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Frugillionaire: 500 Fabulous Ways to Live Richly and Save a Fortune
What if being frugal made you feel like a million bucks? You'd live a rich and happy life--while saving more money than you ever imagined!
If you're frustrated with your finances, drowning in debt, or just wondering where your money goes each month, don't despair. For in these pages lies the secret to financial peace and how to become a frugillionaire.
Unlike millionaires and billionaires, frugillionaires aren't defined by the number of zeroes in their net worth, or the haute couture in their closets. Quite the frugillionaires master the art of frugality--living richly while saving a fortune. They make the most of the money they have, and treasure those things that money can't buy.
Best of all, becoming a frugillionaire is easy! Just open this book, and you'll find 500 fabulous savings techniques at your fingertips. Mix and match them into your personal formula for financial success!
If you're frustrated with your finances, drowning in debt, or just wondering where your money goes each month, don't despair. For in these pages lies the secret to financial peace and how to become a frugillionaire.
Unlike millionaires and billionaires, frugillionaires aren't defined by the number of zeroes in their net worth, or the haute couture in their closets. Quite the frugillionaires master the art of frugality--living richly while saving a fortune. They make the most of the money they have, and treasure those things that money can't buy.
Best of all, becoming a frugillionaire is easy! Just open this book, and you'll find 500 fabulous savings techniques at your fingertips. Mix and match them into your personal formula for financial success!
280 pages, Paperback
First published June 24, 2009
35 people are currently reading
214 people want to read
About the author
Francine Jay
14 books221 followersFrancine Jay pioneered the minimalist living movement with her blog, MissMinimalist.com, and her book, The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life. In 2009, she and her husband sold their house, and all their possessions, and moved overseas with one suitcase each. After three years as a world-traveling digital nomad, she’s now applying her minimalist philosophy to her new life as a homeowner and mother.
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
March 17, 2011
This book sounded like something I could use. Get the best with less money out of some things in life, and enjoy the rest in full.
But there was very little what I could use or didn't think or didn't do already before. I've lived thru my student years (many) and before a decent salary years with my means, and I've never needed to get a loan. I'll be far better off picking a few habits I had as a student than actually gaining anything from the tips in this book (except maybe comparing car insurances once I'll get a car... as if I wouldn't do that anyway?).
There are 500 tips in this book, sorted in clear categories. There are many tips that make me wonder how ... inefficiently do some people actually live. Like, "you don't have to was towels or bed sheet after every use." No sh.. really? If you gain frugality by actually learning that you don't have to wash and dry a towel after each time you use it, then perhaps you could also gain a grand a month by not having a maid. If you do your own household chores, I'd think that most people wouldn't actually change the bed sheet every day... and do your own lawn? Get rid of the lawn, unless you live in a place like Ireland where it waters itself for free.
Of the category (frugality, saving, while enjoying life) How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day is much better. That one is a very UK-centric one, but I'd love a US version. So many things that work in Europe are hardly possible in US: where I live, it's nearly impossible to get anywhere without a car, and where by distance one could maybe cycle, the roads are made for cars, not for non-vehicle units. How could one really stretch the pennies but still enjoy the life cheap, let's say here in Texas? I wanted something like that, and I can't really use the tips in this book for any measurable savings.
I'm sure the usability of the tips depends on how you live now.
The ways I'm used to living, there isn't really anything new here.
I buy a lunch very rarely, my bought coffee outside the house habits are once a week, I don't usually pay retail for clothes or books. If I would have spent more like the average person in those, it would have made a difference. But after spending over ten years of my life with a very limited budget, and with items in it that are non-negotiable (seeing parents that live overseas, having a long distance relationship, having some sort of roof, some sort of food and some clothing etc) one learns by force. If a certain amount of the money has to go for travel, food, and rent, the rest will find its ways to be stretched to cover everything else.
Many of the tips could have been more personal. These are all tips, about as personal as anything on Martha Steward's blog (i.e. nothing about Martha or what she does).
Most - and probably all - of the tips could have been found online, with some google fu and bookmarking. Savingadvice would be a good place to start.
And there would have been many, many tips from the older generation. For instance Clara Cannucciari is a 95-years old lady who has her youtube channel showing how to do low cost "depression cooking" homemade, easy, Chicagoan-Italian style http://www.youtube.com/user/Depressio.... "Cook for an army" and freeze the food you cooked for all week isn't going to cut it if you don't know how to do the basics and items with low cost ingredients. Make your own beans and rice, pasta sauces, meat and beans and whatnot. The people from the generations (or countries where they) who had less would give much better advice on how to do with less.
I'd like to see what people do for their own ways of saving or their own additions for tips (so considering a bookring for this).
My additions would include e.g.
- live closer to your work if it saves time and money
- walk (if you can live somewhere where there are things in 30 min distance)
- volunteer at a pet shelter (if you can't have or afford a pet)
- find library sales etc for your book needs, and use bookcrossing
- cut empty foods from your diet (or have them one day a week)
- bring your own bags when shopping
- pay with cash (esp. for groceries, helps buy less)
I did not really gain any useful tips from this book. But perhaps someone who has really no clue where their money goes to, and has never given it any doubt, or who has $ 10,000 in credit card debts, could use some of the tips as a kickstart for a leaner lifestyle.
But there was very little what I could use or didn't think or didn't do already before. I've lived thru my student years (many) and before a decent salary years with my means, and I've never needed to get a loan. I'll be far better off picking a few habits I had as a student than actually gaining anything from the tips in this book (except maybe comparing car insurances once I'll get a car... as if I wouldn't do that anyway?).
There are 500 tips in this book, sorted in clear categories. There are many tips that make me wonder how ... inefficiently do some people actually live. Like, "you don't have to was towels or bed sheet after every use." No sh.. really? If you gain frugality by actually learning that you don't have to wash and dry a towel after each time you use it, then perhaps you could also gain a grand a month by not having a maid. If you do your own household chores, I'd think that most people wouldn't actually change the bed sheet every day... and do your own lawn? Get rid of the lawn, unless you live in a place like Ireland where it waters itself for free.
Of the category (frugality, saving, while enjoying life) How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day is much better. That one is a very UK-centric one, but I'd love a US version. So many things that work in Europe are hardly possible in US: where I live, it's nearly impossible to get anywhere without a car, and where by distance one could maybe cycle, the roads are made for cars, not for non-vehicle units. How could one really stretch the pennies but still enjoy the life cheap, let's say here in Texas? I wanted something like that, and I can't really use the tips in this book for any measurable savings.
I'm sure the usability of the tips depends on how you live now.
The ways I'm used to living, there isn't really anything new here.
I buy a lunch very rarely, my bought coffee outside the house habits are once a week, I don't usually pay retail for clothes or books. If I would have spent more like the average person in those, it would have made a difference. But after spending over ten years of my life with a very limited budget, and with items in it that are non-negotiable (seeing parents that live overseas, having a long distance relationship, having some sort of roof, some sort of food and some clothing etc) one learns by force. If a certain amount of the money has to go for travel, food, and rent, the rest will find its ways to be stretched to cover everything else.
Many of the tips could have been more personal. These are all tips, about as personal as anything on Martha Steward's blog (i.e. nothing about Martha or what she does).
Most - and probably all - of the tips could have been found online, with some google fu and bookmarking. Savingadvice would be a good place to start.
And there would have been many, many tips from the older generation. For instance Clara Cannucciari is a 95-years old lady who has her youtube channel showing how to do low cost "depression cooking" homemade, easy, Chicagoan-Italian style http://www.youtube.com/user/Depressio.... "Cook for an army" and freeze the food you cooked for all week isn't going to cut it if you don't know how to do the basics and items with low cost ingredients. Make your own beans and rice, pasta sauces, meat and beans and whatnot. The people from the generations (or countries where they) who had less would give much better advice on how to do with less.
I'd like to see what people do for their own ways of saving or their own additions for tips (so considering a bookring for this).
My additions would include e.g.
- live closer to your work if it saves time and money
- walk (if you can live somewhere where there are things in 30 min distance)
- volunteer at a pet shelter (if you can't have or afford a pet)
- find library sales etc for your book needs, and use bookcrossing
- cut empty foods from your diet (or have them one day a week)
- bring your own bags when shopping
- pay with cash (esp. for groceries, helps buy less)
I did not really gain any useful tips from this book. But perhaps someone who has really no clue where their money goes to, and has never given it any doubt, or who has $ 10,000 in credit card debts, could use some of the tips as a kickstart for a leaner lifestyle.
September 26, 2015
This book is quite rubbish. It's full of common sense advice that people looking to save money already know, or could access for free on the internet. Some of the advice is not frugal, it's cheap, and in supporting it you'll be supporting the exploitation of resources and people. Not very impressed.
April 6, 2011
Pointless. By the time you get to where you are picking up books at the library about ways to save money and live more frugally you will be WAY beyond the need for these neophyte tips. Maybe good for really young newlyweds.
February 3, 2012
The advice is all common sense. Just once I'd like to see someone offer up something new and interesting in a book on saving money/budgeting.
January 26, 2018
.
Some useful tips, easy to read, a logotype financial advice does not apply to the UK so not a book to buy.
Some useful tips, easy to read, a logotype financial advice does not apply to the UK so not a book to buy.
March 16, 2020
It’s just ok... could defiantly have been like 50 solid tips lol
September 15, 2014
Most of this is common sense but I still think anyone would benefit from flipping through it and getting a few ideas about how to be a little more thrifty.
I would have rated it a little higher if: (A) she kept on topic a bit more. Sometimes it seemed like she was writing a book of ideas for what to do on a rainy day or how to entertain kids who are bored on summer vacation because some of the suggestions weren't very cost-conscious. "Learn an Instrument" and "Get Crafty" are not cheap ideas. (B) the book didn't constantly refer to Freecycle and Craigslist. We get it, already -- and you've now dated yourself because Bookoo is a newer, local version. (C) it didn't seem like the author was getting paid by the exclamation mark!
Bonus points were awarded, though, for mentioning bird watching and the local library (each multiple times!) and Letterboxing. All favorite cheap(-ish) hobbies of mine. Too bad she missed Bookcrossing, although trading books online was discussed.
I would have rated it a little higher if: (A) she kept on topic a bit more. Sometimes it seemed like she was writing a book of ideas for what to do on a rainy day or how to entertain kids who are bored on summer vacation because some of the suggestions weren't very cost-conscious. "Learn an Instrument" and "Get Crafty" are not cheap ideas. (B) the book didn't constantly refer to Freecycle and Craigslist. We get it, already -- and you've now dated yourself because Bookoo is a newer, local version. (C) it didn't seem like the author was getting paid by the exclamation mark!
Bonus points were awarded, though, for mentioning bird watching and the local library (each multiple times!) and Letterboxing. All favorite cheap(-ish) hobbies of mine. Too bad she missed Bookcrossing, although trading books online was discussed.
April 15, 2012
This book had really negative reviews on Amazon - people saying it was too obvious, too repetitive, very Americentric - but I decided to read it anyway, since I'm focusing on simplicity and frugality in my life at the moment, and I figured that with 500 tips, there would be at least one useful one. And that logic proved to be right - the vast majority of tips were things I do anyway (make my own meals, use the library, go for nature walks, etc.) and there was a lot of repetition, but there were a couple of tips that I liked. In fact, I just massaged my face with honey, which was one tip, and my face is all soft now, just like it said. And I like the idea of going on a spending fast. Those were the two tips I liked, out of the 500 - so I then returned the book to the Kindle store, to get my money back, because it's not a book I will return to.
July 26, 2013
Plenty of the ideas were not new to me, or weren't applicable to me, but I liked how the book got me to think creatively. It could have been organized better, and while it was formatted great for my Kindle, I'm not sure I would have wanted to read in print. I borrowed this through the Amazon Prime lending library.
March 30, 2017
There were a lot of good ideas about how to live without spending a ton of money in here. Granted a lot of it I already did, or like in the case of the Children chapter didn't apply, but I enjoyed the parts that were new to me. Even if you don't decide to try any of these ideas, they still make you think about where you are spending your money
July 16, 2016
Some useful tips, mostly seemed like a collection of life hacks. Not a horrible book, just didn't keep me interested. I skimmed over a lot of things that were not super helpful. I'm sure someone would find the things useful that I did not find useful, so it isn't just a book I wouldn't recommend to everyone, but there are definitely good things in there.
May 14, 2011
Yes, there were 500 ways to live frugally. I haven't read a ton of books on being frugal, but most of the ideas were not new ones (such as don't pay full price for items). There were a couple I hadn't heard of, just as using honey to give oneself a facial, and I think I'll actually try it.
November 24, 2014
A place to start
A quick easy read. Well organized. I especially appreciated the philosophy chapter. This book would be of most use to someone just beginning to purge their lifestyle.
A quick easy read. Well organized. I especially appreciated the philosophy chapter. This book would be of most use to someone just beginning to purge their lifestyle.
July 16, 2015
Some good tips here and not written in too patronizing style. The author is American, so some of the advice is centred on an American life style, but there are plenty of ideas suitable for wherever you may live.
January 22, 2017
entertaining, with a lot of good suggestions for living the frugal life. I especially like where it says "'be' instead of 'buy'", because it is a mindset. Many of the actions are obvious, but we need to get into the mindset.
August 2, 2011
Fellow reader/reviewer Anna has said everything I have to say about this book, and no doubt more eloquently and succinctly than I would have. But...to sum it all up: a major disappointment.
Read
January 12, 2012Many of the 500 fab ways to live richly are no-brainers so I didn't find this book as useful and as motivating as Jay's other books.
March 7, 2012
Several things were things I all ready knew. Mostly it's just common sense of watching your money.
March 14, 2013
Well - common sense is enough - no need to buy the book. Nevertheless a nice reminder for saving money and - better - ressources.
January 5, 2013
good tips!
November 12, 2015
Lots of simple, useful tips on saving money and living a minimalist lifestyle.
January 7, 2016
Quick read, no new information.
Read
January 19, 2016The author is cheerful and chirpy, my only grouse is she likes exclamation marks a tad too much!!!!!
If you can ignore that, you may enjoy her tips and advice on how to be frugal and happy:0
If you can ignore that, you may enjoy her tips and advice on how to be frugal and happy:0
November 23, 2013
Good ideas. Second Francine Jay book I've read. Worth the read.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews