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Amy Dacyczyn

The Complete Tightwad Gazette: Promoting Thrift as a Viable Alternative Lifestyle Paperback – December 15, 1998

by Amy Dacyczyn (Author)

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At last—the long-awaited complete compendium of tightwad tips for fabulous frugal living!

In a newsletter published from May 1990 to December 1996 as well as in three enormously successful books, Amy Dacyczyn established herself as the expert of economy. Now The Complete Tightwad Gazette brings together all of her best ideas and thriftiest thinking into one volume, along with new articles never published before in book format. Dacyczyn describes this collection as "the book I wish I'd had when I began my adult life." Packed with humor, creativity, and insight, The Complete Tightwad Gazette includes hundreds of tips for anyone looking to save money or get out of debt, such as:

Travel for tightwads • How to transform old blue jeans into potholders and quilts • Ten painless ways to save $100 this year • Picture-framing for pennies • A comparison of painting versus re-siding your house • Halloween costumes from scrounged materials • Thrifty window treatments • Ways to dry up dry-cleaning costs • Inexpensive gifts • Creative fundraisers for kids • Slashing your electric bill • Frugal fix-its • Cutting the cost of college • Moving for less • Saving on groceries • Gift-wrapping for tightwads • Furniture-fusion fundamentals • Cheap breakfast cereals • Avoiding credit card debt • Using items you were about to throw away (milk jugs, plastic meat trays, and more!) • Recipes galore, from penny-pinching pizza to toaster pastries • And much much more . .

Print length

959 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Villard
Publication date

December 15, 1998
Dimensions

7.2 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches
ISBN-10

0375752250
ISBN-13

978-0375752254
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Though tightwad seems like a derogatory term, author Amy Dacyczyn wants to assure you that it's okay to be a penny-pincher. This self-styled "Frugal Zealot" wrote and published The Tightwad Gazette for over six years to spread the frugal gospel. Each issue contained tips from her personal experience and from her many readers. The wealth of information contained in all these issues has been compiled into one volume for the first time. You'll find literally thousands of ideas for saving money, from the simple or practical to the difficult or bizarre. On the simple, practical side, Dacyczyn advises would-be tightwads to keep track of price trends at several stores in a "price book" and to buy in bulk when prices are low. Other, stranger offerings include tips for turning margarine-tub lids into playing-card holders, old credit cards into guitar picks, and six-pack rings into a hammock or volleyball net. More helpful are inexpensive recipes for making homemade versions of pricey, well-known products and ingenious ways to fix broken or damaged items. The book's disorganization encourages browsing, but the detailed index will point you to the exact page for specific items. Dacyczyn's occasional "thriftier than thou" tone is balanced by the friendly support for frugality that infuses every page. She even reminds her readers that it's okay to "sweat the small stuff"--because this small stuff is the essence of frugality. --C.B. Delaney

From the Inside Flap

long-awaited complete compendium
of tightwad tips for fabulous frugal living!

In a newsletter published from May 1990 to December 1996 as well as in three enormously successful books, Amy Dacyczyn established herself as the expert of economy. Now The Complete Tightwad Gazette brings together all of her best ideas and thriftiest thinking into one volume, along with new articles never published before in book format. Dacyczyn describes this collection as "the book I wish I'd had when I began my adult life." Packed with humor, creativity, and insight, The Complete Tightwad Gazette includes hundreds of tips and topics, such as:

¸ Travel for tightwads ¸ How to transform old blue jeans into potholders and quilts ¸ Ten painless ways to save $100 this year ¸ Picture-framing for pennies ¸ A comparison of painting versus re-siding your

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Villard; 1st edition (December 15, 1998)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 959 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0375752250
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0375752254
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.37 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.2 x 1.6 x 9.2 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #111,372 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #61 in Consumer Guides (Books)
- #202 in Marketing & Consumer Behavior
- #416 in Budgeting & Money Management (Books)

Customer Reviews:
714 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		78%
4 star		11%
3 star		6%
2 star		2%
1 star		3%

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Top reviews from the United States

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ZanyMomofFour

Just a classic

Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2020

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When I was newly married, my mom had subscribed to Amy's newsletter. I was visiting, and read all of the issues that she had. I was hooked! I married young and we didn't have a lot of money, but I found out how to stretch and make do with what we had, all because this "counter culture" lady wrote a newsletter. I identified with Amy because we were a military family too. I used so many of the tips, and learned so much, we lived abundantly on very little. I bought the books over the years as I saw them (on sale!) in book stores. I didn't know there was a "complete" tightwad gazette until just recently. It is a compilation of her newsletters. I just sat down and re-read it, and while it is somewhat dated, (landline telephone and calling overseas on off hours comes to mind) most of the advice is still relevant (make your own casserole or muffin combinations) or now, with toilet paper shortages, (step on the roll and it will not spin as fast so you use less) seemingly visionary! I owe a lot to this lady and her book.

13 people found this helpful

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PS

This book is about learning to fish as opposed to having someone give you a fish and I HIGHLY recommend it.

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2018

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Wanna change you life? This book is about learning to fish as opposed to having someone give you a fish and I HIGHLY recommend it... especially as a prequel to a book like Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey (sorry for plugging there, just really thought this would go well before Dave's book, kinda like a stepping stone). Anyhoo… this book is not out of date. It has principles that work at any time.

21 people found this helpful

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marzipan

a historical piece of literature

Reviewed in the United States on December 11, 2012

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I have read the other reviews and most of them are polarized - people either really love this book, or they really hate it. The people who love this book seem to be typing from a place of nostalgia and/or are already tightwads; whereas the people who hate it can't stand the author's personality or consider her methods extreme. There has to be a middle ground somewhere.

First for the good stuff.

Amy Dacyczyn is smart, funny, creative, and articulate. Her style is direct and honest, which is refreshing. It cannot be understated that she blazed the trail of tightwaddery during a time when openly trying to save money meant incriminating onself with the pain and shame of poverty. Dacycyzn not only changed our national dialogue about the practice of thrift, she also served as a role model for current and future economic nonconformists that refused to acquiesce to the status quo.

If I were to rate this book on that, and the feelings of nostalgia it creates when I pick it up and start reading, I would rate it a 5. However, this book is also a product, and people read reviews to make a decision whether or not to purchase it. That decision would be based on how useful it might be to someone who is reading it for the first time in the deuce-tens.

Starting with five stars, I subtracted one star because the book is clearly, painfully outdated. Dacycyzn retired in 1997, so at the time of writing this review; the information in this book is at least 15 years old. Businesses, addresses, and in some cases products (like floppy disks) are going to be a thing of the past. Not that google couldn't pick up where Amy left off, but the reader still has to flip and wade through it all.

I subtracted another star for the lack of organization. This is an issue I see a lot in the reviews, so I kept it in mind when I got my copy in the mail. Keep in mind, the book is an edited compilation of newsletter issues dating from 1990 to 1997 in book form. So there is no section, for example, kids projects and another for holiday projects. Each book is sorted by season, but considering there are three books compiled into one; trying to find "Christmas" in 900 pages will still be a chore. Trying to find "Christmas crafts" or even "Christmas recipes" will be even worse.

There is an index, but it's not much help either. I don't have the time or motivation do do a comprehensive check of every entry, so I decided to try to look up something people might want to refer to very often. I chose the universal bread recipe, because bread is a major staple in the American diet, and it is one of the most useful articles I found in the book. I couldn't find the entry to it in the index. After scanning under "recipes," I looked under "food" which told me to look under "specific foods" (ironically, the very last suggestion listed). I managed to find it under "bread", but it was not under "Universal bread recipe." It was under the "yeast" entry. I cannot understand how finding an extremely useful recipe for bread can be so hard, when she has an entry for "Janet Reno." Yes, Janet Reno. So I flipped to the entry and found her giving a critique of a Senator taking on the cereal companies for railroading generic brands. Uh, what? Not only is taking on corporate abuse of power important (yes, even for breakfast cereal), to put an entry in the index so readers can see you railing against it seems ridiculous.

Another complaint I saw a lot was that her tone is "preachy." I disagree. There were a *few* entries where she implied that people who didn't delve into tightwaddery as deep as she does are somehow lazy, incompetent, or childish by wanting instant gratification. I don't agree with the handful of times she steps into this; but I didn't find it pervasive enough to subtract another star. I also found several places where she makes it clear that she supports anyone who lives within their means, regardless of frugal choices. So the idea that she is some kind of psychological dictator is unfounded, at least IMO.

This doesn't mean I agree with everything in the books. The books seem to be written for prospective homemakers of two-parent middle class families. She strums the "hard work" harp as though socio-political factors such as race, class, or gender discrimination have no bearing on if someone achieves personal success. There is an article about space, but it does not address people who really need to save money but live in unusually small spaces such as motel rooms, efficiency/studio apartments. She says in Tightwad Gazette II that she doesn't want to publish recipes - yet food is a major expense that cannot be excluded, only better managed. She will say that frugality is about building skills, but only publishes a few universal recipes for people to build a frugal skillset in cooking.

So no, this is not a perfect book; but it is still a good resource if for no other reason than to get people to think for themselves and think of ways to save money.

106 people found this helpful

Helpful

Meg North

Great book with advice that is truly timeless

Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2020

Verified Purchase

I live in Maine, just like the author, so I'd read many of her newsletters back in the '90s, when I was just a teenager. My mother also followed some of her tips to raise our family, saving a lot of money. I'd long wanted this book, and with everything that's happened in 2020, frugality is suddenly cool again! A lot of advice here is really timeless, even though it can appear dated. The author's frank style doesn't sugarcoat frugality; she gets into the nitty gritty of it. She covers many topics. The most useful are for recipes, grocery shopping, meal-planning, gardening, couponing, and anything to do with the home, like decor and fix-it projects. I'm not trying to raise 6 kids on 1 income, but a lot of what she says applies to me. Her best tip is to keep a price book, because then you can find the best deals.

This book also made me appreciate the rise of the Internet, plus more stores where I can comparison shop, keep a price book, and have many more locations to find way better deals than Amy could ever have envisioned in 1994.

I've been a bargain shopper since I was a teen, so it's a good book that I'm able to implement immediately into my life. A great addition to a frugal person's library.

3 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

Tiny Print, Smaller Edition - Buyer Beware!

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2021

Verified Purchase

One star for physical book, *not* the content.

I had to buy another copy of this as my $2-from-the-library-bookstore copy fell apart. I thought this was the same Complete Tightwad Gazette that I had owned.

***This*** edition is 8.75" by 6.5", still with the 959 pages and waayy too small to read.

My father-in-law picked it up immediately but had to put it down. I don't have reading glasses but I can't read this.

If you are looking for the larger book that was originally published, that's ISBN 0-7394-0439-3. The pictures show the difference between the two.

As far as content - I'm a die-hard fan so of course I give it five stars for the nostalgia and for all the great things it's brought into my life. I had tabs on my old book to remember where things like the stain solution and the universal muffin recipe were kept. And every once in a while I read it cover to cover and get that same feeling I did as a kid, oh, grown up life could be kind of cool, if you used your imagination.

If you remember it or love it, buy the book (cheaply). If you are on the fence or just curious, borrow it from your library first to see if you would like it, because a lot has changed. Also, it's episodic, reading more like a blog or journal than a book.

3 people found this helpful

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Top reviews from other countries

Ms. Cathy J. Bryant

You get your money’s worth, and then some

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 26, 2018

Verified Purchase

This was written before the internet age, so about 10% of the info is outdated. The rest, however, is pure gold. This book paid for itself when we did our first supermarket shop after reading it - with no dip in the quality of our purchases, either. It’s enormous, but written in such an engaging, honest and fun style that it’s really enjoyable. We’re saving a lot of money because of it - as in saving actual money in the bank. Thank you, Amy.

5 people found this helpful

Pickle Princess!

What a FAB collection

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

I was told about this book by a dear friend. Many years ago in the US she apparently collected the books when they were 3 single items. After hearing her stories, I purchased this big old thing. I've not yet gone through the whole book, however the ideas etc are brilliant for the most part.

Nostalgia for the win.

Squire Squiffy

Everything you wanted to know about frugality but were afraid to ask.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 16, 2018

Verified Purchase

I wish I had come across this years ago. Too much about kid’s stuff for the child free but hugely inspiring nevertheless. There are endless tips on the subject of penny pinching but the real value of this book I think is the attitude of the Frugaleer. Most, if not all, of the tips are now contained in all of the various Frugal Living websites out there but to have them all between the covers of a book really is something. Of course it is best if you can buy this book second hand!

3 people found this helpful

C. Green

Fantastic money saving philosophy and guidelines

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2014

Verified Purchase

This is my dip into book.
I go back every so often and delve.
There are many many ideas for saving money .
If you are trying to decide whether to stay at home or go to work and use childcare, this is a good book to read as the writer has evaluated both scenarios.
The Author is American but the philosophy is the same everywhere and she gives numerous tips for living on low incomes.
The sections on kids clothing and on grocery are excellent.
I think this was originally 3 books and was compiled from years and years of a newsletter that she published at home and sold by subscription.
It is well worth the money to have this in your frugal book arsenal.

2 people found this helpful

Astrolasia

Huge

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2020

Verified Purchase

Though very dated now this book is still relevant in many ways. Some ideas are a bit extreme but if you are desperate to find ways of saving money or reusing stuff this is the book you need.

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