Living Well on One Income: In a Two-Income World

Rating:
Summary: Some good tips, but not what I was hoping for
Review: This book is interesting reading, but to me it read more like a hodge-podge of frugality tips, random anecdotes, and Sunday school lessons than an organized approach to making your money go further. The author is really enthusiastic, and she gives some very accurate and humorous descriptions of the clutter to be found in many homes. But I really had to pay attention to mine the best tips from the book because they got lost in hype, strange personal stories, and religious discussions. Some of the advice in the book struck me as just plain weird, such as to stay away from your microwave because it might explode; to put a bowl of ammonia into a warm oven to clean it (I can just imagine the smell !); to buy food in bulk and re-can it at home (that just sounds dangerous to me); to give someone a year's worth of old magazines tied up in ribbon as a gift. Finally, this book is very religious; there are references to scripture from the Bible inserted into almost every discussion. I don't mind a book on personal finance including some discussion of the spiritual basis of abundance, but I had a difficult time making the connection between the religious ideas presented and the surrounding points, and it just felt like opportunistic preaching to me. Overall I felt this book sort of meandered around without providing any clear direction that would help someone to change the way they think about money. Two alternatives to this book are "Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence" by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, and "The Tao of Abundance" by Laurence G. Boldt. In closing, I will contribute my own frugality tip....if you want to read this book, do what I did and check it out from the library so you don't spend any money on it.