Living Well On A Shoestring: Yankee Magazine

by Yankee Magazine

You'll be laughing all the way to the bank with these 1,501 ingenious ways to spend less for what you need ..... and have more for what you want.

Genres: Nonfiction, Reference, How To, Money, Frugal, Finance, Personal Finance

392 pages, Paperback

First published August 9, 2000

Reviews

[Little]

This is the worst kind of thrifty book. As with most books of its ilk, it is filled with a ton of little money saving ideas, and the general thesis of the book is never stated outright. But if you pay attention as you read, you can generally come up with a coherent idea that informs all of the "tips." For a comparison, the thesis of The Complete Tightwad Gazette might be "Do the math." You're encouraged to think about the cost of every decision and really crunch the numbers to decide if it's a good idea. The thesis of Living More With Less might be, "Simplify your life so you can be frugal and generous." The thesis of Living Well on a Shoestring is something like, "Take all you can and hang onto it." An actual tip: When you travel, plan your route carefully to arrive at friends' houses during meal times. That way, they will feed you and you won't have to buy food yourself. You are paying them back with your good company! Likewise, there are a lot of "If you have a [...] and you need a [...], you can [...]" sorts of things. Like, if you have a stack of old floppy discs and you need a baby shower present, you can make a charming mobile. I read the whole book, but I wouldn't recommend you do the same. There's not one suggestion I found useful in the whole lot, and I don't feel I was edified by the greedy attitude.

[HeavyReader]

Well, I got this book for free during the give away time after the Friends of the Public Library book sale. That tickles me, since it is a book about saving money, and I didn't spend any money on it. Ha!

This book does include some good tips, but it is no Tightwad Gazette.

Each tip is short, usually a paragraph or less, and each one has a "clever" heading that is usually not so clever. I found the headings often misleading and usually distracting.

I am going to donate this right back to the Friends for next spring's book sale. I wonder if someone will buy it next year...

[Cynthia]

Re-read this book. Some good advice. Some things are outdated.

[Jeanne]

Collection of frugal tips. This is not as useful as some books of this genre.

[Laurie]

This book had a few good ideas, the majority of which I would never do, either because I guess I'm not poor enough or a big enough penny-pincher. But the grocery, food, and car sections were good and I walked away with a few nuggets that may save me a penny here or there.

[Jenny P.]

A few ideas I gained, bake with powdered milk and make dried beans in the slow cooker. I will need to polish my sew skills to implement many mending clothes ideas. Chapter 29 was a wealth of frugal gift and decorating ideas.

[Katie Suttles]

It's getting pretty out of date.

[Trish]

Most of the "tips" are common sense things. Also, the book is out dated now.

[Tanya Beers]

This book had a lot of great ideas to save money!

[Maria]

i love this book its awesome, full of great tips, my mom gave it to me.

[Mellanie C]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12854464

[Hava]

I picked up Living Well on a Shoestring: 1,501 Ingenious Ways to Spend Less and Have More by Yankee Magazine on a whim. I tend to like “how to live thrifty” books, and am always looking for a new money saving tip. I’ve already reviewed America’s Cheapest Family and I have several similar books in the queue... Click here to continue

[Summer]

Being one with champagne taste and a beer budget, I thought this would be full of helpful hints on how to better do that. Half of the stuff mentioned in the book I already apply to my life and the other half would require me to be a very handy dumster diver (which I am not... usually).

[Dee]

I liked this book overall, but many of the hints are quick fixes that I wouldn't do. You need to read the book and then REMEMBER, the hard part what all those little tips are and use the book for reference. It has spent more time on my shelf than in my hands.

[Rebecka]

fair book, but i wouldn't do all their ideas. I wanted to give it a two and a half star not 3, because i really wouldn't care to read it again but my nook would only do solid stars. Tightwad gazette was definately better then this one.

[Cassandra]

Living well on a shoestring is okay. While some of the information is still good and valid others are not so much. It has some easy things to do to save money. Though it could have had a little more information in some areas. And the book is thick even in paperback version.

[Amy]

Loaded with easy and imaginative ways to save money around the home. And living in a cost inflated area, it's really useful.

[The House]

Excellent source of information

[Orcalla23]

Has a lot of really great money saving ideas and some that are rather surprising too!