Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins: More Than 1,000 Practical Tips for Women on a Budget [Paperback]

Ann Fox (Author), Susan Fox (Author), Charlotte Fox Messmer (Illustrator), Nathan W. Vaughn (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Fun and practical tips to help women save money, make money and turn trash into cash.

While other books give advice about money markets and outwitting the stock market, Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins offers help to the struggling woman on a really, really tight budget. She is the forgotten woman of "little time and no dime." She may be single, married, a career woman or a stay-at-home mom, but whoever she is, she is looking for easy ways to organize her life and save money.

In this no-nonsense book by identical twin sisters Ann Fox Chodakowski and Susan Fox Wood, the Tightwad Twins, women will learn how to reduce or eliminate bills and manage and organize their homes. This "common cents" knowledge will revolutionize the way women look at money. For instance nearly everything can be recycled:

Make a coffee table from an old window, door or board. Add bricks or flowerpots for legs.

Cut a slit in the shape of an X in an empty prescription bottle for a traveling toothbrush holder.

Use soda-pop can tabs for picture hangers. Glue to the back of picture frame with just the top of the clip showing so as to nail easily to the wall.

A candle placed in a cheese or vegetable grater looks fabulous at night. Tie the top with a red ribbon to make it even more festive.

The Tightwad Twins also provide timesaving forms, quick-and-easy recipes for no-fuss, cheap meals, and lists of organizations that give away freebies. In no time at all, readers will reap the benefits of thriftiness and find time to enjoy their newfound financial freedom.

About the Author

Ann Fox Chodakowski is a retired schoolteacher, a mother and grandmother, and is a survivor in the real world of budgets and bills. She holds a master's degree in education and lives in Brandon, Florida. She thinks she is definitely the smarter twin. Susan Fox Wood holds an associate degree in childhood education and has won many awards for her office organization skills. She is a mother and grandmother, and lives in the twins' hometown of Paducah, Kentucky. She will go to her grave proclaiming that she is the smarter twin. The twins are the authors of Living on a Shoestring, Moms Saving Money and 101 Ways to Save Money. They have appeared on The Maury Povich Show, Crook and Chase, CNN Talkback Live, The 700 Club, and Leeza, among many others. The twins write seasonally for magazines such as Boardroom Magazine and Moneysworth Magazine. Their tips have appeared often in the National Enquirer as well as Family Circle Magazine.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: HCI (August 15, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0757301053
• ISBN-13: 978-0757301056
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #273,178 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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  Books > Business & Investing > Personal Finance > Money Management for Women

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The twins' bigger financial tips are fabulous and fast., December 23, 2003

By	Sandra B. (Columbus, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins: More Than 1,000 Practical Tips for Women on a Budget (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book from the twins even more than any of the others. I have already started using the bigger life-changing ones and I look forward to next month when I will see the differerence in my finances when my house makes me money while I sleep. It is funnier than the others and I loved the success stories. They were my motivation to get busy. I look forward to seeing the twins on television as I have in the past. As the twins say: this book is not for everyone, just for people who really need to save some big money and have a small income. Double advice from them which is good for us out here in the real world. I love these girls!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Fun to read, November 13, 2005

By	Carrie McCluskey "Susann" (Florida) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins: More Than 1,000 Practical Tips for Women on a Budget (Paperback)

I enjoyed the book. I did wonder about some tips though. The crockpot meal ideas were for ingredients like canned soup and canned chicken that are already cooked. I wondered why such ingredients would need to be heated all day in a crockpot. To save opening cans and waiting for the food to heat at the end of the day, perhaps?

I also don't think dividing a house in order to take on a renter would be feasible for many people. There is the privacy issue, and any decent renovation to create a separate apartment would involve more than most women with "little time and no dime" could manage. Becoming a landlord isn't without complications such as necessary repairs and problem renters.

I also wondered about the business in a box. I think most women would be embarrassed to buy cheap potpouri at the dollar store, put it into baggies tied with ribbons and handmade tags and re-sell it at a vastly inflated price. Yes, people may feel sorry for someone who says they are doing this to help with family expenses. They may assume you have no money for food. This business is one step short of shaking a donation can on street corners. If a family member needs life-saving surgery I can understand doing it, but otherwise, no thanks!

However, I enjoyed the tips and the spunky attitude- the authors are experts at making the best of what they have and apparently know what it is like to have very little. As with any tip book, you choose the tips that are right for you.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only for Newbies, April 24, 2006

By	Duchesse (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Saving Money with the Tightwad Twins: More Than 1,000 Practical Tips for Women on a Budget (Paperback)

After reading this book cover to cover I found very few things that helped me (a self proclaimed tightwad).

The book had a few good "comics" but I could have waited for the Sunday funnies. The recipes are terrible. A few tips for cleaning and sprucing up the house, a few forms, i.e. budget, shopping list, menu planning, last will and testament, but nothing much else. The 5 big tips that can change your finacial life are not new to the seasoned tightwad but could possibly help the newbie. This book is a waste of time and money for the seasoned tightwad.