Tight wad gazette (merged)

jenniferpa

1 stick butter= 4 oz = 113g =8 tblspn

I'm a UK expat in the states, so I can give help with translations also.

Jennifer

raeble

I hate to be the descenting voice but I found it absolutely no use at all. She didn't tell me anything useful that I didn't know already. A lot of the useful stuff is just common sense.

Firstly it is far too American, no effort was made to re-edit the book for the international audience - something as simple as including a conversion table for all the recipes which use US measurements as opposed to oz or kg. The book would have been slimed down by third from re-editing alone.

Secondly she seemed to have some sort of obsession with buying stuff second hand. There is nothing wrong with buying second hand but it isn't always cheaper, and you don't have yard sales (re-editing for international audience) over here with that kind of frequency. I can't say I've ever seen one. Yeah you have car boots but that implies that you have a car to get to the sale. What happens if you dont?

Thirdly she had some thing about canning stuff up - yeah that's ok if you live in a great big house with loads of room but what about if you live in a small house in the city? Then there is the outlay for all this equipment - she says you can get it at a yard sale. What happens if you can't find it second hand? You'll have to buy it new. So you end up spending fortune in the vain hope that you are going to save money one day.

I think you should borrow it from the library before buying it - you might be disappointed. Besides it really is much more frugual to borrow it make some notes and then return it. You find most of the things she talks about freely available on the internet as well - you may have to search but it is all out there.

thriftlady_2

Well I got round the measurements problem by investing in a set of metal measuring cups which didn't cost much,were easy to find and which I use nearly every day.

Canning is method of preserving food in jars by processing it in a boling water bath to sterilise it.In this country we don't preserve food in such a 'rigorous' way.If you are bottling vegetables you have to do it this way for safety but for sauces, chutneys and pickles the sugar,salt or vinegar preserves the food safely without the need for special equipment.I preserve surplus fruit and veg by freezing it (in my small freezer),you can also store things like 'canned tomato sauce' in the freezer without actually canning it.My house is small,so is my garden but I manage to preserve a lot of food in various ways.

I don't go car-booting,I have found some excellent clothes at charity shops.But I find the book immensely helpful despite not taking every idea on board.The maths teacher example that someone mentioned earlier in this thread illustrates this well.I think the book's great strength is that she teaches you how to think creatively around your particular situation.

larmy16

They must be absolutely loaded now after the sales of that book. No need for frugality atall however she still practises it or so I have read. Sometimes it made me feel envious though that they were able to spend their days doing up their large house and sewing and pottering around and making bits of furniture.....sighs.

hornetgirl

Another TG fan here. I don't know how many times I've read the books now (again mostly in the bath!) but every time I find fresh inspiration in them. They're what got me started on the whole OS/Frugal thing, when I bought the first one on holiday in the States in 1994.

maryb

It is an inspirational book and there are some truly helpful ideas.

However I find I don't like her. I suppose with six children there is no room in the budget for spontaneous generosity - but I suspect there is no room in her philosophy for spontaneous generosity. I felt sorry for her eldest daughter. for her frugality must seem like never ever having exactly what you want when you want it. Unless it's tinned tuna. And not even then if mother has decided it's beans for supper. Arguing is punished. One punishment she mentions meting out to her eldest daughter was no television for a month. A month!!! I don't know about anyone else but my two were always sobered up by being sent to bed early for just one night. that sounds like trying to break her spirit.

And some of her money saving sounds just plain stingy. She recommends - as a main meal- a baked potato with grated chhese and broccoli bits consisting of a 7 ounce potato which she says is a squahed tennis ball size. and she says that one sack of potaoes lasts the winter in a household of 8 with a grown man and several growing teenagers. No wonder she says her children were always on the lanky side!!

Spendless

raeble wrote:

Secondly she seemed to have some sort of obsession with buying stuff second hand. There is nothing wrong with buying second hand but it isn't always cheaper, and you don't have yard sales (re-editing for international audience) over here with that kind of frequency. I can't say I've ever seen one. Yeah you have car boots but that implies that you have a car to get to the sale. What happens if you dont?

.

Re car boot sales versus yard sales. We have relatives in Canada where yard sales are also the norm. I actually find these more difficult to get to without transportation. Unless you neighbours advertise in advance and you see their flyer you have no way of knowing if someone is holding a yard sale near you that particular weekend. We have gone searching the neighbourhoods by car in Toronto and it's taken us a while to eventually stumbled across a few. Once you've had a browse round it's then back in the car to see if you can find another, which might be down the street or in the next neighbourhood. You have no way of knowing.
Compare this to our own car-boots where you know in advance where they are and at one time they start and finish each week. If you're not interested in what one stall-holder has there's the next stall to move onto.

larmy16

maryb wrote:

It is an inspirational book and there are some truly helpful ideas.

However I find I don't like her. I suppose with six children there is no room in the budget for spontaneous generosity - but I suspect there is no room in her philosophy for spontaneous generosity. I felt sorry for her eldest daughter. for her frugality must seem like never ever having exactly what you want when you want it. Unless it's tinned tuna. And not even then if mother has decided it's beans for supper. Arguing is punished. One punishment she mentions meting out to her eldest daughter was no television for a month. A month!!! I don't know about anyone else but my two were always sobered up by being sent to bed early for just one night. that sounds like trying to break her spirit.

And some of her money saving sounds just plain stingy. She recommends - as a main meal- a baked potato with grated chhese and broccoli bits consisting of a 7 ounce potato which she says is a squahed tennis ball size. and she says that one sack of potaoes lasts the winter in a household of 8 with a grown man and several growing teenagers. No wonder she says her children were always on the lanky side!!

I felt a bit uncomfortable reading about the dinner table scenario if the kids did not want to eat something - she seemed pretty extreme. Also I agree, it would be nice to get some new clothes when you are a teenager - I wonder if they will become ultimate consumers in rebellion???

thriftlady_2

But,on the other hand she did put a lot of thought and effort into throwing fabulous birthday parties for her kids,making halloween costumes,sourcing brilliantly creative hm gifts,making an unusual waistcoat for one daughter and best gift of all teaching her children not to look to spending money as the answer to all their needs.

I would have gone with her methods of getting kids to eat if I could have been bothered - we have a slightly modified approach(mostly due to picky OH).

raeble

thriftlady wrote:

Well I got round the measurements problem by investing in a set of metal measuring cups which didn't cost much,were easy to find and which I use nearly every day.

Yes but after you've spent over £10 on a book it would have taken much for them to have included an extra sheet with a conversion chart.

Canning is method of preserving food in jars by processing it in a boling water bath to sterilise it.In this country we don't preserve food in such a 'rigorous' way.If you are bottling vegetables you have to do it this way for safety but for sauces, chutneys and pickles the sugar,salt or vinegar preserves the food safely without the need for special equipment.I preserve surplus fruit and veg by freezing it (in my small freezer),you can also store things like 'canned tomato sauce' in the freezer without actually canning it.My house is small,so is my garden but I manage to preserve a lot of food in various ways.

Canning was just one of the things she was going on about, there was also dehydration of food. She did mention getting some kind of equipment for that - the only stuff I saw was way over £100.

I live in a two bedroomed city centre mid terraced house - My garden is a yard with a bit of mud - perhaps 21ft squared. My kitchen is 5ft 4 by 8ft 6, there are two doors in this room and a boiler. I only have enough space for the washing machine, cooker and sink on one wall. I have a very thin worktop on the otherside but I can't put cupboards underneath it as I wouldn't be able to move. I can barely move in there at the moment. I have a fridge freezer with two freezer draws in the living room. I really don't have any space to be storing stuff.

I don't go car-booting,I have found some excellent clothes at charity shops.

If you live frequent shops in a well to do area you will find better stuff than if you don't. Most of the clothes in the charity shops near me are a load of old tat that I could get cheaper new in Primark or the like.

As I say some people obviously find the book very useful. I didn't as it doesn't really tell you anything new.