THE THRIFT BOOK: LIVE WELL AND SPEND LESS. A hardcover book written by India Knight, published by Fig Tree

Essential Stats

• Pages: 272
• Published: Thursday 6th November 2008
• Edition: 1st editionition
• Dimensions: 22cm tall, 16cm wide, 3cm thick
• Weight: 522 grams
• ISBN: 1905490372
• RRP: £14.99
• Availability at Amazon UK:
  • 27 new books from £5.50
  • 10 used books from £4.80

The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less Cover

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Tags

• Kellogg's
• Look Inside!
• General AAS
• General AAS
• English
• Hardcover
• Regular Size

Reviews

It's a well organised book, so you can skip the chapters that you aren't interested in, either because you don't want to sew your own clothes or because you already know what an ISA is; but then you can bookmark the bits that appeal to you, for me the clothing, food and beauty sections were pretty interesting reading. It's a good read spiced with India's peculiar confessions of how she's reached these money-saving solutions, thorough a youth of thoughtless snobbery and an anxiety-inducing fear of finances. A money saving bible akin to MoneySavingExpert it is not. It is from the point of view of a working woman with an income to afford a few luxuries, as long as she thinks about where it's going. Penny pinching to the point where you're living in an unheated commune is for you, then this is not the book you're looking for. She is simply offering her own practical methods that slot in with her lifestyle. She tempers her money saving with time constraints, and an ethical approach to what she buys and eats. She will only buy organic meat but her recipes are chosen for versatility, so you don't waste the good quality food you have, which in my opinion (and hers, obviously) is a better way of feeding yourself and your family than buying cheap processed food. The chapters are well researched, and there are lots of website and book recommendations if you're interested in finding local resources or buying the things she recommends. When buying this book, bear in mind that there is no catch-all version of this subject matter. There will undoubtedly be something of interest for everyone.

I did think this book was interesting, not least because India Knight admits she came close to bankruptcy before changing her spending ways. Some of the tips on making things, clothes, and beauty products, were useful. The chapter on basic personal financial terms would be quite useful for anyone who was not very interested in personal finance. The book is aimed more at city-dwellers who are used to eating out and shopping a lot.

India Knight must have a very good agent to convince Penguin Books to indulge her by publishing The Thrift Book. Ms Knight's rambling homilies begin to grate after just a few pages. As one progresses through the chapters, one cannot help but feel that this woman actually lives a rather comfortable existence and is simply churning out formulaic money-saving tips and ideas for the masses.

If you really need to save money, start by not spending it on this book.

I'm writing my own book on thrift and interested to know what others say. Ms Knight has a slightly different idea of thrift from myself. It reminds me a bit of an article called the high cost of poverty as many of her money-saving schemes are really only available to middle-class readers, like making jams and preserves which aren't even on the radar for people who live in urban working class areas. She doesnt say clearly enough how much cheaper it is to eat vegetarian. She places too much emphasis on crafts and not enough on thrift stores. There's a long chapter on beauty products which wasn't of that much interest to me.

On the other hand, it's a beautifully presented book with some tidbits of good information here in there, written in a chatty and accessible style.

Bought for a friend who's a recovering shopaholic who's found some of the tips genuinely useful. She enjoys India Knight's writing style and has even gone on to buy the Idiot Proof Diet books. I thought from flicking through some of the tips were a bit far fetched (in the "who on earth has time to care about..." category) but my friend loves this book.

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