Rating: 
Summary: How much are you willing to sacrifice ??
Review: This book has a lot of good and practical ideas on how to save money, reuse things, get things for free. It all comes down to how much someone is willing to sacrifice in order to save a few dollars. I couldn't believe it when I read that Amy Dacyczyn doesn't bathe her children daily but "as needed" and minimun ONCE A WEEK!! Is compromising hygene standards a good way to save money or time?
Rating: 
Summary: How and why to save
Review: This book is not just a book of tips but a book of methods. For every purchase you're thinking of, get used to thinking of other ways to satisfy the need. For example: renting, buying used, borrowing, making something, buying something different that does the same thing. That's where the tips come in--if you're stumped for ideas, Amy isn't. I like that she's so completely wacko (ahem, open-minded) that you never know what she'll come up with! You may not like all the ideas or even any of the ideas on a given topic. But they show you how to think of ideas. And since you're the expert on what you care and don't care about, you are in the position to come up with the perfect ideas for you.This book is not preaching that everyone should be a tightwad. It is preaching that you shouldn't spend money on things you don't want. If you save money in some areas, you can be a spendthrift in the areas that are important to you. If you want a fancy car, maybe you can save money on your house. The book is just a million different ideas, and everyone will find some they like. I was already good at saving money--I bought a house in 1995 with an income just under $20,000. But this book inspired me to do the research to see which grocery store was cheapest. I found thrift stores that make me WANT to shop for clothes and fancy bread. My shower curtains last much longer now. Most importantly, being creative in meeting your needs and wants can often lead to better solutions than what you can find in stores. The author really does have the funnest parties! And in case you're wondering what your friends will think, they don't even necessarily have to know. No one knows where you got your clothes. Bring your leftovers for lunch, and your co-workers will be jealous. Your friends may invite you to the theatre. When it's your turn, recommend the free outdoor plays and a picnic dinner. Your recommendations can be just as fun without being so expensive. My favorite part is where she explains that she had not been TOO frugal, even though it might appear that way to some people. Her explanation is very convincing. (Even though I never want to be that frugal myself.) I still keep forgetting to think about every purchase--every time I pick up this book it puts my mind back in the right place. And I can never remember all the hints. While reading these reviews, for example, I realized I had forgotten about making guitar picks out of credit cards. I just switched to a new and uglier credit card, and now I'm pleased that I have a good use for my pretty card.
Rating:
Summary: Take what you like and leave the rest!
Review: I have to laugh at the righteous indignation expressed by some of the other reviewers. However, I take offense at the notion that making children clean their plates and limiting their extracurricular activities is somehow akin to child abuse! This book is like any other "advice" book -- you can take it or leave it. If you don't want to make your kids eat the food on their plates, then don't. If you want to let your children decide how much of your time and energy is spent chauffeuring them from one place to another, then do. But realize that the tips are given for your information and you have the right to do with them what you will. I personally think the book gave great advice. People CAN live the way Amy and her family live -- they are living proof. Whether or not people are WILLING to live that way is a different matter. Not being willing to sacrifice luxuries is probably what gets most families into financial trouble in the first place.
Rating:
Summary: Great. Some of the negative reviews are disingenuous
Review: This book is an inspiration to help you save money. Kathryn F says "I won't dumpster dive, reuse meat trays or save dryer lint." Amy D. doesn't do any of this;she dove a couple times as part of her research for an article. She doesn't give out money advice like "buy gov't bonds" as others said. As for mealtimes, I agree with her "old fashioned" method of feeding kids, not letting them control the family diet. What Amy DOES do is give examples of ways to save, and articles on calculating real costs of things, etc. Her writing will inspire your own creativity regarding saving money, appropriate for your own situation. The fact that they saved the cash they did, living in expensive New England is amazing, believe me. She outlines options for you, it's up to you to decide what's best - are you truly desperate financially, just want to cut back a bit, or somewhere in between? Personally, what this book has done for me is that it has shifted my values a bit, I am far less interested in having "things", and more into enjoying life through direct experiences - hiking in the mountains, being outdoors. I'm not into the domestic scene like Amy is. But the beauty of the book is you can adapt the advice. Please check it out for yourself, even at the library. But I bet you'll want your own copy.
Rating: 
Summary: The Complete Tightwad Gazette : Promoting Thrift As a Viable
Review: Many good ideas and many that are a little far out for me. I think you should take what you can use and just pass over the other parts. There is something in here for everyone.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Changed My Life
Review: I was initially reluctant to read this book, fearing that the ideas contained within would be "over the top" and unrealistic for my lifestyle. What I learned was that my lifestyle was "over the top." I was a merciless spendthrift, justifying my extravagances by rationalizing that I worked hard, earned a good salary and "deserved" to spend money at will. This book presented me with easy ways to use thrift as an "alternative lifestyle," and a different way to view how we choose to spend our money. Now my husband and I are able to save a significant amount of money a month, from a budget that previously seemed unyielding. The most important thing I have learned is that by cutting back expenses and spending, and applying the ideas contained in the book, we have not compromised our quality of life - we have enhanced it. Rather that being relegated to a life of boredom and deprivation, we spend more time together as a couple, spend more time enjoying our beach-side community home that we paid so much for, are more organized, eat healthier (we've even lost weight!) and find a great deal of excitement in finding good deals and saving money! (I recently purchased a thrift-store Scrabble game for 95 cents and triumphed gloriously over my previously unbeatable husband - what could be a greater reward than that?) Amy Dacyczyn should be heralded as a visionary for our times. Her humorous writing style, and straightforward explanation of ideas are easy to read and easy to apply to every life. At 30 years of age, one of the great regrets of my life is that I did not find this book sooner.
Rating:
Summary: Frugal Mommie Dearest
Review: I'm sure I'll gain enough tips from this book to make it worth the purchase price, like the article on yogurt making. However, I found a disturbing discrepancy between the quality she was willing to accept for herself and what she'd accept for her kids. She forces her children to wear only thrift store clothes but found ways to justify new furniture for herself for aesthetic reasons. She'll buy used toys for her kiddies at Xmas, but she wouldn't buy used dining room chairs because she didn't find any that she "liked". Granted, the $55 she paid for each woven-seat chair was a good deal; but she was willing to pay an extra $20 per chair over the basic model and still expects the kiddies to eat bread crumb cookies. Kinda makes me wonder why she bothered having six kids - maybe just to fill up the picture-perfect 100-year-old New England farmhouse?
Rating:
Summary: Quite useful...decide how frugal you want to be, then choose
Review: There are an enormous number of tips that can be applied to almost every aspect of your life, in this book. Cutting dryer sheets in half, re-using ziploc bags, alternatives to regular gift-wrap, recipes, etc. Unfortunately, the book is organized chronologically (i.e., earliest issues of the Tightwad Gazette to the most recent)so you have to go through it page by page and dog-ear or mark the things that you find useful. There is an index, but I found it unhelpful, as many tips come under the heading they were published, rather than the category it falls under (and most of the headings are punny and cute, so it doesn't help that much). You just have to dive in and decide how frugal you want to be. For example, I have no interest in constructing a volleyball net out of old plastic soda can rings, but I really liked her take-it-with-you lunch suggestions (yeah, they were for kids lunches, but can easily be applied to adults). As the author herself points out, she had to go to the extremes of frugality because she is in a one-income family with six children. Depending on where you are and where you would like to be, financially, you take advice with a grain of salt. And hey, sometimes it's just fun getting so much more for less!
Rating:
Summary: For good tips and great laughs
Review: This book is great -- truly something for everyone. The author gives excellent advice on how to save money in all areas of your life. She helps you identify where your money hole is. But most importantly, she helps you get in the mindset of saving money -- to view saving money as a way to reach your real goals, not just an exercise in deprivation. The book is also good for some laughs. She is a good writer and has some goofy ideas mixed in with her good ones. Between her suggestions and those of her newsletter subscribers, you get a chuckle out of almost every page.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful! Please, Amy, give us more!
Review: I first saw Amy Dacyczyn on Donahue years ago, and thought she was crackers. Now, I love her books and recommend them wherever I go! I have the Tightwad Gazette 1-3 books, and purchased this for my mom last Christmas, since she enjoyed mine so much. I was pleasantly surprised when flipping through her copy of this edition that there was NEW stuff that was not in the other three books! So for those who enjoyed the three separate volumes, I recommend purchasing this, not only to have them all in one reference volume, but for this other interesting "lost issue" stuff at the end. The only sadness for me is that Ms. Dacyczyn has retired and will supposedly no longer be writing. Having never subscribed to her newsletter, I feel as if I missed out. But I still refer to these books constantly, whenever I need a "pick me up." I would rate this ten stars if I could!
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