Finally, I had a chance to review Wisebread’s 10,001 Ways To Live Large On A Small Budget. I have been reading Wisebread for a couple of years now and been looking forward to this book for a while. Well, I finally got around to it and must say I was very pleased with the book.
10,001 Ways To Live Large On A Small Budget
What is “10,001 Ways To Live Large On A Small Budget” about?
The book is all about frugality and saving money while enjoying life, actually I don’t think it should be called a book it’s more of a guide. It provides tips on;
frugal eating, saving on traveling, affordable green living, credit cards and financial planning and everything in between. The book includes not only tips from the Wisebread guy’s but also people like J.D. Roth from Get Rich Slowly and Trent Hamm from Simpledollar so as expected the end result is a great savings guide. The book is filled with some great tips and ideas, although I will probably not follow all of their tips, most of them are very useful.
For example, I love traveling so, naturally, the first thing I did is go straight to the travel tips section and found some good tips.
Here are a few I liked:
16 Ways to go light and low budget:
13. Slow Down
Seriously, just slow down. Just like letting off your car’s accelerator can save you gasoline, slowing down the pace on your trip can help pinch more than pennies. With travel as in business, time is money.16. Be as Independent as possible
Sometimes travel agents can come in handy. But with the amount of online resources these days, they are less valuable and more expensive. Checkout online communities and get familiar with Lonely Planet. Do a quick Google search for reviews on hotels and restaurants. There is loads of information to help you find affordable travel stops.
WIN FREE COPY OF 10,001 WAYS TO LIVE LARGE ON A SMALL BUDGET! See end of review for details.
Not every section is for everyone, I liked most of it but not everything. For example 5 Easy Steps to Making Your Own Pickles did not appeal to me, I am not a big pickle fan and never really cared for making my own. On the other hand I liked the traveling tips, not everything was new but some were great tips.
What I like:
There are many things I like about the book but here are couple highlights:
- Organization; everything is broken down into 2 main categories “Frugal Living” and “Personal Finance” and each category is subdivided into smaller sections like Travel, food, investing your money, etc. Within each of these subgroups you will find tones of practical tips and ideas. So if I am looking for tips accommodation while traveling I’ll look under Frugal Living->Travel-> Accommodations I’ll find several tips on how to save on accommodations while traveling.
- Short & Simple; the tips are usually short and very simple to understand there is no financial jargon to confuse you, it’s for normal people!
- Comprehensive; the guide covers pretty much everything you spend money on from food to education, I can’t really thing of many things they have left out.
What I don’t like:
There aren’t many negative things about the book, but sometimes it felt like the authors were just throwing everything in there to make it to 10,001 (never counted if it actually has 10,001 tips). There were a couple of sections I thought were not needed and could have been left out, but then again I am sure someone will like it.
Who should read this book:
- If you are looking for ways to save on everyday expenses than this is a great guide, you probably will not like all the idea’s (I didn’t) but certainly will find many practical tips and tricks.
- If you want to live large on a small budget!
Conclusion:
Buy. If you are looking for a personal finance book that teaches you how to manage your money or get out of debt than look elsewhere, if you want to have a guide that gives you some tips on saving a great deal of money on everyday expenses then I highly recommend you buy a copy and keep it handy. You probably will not read the whole book at once, but over time you will find the tips very beneficial. At different times you may look for different saving tips so it’s a good idea to have it handy.
Financial Highway Rating: [rating =5]
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Tip: Don’t go shopping hungry, you’ll want to buy everything you see!
Have been subscriber for a long time so….can I get my copy now
Go grocery shopping with a list and without your kids (if you have any). Every time I go shopping with my 3 year old, an extra item or 2 ends up in the cart!
I just subscribed via google reader!
Ok, I subscribed via Feedburner. I’m following you on Twitter now… you can follow me, too: http://twitter.com/ConvenientlySim
Tip: Nix Netflix for Redbox. Redbox even gives free codes to get a free movie a few times a month. You can find out more about Redbox at redbox.com or read my blog post about it here: http://convenientlysimplistic.blogspot.com/2009/05/inside-redbox.html
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My savings tip would be to just use as many coupons as possible, and to plan shopping trips ahead of time. If I know the prices of different items, and am aware of what coupons I have, I can make the best decisions before I even get to the store.
Thanks!
Tip: Eat those leftovers! I saw people on Oprah today that were so grossly wasteful to the tune of throwing away $700 worth of food a month. Talk about making me really mad. That’s just disgusting.
Tip: Use the library! Books, videos, video games, books on tape, magazines are all available at your local library. Your library system may also have some great online programs available to card holders as well as free classes. Just remember to keep track of the due dates. There’s no point in paying late fees.
Absolutely check Craigslist and Ebay for all semi-major to major purchases. Think of purchases as investments as well and it will change your outlook. Case in point: Saved $2.50 on coffee one day, entered into a Hold Em’ No-Limit at 1/4 the cost, and ended up winning $22.
Now, I had the need for a Macbook cord as my laptop had gone dead and my prior cord was stolen. Instead of paying $80 at the Mac store, I saw on EBAY that it was selling for $21.99. However, I wanted to get the cord faster than three or four days, so I placed a status update on Facebook seeing if somebody would sell an unused cord to me for $15 (Negotiating tip: Always start much lower than the expected retail). I got three replies back, and one person stated that she did a google search and the lowest price she found was $39, so offered to sell it to me from there.
I then replied to her with the link, and said that I was just looking for something a bit quicker and to help somebody out local, and we negotiated to make the exchange for $20! Not bad… for simply doing a search and post, I saved $60 AND a trip to the Apple Store.
Oops – I sent her a link to the EBAY site when she said she had found the best price to be $39. Sorry for the confusion!
Tip: Make a list before you go to the store and stick to it. Every month I make a detailed grocery list including prices and quantities. I buy a month’s worth of food, for a family of three, for just over $150 per month. I am able to do this because I know what I have in the cabinets already, so I don’t end up buying something that I don’t need.
Tip: Get rid of cable! Do you know how much money and time is wasted watching TV. Ugh. Anywho… most of the shows can be watched via the web. You can check out the math here: http://convenientlysimplistic.blogspot.com/2009/04/doing-math_27.html
My savings tip is this: Play old video games, they are cheap(er), they last just as long and if you look around on the net, there are lists of classics that can be had for the price of ONE modern game.
Tip: Exercise at home. Forgo the expensive gym membership, get yourself a pair of decent workout shoes and workout at home. You can use the library for videos or check out the many free workouts on You-Tube, SparkPeople.com and Exercisetv.tv. You may also pick up some good workouts for cheap at rummage sales and thrift shops. If your not into videos, you could always take up walking or running.
Tip: Put CC’s to work for you! If you have good credit and use credit wisely then put those CC’s to work for you. Pick the ones with no annual fee and ones that have good perks. CC’s can even help you to pay down your CC debt. I take the 0% APR offers and transfer higher CC’s to them until the offer runs out and then I transfer to another 0% offer. I’m building up my credit rating as well as paying down my debt, without having to pay interest. If you treat CC’s like a debit card, meaning you don’t spend, spend, spend, and you only spend what you would pay cash for anyway, and use them wisely, then CC’s can be a benefit.
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