to heat, since they live in Maine -- and using half one's living area for storage strikes me as an inefficient use of rent/mortgage money. If that were anybody else, Amy would be scolding them to throw out all their "junk" and move into a nice cheap 500-square-foot trailer. She asserts that brand-name pet food is worth extra because it's superior to store brands. Pet food is essentially the same irrespective of the brand name. Even the big supermarket chains don't have their own pet-food factories; as with store brand stringbeans or aspirin, "Kroger" pet food has probably been manufactured by, say, Purina. So Amy, who approves of "trash picking", is here advising us to pay extra solely for the label. And does it chill anybody else's blood that a woman who insists on premium food for her pets turns around and feeds her children table scraps? A story about driving across town to save ten cents on a can of tunafish (although the round-trip drive had to use more than ten cents' worth of gasoline) is followed by a story about a $700. bed that Amy just had to have. If a regular person wanted a bed, they'd simply buy it, and that would be that. But because Amy is warped on the subject of money, we're subjected to a long-winded rationalization about how the bed was *really* an "investment" (as though she couldn't have bought $700. worth of stocks if she'd wanted an investment) because it was an antique. Unfortunately, she also says that she had the bed lengthened -- thereby making it no longer an antique, since it's not in its original condition -- as the antique dealer will tell Amy's children when he buys the bed out of their attic for a-dollar-ninety-eight. Oh, well, if only she can get her family to eat 7000 cans of "bargain" tunafish, the bed will be paid for, right? Read it (I deliberately don't say buy it, since I'm loath to make such a money-crazed whacko even richer) for the suggestions, but take with a very large grain of store-brand salt.
Rating: 
Summary: these are so unusual
Review: I really enjoyed reading this 3 vol. set of books.I don't agree with ALL of the information and advice given in these books. I have tried many of the money and time saving devices listed. I use the home-made pizza dough and the home-made cream of soup all the time. This is like algebra, you just have to think in a different way. Good for the new wife or the big family.
Rating:
Summary: Fun and mostly practical
Review: I really enjoyed reading this book. I used many of the recipes and ideas. In acknowledging the previous review, there are some thrift ideas that I would never use; the author takes thrift to new extremes-- but many ideas were highly practical! The extreme ideas often gave me a good chuckle. I liked the little glimpses the book gave me into her life..her goal of owning a pre-1900 farmhouse with attached barn..and her unexpected twins. Being thrifty, I got the book out from the library, but I am at this site because I will give a (used) copy as a gift!
Rating:
Summary: A very good START to frugal living
Review: I was a subscriber to Amy's newsletter, and have bought and used her books. I enjoy her essays the best. Some of her ideas are wacky, other ideas are sent in by readers, or even other authors. The infamous article on dumpster diving was brought on by a book on dumpster diving for example. (written by John Hoffman) I think it's important that we don't crucify Amy for ideas that readers sent in themselves. Amy teaches by principle (albeit hers) and some of the frugal ways that readers object to are actually examples in those essays. To appreciate the book and thus Amy's message, it's important that the reader understands the point, not necessarily agreeing with the example used. Amy is resourceful and creative and goal centered. Pick up on that enthusiasm, and you've learned from her book. She's also self-righteous, and critical of other frugality authors, almost in a mean way. she seems to feel that most of her ideas are original, even though some aren't unique enough to have been invented by her. I've had both a price book and a stocked pantry for years, for example. On the postive side, Amy shares her wisdom in an entertaining, witty, and informative way. She has a think for yourself approach to consumerism that I like. (Don't let the TV/society tell you how to celebrate holidays or clean your house) She shares some grocery shopping advice, meal planning, creative holiday planning and gardening hints. On the whole I enjoy her work. I do wish she wasn't so crabby toward other frugal experts.
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