Review of 10,001 Ways To Live Large on a Small Budget

Posted on June 3, 2009 by LJ

Wednesdays are simplicity days at SimpleProductivity blog.

A few weeks ago one of my favorite blogs, Wise Bread, announced the publication of their first book. I was thrilled to bits, since I love the varying perspectives of the blog authors, and find the advice helpful and entertaining. The Wise Bread blog is one of my daily reads.

Wise Bread also asked for reviewers, and I answered the call. They provided me with a copy of their book, which I am reviewing here. (Disclaimer: I am receiving no compensation for reviewing this book, and I am not affiliated with the Wise Bread blog)

Book Information

10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget by The Writers of Wise Bread
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing (May 12, 2009) Paperback: 352 pages
Language: English
ISBN-10: 160239704X
ISBN-13: 978-1602397040

In A Nutshell

10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget is a collection of articles written by the writers of the Wise Bread blog. It covers varying viewpoints on saving money and making the most of the money you have.

As they say, “Too many books on frugal living focus on the negative, throwing around words like sacrifice and responsibility as if there’d been a fire sale at the Boring Store.“. This book is positive, action-focused, and fun.

The book is divided into two main sections: Frugal Living, and Personal Finance. Frugal Living is about saving as much money as possible, without being miserly or cheap. It is subdivided into sections covering food and drink, travel, health and beauty, fun and entertainment, shopping, green living, and education and self-improvement. Personal Finance helps you make the most of the money you have, and has subdivisions covering financial planning and budgeting, debt, investing, housing and career.

Overall Impressions

This book was a smooth and easy read. The articles are laid forth in a logical fashion and make it possible to skip over things I wasn’t interested in. For example, I am already married, and as bigamy is not in the picture, the section on planning a wedding was not of interest (although I was amused to see many things I did when planning my wedding covered in the article).

The articles cover varying aspects of every section put forth. The education section, for instance, covers everything from going back to school to starting college to eating for free in college to homeschooling. The editors have taken great care to select articles that apply to varying walks and times of life.

The editors made no effort to pull the writers into the same line of thinking. For example, one article in the Health and Beauty section said that watering down hair spray makes little difference to the overall quality of the product; the next article plainly stated that the author would never consider watering down products. By presenting differing viewpoints, the book allows itself to be the most useful to the most people. We are all individuals after all, and one single tip will not work for every person.

I have seen that most people resist the ideas of frugality because they cannot see themselves &quotsinking” to that level. Unpalatable ideas are hard to swallow, and what is unpalatable to one person is not necessarily to the next. The book gives a wide variety of tips in order to overcome this problem.

I really enjoyed this book, and I have found many things I am going to try. I would highly suggest you purchase a copy of this book and get some wonderful tips on both living better on less, while making the most of what you have.