The Book Buzz

August 2008 - Posts

• Review of Confessions of a Butcher by John Smith

  No, dear DS readers, these are not the confessions of a frugal serial killer!  Despite the catchy title, it is an accurate one—this is insider information straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak:  tips for purchasing meat from a former career butcher.  Better yet, advice from a tightwad butcher who is willing to impart his knowledge!  Even if you don’t know one side of the cow from another, in fact, especially if you don’t know, this useful guide will help you choose cheaper cuts of meat and still dine like a queen/king!  If you always suspected that all those different labels for meat were meant to confuse the consumer, you were right, as it turns out.  Using his 31 years of experience as a butcher, Smith blows away those misleading merchandising tricks and reveals the truth behind meat-marketing.    With food prices going up through the roof with no relief in sight, this book will prove especially valuable to the frugal consumer.  The author divides the book into sections for beef, chicken, pork, lamb and veal, with saving alternatives suggested for each cut.  Even savvy meat shoppers will find some new ideas here.   Smith also includes a much-needed glossary for us newbies, an index, and an appendix with recipes, turkey purchasing tips and advice for leftovers, a lesson on butcher etiquette (how to treat your butcher so he/she will treat you!) and “Tools of the Trade” a section on how to purchase and maintain knives and other equipment.   A good book always leaves you wanting more and in this case it proves true; for those of us starting from scratch, our meat education could use even more details.  We await a possible second volume; perhaps the “Further Confessions of a Butcher?”   Make sure and visit the author’s website, www.all-about-meat.com, for even more tips or to ask a question.   Book Information:   Confessions of a Butcher: Eat Steak on a Hamburger Budget and Save $$$ By John Smith 2006 (Revised ed.) Ark Essentials Publishing www.arkessessentials.com www.all-about-meat.com ISBN 13:  978-0-9669280-1-3     Posted Aug 18 2008, 09:13 AM by Beatriz with 2 comment(s) Filed under: book review, saving, John Smith

• Review of Living Fiscally Fit: 1000 Ways to Get Out of Debt & Build Financial Wealth

  The editors of Woman’s Day (of which Mary Hunt is a contributing editor) have compiled an impressive list of tips in this easy to use, handy volume.  Mary Hunt, known to all frugal readers as the author of Debt-Proof Living, Tiptionary, The Complete Cheapskate, and many others, contributes a foreword and material throughout; her likeable style is very much in evidence here.   The tips are organized in three comprehensive sections:    Assessing Your Financial Picture   This section helps you evaluate your current money profile, your money personality (by comparing your financial style with the Desperate Housewives’ characters) and examines excuses we all use to avoid dealing with our money issues.  There’s a good chapter on “Money and Marriage” and all the issues thereof, and advice on transitioning into a saving mentality. Save More, Spend Less Once your mind is made up to change, this section contains the nuts and bolts on how to effect that change by getting out of debt and beginning to save; it contains a “Five-Step Plan to Take Charge of Your Money” and advice on how to avoid common money blunders, including the “Biggest Financial Mistakes Women Make.”  The rest of this section is just jam-packed with tip after tip on saving money in every category you can imagine.  Lots of useful and specific suggestions here!   Building Wealth    After all the saving begins, this section advises you on how to increase your new-found wealth and how to bring in additional income.  Investing tips, financial education for children, part-time jobs and yard sales are all covered here.    The book ends with a list of online resources and an extensive bibliography of print sources.  Living Fiscally Fit is very obviously geared toward the female reader but any reader can benefit from most of its advice.  The book’s simple, straightforward style is very appealing and makes it a valuable addition to your financial library, though the lack of an index does have some impact on its usefulness.  Better break out the highlighter for this one, as Mary Hunt suggests in the foreword!     Book Information:   Living Fiscally Fit: 1000 Ways to Get Out of Debt & Build Financial Wealth with a foreword by Mary Hunt   2008 Filipacchi Publishing ISBN: 1-933231-28-9   Posted Aug 13 2008, 11:59 AM by Beatriz with no comments Filed under: book review, saving, Mary Hunt, frugality, Living Fiscally Fit

• Review of Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life by Liz Pulliam Weston

  MSN Money’s “Money Talk” columnist Liz Weston delivers comprehensible and coherent advice on managing every aspect of your financial life.  Because much of her advice revolves around e-banking, e-billing, e-everything, this book will appeal most to younger but sophisticated beginners in personal finance.    Weston starts out with an extensive section on “Setting up Your Financial Life” which gives advice on how to attack your finances like you would any other project.  She devotes chapters to spending plans, managing credit cards, retirement planning and investing, saving for college, buying insurance, buying homes and cars, and hiring financial advisers.   The chapter on credit cards was especially notable because of the unorthodox tactics she presents (but doesn’t advocate) and also because of her explanation about how the current statistics on debt are misleading. (Hint: it’s both better and worse than you think.)   Another stand-out chapter, “Be a Savvy Shopper,”  is unusual to find in a personal finance book!  This chapter contains valuable concrete advice on how to complain effectively when you feel you get bad service, and strategies for dealing with automated customer service systems.    Weston concludes with two chapters devoted to the mental aspects of money:  how to change your mind-set and how to set goals for yourself.  Especially effective is the final section on how to get what you want. Weston includes questions to ask yourself such as:   “What’s standing between me and what I want?” “What’s my plan for overcoming each of these obstacles?” “How can I make these changes happen sooner?”   She sums it up very well:  “This is the one life you get.  Make sure you get what you really want.” The book ends with a brief but well-selected “Resources and Recommendations” section and a good index.    Note to DS readers:  under the Savings Tips section of the appendix, she gives kudos to the Dollar Stretcher and its readers!  “Publisher Gary Foreman, a former Certified Financial Planner, was running a “Web 2.0” community-fueled site many, many years before it became the latest Internet trend.  Much of the content here is contributed by readers, and you can’t beat the extensive library of tips and suggestions for stretching a buck.”   Book information:   Easy Money: How to Simplify Your Finances and Get What You Want Out of Life   By Liz Pulliam Weston   FT Press 2008 ISBN 13:  978-0-13-238383-7   Author’s websites: www.lizweston.com or www.asklizweston.com   Posted Aug 06 2008, 03:30 PM by Beatriz with no comments Filed under: book review, personal finance, Liz Pulliam Weston, Easy Money