Hard Core Poor - a book on extreme thrift

by Kelly Sangree

Having trouble making ends meet? Could you use a little more wiggle room in your budget? In this book, I share the tricks and methods I used when I was Hard Core Poor to make my nickels stretch. I hope it helps you too!

Genres: Nonfiction, Self Help, Finance, Money

221 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 20, 2014

Reviews

[Giddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent ideas, some new.even to me

She gave me a few ideas (using a clothes spinner, for example, which would also help reuse water) Many of the ideas I have heard before and it isn't as in depth as the classic Tightwad Gazette. The section on technology badly needs updating. But the first half of the book is full of gems. And if you are new to this kind of thinking, it is.worth the very minimal investment.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short and to the Point

Some interesting ideas to be cheap, and I like how they aren't just recycled from a Google search. I would caution about taking her advice in the college section, not because doing AP and CLEPs is bad advice, but because she obviously doesn't understand the federal programs offered. For instance, she doesn't mention the FAFSA and PHEAA grants (because she is based in PA). A person with little income can go to a state school almost for free using these programs, and you can knock off the rest with scholarships. Not to mention the PSLF, teacher student loan forgiveness, and IBR. Otherwise, a good book.

[Mike Reeves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the info

Love this book,some things I didn't know and am glad to learn!!! Thanks you very much for this great book!!!

[David McClendon, Sr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard Core Poor - a book on extreme thrift by Kelly Sangree - for almost a year now on our How to Manage Your Monkey blog. We actually thought we had written a review last year some time.

We give this book all five stars. Hard Core Poor was one of the first books we recommended to our readers on our How to Manage Your Monkey blog.

This book is well-written. It provides readers many different ways to save money. Some extreme, others not quite as extreme.

We suggest you read Hard Core Poor, The Financial Briefing, Money Won’t Buy Happiness, Total Money Makeover, The Millionaire Next Door, The Wealthy Barber, Master Your Cash Flow, and Finding Your Money’s Greater Purpose, in that order. This will provide you with most, if not all, the tools you will need to manage your financial monkeys.

We obtained this book through a KDP promotion where we got a Kindle version free. We later bought a paperback copy of the book to give to our daughter. We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

[Billy B. Yip · Rating 5 out of 5]

some usefulness. some common sense. good fast read.

It’s short and should be helpful to some degree. Some of the material is common sense but there is some information that the author gained from experience that I found helpful and sometimes enlightening. Recommend as a quick read.

[Alexandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot on PF and home economics, so when a book mentions something I haven't heard of or thought about, it's probably a 5 star simply off that premise alone. But this is a goid book overall. It has a lot to offer for beginner and advanced 'home economists' alike.

[Anna M Lydick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read anyone just starting out

This book has good advice and ideas for anyone who wants to save money, whether they consider themselves poor or not. Whatever the circumstances, most of us probably need to find a way to spend a little less on necessities in order to have more money for the things that are important to us. This book has ideas for every type of expense, and for every situation.

[Fredric Gerewitz]

I really liked the book. The author's discussion of many money saving strategies discussed both the pros and cons of the different options. She discussed options to public schools if the public school option does not work for your child, the pros and cons of cloth diapers and many other money saving strategies. Many of the options discussed if chosen, will save you more than a few cents. A worthwhile read especially for a young mother just starting out.

[Janinne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Knew all this already from my poverty days

The book is good for people who are new to being poor or just starting out away from a parental home but some of the info is pretty outdated already. Most people will need more info than is provided on saving money on groceries.

[Laura Guenther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great ideas!

This is one of the best frugal living books I have read. Definitely going to recommend to my young adult daughters.

[Shell Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different kind of outlook

I was puzzled at how she jumped from being poor to owning home in no time. As the book progressed she went back to frugality.

[Linda Sorenson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Helpful but nothing I didn’t already know

The book contains some great ideas that are mostly common sense. Some good info for new parents on saving money

[Joe Pro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Poor is a mindset

This book makes super broke thriftiness into two parts of encouragement and method. Well-written, easy to follow and very amusing.

[Sandra Bacon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy read. Some good ideas.

[Melissa Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because I have students who are "hard-core poor", but as I read this, I realized that while the author most certainly has been poor, she does not likely come out of generational poverty. Her solutions to problems that arise out of not having enough money at the end of the check still have strong middle-class American values attached to them. For example, in her section on making more money, she assumes internet access is available (even goes so far to say it is required) and yet I know 1/3 of my students do not have a computer at home. Sure, they can go to the library and wait for their 60 minute session on the computer, but they will not be able to do things like Swagbucks or MTurk in that amount of time because they will be using it for other things (most government programs have all of their forms online, most job search options are online, etc). Yes, access to the internet is necessary, but it requires a significant investment in order to use it (either of time or money). Other ideas in the income generating section require seed money which rarely is available to the "hard-core poor."

There is also no section in here for health care, which was a big part of my own ticket into situational poverty. Even with the affordable health care act, I have students who can't afford to buy the antibiotics necessary to treat their strep throat or who can't afford the time off work to go to the doctor and don't want a more costly ER bill.

The information on college includes no information on Pell Grants or Trio programs which can greatly help students who are coming out of generational poverty. In many cases, these programs can make college free (or very close) for students coming out of generational poverty.

Finally, while there are some good suggestions in here for saving money, including a few I had never thought of, it is not a book that I could suggest to my students who come out of generational, hard-core poverty because they largely are written for people who were raised in the middle class, but fell into situational poverty and often have outside resources (like parents and friends) who still have the resources to help them out.

If this book had been marketed as a book of ideas for frugal living, then I would believe it accomplished its purpose. But I don't think this book hit its target audience of "the hard-core poor" in part because I am not sure the author knows who they are.

[Kimberly Eddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

(disclaimer: Kelly gave me a review copy, and gave me a lovely hat tip in her book)
Having lived "hard core poor" for several years in my own life, I have grown cynical of some frugal living books that give advice that reflects a lack of experience with really needing some money saving advice.

Kelly's book instead offers some great ideas, including quite a few I would have never thought of, in saving money on an already tight budget. She shows some rather extreme ways of making ends meet, not only for stay at home parents, but also for single parents and households with two or more working adults. Super handy.

Solid, helpful information.

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book lacked authenticity. The author was able to alternate schedules to avoid daycare, was given a business by her mother and was later supported by her. Sure she paid off debt, but it was because others were covering her expenses. Her second marriage was to a man that already owned a home. It's a book about basic frugality and not about a true experience of poverty, in my opinion. "Use a cold washcloth to cool off" doesn't really seem like extreme thrift, just common sense, and it's basically what the book consists of.

[Elaine · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are some good tips and suggestions in this book for frugal living but I do think that some of it would be unrealistic for anyone who is really 'hard core poor,' even so I did enjoy the read, she mentioned things I've never heard of, it was interesting. I skipped over the section on kids since that doesn't apply to me.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book, lots of good ideas, but mostly things that poor people already know. This is better for someone who is recently laid off, or suddenly finds himself or herself strapped for cash. A person who's been struggling for a while will have put most if not all of these ideas into practice already.

[Leslie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd have given it 3 stars but there were too many editing/grammar issues for my taste.

[Coffee Drinker · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok