1/2 Price Living: Secrets to Living Well on One Income

by Ellie Kay

Ellie Kay, America’s Family Financial Expert ®, will show you how to cut your stress in half--and that’s just a side benefit! With the wit and wisdom of someone who has lived the half-price lifestyle, Ellie empowers you to cut the cord to a second income. This easy-to-read guide gives practical steps, creative suggestions and valuable resources to help you and your

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Finance, Frugal

170 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Carmine · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been toying with the "what if I did decided to be a stay at home mom?" question and picked up this book. The most helpful part is the formula where you plug in your income and expenses and, supposedly, it shows you just how point less it is for women folk to keep working and that it makes more sense for me to get home, get pregnant and stay in the kitchen....but it didn't really work out that way for me. I guess it make more economic sense when you crunch the numbers for me to stay at work....now it we turned it around, perhaps it makes more sense for my partner to quit his job...or maybe we are just the luckiest people in the world because we both have managed keep our jobs and we don't have to put our child in daycare and we still find time to spend together (but if you saw our housekeeping you would understand where this time comes from- ha ha ha)

What isn't helpful about this book is that it does not address living on a budget while retaining the values and lifestyle choices we have for our family. Yes, as the book points out if you clip coupons and shop at the super Walmart that honors competitors coupons you can get stuff cheaper- but we don't and won't shop there. We prefer to pay more for the food at the local, family-owned grocery store. Yep, as this book points out, the Sunday papers have coupons. I am a coupon clipper. We get three different papers at our house and it is pretty rare I see a coupon for food or goods that my family consumes. My baby doesn't wear Huggies (she wears cloth) and I don't wear deodorant with aluminum (so there goes anything you'd find a coupon for in the paper. Most of the grocery coupons are for food-like products and in our house we try to keep it a little lower on the processing chain. so.....maybe I should write my own book..or better yet, maybe my friend Nicole should write the book- how to raise a family on a single-income budget without chucking your values out the window.

The rest of the hot tips in this book just seemed like common sense to me- shop 2nd hand and swap clothes with people you know, do it yourself, etc. If you already follow your grandparents mode of living you need not read this book- "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without."

[Carol · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was looking for more ideas on saving, living a more frugal life, however, I didn't learn much from this book. The first 60 pages are spent telling you why it is a good idea to live on one income. Most of the strategies I am already doing. I did like the chapter on Kid budgets.

This book would be a good read for someone who is considering staying at home but not sure they can do it.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great ideas of how to cut costs, but primarily focuses on the women that wants to be a stay at home mom.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Each chapter starts with a short story, though I don’t always “get” how it’s connected. There’s a good explanation of couponing, and I like the point that a penny saved is more than a penny earned. There’s mention of MLMs and some good questions to ask, though I don’t think it covers the risk of joining one. I don’t know if selling old clothes cuts a clothing bill in half… Some of the shopping tips are a little dated. For the most part, tips were overly general or didn’t cover what I expected.

[Tolly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Skip it. Pretty dated information.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay book. As other reviewers have mentioned, there isn't much revolutionary advice but there are some good tips on grocery bill cutting and living a little thriftier.

I do want to point out that I don't know why most of the reviewers are disappointed that this book addresses stay-at-home- moms. The subtitle is "Secrets to Living Well on One Income" which implies someone is staying at home and, since it is written by a woman, it is likely the mom that is doing the staying at home. This is exactly why I chose to read this book, actually. I read it before I was a mom but now that I am a mom, I am re-reading it.

[Ann · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had never heard of Ellie Kay, but saw the title in the catalog when looking up something else. She has good advice, but can't say that any of her advice was revolutionary. Use coupons! Grocery cards! Shop consignment stores!

Her hook that will draw people is that she has a very religious tinge to her work, and she is a military wife. Both are mentioned, but not hammered in.

Overall a good read for the beginner conscientious shopper.

[Angela Whiting · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book wasn't exactly what I thought it would be. It's a great book for mother's who are considering being a stay at home mom and living off of one income. I thought it was about more for anyone. I did find the cutting grocery bill section helpful though and also ways to make some extra cash helpful.

[Heather Pioro · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really didn't get any valuable information here. I suggest finding bloggers who legitimately function on one legitimate, moderate to low income. Also, I wasn't prepared for the lesson in Christianity, but that may be my own ignorance with this author. I didn't realize what I was getting into. Overall, out of date and useless...

[Angela]

This was an interesting book and although I don't intend to stay home and not work, I still would like to live off of one income and save all of the other. This provided some helpful hints for anyone.

[Carrie · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good book for those looking to switch from 2 to 1 income. Having lived on 1 for a few years now, didn't learn much new. But still valuable.

[Laura · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would give this two and a half stars.

[Lien · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maaf cuma 2 bintang..
1 untuk cover bukunya dan..
1 untuk saran+tipsnya.

[Dinendra Karani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the message, tapi untuk pembaca di Indonesia kurang aplikatif. Mungkin saya harus bikin buku serupa ini untuk kalangan Indo? hmmmn #ide!

[Jen Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few of the chapters had some good ideas, others seemed like the same old things.

[Brandie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good tips in here!

[Jane Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, easy read! I plan to incorporate this book into our financial classes!