Frugal Indulgents: How to Cultivate Decadence When Your Age and Salary Are Under 30 [Paperback]

Kera Bolonik (Author), Jennifer Griffin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 15, 1997

Frugal Indulgents offers clever, real-life advice on how to enjoy life on a low budget. Packed with quizzes, profiles, lists, and a glossary of cunning lingo, the book reveals how to score a low-rent apartment, buy elegant threads on a shoestring budget, perfect the art of country home crashing for free vacations, and enjoy swank urban scenery for hours by making one martini last a good, long time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Two twenty-somethings have served up a book that's useful, amusing, and insightful . . . being young and hip isn't so much about acquisition as about artful cultivation of taste on a tight budget."-The Philadelphia Inquirer

Product Details

• Paperback: 204 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 1st edition (April 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805047182
• ISBN-13: 978-0805047189
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,498,483 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Nice idea, but lacks true substance, February 1, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Frugal Indulgents: How to Cultivate Decadence When Your Age and Salary Are Under 30 (Paperback)

While the sections on finding a place to live and managing your wardrobe is informative and entertaining, the section on entertainment is incredibly lacking.

The authors assume everyone has an expense account, so you can "expensploitate" various purchases. Even if we weren't in a bad economy, this is a bad idea and the best and fastest way to get fired from a job. At one point, reference is made to carrying $10,000 debt on a credit card as if that's acceptable. Excuse me, but if you're making under $30K a year, carrying $10K in credit card debt is one of the dumbest things to do (esp since they were talking about this debt while covering the fashion section).

It is only when you come to the entertainment section that you realize the authors are expecting their readers to dress and act glam all the time. For example, they include a testimonial from someone who ate rice and beans for six days a week so they could splurge on a fancy meal once a week. Why not just pack a sandwich or leftovers for lunch? Oh right, they don't really suggest you seriously learn how to cook as long as you can make soup, an unsatisfying vegetarian meal, or hors d'oeuvres for your party that begins at 10pm (who cares about neighbors??).

There is also a dearth of missing information in this book (except for the frequent flyer programs). At one point, they mention that some recent college grads can go work in places like London within six months after graduation, and they say you should look into it. BUT THEY DON'T NAME THE PROGRAM! Nor do they mention that this is a program only Canadians can participate in.

While the authors may think using drugs is trendy and acceptable, writing that snorting heroin is acceptable is utterly a grievous error of judgement. One of their questionaires deals with parties and each answer involves doing drugs, without an option to NOT. They give the impression that you will lose glam points if you don't at the very least go home and smoke a joint. I also felt the authors spent way too much time extolling the virtues of finding yourself with a drink in your hand as an evening or weekend activity. It was only when they showed options of when you are absolutely broke that they suggested going to a museum, poetry reading or some other non-liquor-based activity. Going to the theater was only an option if you were going on a date with someone richer and boring. Believe me, drinking all the time becomes boring regardless of where you do it or who you do it with.

The sections on wardrobe and housing are fairly helpful, and the authors do provide useful information on what is worth shelling out serious cash for, and what items are not worth owning. The stories they related of friends' adventures in creative living (such as the guy who continually house-sat and never paid for his own place) are interesting and provide inspiration to look beyond the obvious rental option.

Finally, this book gives no information on how to manage money. I wouldn't expect a book like this to provide lots of advice, but if you live in cheap apartments, work for a pittance and rack up $10K in credit card debt for clothes, what do they think will happen when you turn 30? This book is completely live-in-the-moment and doesn't offer any information on how to upgrade your indulgent life when you begin making more money.

This is a moderately entertaining book. But if you are really interested in a hip lifestyle book with sane and informative entertainment suggestions, read elsewhere. The useful information on clothing can be found by carefully reading magazines and the housing information can be found elsewhere.

16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars How to live like 'Sex in the City' on a budget, March 23, 2001

By 

trystan "trystan" (Silicon Valley, CA, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Frugal Indulgents: How to Cultivate Decadence When Your Age and Salary Are Under 30 (Paperback)

This book is a great idea, but it ends up as more of a joke than anything you could actually use in everyday life. It's very much geared towards wanna-be socialites in very large cities who have a lot of lovers, go to endless parties, & have little or no career aspirations or long-term goals. The authors certainly know how to live with more flash than cash, but that life is a bit shallow & ethically questionable IMO (esp. the "use your company's expense account for your own fun" tips -- not only could that get you in trouble, but how many people under 30 even *have* an expense account?). The book is an enjoyable read, breezy & funny, but don't expect much in the way of usable advice.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars I Always Commit Salvation Armani, March 13, 2002

By 

Beach Glass (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frugal Indulgents: How to Cultivate Decadence When Your Age and Salary Are Under 30 (Paperback)

I bought this book on Amazon, used, and am glad I didn't pay full price. While it had some funny points (I especially liked the glossary of terms, particularly 'Salvation Armani') I was hoping for more useful advice, not simply "save money on furniture by inheriting items from your parents." It's also a 'read once, file away the knowledge and pass on the book' type of read, and a quick one at that.