10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget

Tips for living the good life—in a bad economy—from WiseBread.com.

Filled with savvy tips on how to live, eat, shop, and have fun on a small budget, 10,001 Ways to Live Large on a Small Budget is a compilation of the juiciest tips from the #1 personal finance blog WiseBread.com, including:

9 Ways to See the World For Free
12 Ways to Live Rent or Mortgage Free
6 Steps to Eliminating Your Debt Painlessly
7 Ways to Score Free Food
Bulk Buying 101
10 Killer Ways to Feel Like a Million Bucks
6 Horrible Financial Products to Avoid
7 Beauty Secrets that Cost Almost Nothing
50 Ways to Get the Most Out of Health Care
12 Fabulous Frugal Party Ideas

Too many frugal living books focus on the negative, throwing around words such as "sacrifice" and "responsibility" like there was a fire sale at the Boring Store. But the writers at Wise Bread believe the key to financial wellness isn't a ramen-eating, vacation-skipping, fun-depriving life. Far from it. The best way to ensure that readers will stick to a budget is to help them create a lifestyle that is as much fun as it is practical. 40 color

Customer Reviews:

Practical and Fun

By Bookworm Jim "BJ" - May 15, 2009

I was flipping through this book at Barnes yesterday while waiting for my girlfriend to finish buying a gift for her friend's birthday. The book is basically a bunch of individual lists and howtos -- how to buy wine, 23 common interview questions, etc. By the time my girlfriend was ready to go, I was still reading the article on how to shop for wine, so I brought the book home. Couldn't put it down the rest of the night! I read through the entire budget travel section since we're planning for a trip this summer. And the article on how to open a roth IRA is going to come in handy. I've been thinking about opening one for the last few months and I think I'm going to do it next week. This book is full of tips for a wide range of financial topics. I highly recommended for anyone looking to get more out of their money.

What a waste of paper...

By G. Lukin - January 25, 2010

Technically, my one-star rating is incorrect: when a book has no useful content whatsoever, it should be zero stars. Alas, such option is unavailable, so I'll have to make do with this...

I had high hopes for this book - I really did. It's written by a group of personal finance experts and it's got nothing but rave reviews on Amazon (I hope I won't be the sole dissenter) - what could possibly go wrong? Like most other projects put together by a committee, it feels raw and incomplete. To give you a basic idea, this is the kind of book that would have been useful 20 years ago, before the advent of the Internet. Every single tip listed in this book can be found with Google in less than a minute. Because of the space constraint (10,001 tips and only 346 pages), most of the tips get just one brief paragraph.

I'm a dedicated bachelor, I don't plan on getting married or having kids, I don't like to cook (other than the easiest dishes - pasta and boiled eggs), I have... read more

Perfect gift for grads

By S. Jeng - May 8, 2009

10,001 Ways is a gateway to frugality. What do I mean by that? It isn't a hardcore frugality book focusing on brown bagging lunch for your entire life. Instead, it is a kinder, gentler, introduction to the idea of living within your means. Some of the other finance books provide outrageous (and depressing) ideas so difficult to follow that you might give up immediately. All the tips here are fun and easy to follow.

If you've missed a couple of mortgage payments and creditors are knocking down your door, this book isn't for you. You need something a lot more drastic.

This book is perfect for young people just starting out in life. The fun and breezy writing is engaging, and the tips are offered without judgment or condescension. The cooking tips will be especially useful for college students living on their own for the first time.

I will be giving this book away as a graduation present for years to come. This is a gift that keeps on giving.