Reviews

Frugal Living for Dummies by Deborah Taylor-Hough

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justcatherine's review against another edition

3.0

Because I'm trying to scrimp where I can (so I can splurge where I want + pay the bills and save like I need to) I picked up this book. I guess there were some good ideas, but I already budget, I already shop with a list, I already unblushingly buy secondhand, I already buy generic brands, I already minimize how often I eat out, I shop sales, I look for inexpensive venues for Fun. So, uh, anything to learn? Something I want to do is keep a "price diary" to keep track of standard prices on staple items at a couple stores I frequent so I can guage whether a sale is that big a savings and what a fabulous "stock up if I have the room & money" price is. But otherwise, it's all familiar stuff. A good intro, which is what these books are, I guess. Also, it would've been nice if she'd included more linkage to online resources.

georgiaheyes's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

2.5

This book was probably great at the time but it's now 20 years later so the majority of this is out of date, especially on things like food costs. The author talks about being able to find chicken drumsticks for about $2 to feed a family of 5. I'm not from the US but that seems extremely implausible now.

Some of the concepts still make sense (there's a good section about the uses of vinegar and other basic products for household cleaning) but the numbers aren't true anymore. So use this book as a beginner's guide to the concept of frugal living rather than a modern "how to cut costs" because a lot of it just doesn't apply anymore.