Rating: 
Summary: Yet another sparkling review
Review: I will not repeat a lot of what has been said already about the quality of information contained in this book and the talent of the author. I will admit that I have read and used this one book more than any other I own, besides the bible. There is an endorsement! Besides tons of money saving advice, Amy shares her sense of humor, creative spirit and deep philosophical insights which make this a value for any person to read, regardless of financial status. Personally, I have never really struggled financially, yet feel committed to be a good steward of the resources I have been blessed with. Please keep in mind that she is not any type of expert on investing, so look elsewhere for better reading on that topic. This is also not a parenting book, although it amuses me that a couple who have sacrificed to retire early and raise their family full time are under such scrutiny as parents. I would sooner label parents who work full time, buy fast food and come home to watch T.V. until bed time abusive, even if their kids wear designer clothes and get new toys at Christmas. It just goes to show you where many peoples' values lie. I could not say enough good things about this book and even if some ideas are over the top, there is not a more comprehensive book on the subject of saving money anywhere to be found. Enough said.
Rating:
Summary: Something for almost everyone
Review: I LOVE this book. Do all the ideas apply to us? No. Do we use every idea as stated? Of course not. But as a springboard for ideas that DO apply to our situation, this book has been an exceptionally valuable resource. 2 years ago, I checked it out from the local library at a time when my husband and I were incredibly stressed about not having enough to pay the rent one month. With a renewal, I had the book for 6 weeks, completely free. In that time, we paid the rent with $100 left over, and at the end of the 6 weeks, I purchased it new (after a long and fruitless search for used!), and it had paid for itsself literally 13 times over, beyond the rent issue. In the three years since then, I can't even begin to calculate how much money we have saved from using ideas suggested and/or inspired by this book. However, I do know that in Arizona, I am able to be a full-time stay-at-home-mom while my husband earns well under $20,000 per year. We have a comfortable little apartment in a good neighborhood, we all wear nice clothes, our cars are paid off completely, we have at least 6 weeks of groceries in the house at all times, and he and I are both attending college. We pay ALL our bills on time, and our ONLY debt is student loans.If you are in need of ideas, suggestions, or advice for cutting costs, I advise you to invest in this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Cost saving tips only, please
Review: The book filled with money saving ideas, some of which I found helpful, others that were impractical for me, and others that I doubt are useful to anyone without an excess of free time and a miniscule budget. That's okay, as the author herself points out, she puts all the informations she has out there so that you can decide which money saving strategies are appropriate for your situation. I just wish she would stop at that. Unfortunately, Ms. Dacyzyn inserts her non-budgetary opinions on a plethora of other subjects, and I found some of it downright offensive. Particularly irritating is the self-rightous assertions that we should all wash and reuse plastic baggies and aluminum foil for the environment. The woman has six children! Reducing aluminum foil and plastic baggie consumption does not balance out the resource consumption of six children! Also obnoxious is her article on preventing "picky" eaters, which really shows more about her authoritarian parenting style than a desire to save money. How does making children force down a serving of asparagus or mushrooms save money? Wouldn't the cheapest thing to do be to let the child skip the offensive food, as long as they don't make up for it by eating more of a pricier food?
Rating:
Summary: Good sense for anyone
Review: I'm the sole breadwinner for a family of four in pricey Fairfield County, CT. People wonder how we live on one less-than-stellar income. Our response is that follow the advice laid out in book's such as Amy's, and in all aspects just follow our intuition: Don't trash things just because you're tired of them. Avoid the truly unquenchable thirst for "new" - be it cars, kitchens, electronic gear, furniture or trendy clothing. Pay yourself first. I got the third volume as a Christmas present and was saddened to learn that she has since retired from publishing this useful info. I intend to buy the multivolume set as a gift for my sister and brother-in-law who despite having two incomes and living in an inexpensive place (Florida) are always broke. And, in answer to Richard somebody from San Diego, with his pithy observation on the size of the Dacyczyn family, I would posit that there are plenty of single people, childless couples and small families who inflict exponentially more of an impact on the environment than the Dacyczyns do - due to wasteful, consumption-oriented lifestyles.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Gift for a Young Adult Starting Out
Review: How I wish I had read this book when I was first married! This gigantic book -- almost 1000 pages! -- is filled with a wealth of ideas for the frugal or simple lifestyle. Not very many recipes in here (intentional on the author's part), but those are easy to come by in books like _Miserly Moms_ or _Not Just Beans_. Some of the strategies described may sound extreme, but I think the intent of the author was to provide many ways to save money, and let the readers decide which they can comfortably adopt. This will tell you how to save money for just about every imaginable expense. An excellent reference all around. I would highly recommend this as a gift for a newlywed couple, a new graduate, or a new mother. It's worth its weight in gold.
Rating: 
Summary: Nice book but not for everyone!
Review: I agree with some of the authors advise like not to spend money on disposable things like diapers,paper towels,paper plates etc...some of the advise in this book is a bit too extreme like trash picking but still makes a nice reading .
Rating:
Summary: A Re-review of past reviews
Review: I originally wrote a review back in 2002 and was scanning the more recent reviews today. I was saddened to see that the controversy continues over how extreme some of the measures are and over Amy's child rearing practices, about how terrible her children are being raised and how close to child abuse her measures are. In the last 5 years, if it had not been for the advice I gleaned from the pages of the Tightwad Gazette, my family would have been one of the millions filing for bankruptcy. All of the people pillaging Amy would have been paying for my past mistakes in higher interest rates and fees while companies tried to recoup the money they lost in my bankruptcy. This is not an attempt at drama to make Amy look good, THIS IS FACT!!! My husband was laid off in 1999 and has not had a job offer since. He is now back in school and I am supporting my family on a salary of less than $40,000 yearly. Think this amount sounds like riches? It is, simply because I practice the frugality in the books written by Amy. Folks, this is 2004. Gas in my area right now is approaching $1.75 a gallon. Milk is almost $3.80 a gallon. Health insurance premiums of close to $600 monthly made me recently change jobs. I am now shouldering more of my family's health care expenses but I am seeing more in my paycheck. In the area of the country that I live in, my salary puts me on the fringes of LOWER middle class. When the book was written, I would have been on the fringes of UPPER middle class. That's how much the economy has changed since 9/11. However, none of the ideas gleaned from the book have changed. That's the power of this information. It's not faddish, in style, whatever. It's classic and you can refer back to it year after year. Oh, and for those of you who think that her childrearing practices are "child abuse" and will warp their mentality, let me introduce you to two members of my immediate family. Raised in the idea that only new will do and only the best is best, they are both divorced mothers, receiving welfare benefits (yes, the authors of "amy practices child abuse" are paying for their upkeep each month!), constantly being evicted from apartments they can't afford but, oh my, we can't live anywhere but the best places around, RUN OUT OF FOOD STAMP MONEY EACH MONTH, because it has to have a name on it or it's "dog food", per another reader, one recently had a BRAND NEW 2004 car repossessed because the car dealership didn't investigate closely enough (I work full time and don't have a brand new car, my car is paid for). This is the mentality that many of the previous reviewers espouse. Yet, you are paying their electric bills (which run into the HUNDREDS each month because they keep every light and every TV set on constantly), phone bills (home and cell phones, yes cell phones for every member of their family!) health care (frequent ER visits for one drug addicted member) and food (anything that is advertised on TV is in their home). Before anyone else trashes Amy and her lifestyle, I urge them to think about all I have written. Did it occur to any of them that part of the reason they can't get ahead in life is the support they are REQUIRED to pay out in taxes each month for the millions in this country who are just like my two family members? Oh, and their children, raised to expect only the best? One is on his way to becoming another high school drop out, there are two more lined up behind him and another bringing up the rear. My child, raised like Amy's children? High school honor role student poised for college.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for me
Review: As much as I'd like to not have to work, I'd rather work then spend my day cooking from scratch (I hate cooking!), rewashing baggies or shopping at thrift stores for deals. I only got a quarter way through this book, but I didn't find it helpful to me. The only thing I agreed about was the price diary, which I knew about before. I also didn't like that she seemed to put down people who wouldn't do these things, like we're a bunch of fools for buying new baggies or pre-packaged convience food.
I'm sure her ideas work if you're willing to put in the time and effort, but they just aren't for me.
Rating:
Summary: A step beyond
Review: This book is helpful to anyone that is looking for ways to save money. The author goes beyond just normal saving strategies and has great ideas. No, not all the ideas are for everyone. But I found useful information that will assist me in saving money the rest of my life. She also offers insight about how much we actually waste and ways to help the enviroment. I will save in three months the cost of the book and that is just by using two of her ideas.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: GET TO THE HEART OF THE MATTER, FORGET WHAT SOCIETY SAYS-BE YOUR OWN PERSON/FAMILY, AND CONSERVE MONEY AND RESOURCES!
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