Bargain Seeker on the Prowl

The Tightwad Gazette written by Amy Dacyczyn is a wonderful book full of penny-pinching advice and ideas. This book is suited for rich or poor alike! Amy teaches you how to “think outside the box” to save money from making your own pizzas and cleaning supplies to researching and receiving the best bang for your buck. There are 3 books in this volume.

There are some ideas in this book that would probably not be suited for your family, however there are so MANY ideas for saving money that I know that you would find this book a useful tool. At a time when tightening our belts makes sense, this book is here to help guide you along the way.

Amy is considered to be an extremist by many with her ideas of cutting costs and making do with what she has available to her, but I believe we could all use a dose of her hard-nosed approach to saving money. You may not implement ALL of her ways of saving money but perhaps it will start your creative juices flowing and you will find similar ways to save money.

 The Angels of Morgan Hill by Donna VanLiere is a book I chose from Amazon’s Bargain Book selection to read together with my 13-year-old daughter. This story teaches a life lesson about making decisions and having to live with the consequences of the decisions you have made.

This story is set in rural Tennessee in 1947, and involves a poverty-level family struggling to make ends meet and just putting food on the table is a major feat. A series of unexpected events and cruel acts cause this newly widowed, mother of two to take into their home a young African-American boy because of a promise she made to his dying mother.

Having lived in the South nearly all of my life, I can understand the struggle and backlash from the predominately white community this family had to endure. My daughter could not understand how people could be so intolerant and filled with hate just because of the color of a person’s skin.

If you choose to read this with your child as I did, be prepared to stop and answer a lot of difficult questions that will arise in the mind(s) of your young one(s). If you read this book alone, be prepared to read it from start to finish in one sitting as you are drawn into the story and captivated by the characters. Either way, it is difficult to read this book without shedding tears.

For $4.99 (hardcover) plus shipping at Amazon, The Angels of Morgan Hill is definitely a bargain for your bookshelf.