The Frugal Zealot - Revisited
Welcome to Sharing My Two Cents. If this is your first visit please read about this blog. You can keep updated by subscribing to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This weekend while sorting through boxes of books to find ones I was ready to part with, I ran across an old and dear friend. The Complete Tightwad Gazette is the first “frugal” type book I ever purchased. It’s a combination of 3 books written by Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced decision) along with some extra material added for the compilation. Known by some as “The Frugal Zealot” Amy started a newsletter back in 1990 (before the age of blogs and the net) that was mailed monthly across the United States and the world. “The Tightwad Gazette” as it was called was published for six years and grew to reach well over 40,000 subscribers. She had enough work that she needed to hire a small office staff to help her out. Eventually the newsletters were published into three books, and in 1998 those 3 books were combined to make The Complete Tightwad Gazette.
If you are looking to save money, spend less and in general reduce your consumption of consumer goods you need to check out this book. Some of the ideas are a bit “out there” but even Amy has admitted she hasn’t used all of the ideas. Some of the ideas published in her newsletters were submitted by readers.
The Tightwad Gazette has been a huge source of inspiration to me over the years. Now that I’ve rescued it from the depths of my office closet I’ll read it again to see what else I can learn. (my first experiment has to do with bread. I won’t give too much away, but check out next week to see how my first experiment from the book works out. My husband will be the guinea pig for this one.) If you are able to get a hold of The Complete Tightwad Gazette make sure you read the introduction. The introduction gives some background into their “frugal” living story: why they started living frugally and without debt. It’s really a cool story of how they were able to do so much with so little income.
I got my copy about 8 years ago through one of those mail-order bookclubs. I’m not even sure it’s in print anymore. (anyone know?) I bought a copy of it for my mom last year and had to get if off ebay, I couldn’t find it any book stores. (if you have seen at a bookstore let me know) I’m sure you could find it a local library, but at 959 pages this is one of those books that is hard to read quickly and is a great resource to keep around.
Places to check:
1. the library
2. the bookshelf of a really nice friend
3. ebay
4. Amazon
5. garage sale (this might be a tough one to find!)
6. Craigslist or Freecycle
7. local used bookstore
Ok, who wants to admit to being a Tightwad Gazette fan? Have you tried anything from the book?
Comments
5 Responses to “The Frugal Zealot - Revisited”
Share your thoughts...
I looovvve the Tightwad Gazette! I first found it when I was 17 (hehe! 7 years ago) and it changed my life! There are so many things I’ve learned from it and now do.
I often wonder what she’s up to lately. Do they still live frugally like they were and things like that
he he! Glad I’m not the only one.
I tried googling her name a few times and could only find older articles. I couldn’t find any updates, I’ve always wondered how they were doing. I’m assuming they are still living in Maine; but with their frugality and the income they made from the newsletter and books (and her husband’s military retirement) I’m sure they are very comfortable and won’t have to work unless they want to. But I would LOVE an update from them too.
This book changed my life when I first got married. It started with debt and my husband chiding me for being “cheap” all the time, but now we’re out of all debt (even the mortgage will be paid off soon!) and my husband is paying close attention! I would be proud to be called a frugal zealot!
Wow-you’ve done really good! We are working on getting out debt right now, and don’t plan on ever being back in this spot. I LOVE the book. I’m reading the Millionaire Next Door right now and it seems that a lot of millionaires have her kind of thinking, they are very careful with their money.
Your book saved my life in my twenties and continues to have an inpact on our spending today as well!! I married fresh out of high school and started with,l basically, nothing. My grand mother (who considers you a god, lol) bought me the book as a housewarming gift. I must’ve read that book 200 times! Thanks for all your insight and wisdom…but mostly leading so many of us into a lifestyle alternative that gives us the power of choice!