Customer Reviews

Living Rich for Less: Create the Lifestyle You Want by Giving, Saving, and Spending Smart

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Since the recession is hitting most of us, I went to the library looking for books that would help and offer some sound advice. I loved the title of this book so I picked it up along with a few others.

This was by far the least helpful. The author provides almost no tips on how to spend smart. She tells us to save 10% of our income, donate 10%, and spend 80%. I already donate to charity, I already save, I wanted advice on how best to save and how best to spend the remainder of my income. This book offered no advice for that.

I admire the fact that Kay dug herself out of $40,000 in debt, but while reading the book you discover part of the reason why is that she was a winning contestant on the Price is Right and took home thousands!

Books like Frugal Living for Dummies are much more helpful.

This book gives almost no information on how to live rich for less. In fact, it reads like an infomercial complete with customer testimonials. The book is filled with cute little stories that offer no practical advice.

The entire book can be summed up with Kay's 10/10/80 principle - donate 10% of your money, save 10%, spend the other 80% wisely. That's it. Her advice for spending the other 80% wisely is essentially use the Internet to find good deals, use coupons, buy on sale, and negotiate. There are many other books that cover these same topics but in much greater detail.

I was also turned off by Kay's product placement. She has been a paid spokesperson for Proctor & Gamble and others and it shows. She tells consumers to buy Dawn dish soap because it is ultra concentrated so it lasts longer, but most stores have generic versions of ultra concentrated soap that works just as well and lasts just as long (and is much cheaper). She also pitches another PG product, Bounty paper towels, and I've used other less expensive brands that were just as good. But Kay never recommends buying the generics of these products. I do not think a paid spokesperson should offer supposed unbiased advice.

If the book offered other great tips or advice I could have overlooked the product pitches, but unfortunately it didn't.

There are books out there that offer much more savvy advice about spending, saving, and investing. Without the whole picture, you really are selling yourself short. The investing section of this book truly lacks in substance (aptly called "Investing for Idiots") and the advice offered throughout the book in general is way too elementary and superficial. For the most part, one gets the feeling that the author is much more interested in trying to trademark ideas or come up with "clever" catchphrases than to educate the reader (some ideas she is trying to assert ownership to have been around forever...for example, the 10/10/80 concept which is most often attributed to John D. Rockefeller, Sr.). There are some things in this book that may be helpful to those just starting out in the grown-up world or those never having confronted budgeting or saving before, but please pick up others to supplement. (And, please, save your money and get it from the library.) Suze Orman's books tend to be more encompassing and provide more concrete information and processes to sink your teeth into. You'll likely have to read many authors though and take from each one's thoughts and teachings to put together your own plan and method that works for you.

A good message with several irksome points...examples include "won $20,000 (worth of stuff) on the Price is Right" and "I don't like to use words like cheapskate." She probably doesn't like cheapskate because all she does is tell you Mary Hunt's ideas and say things like "I came up with the 10-10-80 rule..."
She made her own baby wipes for SEVEN kids, but she buys BOUNTY paper towels to make them????
Anyway, the message is give 10%, save 10%, and spend the rest wisely.The MESSENGER sounds like a plagiarist and a best-SELLING author. So I guess the real key to success is to actually use these principles to turn your life around, and then write a book about how these ideas you came up with allowed you to become a writer.
(R)edeem,get(I)nstruction,(C)ommit,and never give up (H)ope, and before you know it, you'll be so RICH you'll be saving "$2500 per couple" on that cruise you were planning on taking...when you were so broke you couldn't even pay attention. Is anyone reading this book actually going on a cruise??? I'm sure Ellie Kay a very nice lady who means well.

Over the last few years I've been attracted to a lot of financial books, and so when I saw this title and the plug "How you can save $30k this year," it seemed like an obvious choice. I'm not going to go so far as to say that it was a waste of time or money, but I didn't put it down feeling like it really delivered on the plug. Her basic advice - the big reveal about how you can live on less - was her 10/10/80 principle. Save 10%, give 10%, and live on the other 80%. Thanks, Ellie. I already knew that.

The rest of the book contains stories about how she saved a lot of money in her own family, but not all the scintillating examples would work for every family. Practical, yes. Applicable, not always. If you read Living Rich on Less, you will walk away from the book with some tips that you can immediately put to use (like using Travelzoo.com to get alerts on great travel deals, just one of the numerous Cha-Ching Factor tips Ellie Kay provides throughout the book), but don't expect to be blown away with much more than hit-or-miss tips that may or may not work for you.

Living Rich for Less by Ellie Kay is the rare completely enjoyable self-help book. Kay, who is well known for her financial know-how and down to earth ideas, writes like your best friend would talk to you. She shares funny anecdotes and stories about how she has overcome financial trouble, giving solid advice on how you can do it too. Kay bases all of her info on the 10/10/80 system. 10% to charity, 10% savings, and 80% spent wisely. I've read quite a few of these type of books before, and they are often full of unrealistic advice about reusing your coffee filters on one of the of the spectrum and mutual funds and capital gains taxes on the other. Neither one works for me, but Kay's ideas hit home and are absolutely doable. From saving money on college (which we really need to learn about right now) to terrific ideas about donating your time, money, and talents, as well as specific information like using Dawn dish detergent because it has the highest concentration of detergent making you have to use less and therefore saving you money. She tells how to maintain your home to save money as well as how to shop for groceries. There are ideas I will implement this month, and many more I will start in the new year. As soon as I finished reading the book, I passed it to my husband. He started reading it last night, and he thoroughly enjoyed Kay's writing voice as well. It's a self help book with humor, heart, and solid truths.

Money is always tight during the holidays, but never more so than now with the economy spiraling downward so rapidly and no upswing in sight. So I can't think of a more timely book than Living Rich for Less by Ellie Kay.

Ellie has "been there, done that." She is a saver; her husband is a spender. Early in their marriage, she quit working outside the home because they moved 11 times in 13 years. She and her husband had to live on 23% of her husband's income since the rest went to pay taxes, child support, and their tithe. From the remaining 23%, they had to support 7 kids (2 from her husband's previous marriage and 5 kids they had in 7 years) and pay off $40,000 in consumer debt. Not only did they survive, they thrived. They paid off the debt and eventually were able to pay cash for big ticket items such as vehicles and their kids' college educations.

In Living Rich for Less, Ellie will explain in easy-to-understand and funny terms how to do the same thing with your own finances. She will show you how to GIVE 10%, SAVE 10% and WISELY SPEND the remaining 80% (the key word here is wisely). She discusses the ins and outs of mortgages, a step-by-step process for paying off consumer debt, how to finance your children's college education, and how to take a vacation for less. Her tips are practical and not overly burdensome -- she will not tell you add water to the milk jug to stretch it longer or give you 10 money-saving uses for lint from the clothes dryer.

Living Rich for Less is a painless way to learn the money lessons we all need to understand and fully embrace if we are to weather today's (and tomorrow's) financial storms.

A few of the stories are in her previous books and she follows her usual theme, but there's enough new that I am glad I made the purchase. It's like the Ellie Kay remix. : )

Ellie Kay's "Living Rich For Less: Create the Lifestyle You Want by Giving, Saving and Spending Smart" offers useful tips written in a friendly style.
You can pick up this book, skim the chapter titles, and skip to any topic that most interests you. Her book is in no way a dry, scientific tome, but is full of lively ideas, with chapters like "Shopping to save: shop till you drop savings in groceries, on clothing and online" and chapter 8 "The new cool: slashing insurance costs and room-by-room cash savings."
"Living Rich for Less" is also peppered with Ellie Kay's Cha Ching money saving tips, like how to dramatically increase miles per gallon for your vehicles, with big cash savings on what you spend on gasoline. She includes a chapter on "Giving green: eco-friendly savings for energy, the environment and eggplant." Yes, eggplant.
This book is a useful tool for all who need help with financial planning at the beginning and intermediate levels.

Living Rich for Less is the practical tips book of ways to give, save and spend smart even on a modest salary. Kay describes how their family was able to eliminate $40,000 of debt in just two years on one income. Their family (over a fifteen-year span) paid cash for eleven different cars, gave three of those cars away, bought two five-bedroom homes (one after the other), took regular family vacations, nicely furnished their home, clothed their kids in style, and supported more than thirty nonprofit organizations in a dozen different countries by giving away more than $100,000. How cool! Kay's synopsis excited me about giving and actually tabulating what our family has given over the years. What a gratifying feeling to see what has been given to the cause you truly believe in. For us, it's kingdom causes!

Ellie Kay shares the 10/10/80 rule - giving 10 percent, saving 10 percent and spending smart the remaining 80 percent of your income. "The sweetest dollar you ever make is the one you give away. The safest dollar you ever make is the one you put away and the smartest dollar you ever make is the one you spend well."

Living Rich for Less takes a look at what the rich and famous give in proportion to their earnings. Using an online celebrity calculator she makes the point that money earned and donated by the average American is far more valuable than a lot of the donations by celebrities. For example "if I gave $100 to support a third-world child, Julia Roberts would have to give $83,000 to be as proportionally generous as I am!" I've always loved the idea of equal sacrifice in giving. To whom much is given much is required. I'm motivated to give and see it's importance even if it's not millions like the "celebrity giving" we hear about. It all makes a difference!

Throughout the book are ideas and tips on how to save on everyday expenses from vacations to groceries to paying for college. I found myself circling, tabbing and making notes throughout the book with suggestions to myself: "Do this! This is great! We do this!"

What a great reminder of what's important. Give, Save and Spend. Living Rich for Less is definitely worth the read and will help you do as the title suggests.