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Summary: Share with a friend...
Review: Buy it, borrow it, share it - harnessing one's resources will give a person new financial confidence to anyone...
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Summary: Want to Be A Millionaire? The Small Change Adds Up
Review: Surprise! You don't have to go on a quiz show or live before the TV cameras with a bunch of strangers to come into big money. Amy Dacyczyn, the self-proclaimed Frugal Zealot, shows you how to do it yourself: save a little here, a little there. Make frugality your lifestyle. Track prices and purchases. Those pennies add up to big bucks.The author's money-saving tips were originally brought out during recessionary times, but don't turn up your nose. Even in a good economy, saving is important. And it will become even more so if inflation returns. So get in the habit now! What you don't spend, you can invest. Dacyczyn, whose name is pronounced "decision," demonstrates that the little decisions we make every day make a big difference over time. And they affect the overall bottom line. Her -- and her saavy readers' -- advice to drivers and car owners is worth its weight in gold in the Summer of 2000's high gas price economy. Ditto, her lecture about not charging full speed ahead with your credit cards. Those items alone will more than pay for your book purchase. I like the book's spirit. Being a tightwad, the Frugal Zealot says, is FUN! You'll be proud of your ingenuity. Bargain hunt, barter and buy on sale or secondhand. Above all, watch what you spend. And eat. You don't have to skip the celebrations to cut costs. The Frugal Zealot is an experienced mom; she shows how to make your kid the most original Halloween costumes ever and put on fabulous birthday parties using discarded items. Her description of tightwad weddings make them sound more delightful than the big -- and no doubt overpriced -- storybook weddings touted in most magazines. Stay out of the malls and shop the garage sales -- you'll save a fortune and have a wonderful "yard sailing" adventure every Saturday. You can make the outdated clothes fashionable again with a few scissor snips, and collect Leggos and Lincoln logs for your kids for pennies on the dollar. Even if you don't want to dumpster dive, water down your shampoo or cut your own hair, there are plenty of clever tips to inspire you. She gives dozens of painless ways to save $100. Drink tap water, not soda pop; find free entertainment; use clotheslines, not clothes dryers; don't buy Tupperware when you can save and use butter tubs; and brush your teeth, you'll save a wad at the dentist. Environmentally concerned readers will delight in tips how to use and reuse everything from razor blades to building materials. Big ticket items are covered, too: everything from travel to home ownership to unsubscribing from the idea that Christmas is all about spending money. What to do with all that loot you save? Invest in the stock market, save for your kids' educations or your own retirement -- and realize the American Dream. Make this book your money Bible and you'll become debt- and worry free.
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Summary: Worth every penny! Great inspiration
Review: I really enjoyed this book - it is packed with lots of money saving ideas! I am working full time right now & I plan to use a lot of these ideas to give me the ability to quit to stay home with my 2 little girls! I admit some of the ideas are a little extreme, but Amy admitted the same thing in the book that she doesn't use all the ideas. I think the book is very inspiring, especially reading all the success stories. I hope to be the next success story!
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Summary: Worth Every Penny!
Review: I really enjoyed this book - is has a lot of great ideas! Some may be extreme, but as Amy says in the book, you don't have to use every idea, & some of the ideas were extreme even to her! The success stories are what really inspired me! I hope to be the next success story
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Summary: Way to extreme
Review: I thought this book would help save me money but it just made me glad that i'm not as cheap has mizz Dacyczyn.She comes across as a know it all and has very strange ideas on bringing up children who have to work for a twenty five cent snack.Also some information is repeated.Buy if you want a laugh.
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Summary: A very wise investment!
Review: I bought this book hoping to get a few money-saving tips. What I got were HUNDREDS of them, as well as recipes, craft projects, giftwrapping ideas, home decorating tips, etc., all for the person with little or no budget. I love this book!
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Summary: Creative Ways to Stretch a Buck
Review: If you are among the wealthiest people on Earth, then you won't need this book. However, the rest of us who struggle along trying to make ends meet will enjoy The Complete Tightwad Gazette and learn a few things along the way. Amy's breezy chit-chat style of writing is like visiting with an old friend who has a better grip on the vissitudes of life and is willing to share what she has learned over the years. You may not need all of the ideas in the book because of time, circumstances, or other constraints; but here they are in black and white for when you DO need them. An alternative title for this book could be Life Survival While Raising Children. Yes, some of the ideas may seem a bit offbeat, but others are nothing short of brilliant. Having lost mailboxes to snow plows and maurading teenagers with baseball bats, the idea of sticking two mailboxes together with concrete and then planting the mailbox post deep in concrete had me laughing out loud and running to tell my husband. Gotta take that page down to the neighbors whose mail box got killed again last month. City dwellers with mail slots may skip this page. The creativity of stretching a buck really can be fun which does helps when your ends keep moving further apart. Cheers for Amy!
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Summary: The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Review: When I was a new stay-at-home mom I found the Tightwad Gazette a life-changing read. Our family has been able to afford a new home, a new vehicle and a move to a more family friendly place to raise our child. All with "little" changes. Do sweat the small stuff. And the big stuff. I can't say enough about the ideas expressed in the book. They changed our lives for the better, to say the least. Thanks to all who contributed ideas to the TG and to Amy Dacyczyn for her great idea.
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Summary: I LOVE THIS BOOK. THE AUTHOR PUT HERSELF IN EVERY PAGE AND
Review: is a witty, charming, unassuming, moral woman who found a life-style that fit with her beliefs on many levels. Many people do not have a life plan at all. And even if your not interested in many of money-saving tips you will come away with a new respect for the need to step back from your life and examine if it meets your goals. When are you going to need a car? house? college? childcare? a wardrobe? furniture? This family made decisions based on goals that they had....and they were able to meet them. I was left with the feeling that i could too. Now having said that I find Amy to be a very funny writer and her gifted little cartoons only add to the fun. I find all of her information, even if not directly appropreate for myself, to be challenging, fun, and creative. and i think we could use creativity, as a society, so much more! do your self a favor....buy this book even if you don't use many tips (and i think you will) the ones you do use will be worth the price of the book. It's a great book for newlyweds, first time apartment dwellers and kids going off to college!
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Summary: The Absolute Best Book on Being Frugal
Review: This book doesn't just give you money saving tips; it teaches you how to have a frugal mind-set- how to think frugally. Amy takes you through the process she uses in finding the least expensive alternatives. The result is that the book is never outdated. It covers all areas of frugality- groceries, home repair, kid related expenses, gardening, sewing, crafts, you name it. There's so much information in here that I learn something new every time I read it and I re-read it about once a year.
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