Frugal Luxuries: Simple Pleasures to Enhance Your Life and Comfort Your Soul [Paperback]

Tracey McBride (Author)

Book Description

Release date: July 1, 1997

Tracey McBride created the newsletter Frugal Times in 1993 and has since delighted thousands by elevating the skill of living frugally to an art form.  Now Tracey's commonsense techniques for making "every day a feast" and her wisdom on how to cultivate abundance are gathered in one volume.

Tracey shows us how to savor the intangible gifts we receive when we create a nurturing home, share luscious yet low-cost meals with family and friends, master our budgets, learn to combine style and thriftiness, and cultivate our dreams and imaginations without spending a cent.

Filled with ingenious, heartwarming, and practical advice, Frugal Luxuries helps us remember what is truly of value in our lives--our time, our loved ones, and our inner sense of prosperity.  Combining the spiritual nourishment of Simple Abundance with the practicality of The Tightwad Gazette, Frugal Luxuries is destined to become the classic on how to live every day with a sense of abundance, beauty, and luxury.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Later Printing edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553378864
• ISBN-13: 978-0553378863
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"There is an incredible amount of wisdom between the covers of this book on how to live a totally fulfilling life no matter how much money you have."--Jack Canfield, co-author, Chicken Soup for the Soul

"Think of Tracey McBride as the Martha Stewart of the cheapskate set."--Chicago Tribune

From the Inside Flap

Tracey McBride created the newsletter Frugal Times in 1993 and has since delighted thousands by elevating the skill of living frugally to an art form. Now Tracey's commonsense techniques for making "every day a feast" and her wisdom on how to cultivate abundance are gathered in one volume.

Tracey shows us how to savor the intangible gifts we receive when we create a nurturing home, share luscious yet low-cost meals with family and friends, master our budgets, learn to combine style and thriftiness, and cultivate our dreams and imaginations without spending a cent.

Filled with ingenious, heartwarming, and practical advice, Frugal Luxuries helps us remember what is truly of value in our lives--our time, our loved ones, and our inner sense of prosperity. Combining the spiritual nourishment of Simple Abundance with the practicality of The Tightwad Gazette, Frugal Luxuries is destined to become the classic on how to live every day with a sense of abundance, beauty, and luxury.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Bantam; Later Printing edition (July 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553378864
• ISBN-13: 978-0553378863
• Product Dimensions: 6 x 0.6 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #984,622 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars For those of us who are serious frugal Martha Stewart types January 5, 2004

By Beth DeRoos HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Of course the book is about her ideas and her life. Of course she has frugal Martha Stewart style ideas. Being involved in a voluntary simplicity community since the late 80's I have evolved from a Tightwad Gazette person to someone who wants class and frugality. Frugal to many people I encounter means cheap plain food or clothes and nothing fun or fancy. For me and many of my frugal minded friends it is about wanting quality as well as frugality. The Tightwad Gazette proved of little use to me since I like quality and classy clothes Martha Stewart style and not simply clothes that are simply cheap. Different strokes for different simple living folks.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Refreshing approach, but where are the boys? April 11, 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I bought this book because I am a patsy for anyhting with "frugal" in the title. Yes, the book does have some drawbacks: Martha on a budget, and lots of neat things to do with little girls. I have two little boys and the ideas presented don't translate well. Tea parties and doll's birthdays, bone china and salt cellars are lovely, but my reality is dinos, mudpies, gravel in the pockets, and Curious George. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book and have used several of the ideas with success. Frequently, frugality is seen as austere, and strictly cost conscious; however, "Frugal Luxuries" presents an interesting perspective that frugality doesn't have to be austere and a little beauty in one's daily experience can soften the economic reality. I do recommend this book as more philosphical than practical application.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Mediocre, at best April 9, 2006

By Carrie Beth

Format:Paperback

An entire chapter is devoted to fan letters about the author's newsletter - and the "advice" consists of inanities such as "If you subscribe to magazines you never read, don't renew them". Well, duh! Who needed a $19 book to learn that?????????????

Stick with The Tightwad Gazette trilogy ... Many, many practical suggestions. Although not everyone wants to live as thriftily as TG recommends, you can find many practical ideas there for your situation (whatever it is).

This book could have been wonderful. Instead, it was just useless garbage. I've collected quotes since I was a teenager, but, even I found the author's endless quotations a waste of paper.

This book was a big nothing!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not worth it April 7, 2001

By S. Moestl

Format:Paperback

If you want to be told that you should try on gloves at the thrift store before you buy them (duh!) or that you should always buy larger sizes of food, because they're always a better deal (they sometimes are, and sometimes aren't), then read this book. If you want something more intelligent, with real ideas and advice, try the Tightwad Gazette. Much, much better.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Inspiring prose peppered with practical perspective August 2, 2001

By Jade

Format:Paperback

Ever since the simplify scene has become popular we have been presented with various outlooks on the "less is more" lifestyle, but few have approached the theme with such style and grace. In fact, Ms. McBride�s attempt of bridging the gap between the Amy Dacyczyn and Martha Stewart approaches proves to be quite successful, particularly if one seeks inspiration and a sort of uplifting of the soul along with their reused Ziploc bags.

On the other hand, we found the book overly focused on the author's personal experience especially since she has been the editor of a newsletter since 1993. We were surprised to not see more information culled from her readers over the years. This would have fleshed out the book and provided substance with which more readers could identify.

Despite the lack of a varied viewpoint and a slight absence of practical tips (though we appreciated the tip on how to create home-made soup cups), readers who seek more soul than Dacycsyn and have less cash than Stewart will appreciate an evening in the garage-sale purchased armchair with this book.

18 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars I wanted to love this book but... October 19, 2001

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

First off- Tracey is definitely creative and she has a good attitude. However, it is all about her life and very little about anything else; She only has a few pages of suggestions from the readers of her newsletters. Also, I have a little boy, so a lot of her suggestions just won't work for us. I wonder- she says so much about gifts and ideas for her two girls, where does her son fit in?

I get the impression that the author wants to be from the Manor Born and is just making do by finding out how to get more for less money. She still seems to spend an inordinate amount of her life focused on shopping. Also, there were no environmentally conscious tips or angles, something that is very important to me.

There were times when she'd mention making something (ex: a garden arbor out of closet poles) and then neglect to include how to make it, which is frustrating.

She's a SAHM, and seems to have a great deal of time to shop, plant, do housework and do crafty things and while I like many of her ideas, I'd never be able to find the time to do them, unless I ignore my family and spend all my time perusing yard sales and spray painting masking paper, using florist wire, raffia, dried rosebuds and herbs to create things to give away to other people to impress themn with how poor we aren't.

Get it from the library first to see if you like it and then I recommend buying it used instead of paying full price.

25 of 33 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Not buying this book would be the most frugal thing of all! February 24, 2002

By "murphyshannon"

Format:Paperback

I bought this book 2 months ago and I am still kicking myself for spending the money. I found this book to be condescending, preachy and at times, down right irratating. I was looking for practical, sensible tips on how to live my life in a more frugal and environmentally friendly manner. All I got from this book was pie-in-the-sky, warm and fuzzy, painfully trite prose. It became increasingly obvious as I forced myself to plow through this book, page by sappy page, that McBride spent far too much time researching quotes as headers for her chapters. Had she spent anywhere near as much time writing about tried and true, honest to goodness money saving tips and techniques, this book would not be such a waste. To anyone considering this purchase, check it out of the library first to see if you like it, I sure wish I had.