365 Ways to Live Cheap: Your Everyday Guide to Saving Money

by Trent Hamm

Use cold water for most clothes washing and save up to $63 a year. Minimize your carload and reduce your gas mileage by as much as 5 percent. Invest in a deep freezer and fill it up with meat discounted at 30 percent or more.

Take a look at your life and you'll realize that there's almost always a way to make do on less. This book offers up a bevy of ways to cut down on costs and still enjoy a satisfying lifestyle in any situation. From practicing good gas conservation habits to learning to love leftovers, this book will help every aspiring penny pincher stop the unnecessary spending and find the fun in frugality!

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance, Self Help, Personal Finance, Money, 21st Century, Reference

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

I write personal finance articles and books for a living, but I'm currently stretching myself into short stories and food writing, among other things.

I live in rural Iowa with my wife and two children.

I'm using GoodReads to keep track of all of the stuff I read for ~personal enjoyment~ (meaning I'm not counting stuff I'm reading for the purposes of review) from July 27, 2009 onwards (when I joined the site).

Reviews

[Anya Weber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I adore Trent Hamm's blog, www.thesimpledollar.com, where he shares tips and anecdotes from his ongoing attempts to live frugally. Trent's a sweet guy and a more-than-decent writer, a 20-something conservative Christian libertarian (also quite open-minded and curious about life) living in Iowa with his wife and two little kids. Our lives couldn't be more different, but I enjoy his methodical, non-preachy advice. His blog is loaded with value for anyone wishing to learn more about personal finance.

So this book is Trent's paper-bound version of his blog, and I have to say it suffers in comparison. The blog format just works better for a tips-n-tricks subject like this one. The book's really cute--little, nicely bound paperback--and it's so cheap, at $8, that if even ONE of these ideas appeals to you it's worth the money. But it doesn't quite have its daddy-blog's heartfelt, playful charm.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. This was a very quick read but I didn’t realize it was basically a book of condensed blog posts when I picked it up. Some of it was helpful, but most of it felt like it was written by “Captain Obvious.” “Want to know how to live frugally? Don’t do things that spend money!” Gee thanks, mister, I couldn’t figure that out on my own! 🤪 I’m not entirely sure who the target audience is for the author’s blog or for this book, but to me he often came across as very condescending and it made it difficult to finish. As it is, I think the information could’ve been summed up in a bullet point list rather than a book.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy, quick read with lots of good ideas and suggestions.

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

no spend month

This book has lots of good tips for getting out of the consumer craze and figuring how to live with joy while spending less

[Liz De Coster · Rating 2 out of 5]

When a blog is turned into a book, sometimes it expands on the content of the blog, adding depth or context to the blog's topic. This isn't really one of those cases - I felt that almost every chapter or suggestion in the book could be directly connected to one of the blog posts from The Simple Dollar. I'd recommend the blog, instead, if you're interested in the topic.

[Amy Jesionowski · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new, common sense, don't unless it's free - heeeeeeey.... and there's bonus tip 366 on how to save money.

[Debra Daniels-Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great little book with lots of tips and I always appreciate hearing about more ways to save money. The book is organized by category like appliances, clothing, clutter, vacations, and so on, so if one doesn't interest you, you can move on to another section. Some of my favorite tips included: plant shade trees, start a natural collection (my matchbook collection as a child comes to mind), teach yourself a new skill, and read more. Since I have picked up many tips over the years, it can be hard to find suggestions I haven't already tried or read about and some of the information served as reminders for me to continue. I like the portable size of this book and the sections that you can read waiting in line. Of course I got the book at the library, so good luck with your book sales.

[Bri · Rating 5 out of 5]

sorta breezed thru but found some fun advice!
especially loved that the categories included health + fun topics! will keep this on hand as i get older and more financially independent. my favorite takeaway was the snowflake method - saving the extra money you randomly come across for paying off debt

[Nancy]

I agree with one piece of advice given by the author of this book—even if you are adept at saving money and being frugal, you can always pick up a few new tips from every book you read on the subject. I found that true for this book.

[Delvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for living frugally

There are some extreme tips in here but a lot of doable ones as well. It has a lot of things most people don’t think of or are not willing to try. I especially liked the author’s advice on home savings and marriage.

[Darryl L. Rowe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stuff!

Much common sense but organized into common topics which helps recognize situations where two or more suggestions can be combined. Also where you might have not thought about a particular strategy. Buy it. Keep it handy.

[Christine · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love ways to save

These were pretty common tactics. Didn't learn anything new, but it was a good refresher on some things out on the backburner.

[April · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was a good book. A lot of them were common sense tips, but good nonetheless.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots a great little tips to save more money. Out of 365 different tips, you are bound to find at least a few that work for you!

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid tips, but nothing extraordinarily new.

[Ann Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book, filled with dozens of helpful ideas. Some of them I'm already doing. Others are brand new. Well done.

[Madikeri Abu · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Don't upgrade your living space to house more stuff".

A great little book, in fact a compilation of his blog The Simple Dollar, on how to live frugally but not overtly stingy/cheap, is a very helpful book which is full of practical tips on how to save money in our everyday life like buying used, saving on energy, planning a vacation and many more things which though may seem mundane but nevertheless will save lots of money. Out of the suggested 365 tips one can definitely pickup at least a dozen ideas to cut down expenses. A very useful handy book for all especially those who live beyond their income and/or those who are in deep debt and are contemplating to downgrade their lifestyle.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and quick read with fairly obvious, but good advice.

[Lan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great tips.

[Dee Davis · Rating 2 out of 5]

I always feel guilty for writing bad reviews. So I won't write one. 😶👀

[Georganna Moses · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good ideas

Easy quick read with simple doable ideas. The links in the book are no longer working. It made me think of a couple of new ideas to try.

[T · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book has very common sense guidelines for how to save money, but they are just that, common sense.

I really prefer books that go deeper into ways to budget and to save money.

[Kat]

A good starter for people new to frugality.

[Lacey Louwagie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As someone who has lived pretty frugally for as long as I've had to support myself, I am already doing a lot of what is suggested in this book (buying used, saving up rather than relying on credit, relying on the library and community events for entertainment, etc.), so reading it could be a little frustrating because I needed to save even MORE than what I was already saving. These books mostly seem aimed at people who are consistently living beyond their means rather than those who are already making the most of what they have but still need to find a few more places to make those dollars stretch. Still, there were a few new ideas (I'm going to start trying to make my own dishwasher and laundry soap, for example), and the rest served as a good reminder, bringing my frugal habits back to the forefront of my consciousness at a time when they are much needed.

[Mischelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was some good advice in this book. I do already follow some of these things before reading this. The clothes line is good. If you can't put up a clothes line, get one of the clothes racks from the store. There are stores that sale those rack to hang clothes on by a hanger. The best clothes racks are from a clothing store. When a clothing store went out of business, we were able to buy a few of their clothing racks. They are much better than the racks from the store in a box.

I do like how this book refers to websites to go to for more help. I have to check out some of them. I will go to the author's blog also. I saw the book before learning about the blog. I'm glad to read this book.

[Jessica Blevins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book mainly because I am a huge fan of the author's blog, The Simple Dollar, which offers daily tips and meditations on finance, work/life balance, environmental issues, and frugality.

If you've been a reader of The Simple Dollar for a few months, there's not much new in this book. However, it is nice to have all Trent Hamm's tips consolidated into one handy reference. I've flagged several tips that I want to try, such as cutting dryer sheets in half and making my own laundry detergent.

Definitely a worthwhile read, especially if you aren't a regular at The Simple Dollar.

[Gremlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a cute and fast little book. Easy to read, easy to navigate, easy to understand.

The tips are hit or miss. Most of them are good ideas, but obviously how many work for you will depend on your lifestyle and your general awareness towards money and frugality.

In my case, my lifestyle is already fairly alternative, and I am fairly aware of my finances and keeping a low cost of living, so most of the ideas were things I already knew.

But the info could be good for others in a different boat.

[Jerry Williams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I rarely ever skim through a Book, I felt that some of the advice was a little common sense at times and didn't apply to me at other times, I'm not faulting the Author for covering all of bases. I just found myself skipping through many chapters. However the advice on cluter, was very interesting. "Realize that clutter itself is a giant money sink"..."Don't upgrade your living space to house more stuff".

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good beginner's guide to saving money. The points are short and easy to understand. Quick read and easy to implement most of the ideas. However, very few ideas for people who have already been living a more frugal life and some of the ideas I actually disagree with. But, good starting point.

[Jackie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This handy book is a good resource for someone starting to live more frugally. I didn't realize when I checked it out at the public library that it was written by the Founder of TheSimpleDollar.com, which I subscribe to. Even though I am doing most of what the book touts and then some, it was a good reminder of how to live thoughtfully CHEAP.