Book Description
In Living Well on a Shoestring, you'll find more than 1,500 practical money-saving techniques for every aspect of your life, from getting out of debt and finding money for retirement to decorating on a budget and cutting pet-care costs. The penny-pinching editors of Yankee magazine know firsthand that you can learn to live well while staying well within your means. And now they're on a campaign to show you how it can be done! Inside these covers, you'll discover the four essential keys to spending wisely and stretching your income: knowing budget basics, getting out of and avoiding debt, increasing your savings, and living within your income. You'll also get all the information you need to build a solid financial foundation for living the good life, including tax-trimming ideas and a list of easy ways to increase your earnings. Once you've mastered the four basic elements that will help you transform your spending style without settling for less, you're ready for the nitty-gritty, penny-pinching, day-to-day details of consistent and mindful saving. Check out the scores of ingenious ideas jam-packed into chapters like Frugal Lawn and Garden Care, Thrifty Ways to Dress Well, Spending Less for Quality Health Care, Saving on Electronics and Small Appliances, and Cutting Transportation Costs. This book offers hundreds of tried-and-true tips for leading a thrifty lifestyle. Need supplies for your home office? Keep your eyes peeled for businesses that are closing or relocating. Want to lower your auto insurance rate? Ask about hidden discounts that your insurance company may not be revealing up front. In the market for a new bicycle? Shop in late September or early October, just after the industry's largest trade show-- and don't be afraid to barter. Sprinkled throughout these pages are entertaining real-life "It Worked for Me" success stories and top-notch recommendations from "The Yankee Miser." Perfect for skimming or reading cover to cover-- you may have trouble putting it down-- Living Well on a Shoestring is a comprehensive, information-packed volume that guarantees you'll have more money in your pocket at the end of each and every day. More than two million devoted readers agree that the editors of Yankee0 magazine are the most trusted authorities on the art of living well on a shoestring-- after all, it's a Yankee tradition!
Customer Reviews:
Hit and miss ideas for frugal living.......2007-08-31
This book suffers from trying to cram too many ideas into a small space. Each chapter is divided into small sections which are then further divided into very brief tips. Amidst all that are margin notes and quotes from readers with frugal suggestions, and it makes for a very cluttered read.
The ideas given in the book range from common sense to handy new ideas to the downright silly and unfeasible.
Here's a few examples: One suggestion for creating a savings is that book lovers borrow books from the library instead of buying them, and then putting the price of the book in the savings account. Another tip is to pay attention to the cash register receipt immediately after making a purchase and deal with overcharges right there. Those are good ideas.
Then there's common sense ideas such as making your own coffee/food or doing your own repairs. But does anyone really need to be told that it's cheaper to do it on your own? What if certain repairs are beyond your capabilities?
One so-called helpful hint suggests saving the change that falls out of pockets in the laundry: "When you save enough change, you can buy more laundry detergent." If I was to wait until I got enough stray change to buy detergent, I'd never have any soap. It's a silly idea, not practical in the least.
Too much weight is placed on the cleverness of some ideas. One suggestion is to trim your hedges around your home instead of buying alarms or locks. While it's a good idea to reduce the hiding places around your home, one shouldn't rely solely on a neat yard for theft protection.
However, there are some good ideas in the book, and if you're serious about learning new ways to be frugal, it's worthwhile to check this book out. It's a quick read and occasionally entertaining.
Outdated living on a shoestring.......2007-03-26
As you may have been reading in the other reviews, this book is very different. Most of the suggestions are wacky, and really could only save you pennies to say the least. Once in awhile, the suggestions are okay, if you own a home (which I don't because I don't have money) but if you followed every suggestion in the book you would be the laughing stock of your community. There are much better books on the market for the purpose this book is supposed to serve. If only they would update it, it wouldn't be half bad. I mean, they talk about going to the library to use internet when almost everyone has internet on their phones nowadays and other wierd "hints" that just don't make sense. They spend a whole section on just organizing your bills and putting them in places like a shoe organizer or an empty cereal box because this will help you save money.
Real frugal people would just save their money and skip the book to read something that will actually help you.
You only need a few good ideas - I have more money in my pocket.......2007-01-27
I have not even read close to 1/2 of the book. So far, I have found a lot of info that is not useful to me. My advise is to just not spend any time on those parts. I did find, so far, 2 good ideas and the day after finding them, I implemented them. The result is cold, hard cash and an ubelievably better use of some cash I already had.
I expect the rest of the book will be the same way. I will skip the parts that do not apply to me or interest me. I will however, find more good ideas. Heck, the 2 ideas I have already found paid for the book and my future will be "richer."
I also plan to provide the reviews of this book to my smoking cessation classes. Until they quit, they need to be frugal. Once they do quit, they need ideas for all that extra money.
Just so-so.......2005-08-18
If you think you'd like to decorate your home with cardboard tubes, construction paper, and glitter, this is the book for you. Otherwise, you might not find it very useful.
The book does have some hints that I found helpful, especially in the section on home remedies (the things you can do with vinegar!). Also, some hints on saving money were sensible, if obvious (if you don't read a magazine, quit your subscription -- sounds obvious, right? If only I could follow that advice...)
But for the most part, I didn't find much I could use. For example, instead of simply saying "have a garage sale and advertise for it" as an idea to make some cash, they give five or six ideas for advertising for a garage sale, some of which are just absurd (eg, painting footprints on the sidewalk leading to your house).
Some advice just seemed ill-advised to me, such as using your 401(k) as a savings vehicle for college or a first-time home. Sure, you're allowed to tap it for those purposes, but you shouldn't plan it that way!
And a lot of the advice just seemed to lead you down the road to a more cluttered life, for example, the tip to fill a 5-gallon bucket with sand and motor oil to clean off the metal parts of your gardening tools. How are you supposed to dispose of that properly? Who's got space for a bucket of oily sand? Ugh.
If all the examples I've cited really excite you, then by all means, buy this book. Otherwise, just check it out of the library. Or just check it off your to-read list altogether.
Common sense or no sense.......2004-12-31
The tips offered in this book fall into two categories:
1. Things you already know if you have a bit of common sense (Example: Fix the toilet if it leaks, or else the water will cost you money)
2. Things that do not make sense (Example: Disassemble you flashlight so you have a place to keep pens in the flashlight cylinder and don't need to buy a pen holder. Keep the flashlight parts somewhere, so you can put it back together in a power outage)
I admit, I am not an expert in frugal living. If you are, perhaps you will find the second category useful. With this book, we were looking to find some advice on how to save money. Out of the "1501 ingenious ways", there were two or three I found I could use. I will donate my copy to the local library. If you are interested in this book, I recommend you follow the advice of another reviewer and check it out from your library first.
Book Description
Getting the country look—on a budget.
With these 100 fashionable, fast, and economical decorating solutions from Country Living, it’s easy to create a home that looks good and feels comfortable. Exquisite color photos lead you from one enchanting room to the next, and every page offers smart suggestions that take little money and time to implement. The amazingly simple and beautiful techniques range from painting effects for walls and furniture to basic embroidery for cushions. Find innovative ways to recycle old items, such as used bathroom tiles, and renovate flea market finds; display much-cherished collections; make a visual splash with cleverly chosen details; and establish an inviting outdoor room. With a little loving care and a few key objects, you’ll create a look that’s individual and welcoming without spending a fortune.
• Advertising in Country Living Magazine
Amazon.com
Ann Fox Chodakowski and Susan Fox Wood offer a myriad of money-saving tips, some clever, some obsessive-compulsive. For example, they recommend reusing gift wrapping by starching and ironing out the wrinkles. The authors also like the idea of planting an outdoor garden with artificial flowers, which never die. To each her own.
Book Description
The essential book for everyone who has been accused of being "cheap"--and is proud of it--has finally arrived!
Here are the Tightwad Twins, ready to share hundreds of their time (and budget) tested cheap tricks to help readers learn how not to spend money and still make life easier. With over 1000 tips on cooking, home decorating, entertaining, and gift giving, Living on a Shoestring is an essential bible for everyone looking to stretch their dollar just a little further, with such time-and money-saving tips as:
Vacuuming with a scented softener sheet--the vacuum bag will deodorize while you clean
A coat of nail polish can make old jewelry look new
A blast of hairspray stiffens flies' wings for easier swatting
White-out hides scratches on white appliances
Customer Reviews:
If you want to start saving some money here's a start.......2006-11-25
We live in a throw away society, and thats throw away money!!!!!!!
4 1/2 stars-------hat's off to these ladies!!!!.......2000-09-15
I found this book to be very motivational and inspirational. Hat's off to these ladies for making the most of what God has given them! We can all improve on saving our money and providing a better life for ourselves.
Day to day savings.......1998-09-28
This book has allowed me to have more time and more savings in the grocery line. It is a daily bible to go by. It is an attitude change that has helped me tremendously. I am newly married again and this has been wonderful to help me organize my time and decorate a different house. Thanks Twins, one notch above Heloise.
Interesting but not practical to use.......1998-08-24
Although this was an interesting and somewhat useful book, the format was not practical. There isn't an easy way to search for information contained in the book. There are other books available that are much more informative and useful.
Humor and tips that only a busy mom could understand...........1998-06-22
Thanks, twins for helping me to finally learn how to get the OPTION to stay home with my kids and not work. I am motivated to try more of your tips every day and my husband has convinced all of his friends to get a book for their wives. Tightwadery doesn't have to be misery because I learned from you guys that it is not how much you make but how much you get to keep. I also took your test for the second income....is your second income working for you or are you working for it? This book has changed my way of thinking and has helped me so much! Twins, thanks for knowing that you have many of us tightwad sisters out there! Ignore the people who make so much money that they cannot understand the way it is with REAL people's lives of budgets and bills.
Product Description
1,501 Ingenious ways to spend less for what you need and have more for what you want.
Average customer rating:
- Best one around, even 25 years later
|
Living on a Shoestring
Michael Edelhart
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Public Finance
| Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 0385155808 |
Customer Reviews:
Best one around, even 25 years later.......2005-01-06
This book, in 199 pages helped me survive an income of about $2500 annually in the early 1980's. The advice is directed at those at the poverty line and is as timely today as it was then. How to shop, what to buy, what to eat,how to budget, where to live, roommate issues, landlord issues, how to clean cheaply, it is all in this one volume. There is a 136 page cookbook of some of the best frugal recipes you will ever find, and they are mostly nutritionally balanced. This book should be in its 20th printing by now, but it simply did not catch on.
Average customer rating:
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Living on a Shoestring: from one mom to another
Denise Lombardo
Manufacturer: PublishAmerica
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Popular Economics
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1413718590 |
Book Description
Wanting to be a stay-at-home mom, the author knew she would have to find creative ways to save money. It's not easy living on one salary, and children are expensive. But, like all goals, there are more ways to achieve financial stability than many people might imagine. Saving nickels and dimes adds up to dollars. By following the many savings tips, you'll start to find you have extra money you just couldn't squeeze out before. And the best part is that it's fairly painless. Many of the ideas you didn't know or never thought of. Some we knew but couldn't be bothered doing. Now that extra $5.00 means more and will motivate you. The ideas are unique and simple. You will learn how to save in all areas of your life. Making it a “family affair” will accelerate the savings and create a good family atmosphere. This is a book every mom should own.
Average customer rating:
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Living An A Shoestring
Manufacturer: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 1568656661 |
Product Description
Over 1,000 Best-Kept Secrets to Stretch-And Save-Your Money
Average customer rating:
- Easy reading, funny, useful, and highly original.
|
Living on a Shoestring: A Scrounge Manual for the Hobbyist
George M. Ewing
Manufacturer: Cw Communications/Peterborough
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General
| Crafts & Hobbies
| Home & Garden
| Subjects
| Books
Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
| Dance
| General
| Reference
| Theater
ASIN: 088006059X |
Customer Reviews:
Easy reading, funny, useful, and highly original........1996-08-17
This is a book about getting things for cheap, written by
a nerd technologist and ham radio operator who made a fine
art out of scrounge living in the Sixties and Seventies.
The book is about half advice and half memoir, with great
stories about how he scored an acre of antennas and things
of that sort. Beautifully written, very funny, and even
useful if you're roughly the same kind of guy, with an acre
or two of land waythehell out of the line of fire of zoning
codes and other infringements on the free life. Definitely
get it if you can.
--Jeff Duntemann KG7JF
Average customer rating:
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Living on Angel Hair Pasta: How You CAN Live on a Thinner-Than-A-Shoestring Budget (Y)
Joy Eclaine
Manufacturer: Discover Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Budgeting & Money Management
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Money & Values
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Business
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| Subjects
| Books
Budgeting
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
General
| Personal Finance
| Business & Investing
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
Business
| Christian Living
| Christianity
| Religion & Spirituality
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
All 4-for-3 Deals
| 4-for-3 Books Store
| Stores
| Books
ASIN: 0976791331 |
Book Description
Living on Angel Hair Pasta is a simplified guidebook to surviving on very little income. Unfortunately, many people today are financially struggling or in so much debt they do not have enough money coming in to pay their normal bills, let alone the ability to relieve their large debt load. Written by a true "Angel Hair Adventurer," this book teaches you how to live on a thinner-than-a-shoestring budget. You will not only stretch your money farther than you thought it would go, but will have extra to put toward your debt. Use the simple checklists at the end of each chapter to keep track of where you are in your own Angel Hair Adventure. An angel hair pasta budget is an interesting thing. You can chop it up to make it spread farther. You may need to "cook it" longer so it gets as fat as angel hair pasta can. Or you might have to stretch it until it nearly breaks. And what happens when you reach the bottom of the plate and there's no pasta left? You pray. Really, really hard. And somehow God will provide.
Amazon.com
Pop quiz: Where are American kids taught the nuances of being millionaires as part of their junior high curriculum? Where do guests at a posh outdoor party grouse about the defects of high-end flushable Porta-Johns? Where does a school auction rake in $439,000? The answer: Silicon Valley, of course. David A. Kaplan captures all that excess and more in The Silicon Boys.
Kaplan's book is a history of the Valley, from the time when Stanford professor Frederick Terman encouraged David Packard and Bill Hewlett to establish their own company to when Sequoia Capital invested $1 million in a startup founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo. In between are the many Valley legends, including Fairchild Semiconductor, Intel, Kleiner Perkins, Apple, Oracle, and Netscape--as well as some of its most notable failures and tragedies, such as William Shockley and Gary Kildall. While the book begins with the opulence of Woodside, California, it ends surprisingly enough in Portland, Maine, with Bob Metcalfe, founder of 3Com, who fled the Valley for something "fresher" and "more alive."
As he traces the short history of the area, Kaplan, a senior writer at Newsweek, detects a not-so-subtle change in its values. He writes, "Nobody appears to be having quite as good a time in Silicon Valley. Passions have become mere professions; impulsiveness is now compulsiveness.... The Valley once was a new machine. It changed the world. It may do so yet again. But the machine has no soul anymore." Here's a thoughtful and colorful read for anyone interested in one of the most dynamic places on the planet. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
In "the best book to date on the subject" (San Francisco Chronicle), prize-winning journalist David A. Kaplan brings to life the culture and history of Silicon Valley. The symbol of high-tech genius and ineffable wealth, a place that competes with Hollywood and Washington in the zeitgeist of success and excess, the Valley is the epicenter of the New Economy. Depending on yesterday's stock market close, roughly a quartermillion Siliconillionaires live in the Valley. And they're building megalo-mansions and buying Lamborghinis as fast as they can. Combining reportorial insight and biting wit, The Silicon Boys tells the unforgettable story of dreams and greed, ambition and luck, that has become the
Valley of the Dollars.
Customer Reviews:
Enthralling.......2006-02-18
I thoroughly enjoyed this book from beginning to end. For anyone interested in the culture of Silcion Valley it is a must read. Yes, as other reviewers pointed out it jumps around quite a bit. Both in terms of pace and interest. However, taken as a whole it provides exciting stories of busines, personal flare, finance, and technology. A good read for anyone with at least a vague interest in the subject matter.
Good Description of Silicon Valley.......2003-02-04
"The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams" is a well written description of Silicon Valley at it's peak. It describes the culture of the valley during the nineties. It is an interesting peek into the a world of driven software developers and venture capitalists and everyone else in their galaxies. It focuses on companies and names we've all heard of: Apple, Oracle, Netscape, Microsoft, Intel, and many more. For anyone in the technology industry, this book is a good window onto the 90s - pre dotcom mania.
Solid Silicon Story.......2002-10-19
This was one of the best Silly Valley stories I've read yet. Kaplan does a very good job offering a historical and chronological storyline that educates the reader while holding interest. Hence an educational book that also happens to be very unique and authentic.
Silicon Boys Book Review.......2002-07-11
The non-fiction book The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams is written by David A. Kaplan. It is about how Silicon Valley started and why it is important to be near all the silicon in California. Also it explains who invented and invents the processors and software. It talks about Intel, then Apple and Microsoft, after that Oracle, then Kleiner Perkins, Mozilla, Microsoft, and finally Yahoo.
David A. Kaplan used many correct facts and you can see who his sources are in the back of the book. It is organized chronologically starting at the early `70s when "The Traitorous Eight" first started developing processors. It concludes in 1999 when Microsoft was developing Internet Explorer and Yahoo was popular. Each chapter talks about a company or person or both.
I think it was a very good book. It told me a lot about the computer industry and the people behind it. If you don't care much about computers you shouldn't read this book but if you even have a slight interest, you'd like this book. The author did a very good job explaning the aspects of the computer industry, so even if you don't know much about computers you can understand this book.
Fun romp.......2002-01-07
Great read on the culture of the Silicon Valley and how tycoons like Jobs, Yang, Ellison, Andreesen, and Clark built their companies. Learn about how the "biggest legal creation of wealth in history" all happened. Kaplan does an excellent job writing in a witty biting way.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on October 1, 1999. The length of the article is 843 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: The Silicon Boys and Their Valley of Dreams.(Brief Article)(Review) (book reviews)
Publication:
Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: October 1, 1999
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Page: 74
Article Type: Brief Article, Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Technical Communication, published by Society for Technical Communication on February 1, 2000. The length of the article is 3696 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
Citation Details
Title: TWO BOOKS ON SILICON VALLEY.(Review) (book review)
Author: Garret Romaine
Publication:
Technical Communication (Refereed)
Date: February 1, 2000
Publisher: Society for Technical Communication
Volume: 47
Issue: 1
Page: 110
Article Type: Book Review
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Living Well on Practically Nothing: Revised and Updated Edition
The Best of Living Cheap News: Practical Advice on Saving Money and Living Well
Frugal Living for Dummies
