I was happy to get my hands on a fresh library copy of Jeff Yeager's Ultimate Cheapskate book. I have read quite a few how-to save money books and I am rarely impressed. This book is slightly better than the rest as the list of tips that are becoming the standard is not in sight so far. I'm on page 100 and I still haven't learned a lot. Perhaps that's because I've read so many of these books already?
Anyway, to summarize the most important highlights so far:
1. Don't spend money. He doesn't mean live below your means although that it certainly a must to attain Ultimate Cheapskate status. He means skip spending money altogether if you can. If you don't spend it then you don't have to make more money to replace what you've spent. He calls it 'skipping the money step'. To me it's more like skip keeping up the with the Joneses and stay one step ahead of the
Waltons. Pay for the basics like food, warmth and shelter and find a way to take care of everything else yourself.
2. Eat from the food pyramid to save money and your health. He states his rule of thumb for grocery shopping is to pay no more than one dollar per pound for anything. That seems simple enough. So simple in fact that it makes clipping coupons and keeping a price book almost unnecessary.
That's as far as I can go right now. I will let you know more when I finish it.I have to admit it's kept my attention better than America's Cheapest Family which was ebayed quickly after I finished it. A warning though- his language can be a bit earthy bordering on offensive. It might be worth a look at your library.
2 comments:
The $1 a pound thing makes sense, I spend about that except for meat. You can get the occasional ground chicken/turkey/beef for $1 but that is about it in my area. But it is easy to get $2 or less.
The "skipping spending" is really making a huge difference in our budget. We do have to pay our bills and buy necessities. But I have just been staying out of stores -including thrift stores and cooking almost all our meals at home. I think we only ate out twice in Jan.-once at Subway and once for pizza with our son and his wife.
Getting a good deal on things is great but not spending if you can avoid seems to works very well for us right now.
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