Friday, November 28, 2014

Save Your Money, Save Your Life / James Conklin


Reviewed by: BigAl

Genre: Non-Fiction/Finance/Self-Help

Approximate word count: 20-25,000 words

Availability    
Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Information on this author is skimpy. From the book, he has some kids and a spouse and I believe he lives in Washington state.

Description:

“What would you do with an extra $10, $100, or $200 a month?

We all have different reasons to want to save money. For some it is to pay off debts. For others, it’s a better car, clothes, or new toys. For another group, it is a desire to build up a nest egg to start working for them and break out of the cycle of working to spend.

Whatever your reason to cut expenses and save money, we can all use ideas on where to get started. Save Your Money, Save Your Life offers 110 suggestions on fun and practical ways to reduce your spending and keep more money in your wallet.”

Appraisal:

I’m going to guess that almost everyone wishes they had more money, whether to be able to buy more or save more for the future. The concept of this book is summed up by the old Ben Franklin quote that has reached the point of cliché, “a penny saved is a penny earned.” If you spend less on something (or don’t spend it at all), you’ll have more money for something else.

Another cliché is saying someone “squeezes a penny until Lincoln screams,” and some of these ideas abuse Lincoln worse than a third-world sweatshop. Others, only the most extreme spendthrift won’t have already considered. You’ll find a few that won’t apply to you. (For example, how many people go to movie theaters? There must be some, because the theaters are still open, but personally I don’t remember the last time I did and I’m sure a lot of you are the same.)

Since this review is already cliché ridden, I’ll point out that time is money. Some of the ideas suggested trade time for money (for example, preparing certain food and cleaning staples from scratch, rather than buying them already made at a higher cost). How the tradeoff between time and money works for you will determine which, if any, of some ideas make sense for you. It depends on how much of each you have.

However, for this book to be a worthwhile purchase, you only need to find one idea that makes sense to implement. Many of the ideas take little to no effort on your part, only a minor change in habit. (For example, the choice in light bulbs you use.) Several savings ideas have positive effects in other ways, either on your health or the environment, which might be an additional reason to consider them. At its core, Save Your Money, Save Your Life, aims to get you to take a hard look at some of your spending habits and question them. That’s beneficial to anyone.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues


Rating: **** Four Stars

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