Rating: 
Summary: I am PUMPED!!!
Review: After reading this book, I sat down and made a budget. I quickly realized we were actually throwing $600 a month out into spend-thrift space! Before this book, we were living from pay check to pay check and hoping that we didn't bounce any checks before pay day. Now, I am proud to say that we are able to put $600 a month into savings for an upgrade remodel job on our house. I allowed $300 a month on food and only spent 1/2 of that by using some of the methods Amy wrote about in her book. I would suggest that anyone who "wonders where it all goes" should read this book to get some basic and easy ideas on saving money. Oh yea, and my family hardly notices the difference!
Rating: 
Summary: Word of advice
Review: This book has convinced me to think more in terms of saving the money I have rather than constantly looking for ways to make more. You might expect the book to insist on a spartan, miserly lifestyle , but the real emphasis is on spending less money on your lower priorities (such as buying a brand-name product when a generic or homemade on ewould be just as good), so that more will be available for the stuff that counts (kids' education, medical care, buying your dream home, retirement, etc.) Most people buy things they don't need, carry a credit balance in order to do so, and end up effectively throwing away thousands of dollars in interest payments. Why not save money now and buy things in cash, rather than plunder your future by borrowing at high interest rates?But you'd be missing the whole point if you bought this book new. I would recommend picking it up secondhand, or better yet checking it out from a library for free. A shameless plug: working in a library, I can tell you that it is AMAZING how much stuff you can get for free. In addition to books, there are tapes, CD's and even videos, internet access, and all kinds of free programs such as workshops and movies. There's a lot for the kids too. Instead of paying out the wazoo to take your kid to a movie, amusement park or arcade, take him to the library to read and browse. And unlike in most public buildings, you can spend hours there without anyone trying to sell you something.
Rating:
Summary: Great Startegies for every level of thrift!
Review: Amy gives examples of ways to think "outside the box" when looking to save money. Her creative, and sometimes outragous, suggestions show that there is always another way to do soemthing besides throwing money at the problem! Those who find her specific suggestions too extreme can still glean may words of wisdom from the WAY she came about her tips! Adjust the situations and apply them to yours, no matter how "froo froo" you are (pikies up!) If you really want to learn how to save - you will!! BUY IT!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The world's best reference book on how to save money!
Review: This book has to be one of my all-time favorites. I read it like a novel, from cover to cover in just a few days, and I was genuinely disappointed when I came to the end. By the time I finished, I felt like Amy and her family were good friends of mine. Amy uses examples of some of her household repairs to encourage the rest of us to leave our "disposable" attitudes behind. Repairing items not only saves money, it's also good for the environment, something she stresses often in the book. I especially enjoyed the various recipes scattered throughout the book. Several, like Amy's basic muffin recipe, have really changed the way our family eats. We now have muffins for breakfast on a regular basis instead of the more expensive "box cereal" fare. In addition, Amy taught me to really think before I make any purchase. I always considered myself to be a thrifty person, but Amy certainly stands out as the ultimate Frugal Zealot. She has inspired me to go above and beyond in my quest to save even more.
Rating:
Summary: Save the enviroment, your family and MONEY!!!!
Review: Amy would probably say go to the library and borrow this book free. But writing down all the ideas in this book that the average family could use would cost more money for the paper than this book cost. My husband and I are enjoying a comfortable life style, and learning that somestimes less really is more. We spend less time shopping because we just aren't buying that much. And when we do track down a bargain it is like solving a detective story before the end of a book. Amy's writing and graphics add just a spice of humor and practicality. Enjoy this and give it as a gift every time a relitive asks you for money. I am sure it will cost you less in the long run.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Reference, Entertainment, and Application!
Review: Fun, helpful, and packed full of ideas for everyone. Even the frugal suggestions that didn't suit my particular needs or preferences were beneficial in that they caused me to think! I found Amy's lighthearted writing style to be very warming and encouraging. I was actually sorry when I finished the book -- I wish there was more! Definitely a book I'll go back to time and again! NOTE: Some of the page numbers given within the book are not accurate, since they are based on the page numbers that applied when the books were published separately. Not a problem: the page numbers given in the excellent index are correct.
Rating:
Summary: Good book -- helpful, practical, fun!
Review: The first time I read one of the earlier Tightwad Gazette books, I surprised myself by immediately finding a savings in our family budget of $50 per month. I was further inspired to try some other new money saving ideas, and before too long our family was living well within our means and actually climbed our way out of serious consumer debt -- COMPLETELY! Of course, I don't credit this book with all the personal hard work and discipline that it took to reduce our family's consumer debt, BUT our goal of being debt-free (inspite of a limited income due to lost earning potential from an injury and chronic illness) wouldn't have happened as quickly as it did without the inspiration and practical guidance found in the pages of the Tightwad Gazette books and newsletter. Many of the ideas were a bit too "out there" for me personally, but there's such a large quantity of information in this resource, that it's easy to find things that WILL work for different individuals and their personal situations. While there's a good chance you won't want to start stockpiling styrofoam meat trays (or go dumpster diving!), maybe you'll discover some new tasty, simple (and VERY inexpensive!) recipes. And keeping a "Price Book" might be just the ticket to cutting down regular expenses in your own family's financial situation. The three previous Tightwad Gazette books have been compiled into this single edition with the addition of the last few issues of the Tighwad Gazette newsletter (those issues never made it into any of the previous books).
Rating: 
Summary: I laughed and laughed, but did not get many good ideas.
Review: I read this book and shared it with a friend. We both thought that it was an interesting and often hysterical look an alternative lifestyle, but that it was not terribly useful to us.First of all, the author and her family live in the-back-of-beyond rural Maine, where being a little "eccentric" is perhaps less problematic than for most of us in the real world. Also, the author's hard-nosed approach to saving money at all costs struck us as very cold sometimes, such as when she said she tried putting Desitin ointment on one-half of her baby's diaper rash to see if it healed faster with the cream. It didn't, so she concluded that she didn't need to spend money on it. However, she didn't consider that perhaps the treated rash FELT BETTER to the baby as it healed. Same with her attitude about meals: her kids are "disciplined" if they don't clean their plates, and they MUST eat whatever she puts in front of them, whether they like it or not. She claims this prevents picky eaters, and I'm sure she's right -- but what other eating problems might that cause down the road? In another section she devotes several pages to "dumpster diving" -- I thought I'd hurt myself laughing -- is she serious? She also devotes endless pages to describing how to calculate the cheapest meal ingredients, down 1/10 of a cent in some cases. She says this is fun! She also says she gets a thrill from wearing socks with holes in them, and testing to see how little detergent she can use on diapers before they seem to bother the baby. Of course, it's her life and she's entitled to her choices, but I think for most of us these are not choices that make sense. Unless, of course, you think it's fun to spend 30 minutes with a calculator to find out that one muffin recipe is 4/10ths of a cent cheaper than another. I also found it annoying that references in the text often sent me to pages that did not contain the promised information.
Rating:
Summary: Should be required reading for all newlyweds!
Review: I wish I had this book ten years ago! Then, I might have something to show for the last decade! All the ideas in this book are practical and most are pretty easy. I like the way Amy just puts the ideas out there, and then lets the reader decide whether or not it is for them. (The first thing she says in the chapter on "Dumpster Diving" for example, is that it may be crossing a line for even die-hard tightwads. But she still lists the pros and cons so you can decide if it will work for you.) I also like the ideas for kids' parties, and the "Pantry Principle". This is a great book which I will be referring to often.
Rating:
Summary: Like A Sermon Against Waste. . .I Repent!
Review: Amy Dacyczyn nicely warns her readers that she's tightwad at the DNA level, which is a good warning for a spend-o-maniac like me. I was particularly impressed with the side-by-side comparison of what happened over a 5 year period to 2 different couples, financially. You'll have to buy the book to learn how one couple ended up with a surplus of $100.00 while the other had over $11,000.00. From making guitar picks out of old credit cards to cheap entertainment to cutting you food bills, this book kicks booty! Now that I think of it, we should send a copy of this book to all the bozos on Capitol Hill.
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