Review of 'Meet the Frugalwoods: Achieving Financial Independence Through Simple Living' on 'Goodreads'
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Debt-free living is a topic that is very important to me so I jumped at the chance to review this book from TLC Book Tours. (Free book - Look at me being frugal!)This is a memoir of a couple who used frugality to save enough to retire to the country in their 30s. They have a blog called frugalwoods.com. I hadn't ever heard of this before so I went into this book with no preconceived notions about what their story was.I appreciated the fact that the book starts with a discussion of privilege versus systemic causes of poverty in the United States. She realizes that just by being born to married, educated white parents in the suburbs of the Midwest that she got a leg up towards being able to be …
Purchase Links: HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Author Links: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram
Debt-free living is a topic that is very important to me so I jumped at the chance to review this book from TLC Book Tours. (Free book - Look at me being frugal!)This is a memoir of a couple who used frugality to save enough to retire to the country in their 30s. They have a blog called frugalwoods.com. I hadn't ever heard of this before so I went into this book with no preconceived notions about what their story was.I appreciated the fact that the book starts with a discussion of privilege versus systemic causes of poverty in the United States. She realizes that just by being born to married, educated white parents in the suburbs of the Midwest that she got a leg up towards being able to be debt-free in her 30s. She points out that her frugality is elective instead of a requirement to be able to afford her rent. I wish this was more of a how-to book. It doesn't really explain how they became debt-free. She says things like she saved $2000 of the $10,000 she was given as an AmeriCorp stipend. She was living in Brooklyn with roommates but how did she manage to do that? I want charts and spreadsheets. She talks later about merging living expenses by moving in with her fiance and living below their means by not trying to keep up with the standard of living of their peers. She says that even before they really committed to saving a lot of money in order to retire early, they were saving 40-50% of their take home pay not including 401K and mortgage principal. This is where I started to feel pretty inadequate reading this book. We're debt-free but we are not even close to that kind of savings. (I know the problem. I eat out too much. If I cooked every meal at home, I'd be golden. I need to make myself a challenge or something.)I feel like reader's reactions to this book will be influenced by where they are on their financial journey. I can see her story of giving up $120 hair cuts seeming flippant to someone who is struggling to buy groceries. At the same time, I can see it being inspirational to people who have the ability to start saving money. I could also see it being frustrating and making people feel like they haven't been doing enough to secure their financial future. I'd be interested to see how people respond to the message.
Tuesday, March 6th: Bibliotica
Wednesday, March 7th: Stranded in Chaos
Thursday, March 8th: Literary Quicksand
Friday, March 9th: I'd Rather Be At The Beach
Monday, March 12th: A Bookish Way of Life
Thursday, March 15th: Man of La Book
Monday, March 19th: What Is That Book About
Tuesday, March 20th: Tina Says…
Wednesday, March 21st: Doing Dewey
Thursday, March 22nd: Based on a True Story