This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Complex money books are aggravating. These books just make things so difficult to understand. So when I received a copy of “The Super Duper Simple Book on Money” I was hooked even before I began to read. Find out how you can get a free copy below!
Author Alan Akina also dislikes complex money books and that’s why he decided to write a short and easy to read money book. He writes:
I promise that anyone who reads and follows the principles in this book, can live better, breathe easier, and build a solid financial foundation that will help you thrive through-out your life.
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
I asked you to share how you’ve benefited from others’ generosity for a chance to win “Saving Savvy,” by Kelly Hancock of Faithful Provisions and many of you wrote wonderful stories of how others have blessed you.
I was particularly moved by reader Linsday‘s response and declared her the winner. She wrote:
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
A smart new book on saving money is really in line with what we do on BargainBabe.com. Below, you can win my review copy! Our blog friend Kelly Hancock of Faithful Provisions (we link to her Kroger grocery coupons every Wednesday) just published “Saving Savvy: Smart and Easy Ways to Cut Your Spending in Half and Raise Your Standard of Living…and Giving.” Long title, but a quick read.
In her book, Hancock shares how she took a leap of faith when she left her corporate job and started blogging. She writes that she hopes to encourage others to trust in God to see their needs fulfilled as her family’s have been meet. The book has a strong emphasis on giving back. Hancock writes:
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Wanting to save money in this economy is a no-brainer, but being able to do it is another thing. That’s where author Kathy Spencer comes in. Her 237-page book How to Shop for Free: Shopping Secrets for Smart Women Who Love to Get Something for Nothing
Kathy is known for taking a $267.22 grocery bill down to one cent. The majority of her expenses are free and in this book she lets you in on her secret. She writes:
I’ll tell you what I’ve told them: I’ve cracked the code. Legally, of course; I play by the rules. I’ve simply created a strategic way to shop that maximizes promotions and sales to save thousands of dollars a year.
My favorite part of the book is when Kathy (more…)
Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Reader Forrest is the winner of my review copy of “Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, or Mooching off My Parents.” Forrest is in high school and is stressing out about the college selection process. Forrest wrote:
I’ll be a high school senior this year. What stresses me most about the whole college selection process is the financial aid. I don’t know how I’ll be able to decide between a school I like and a school with a better aid package. This book would definitely help.
Forrest, I can totally relate to you. I too felt stressed about choosing the right college. I like that at such a young age you have (more…)
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz. Disclosure: Zac Bissonnette used to blog for WalletPop.com, where Bargain Babe Julia Scott currently blogs.
A quality college education does not have to cost a lot of money. That’s the premise behind Debt-Free U: How I Paid for an Outstanding College Education Without Loans, Scholarships, orMooching off My Parents
by Zac Bissonnette.
Bissonnette, a college student at the University of Massachusetts and a personal finance expert, says he wrote the book for the 90-plus percent of families that find it difficult to pay tuition at a four-year private university. He writes:
I wrote this book because I’ve met, spoken with, and read e-mails from hundreds of families who are struggling with the burden of college costs – worrying about how they’ll pay for college without bankrupting their retirement or burdening their kids with massive debt loads.
One of the tips that stuck with me is a loophole for making a student eligible for more financial aid. Bissonnette suggests getting married before heading to college. Married students are considered independent from their parents (more…)
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Reader Lauren Y. wins the review copy of The Cheap Diva’s Guide to Frugal and Fabulous Living for her comment that reveals she’s lived paycheck to paycheck but hadn’t learned her lesson until she got laid off for the second time:
For most of my working life I’ve lived pretty much (or barely) paycheck to paycheck. I’ve been a waitress, office assistant, temp and receptionist.
Despite all those short-lived, low-paying jobs, I didn’t really learn my lesson in frugality until I was laid off for the second time. As I said before, I’ve lived paycheck to paycheck (or was “underfinanced”, as I like to say when I’m feeling fancy) but I’d never been broke. After that second layoff, I was BROKE. I had to figure out how to pay for rent, utilities, food, gas and medicine. Since I was laid off from another low-paying job, my unemployment check wasn’t going to cut it. I took as many temp jobs as I could to cover rent and utilities. To save gas, I combined errands and limited my driving to necessary errands and work. I found a state-funded pharmacy to help pay for my medicine. Finally, I started using coupons (which i got from my mom’s newspaper), only shopped at stores that doubled coupons and learned how to stretch meals.
Fortunately, I eventually got a decent paying job but that unemployment-broke spell put the Fear of Brokedom in me. The first thing I did after getting the job was pay off all my consumer debt. It took a lot of major changes but I managed to do it in a little over a year. Now I’m trying to learn how to go from survivor mode to healthy savings mode. To me, “healthy savings mode” is where I can be frugal while still enjoying life. I’m not there yet but I’m working my way towards it.
Lauren, I hope this book continues to help you learn to live a frugal life but also helps you enjoy every minute of it. If you missed the book review, author Stephanie Ann writes about her tips and tricks to getting good deals and shows you how to make some cash by selling your clutter or by creating your own job.
In the book, Ann shares her story and shares she was living paycheck to paycheck after a series of low paying jobs and long periods of unemployment. It can be difficult to get laid off especially when you have credit card debt from trying to make ends meet but it is important to take care of yourself to look fabulous and once again conquer the world.
If you didn’t win my review copy you can purchase it on Amazon for $13.45.
Amazon.com
Reader Katie wins my review copy of Life or Debt 2010: A New Path to Financial Freedom, which I wrote about earlier this week, for her comment:
I would love to read this book! Hubby and I are reccent college graduates and want to pay off our student loans/live debt free as quickly as possible but could sure use direction!
With early guidance I hope Katie and her husband live debt-free! If you didn’t win, Amazon has paperback copies of Life or Debt 2010 for $8.50 (orig. $15). And remember to try your library!
I met Stacy Johnson at a work event in San Francisco months ago and was pleased to hear he had a new book coming out (actually, a re-do of a book he published 10 years ago.) Stacy, who is a CPA, shows in Life or Debt 2010: A New Path to Financial Freedom that he knows what he is talking about.
The book begins with a 5-page rant on why personal and national debt is damaging. Then Stacy puts our current fiscal mess it into perspective:
In the 1930s, unemployment approached 25 percent, more than twice what it is now, and there were no unemployment checks. The stock market declined 80 percent. When banks failed, and hundreds did, there was no FDIC to insure deposits, you simply lost your money. So if you think it’s tough these days, imagine what that was like. But there was a silver lining to that dark cloud: The Greatest Generation became tough…They learned that their only protection was to save a dime every time they earned a dollar and not to trust their employer or their government for their financial security…
They also got behind legislation that changed the financial system so it would be tilted more to the benefit of the have-nots. They created Social Security, a means to help people when they become too old or sick to work. They created the FDIC, which guarantees that nobody would lose money in a bank failure again, at last within the insured limits. They created unemployment insurance at both the federal and state levels…
In short, the Greatest Generation harnessed their collective power and changed the United States in major ways in an attempt to ensure that a tragedy like the Great Depression couldn’t devastate their children the way it had devastated them.
Many of us are re-learning the hard lessons of the Great Depression now. To prosper Stacy recommends:
- Stop whining and start acting
- Reconsider the relationship between material possessions and happiness
- Create financial freedom by living below your means
In seven chapters Stacy explains how to get out of debt as quickly as possible, how to stop creating more debt, and how to rank your debts to determine which one to payoff first. There are also three chapters at the end with 250 tips to save, how to repair your credit, and resources for getting help.
Many chapters have charts and worksheets so you can crunch your numbers. Stacy ends each chapter with a handful of key points so you remember the lessons. The book is 223 pages. Life or Debt is sensible, occasionally funny, and very down to earth. I highly recommend it!
Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win my review copy. Or buy Life or Debt 2010 from Amazon for $8.50 (orig. $15).
