In the middle of January, I got the Book America’s Cheapest Family out of the library, and started reading it. Here is what I thought after reading the first few chapters. Well, I’ve now finished the book, and just wanted to give my opinion.
Overall, I really liked the book. While I have heard of most of the tips inside, there were a few that I had never thought of before. They show exactly how they were able to save so much money on such a little income, and with 5 kids. The book is very organized, and at the end of each chapter gives tips depending on how much of a change you really want to make.
One thing I thought was really great was that they had a chapter on teaching kids about money. While I don’t have any, I really believe it’s important for kids to learn about money and the value of it at a young age. I really believe that the reason so many people have issues with debt and not knowing how to save money is because we were never taught it when we were younger. We learn many different subjects in school, but none of them is about how to save money, or take care of money. Think about it, were you ever taught in school that you should save x percentage of your income? Of course not. So most of us learned it as we went, making our own mistakes on the way. The chapter in this book that talks about how the Economides taught their 5 children about money really seems like it would help a lot of people.
I also realized early on when reading the book that everyone does things differently, and even though some people save money by doing one thing doesn’t mean you have to do the same thing to save money. For example, when talking about clothing, the Economides family rarely goes to a retail store to shop. They want to spend as little time as possible finding clothes, and find a lot of clothes at consignment shops, thrift stores, etc. One of the children even makes a comment about how she laughs at her friends who shop in malls, saying that they are wasting so much money.
Well, I really enjoy shopping, and the thrill of a good deal. To me, it’s fun to spend a few hours at the mall, trying to get some great deals on clothing I like and would wear. While I don’t shop at consignment shops or thrift stores, I think I get just as good deals, if not better.
The book just helped me realize that there are a lot of different ways to save money on the same things. You can go about it a different way, you can still save just as much money.
While I will not be following all of the tips, it was still great to read and see how other people save money!
