Money Secrets of the Amish: Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving [Paperback]

Lorilee Craker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2011

Take one thoroughly modern gal with a recessionary income problem, mix with the practices of a culture that has proved to be recession-proof, and what have you got?

A financial planner in a straw hat.

When writer Lorilee Craker learned that the Amish are not just surviving but thriving in the economic downturn, she decided to find out why.  What she found was about a dozen tried and true financial habits the Amish have employed for generations that will make your cash last longer and help you build wealth.  Craker provides tips to...

• use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without
• rethink your gift giving
• repurpose, recycle, and reuse
• eat like royalty for a peasant's pittance

Endorsements:

Packed with practical, simple, and smart money saving ideas and teeming with great insight into the sensible Amish ways, Money Secrets of the Amishwill entertain you with stories and retrain your brain to be the savvy money saver you always dreamed you could be.  --Beth Wiseman, best-selling author of Plain Promise and Seek Me With All Your Heart

Sometimes touching, sometimes humorous and always helpful, author Lorilee Craker pulls us into the family rooms of the Amish and shows us how they make ends meet. Story after story illustrates savvy money management: trading for goods and services, shopping for bargains, living with less, avoiding debt, curbing the desire to impress others. And Craker’s journalistic bent provides plenty of takeaway value for the non-Amish. A very worthwhile read whether your bank account is bursting or busting.  --Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and Lancaster County Secrets (Revell)

This book is like an Amish basement shelf loaded with Mason jars full of Plain money wisdom.  Self-confessed “Fancy” gal Lorilee Craker rolls up her sleeves and cracks them open one-by-one, figuring out how to fit Amish principles to a non-Amish life.  She succeeds, and so can you—read Money Secrets of the Amish and add weight to your wallet.  --Erik Wesner, amishamerica.com; author ofSuccess Made Simple: An Inside Look at Why Amish Businesses Thrive

Money Secrets of the Amish is a practical, doable guide, and it's such fun to read.  Lorilee's voice is as engaging and lively as ever, and the wisdom she shares from the Amish community is both inspiring and instructive. I just finished the last page, and my mind is buzzing with all sorts of ways to waste less, want less, and spend less.  --Shauna Niequist, author of Cold Tangerines and Bittersweet

Lorilee inspires and impacts your everyday life with this marvelous little read. From buttons to bakery you suddenly realize this conversation is not about just pinching a few pennies but about transforming how we view our everyday lives. I applaud Lorilee for asking the hard questions and pressing in to find honest answers. Forget the mall, kick back and soak up the delicious wisdom of a life well lived. Thank you Lorilee for shaping my everyday!  --Tracey Bianchi, author of Green Mama

Money Secrets of the Amish isn’t so much about making money; it’s about family, discipline, and redefining what wealthy means. This is a great read that helps us all to see more clearly what’s really valuable in our lives.  --Jeff McMahon, award-nominated musician and national director/runner with the Team McGraw endurance program

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Packed with practical, simple, and smart money saving ideas and teeming with great insight into the sensible Amish ways, Money Secrets of the Amish will entertain you with stories and retrain your brain to be the savvy money saver you always dreamed you could be."
--Beth Wiseman, best-selling author of Plain Promise and Seek Me With All Your Heart

“A very worthwhile read whether your bank account is bursting or busting.” 
—Suzanne Woods Fisher, author of Amish Peace: Simple Wisdom for a Complicated World and Lancaster County Secrets

“Everyone should take a course in Amish frugality before graduation, but since there isn’t one, Craker’s book fits the bill.” —James “JY” Young, guitarist, singer, songwriter, and cofounder of the rock band Styx

--This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

About the Author

Lorilee Craker is the author of 11 books, including the New York Times best seller Through the Storm with Lynne Spears. When not shuttling her three children to hockey, gymnastics, and everywhere in between, Lorilee moonlights as an entertainment and features writer for the Grand Rapids Press in Grand Rapids, MI, and has written for magazines such as Parents and Parent and Child.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (June 14, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159555341X
• ISBN-13: 978-1595553416
• Product Dimensions: 5.6 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (193 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #570,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Lorilee Craker is a native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, the Coldest City in the World (with the warmest heart). She now lives in balmy Grand Rapids, MI, where she rocks out in her minivan as she shuttles her three children to hockey, gymnastics, soccer, lacrosse, and everywhere in between. She is the author of 11 books, including "Money Secrets of the Amish" and the New York Times bestseller "Through the Storm" with Lynne Spears. She is also a longtime contributor to the entertainment pages of "The Grand Rapids Press" and has been published in magazines ranging from "Sports Spectrum" to "Parents."

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

69 of 71 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An Introduction to the Amish Ways... May 31, 2011

By Ryan Collins

Format:Paperback

In a time where money seems to be difficult to obtain yet easy to lose, I was excited to get my hands on this book regarding Amish money secrets. I do not know much about the author, Lorilee Craker, other than that she is a Mennonite who traveled into Lancaster County, PA to interview different Amish voices in regards to their money secrets--specifically, living simple and saving without depriving.

The book is 217 pages long, but it is a very fast read. I received the book this afternoon and started reading at about 5:00 PM. It is now 9:55 PM and I am writing the review. The book is just an enjoyable read because it is relevant to the economic times of our society. We are all wanting to know how to live simple, not be deprived, yet able to save money to enjoy retirement or the occasional luxuries of life.

Lorilee Craker introduces the reader to Bishop Eli King, Amos, Amish expert Erik Wesner, and more. One of the most memorable is Amos. He is a forty year old farmer who was raising fourteen children, renting a farm, and still managed to save $400,000 over twenty years. Could you imagine what this guy could do with two kids, or three? Saving that much money is absurd. Lorilee said that she expected to see deprivation in the household in some way, but she never saw it. The family was well-fed, jovial, content with life. Amos was saving money in order to stop renting the farm ($1,800/month) and buy a farm of his own. Nevertheless, I could not get pass the fact that this man was able to save $400,000 over twenty years with fourteen kids, a wife, and a rented farm. I am having a hard time managing to save 10% in a month and I only have a two year old.

The money saving and frugal lifestyle as described in this book is easily doable...if you choose to do it. We live in a culture that adopts the mindset of consumption and only the newest, best, and flashiest. The Amish do not believe this. The Amish also do not believe in debt. If someone does not pay on the due date (or before), the Amish believe that it breaks the commandment of "Do Not Steal." Every day that someone does not pay the lender its due money, that individual is stealing from that lender. If America adopted this attitude, I wonder what our economy would look like. I am not speaking about the government (which is a mess in and of itself), but I am mostly speaking in regards of American families.

My one drawback with this book is that it is mostly for women. Large portions of the book speaks about arts and crafts, cooking (I like to cook so I enjoyed the groceries/buying in bulk section), and woman clothes shopping at secondhand stores. While it was a bore to get through the arts and crafts section, the others I managed to make relevant to my life. While Lorilee relayed stories about women shopping and spoke about women's clothing, I was able to see the benefit in secondhand shopping and committed myself to it. My family and I are moving to Oregon from Phoenix in three weeks. We do not know what rain and winter is. Instead of going out and buying new clothes, I have decided that I will scower the secondhand shops in Oregon to get the items that I need to adapt to the new weather conditions.

Without a doubt, the most memorable portion of the book was the second chapter. It is about the Amish mindset/acronym that is the basis for their simple lifestyle. It is a motto that I have chosen to memorize in order to change my way of living. UWMW: Use It Up, Wear It Out, Make Do, or Do Without. In other words, eat all your foods and do not waste. Use everything completely. Do you really need to buy a new car? Phone? Appliances? Or, is there still life in the item and you're compulsion to buy is based on the desire to have the newest and latest, something that is culturally influenced? Make do with what you have. Do not buy something you do not desperately need. If you need something, see if you can substitute something you already have prior to purchasing. Is this something you can do without? If the answer is maybe...you probably can.

Not only is this mindset beneficial for families, the debt crisis, and the current economic landscape of our country, it is beneficial for Christians in the fact that we can live simply to save money in order to further the Kingdom of God for His Glory. What is better than living within our needs only, in order to save money to help others? While this may not be the greatest book regarding Amish money secrets or a fix-all book for economic problems, this is a great starter for those who desire to live simple, save, and change the course that many families and individuals currently find themselves on.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Money Secrets of the Amish June 21, 2011

By T. Poole

Format:Paperback

Book Description:

Discover the money-saving and wealth-building secrets of America's thriftiest people, the Amish.

Author, journalist, and descendant of the Amish, Lorilee Craker, was just like the rest of us, feeling the pinch from the financial fallout of 2008. As a freelancer, her income was going the way of the dodo--family dollars seemed like an extinct myth, the bank account some archeological evidence of past prosperity.

Then, inspired by a news segment covering her people, the Amish, and how they emerged from the economic crisis unscathed, she realized it was time to get back to her roots and learn a thing or two about their time-tested approach to personal finances. While the middle-class was wringing its hands over the family budget and the wealthy were weeping over their slashed portfolios, the Amish were content as always, spared from the cares of the world and worldliness. They not only had financial health to support their lives, they exuded a wholeness that eludes so many when the financial bottom drops out.

In Money Secrets of the Amish, readers go on an "Amish money makeover," learning the choices, secrets, and disciplines that safeguarded the contentment and the coffers of America's favorite plain folk by spending less, saving more, and getting happier doing it.

My Review:
I have always been intrigued by how the Amish live so when I was given the opportunity to review this book, I jumped at the chance. In today's economy I need to learn, not only for myself, but for my family, how to live within my means and be happy about it.

Growing up, every year my family always traveled to Pennsylvania, so I knew a bit about the Amish and their culture. Whenever we we there I always thought, wow, these people live minimal and seem so very happy. I guess when you do not have something, you do not miss it.

Anyhoot, this book was amazing. The Amish do not believe in electricity in their homes, so right there they are saving a ton of money. I could never live without power. That means no lights whenever necessary, no tv, no radio. However, I can learn, from this book, how to be more responsible when using them and to minimize its use (now, to teach my kids that).

Another huge aspect of this book is how the Amish do not live with debt. That is a huge NO to them! They will rent out a farm for years to save money to buy their own. In one aspect it is odd, though to think of how hard they work to get something that is their own, it is an accomplishment bigger than anything else! This past year, my husband and I have paid off all of our credit cards - no more! I never actually realized how much we counted on them until not actually using them. It is a blessing and has taught us the value of the dollar.

Something I need to teach my children is to appreciate what they do have. The Amish, at holiday times, only give 1 gift to their kids. Now yes, they do have a "football" team of kids and with all those kids, I too could not afford to get more than 1 or 2 gifts for each. This is another way they save money. Also, by making gifts, and reusing what they have, i.e., a big man's shirt, they may cut up and make 2 small boy shirts out of the material. They never ever get rid of anything - everything has a purpose to be reused again.

This was an eye opener of a book. I enjoyed this book and have passed it on to my friends to continue to pass on to whomever is open to reading it. It is a book I would highly recommend. And, I would also recommend going to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to visit and actually see how these amazing people live.

I have given this book 5 stars out of 5 - amazing learning!

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great frugal find July 3, 2011

By N. Smith

Format:Paperback

Money Secrets of the Amish is a great read by author Lorilee Craker. The book claims on the back that "Craker provides tips to... use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without. Rethink your gift giving. repurpose, recycle, and reuse. Eat like royalty for a peasant's pittance." And let me tell you, this book does just that. I really love books on frugal living and finances, and I also love books about the Amish so I really couldn't go wrong with this book.

This book was a very easy read, I finished it a few short days within receiving it. It has an attractive yet simple cover. The chapters end with a "My Amish Money Makeover" which highlights the key idea from the chapter. I like the concept of the "use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without" idea that the book talks about. Nowadays, it seems like as soon as something has minor wear or the newest model comes out- that we have to rush to the stores to get it. After reading this book, I really wanted to get my boys some tricycles, but those are usually 20 or 30 or more new.. so my goal was to find some used ones on a site similar to Craigslist. Well, I found some, and if it weren't for just having read this book, I probably wouldn't have got them because they were ratty looking and the wrong color- purple and pink! So I thought outside the box... PAINT! I was able to buy some spray paint and these two tricycles, for a total of $15!! Now they look brand new!

What I really think is great about the book is how Craker has interviews with actual Amish families. I think it is amazing how they look at the big picture, thinking ahead to their children and grandchildren when it comes to their finances. Craker also is a fan of Dave Ramsey, and I love that she included tips from him in here. Overall, I think this is a great book!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."