Comments on: Review: The Frugal Duchess

By: Damon

Damon — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:16:39 +0000

That makes four books on frugal living reviewed by my count. Is there one of these you would recommend as a cut (or more) above the rest? Not including The Frugal Duchess here they are:

America’s Cheapest Family: Steve Economides

The Ultimate Cheapskates Guide: Jeff Yeager

Living Rich by Spending Smart: Gregory Karp

Oh, and thanks for the excellent reviewing.

By: Bay

Bay — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:11:44 +0000

I really liked your review & clicked through to the Frugal Duchess blog and was really disappointed. It was a landing page for a million google ads. Was hoping to see more helpful things like you posted in your review before I would buy the book.

By: Frugal Duchess

Frugal Duchess — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 12:13:59 +0000

Thanks for such a thoughtful review!
I enjoyed reading your overview and the comments.

Thanks for the additional tips!

By: sylrayj

sylrayj — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:28:16 +0000

By the way, baby oil works about as well as WD-40 on crayon marks too, without the propellant (we ran out and *still* had lots of crayon and pen and pencil to deal with). Everything will smell like baby oil after, though…

By: Mule Skinner

Mule Skinner — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 21:53:18 +0000

The payback on seeds and even started plants is so great that I wouldn’t be concerned about paying for them. This year we bought three bittergourd plants (momordica charantia) for about $5 at the local farmer’s market. Once these things got going they paid off that five bucks twice a week! The weather finally got too cool for the fruits to mature, but they never stopped trying. We had similar results with long beans (unguiculata sesquipedalis).

By: sara

sara — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 18:42:37 +0000

wow, this sounds like a book thats right up my alley! I’ll definitely check it out, thanks for posting some of the tips.

By: Thursday Bram

Thursday Bram — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:41:35 +0000

I’m especially in favor of buying furniture from a liquidator: unlike new furniture stores, liquidators can bargain!

By: SavingFreak

SavingFreak — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 12:20:17 +0000

This is a great blogger and I look forward to the book. She has a very down to earth way of looking at frugality.

By: naturallyfrugal

naturallyfrugal — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:49:03 +0000

This book sounds like a great read for someone like me currently in their mid-twenties, learning about frugality, and figuring out how to save money while also having fun!
Great review.

By: momof4

momof4 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 00:27:55 +0000

Each guest decorated one and it occupied them for hours,

Okay this part made me laugh…kid crafts at birthday parties last 10 mins tops in my humble experience……..

By: Kate@Living the Frugal Life

Kate@Living the Frugal Life — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:25:50 +0000

One response to the list of tips: saving your own seeds and/or swapping them works well in most cases, but not all. A lot of garden plants, such as lettuces and beans will breed true and resist cross-pollination. That means if you save those seeds, they’re likely to give you the same plants year after year. Other plants, like tomatoes, corn, and peppers cross-pollinate very easily. Even if you only have one type of each plant in your garden, they can still cross-pollinate with a plant in a neighbor’s yard. Corn varieties need to be isolated by as much as a mile to ensure they don’t cross-pollinate.

Cross pollination isn’t necessarily a disaster. But if you invest your time and effort, you probably want to be sure you’ll get something useful out of it. Especially so if you’re trying to grow a substantial portion of your own food. You wouldn’t want sweet corn when you were trying for popcorn, and vice versa. Know which plants are fine to save seeds from, and which to buy from a reputable dealer each year.