This book was a huge inspiration to me. I bought it for my mother about six years ago, this coincided with me going from full time work to part time, and The Complete Tightwad Gazette gave me an enormous number of ideas and suggestions about ways to save money.
The author, Amy Dacyczyn, refers to herself as the Frugal Zealot, and the subtitle of the book is "Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle" and, in the words of a famous TV advert, this book does exactly what it says on the tin. Granted the book is now a little dated, having been published in 1998 (no mention of the internet for example). Also, being an American publication not all the ideas are perhaps instantly obvious to a British reader. But, in general, this book is wonderful.
The book is the amalgamation of six and a half years of The Tightwad Gazette newsletter and there are legions of tips on saving money on pretty much any subject you can think of, from food to clothing to DIY to travel.
I always enjoy reading the chapter on 'Dumpster Diving', a sport which I'm pretty sure doesn't exist in the UK - but how I wish it did. Amy's descriptions of 'Power Yard-Saling' sounds wonderful to me too - we don't have yard sales in the UK and most car boot sales are all on at the same time each Sunday.
I don't have a copy of this book myself but always enjoy having a leaf through it when I'm staying with my mother. I don't know what it is about it but a quick read of The Complete Tightwad Gazette always gives me renewed vigour to be as frugal as possible.
I've just had a quick check and the book is easily available on Amazon.co.uk. It may still be available in public libraries too. If you really want to save some money this is the one book you should read (and no, I've no connection to the author or the publisher).
Comments