Frugal Living with The Complete Tightwad Gazette
Saving Money and Doing More with Less with Amy Dacyczyn's Book
Aug 11, 2008
For six years, Amy Dacyczyn published a newsletter called The Tightwad Gazette. Both practical and fun, the newsletter went to tens of thousands of subscribers who desired to do more with less as they lived frugally. The newsletters were made into individual books and then, eventually, into this 960-page book.
Tightwaddery Compendium
The book covers practical ideas for every part of life – cooking, travel, clothing, home decorating, children, etc. Amy draws on her own experiences as a mom of six and shares her own wisdom. She also draws on the wisdom and experiences of her vast body of readers who wrote in and shared their own insights and ideas. The result is an easy-to-read, addictive compendium of all things tightwaddery.
However, the greatest value in this book is not all of the individual ideas and tips although they are certainly well worth the purchase price alone. The greater value lies in the mindset the book promotes and the success stories at the end.
The Tightwad Gazette Mindset
Throughout the entire book Amy helps the reader begin to look at life differently. Rather than just writing an article that tells the reader what to do in any financial situation, she walks through the process and educates the reader. She explains the rationale behind each step of the process and then presents the final information for the reader to consider.
Part of The Tightwad Gazette mindset is learning to think about the tradeoff between time and money. Amy writes many articles showing how to evaluate the actual cost of something or the true savings. This is usually translated into an hourly figure. The ability to calculate the true value and cost of an item or activity is a valuable tool that will repay the cost of the book many times over in a lifetime.
Frugal Living Success Stories
One of the best parts of The Complete Tightwad Gazette as opposed to the newsletters or the first three individual books is the collection of success stories compiled at the end. Amy went through her three pound mail file and selected the best and most inspiring stories. Although the dollar amounts are a bit dated now as the newsletter was in publication during the first half of the 1990s, the principles are timeless. The 17 pages of transformed lives should be required quarterly reading for anyone wanting to make better choices with their money.
Anyone who wants to do more with their money will benefit from this book. To be sure, some of the suggestions will seem a bit extreme. Those that are not practical can easily be set aside for the wealth of information to be gleaned from this outstanding volume. The Complete Tightwad Gazette will pay for itself over and over again as the reader learns to live more frugaly and save money with Amy Dacyczyn.
