Living Cheaply With Style: Live Better and Spend Less

by Ernest Callenbach

This fun and practical guide offers a huge variety of tips on living for less "with grace, humor, [and] imagination." The author covers a wide range of topics including food, housing, transportation, clothes, and entertainment.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Economics, Self Help

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1972

About the author

Ernest Callenbach was an American author, film critic, editor, and simple living adherent. He became famous due to his internationally successful semi-utopian novel Ecotopia.

Reviews

[Carla JFCL · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book way back in the early 70s, when I was a "starving (college) student." It was full of great advice for getting by in life on almost nothing .... which was what I needed to do at that time. I still have my battered paperback copy, complete with the taped-together spine and my notes and underlining. Reading it now is a real trip back in time .... a great reminder of my "hippie days." Of course, most of the information is quite dated, but some of the basic concepts still apply today, especially in the current economic climate.

[Holly McIntyre · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book! It has everything one needs to think about when striving to live frugally all wrapped up in one well-written and pleasingly designed package.

However, the 1992 edition which I read is somewhat quaintly antiquated -- no discussion of the internet, or freecycle, or craigslist. Nevertheless, the principles remain sound -- we just don't have to depend on bulletin boards in laundromats anymore.

This is a great place for the aspiring frugilista to begin or an excellent summary for folks like me who have read every frugal book ever written. I highly recommend it.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now that some fell beast slouches proudly again toward Wall Street, this book could come in mighty handily. For those who like (and deserve to be) living the good life but are turning down at the pocket. Sure, prices have jumped in the years intervening its publication, inflation and all, but the advice
within is as good as gold. Now I just need to hook myself up with a new copy! Highly recommended.

[Lissa Notreallywolf · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume from the seventies has been on my shelf for years, kind of an artifact. It's notable for being dated and also extremely current in the sense that it covers many things a seventeen year old should know about living, although the information is dated. Getting Free, ch.1 is about cultivating an anticommercial attitude about lifestyle choices and could have been entitled opting out. Handling money is a brief overview about budgeting, the most salient advice being to divide disposable income, including food. Starchy staples(flour, rice, pasta), then perishables (veg and protiens are to be taken from this, always bought from a grocery. Advice is given later not to eat seed corn (treated), and the viability of animal fodder is explored in Eating, as is foraging for wildcrafted greens, etc. He gives a crash course in nutirtion and the need to keep a pantry of foods for when one is not feeling well. Don't shop conveninece stores and don't shop hungry, buy only what you will actually eat in a week. A pitch is made for dried milk, eating fruits not drinking juice. He talks about backyard gardens and raising animals for protein. E Gibbons, Rodale pubs and Darlington's Grow Your Own are recommended. Getting Around covers transportation with bikes and hitchhiking topping the list. Dwelling was a good chapter because it deals with the everpresent problems of rental housing or refabing unconventional dwelling spaces-insulating windows with weather stripping, plastic sheeting, how paint can freshen a room. Basic plumbing-how to use a plunger, a snake, how to unclog a shower head. ow to instal a shower is gone over very lightly. Keeping cool covers haning wet clothes and using fans in front of windows, cross ventillation. How to replace a fuse, just like a light bulb. Ironically he recommends using pickle jars for food storage, which will cause anything to taste of pickles. Know the rights and resposnibilities of landlords and tenants in the county you live in, Jane Jacobs The Economy of Cities is cited, as is Architecture without Architects by Rudofsky.Furnising and Equipping is another good chapter, touting cabinet and loft beds to maximize space, the use of pillows rather than couches, sleeping bags are good for growing portable children, etc. Japanese mats zaftus and low tables are touted,the table can be stored upright when not in use. Reading this made me sure that the whole ergonomic movement was a result of hippie housing, hammock backs and bean bag chairs.Brick and board bookcases, less than optimal in earthquake country. Thrift stores are now becoming scarce, and yet reading that one could clothe oneself in 1970 for a buck a month was eyeopening. I adjusted the inflation by multiplying the 25/mth rental rate by 100o and decided 100/mth might keep one in shes and shirts at a thrift store, should you find one. A good portion of the appliance chapter is moot, except the advice of don't buy on time and record the serial numbers of your purchases before delivery. He misses the fact vacuums are frequently free to dumpster divers simply because people don't seem to be able to clean them out or change the rubber belt, an easy fix more often than not. I consider a washing machine the most important household appliance, the author favors the blender, we agree on carbon steel knives vs. stainless steel. He's got a vendetta on plastic anything to which most would add aluminum. The chapter on clothing is so dated it's humorous to read it, but if you know nothing about cloth or leather it might be helpful, provided ou can find a flea market or thrift store. .

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a huge fan of the Ecotopia books, I had really high hopes for this book.

It's fine as far as voluntary simplicity books go, but I felt like I read some variant of this book several times before.

I'm really curious about the original book, "Living Poor with Style", but they're going for $100 on eBay so I'm not going to find out.

[Shayde Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit outdated, but still useful with money saving ideas.

[Kristie Lawrence · Rating 1 out of 5]

A complete waste of time and money. Nothing new.

[Captainblaubeere · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wenn ich das Buch schon früher gehabt hätte, hätte ich mir einiges an Ärger erspart. Im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes. Es ist wie die Zusammenfassung aller Weisheiten, die Großmutter und Großvater schon immer ihren Enkerln mit auf den Weg geben wollten. Eine erfrischende Anleitung, um besser, glücklicher und gesünder zu leben - mit vielen Tipps und Tricks leichter und vorallem nachhaltiger durch den Alltag zu kommen.

Von wie kauft man ein, hält die Küche sauber und was muss man beim Autokauf beachten, bis zu warum wäre es besser mit dem Rad zu fahren. Das Buch hilft wirklich jeden Lebensbereich qualitativer zu gestalten!

Die Schreibweise des Autors ist witzig, angenehm und leicht zu lesen. Ideal um zwischendurch mal ein, zwei Kapital zu lesen. . . Das Werk, das 1995 erschienen ist, ist zwar schon etwas älter aber nichts desto trotz aktueller denn je!

[Jim · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was a bagboy at the prestious Lunds Food Mart in Edina in my senior year of HS. There was this box of books and this one caught my fancy. After reading about how hard it would be to 'Live Poor with Style' I thought continuing school would be a lot easier. :o)

[Amber · Rating 2 out of 5]

This has a few interesting ideas about saving money, but it's mostly stuff you already know.

[Lois · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bought this back in my student-hippie days. Reminder of a certain time and place....

[Christina Aguilar · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great book that shows you how to live. my favorite is the gypsy van :)