Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own [Hardcover]

Earl Proulx (Author), The Editors of Yankee Magazine (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 1996

This book encompasses decades of the tightwad wizardry for which New Englanders are famous. Over 1,000 easy maintenance & repair tips are revealed via warm & witty anecdotes by repair master Earl Proulx.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ingenuity In Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own, Earl Proux and the editors of Yankee magazine show how to maintain and repair everything in the house and outside as well with clear advice. Try storing unused batteries in the freezer; use a pumice stone (gently) to remove pills from sweaters; make a paste of instant coffee to cover scratches on dark wood furniture; spray the underside of the lawnmower with nonstick cooking spray to discourage clippings from sticking. Readers will find 18 handy uses for old pantyhose! (Rodale, $27.95 416p ISBN 0-87596-296-3; Jan.)
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The author of this work is a longtime contributor to Yankee Magazine known for his command of the obscure as well as his inventive and simple methods for preserving and enhancing the longevity of older items. Though much useful and highly usable information is present, its arrangement is confusing and a bit of a hodgepodge. The result is more a browsing book than a reference; rarely will a reader find the sought information in a fashion that would be useful. While the index was not seen by this reviewer, it will need to be good to render the volume useful-and good indexes are harder and harder to come by. Fun but marginal.
Alexander Hartmann, INFOPHILE, Williamsport, Pa.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Yankee Books (October 15, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0875962963
• ISBN-13: 978-0875962962
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,587,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book of its type and great for a gift, February 24, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (New York/San Jose) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own (Hardcover)

While not the best of the Penny-pinching guides this one is up there. Earl Proulexs short side trips about his long history as a contracter make this a good read as well as informitive. The 30 or so "puzzlers" (pictures of odd tools that you have to guess what they do) are fun and may bring back some memorys in the over 60 group. If you need a present for someone who likes to putter aroud the house (and says " they dont make things like they use to") this would be a great gift.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Earl Proulx is a god!, September 21, 2000

By 

Jamie Trowbridge (Dublin, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own (Hardcover)

Full disclosure: I work at Yankee Magazine, and I worked on this book with Earl. That said, I'm proud to say that this book is packed with clever and useful advice: everything from how to make your light bulbs last longer to how to get the black crud off your cast iron skillet. This book has sold almost half a million copies through direct mail promotions. The first reviewer is right: it makes a great gift.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars you need this if you want to be frugal, January 15, 2006

By 

budgetista "budgetista" (virginia usa) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Yankee Magazine's Make It Last: Over 1,000 Ingenious Ways to Extend the Life of Everything You Own (Hardcover)

this book i wouldn't exactly describe as exciting reading but is deffinantly a must have, you can find out how to care for or repair most anything you use.