It is also funny, often lol. ‘Going to bed to save on heating is not frugal if it ends up in twins!’ I know of people who have read it and found nothing to help them, I think that it depends on how one reads it. I find it inspires me to look harder on what and how I spend. On the back of it I have created my own frugal life, with a UK twist.

I still think of those mid-90′s years as ones that exemplify the best of the human experience.
I don’t think we need go so far as the price book, though.

Further, here we all are. Now, with the amazing President Obama and our collapsed economy thanks to the vampiric Bush/Cheney agenda — we must literally transform ourselves at the national level. Amy D is needed now more than ever. Wherever you are, Amy, you should be in the Cabinet — showing us all a way to survive downturn and make it a silver lining.

We will all show up for this challenge and be the better for it. Life lived simply is life lived well.

I’m a child of children of the Depression, so there wasn’t too much in it that I didn’t already know, but it was a hoot to read. The bread-crumb cookies were something I’d not run into before, and something I thought was really creepy, but then, I don’t eat cookies anyway.

The pricebook was something I’d only read about before briefly, but she reinforced how useful it could be. I keep one now.

All in all, a useful book–there will be something you’ve not considered before.

I lent the book my daughter as she is a now a new parent herself, and she and her husband face the same challenges to make ends meet. Watching my daughter get all excited about saving money, religiously following her price book, is a sight to behold. She reminds me all over again that the easiest way to make money is to stop the leak in the bottom of the bucket.

Besides, if I shop along side her I am bound so save at least ten dollars a trip.

I always placed Amy D at the very top of the heap whenever it came to all things frugal, mainly because hers was the first book of its kind I picked up and because of the emotional connection I made with her writing when I was in such desperate straits. For a time about 5 years ago I frantically tried to find out what happened to her as it seemed she dropped off the face of the earth. I wrote her but had all my letters came back with “return to sender” stamps on them. I was worried that she had died or something!! So I am so glad you were able to track her down and get an interview out of her!!

I’m so curious – what does she look like? I was not one of the fortunate ones back in the 1990s who was able to see her on the morning TV shows. I could never picture what she really looked like and my wife & I used to constantly debate what she looked like based on her own drawings of herself in her newsletters. My wife kept saying she must be really plain-looking, while I insisted she must be a fairly good-looking woman.

Cover for 20 or so minutes then squeeze out bags.

Add 1/3 cup of honey + 6 slices of fresh lemon
~
Wait for the mixture to become lukewarm before placing in the fridge. Or not.

I have used it for years, collecting second copies when I see them on thrift store shelves so I can pass it around.

I would LOVE for Amy to revise it for the new century. When she wrote the book there was no eBay, or internet or Dollar stores.

I think in today’s society with the advances in technology, it’s MUCH easier to be frugal with all these resources at our disposal

——Speaking of “white elephant” gift parties, I haven’t seen one of these done since I was a child growing up in the South. These were done occasionally by members of my church as an inexpensive means of entertainment.

In case you’re not familiar, each individual brings a mystery gift containing a white elephant-type item. (I’m not sure but I think the term “white elephant” was originally employed to describe an item that isn’t very useful, something that no one really wants but can’t bring themselves to throw away, maybe kind of tacky, like a knick-knack shaped like a white elephant.)

The point was to bring something that had little or no value that you selected from your own home and that would bring some laughs when opened.

Everybody was intent on having fun. There were little expectations of getting a gift that you really wanted. Nobody really had extra income for such things. Gifts were handed out vicariously. There were some funny moments when people opened up gifts that they were completely unsuited for. I guess part of the fun was in knowing the others at the party well enough to see the humor in mis-matched gifts. The rest of the party was spent eating home-made cakes & pies and sitting around visiting while the kids ran around playing

The only rule was that the item should be clean and not broken or worn out, etc.

Oh well! We didn’t have so much TV and other forms of entertainment then and we truly looked forward to getting together since it was a major form of entertainment, particularly in the South, where hospitality and entertaining in the home were so much a part of the culture.

Maybe it’ll catch on again since tough economic times force families to stay closer to home.

I know why the manager was so rude to you at the store when you were carrying around your notebook because I had a similar experience.

Several years ago, I was shopping at a major discount store for food for, of all things since you’ve mentioned it, a missions trip. Our church group was traveling about 450 miles away to an isolated church on an Indian reservation. We were taking some campers and tents, etc. I was responsible for cooking the food. I needed to have a menu and a cost analysis to help determine the price of the trip for each participant.

I went to this discount store with a detailed notebook and spent a long time in the aisles writing down prices and comparing costs so that I could keep the price as low as “poss” (as my brother in England says).

While I was engaged in this, an employee – in fact, a manager – approached me with a very nasty look on her face and asked me in a suspicious tone of voice what I was doing. I must have looked horribly shocked at her rudeness because she quickly changed her manner. I explained what I was doing and asked her why she was asking me. She said that she thought I was “comping” – doing comparable prices for a competitive store.

It left a very bad taste in my mouth for that store! I continued my business there – I had to – but I cut back on my own purchases at that store thereafter! I still remember the unpleasant shock that I received when I walk down that particular aisle, now some 12 years later!

So, if you’re going to take a notebook into a store and be seen busily writing down prices, be prepared for the suspicious employee who thinks that he’s saving his store from a rival store’s “comping” expedition.