Customer Reviews

Miserly Moms : Living on One Income in a Two Income Economy

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I first read this book a few years ago when I was working full-time and thinking about becoming a stay-at-home-mom. After reading this book and putting some of the advice into practice, I cut thousands of dollars from our spending annually. For example, I used to spend $150 a week on groceries for a family of 3 (at that time). We now have 4 people in our family, and spend about $70 a week! THAT'S $3,100 A YEAR SAVED just on groceries.

Her analogy on what it costs to work as opposed to staying at home went a little overboard. But generally, her message that most American families CAN afford to live off one income came across loud and clear -- and, having been through the transition myself, I couldn't agree more!

Having led a similar lifestyle as Ms. McCoy's prior to quitting the work force, I could absolutely relate to her struggles and determination to spend less, so therefore I "heard" the advice she was giving. If you put into practice just a little of what is in this book (especially in attitde towards money and cutting on groceries), you will save thousands per year.

A previous review speaks to the fact that this book contains much information that is in other books on this subject. True, but basically they're all the same (just like workout videos!). The personality of the author and your ability to relate to their particular situation is what determines if you like the book and their advice. I personally thought Ms. McCoy was smart, determined, and had conviction, so I admired her.

I highly recommend this book to beginners!

For anyone who wishes to stay home with their family, this is a terrific resource on how to lower expenses. The author was once a senior buyer for Apple Computers, among other firms, and you can see this working experience in her thorough and analytical approach to family frugality.

The fact that the book is called "Miserly" Moms may be slightly misleading (it initially put my husband off, which is why I mention this). "Miserly" indicates stinginess, penuriousness, lack of generosity. By no means is this the message contained in this book. Rather, it shows many ways families can cut expenses in order to meet a particular goal: that of having one parent stay home with the child(ren).

In fact, the author's approach is to find those areas where she can make the biggest dent in expenses in the least amount of time. Approximately half of the book is dedicated to saving money on food, since for most families with two parents working outside the home, cutting back on food expenses offers the biggest opportunity to save a lot of money quickly.

Her first principle is not to confuse frugality with depriving oneself. The reason: if you think you're depriving yourself, you cripple your ability to make long-term changes. Rather, she presents frugality as a choice, made every day in many different ways, both large and small. (Example: Would I rather have this Starbucks coffee and muffin now or would I rather do without them, if that is what it takes to be home with my children?) This principle is reflected throughout.

There's also a great chapter in this book on raising frugal children.

I would recommend this book in conjunction with another book called You Can Afford To Stay Home With Your Kids. I felt the latter book was stronger in helping the reader to break down his/her particular monthly expenses and make a budget ahead of time. Also, I felt that book included more discussion on what would-be-stay-at-home-parents can expect once home...while it's true that there are huge emotional payoffs to feeling that you're making the greatest possible contribution to bringing up your child(ren) by being home with them, nothing but nothing is all sunshine and roses. Two funny examples these authors cite are that your children will have more opportunities to drive you bonkers once you're home with them and that if you never liked housework, you will not magically find yourself liking to scrub the toilets and you may find yourself doing it more often.

In my own case, I felt that these two books taken together made a GREAT partnership. You Can Afford To Stay Home With Your Kids has more to offer families prior to making the transition from two incomes to one (in my opinion). Miserly Moms shines in showing many, many specific ways families can reduce expenses without sacrificing quality...which of course is valuable both before and after making the transition.

Oh, yeah... I bought both books about a year and a half ago. It took about a year to lay all the groundwork, but I'm home with my two children now. The suggestions in these books helped me to lay that foundation and now that I'm home, to be able to stay there by practicing a frugal lifestyle.

I checked out this book from my local library, and read it all. On the whole, if you are just beginning your journey of thriftiness and cost-cutting, it's not bad. It has some common ideas to get you started, and makes the thought and processes of cutting costs more "palatable" to the average upper-middle class people she aimed it at. But pretty soon, you start thinking "where else can I cut costs in my life? Where else is my hard-earned money being wasted?", and here is where the book stops being useful. At this point, you'll need to move on to some other books, most notably the Tightwad gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced "decision"). There are also numerous resources on the Internet.

I would recommend this book to someone just starting out on their journey of thriftiness, or as a gift to a young married couple of middle-to-upper-middle-class background, who have never really had to worry about money before. It would not be very helpful to someone who is already a dedicated and experience cost-cutter/bargain-hunter.

I don't think of myself as much of a counter-culture type. While I enjoy reading them tremendously, I've dicovered that many of the frugality books on the market don't talk directly to "my" world. I'm just a regular mom who wants to stay home with my children full-time while they're young. I'm afraid over the years of my husband and I both working, I became a bit spoiled by the luxury of living on two full-time incomes. When I decided to stay home, a lot of the things that I'm sure our mothers and grandmothers took for granted were actually quite foreign (and brand new!) to me. I learned a lot of things about cutting back and living frugally the hard way... but then I found things got a lot easier for me after I purchased McCoy's book. I was having a struggle saving money on groceries, but Jonni's common sense approaches to eating and shopping have really helped me. I suppose someone who's used to living simply and frugally may find much of this book "old hat," but for those of us who are new to this adventure, Miserly Moms is a life line that can keep our families from drowning in a sea of debt and discontent. Thanks, Jonni McCoy! After reading this book -- written from the heart of one mother to the real life of another -- I feel like Jonni has become a dear friend.

I am not a beginner at thrifting, but this book was still helpful to me. Yes, a lot of the information can be found elsewhere and some of it seems recycled from The Tightwad Gazette, but the plus of this book is its arrangement. Related items are grouped together, so the book has a flow and builds on itself. I found myself making notes as I read it, and I came across several ideas I had not run across anywhere else (starting at the most expensive grocery and ending at the least expensive, for example). I liked the recipes a lot. We are vegetarian and the vegetarian recipes sounded appetizing and interesting, not bland and boring. I also liked the fact that the author makes no secret of the fact that the miserly lifestyle is not her hobby. The Tightwad Gazette intimidates me sometimes because of the amount of enthusiasm the author has for rooting out even the most obscure methods of tightwadding. Tightwadding is not my hobby, it's a necessity so that I can stay home with my kids, and I'm glad that there's someone else out there who feels the same way and is unashamed!

Don't get me wrong, I love The Tightwad Gazette, and it is truly the thrifty bible. But Miserly Moms will find its place on my bookshelf, too.

The general impression I got when reading this is that the author read The Tightwad Gazette, then decided that the info in those books was just way too "cheap". She repeatedly speaks of spendy ways as "the good life", and makes frugality out to be a hardship to be endured, and only to reach an important goal. The recipe section was very nice, as well as the resources listing in the back of the book. Overall, I would say save your money, and get The Tightwad Gazette instead. You'll get less biased information, and lots more tips for honestly saving money.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I checked it out from the library thinking it wouldn't be worth purchasing. Some of the ideas are definitely ones anyone who reads about frugality is already going to be familiar with (keeping a price book, buying in bulk, etc.) I've noticed other reviewers comparing it with "The Complete Tightwad Gazette" (basically the bible of frugality and a must have.) But this book is a different philosophy than the CTG. She's not frugal because she loves it and finds it fun, it's strictly a means to an end. Frankly I thought it was pretty motivating. Our family is frugal, but not extreme. I felt I could relate to her. The recipes and resource sections are quite useful. There was some things I didn't agree with (getting rid of her freezer.) Over all I liked the layout of the book. It's simple and easy to understand. I think this would be particulary good for someone new to being frugal. I think the CTG book can be a bit daunting in that respect. I would definitely recommend that anyone considering purchasing it should check it out from the library first.

I first learned of this book from a friend of mine who managed to stay at home with her three kids, and buy a new house and live off her husband's income (in southern CA!) I am now a stay at home mom with a very limited income and two very hungry boys. With the help of the principles in this book and her wonderful cook book, I can now make healthy meals cheaply and still make them delicious! the money my husband and I have saved while applying her principles have gotten us completley out of debt and putting money into savings. We still can afford to take one nice vacation and several (practically free) weekends a year! thanks to this book, my dream, became reality!

I thought it was a good book, but more for those folks who are new to trying to pinch a penny. For us Stay at home moms that have been getting by all along, it didn't tell us much that we didn't already know. It did have a few homemade "recipes" for things we have to buy at the store, and that helps it overall. Really it is a book about using your common sense, but for those staring out it can be a real tool in saving money.

We lost 60% of our total income when I quit my job to sah. Prior to that I wasted money like you wouldn't believe. This is a good book to get started in being frugal. I've cut my grocery bill almost in half by following these principles. While I liked Tightwad Gazette the ideas were a little too radical to me that is why I preferred this book since she makes you believe that even a former yuppie can learn to be frugal.

I loved this book!! It's become my sah bible and I recommend it to all of my friends.