HOW I LIVED A YEAR ON JUST A POUND A DAY. A paperback book written by Kath Kelly, published by Redcliffe Press Ltd

Essential Stats

• Pages: 192
• Published: Friday 29th August 2008
• Edition: Reprinted edition
• Dimensions: 20cm tall, 13cm wide, 2cm thick
• Weight: 223 grams
• ISBN: 1906593124
• RRP: £6.99
• Availability at Amazon UK:
  • 2 new books from £17.74
  • 6 used books from £12.49

How I Lived a Year on Just a Pound a Day Cover

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Tags

• Subjects
• English
• Paperback
• Regular Size

Reviews

I read this book a little while ago now and thought it was very interesting. My biggest memory of it is the amount of money she found on the pavements in her year she lived so frugally. I must move to Bristol because in my town there isn't any money at all! I do look - honest...

As some other reviewers have pointed out, the tips in this book wouldn't work for everyone. Kath Kelly is - at the time of writing - a childfree single woman. Then again, it's not written as a book full of tips for you to try but an account of her experience (although the final chapter does include a long list of helpful tips). Many of the things she does, do not appeal to me as a lifestyle choice (hitch-hiking, scrounging most of your food from free events and lectures, foraging for food) but she also discovers a lot of things that do appeal (freecycle, skill swaps, clothes swaps). What makes this book a nice read is that she's (mostly) not doing this as a social experiment but as a means to an end (she wants to be able to buy her brother and sister in law a nice present for their wedding). If nothing else, it makes you think about how much you have and how much you need. And that you don't need to spend money to have a good time as there are endless free events going on, you just need to be willing to look for them. I definitely hope to be more conscious about where my money goes and the fact that someone managed to live a year on a pound a day (rent not included) is a helpful reminder that you can do without.

I bought this book a couple of years ago after I saw the author interviewed on the local BBC news. I am a mum of four who is always needing to save money but I bought it mainly out of curiosity. It's a great fun read. Yes it does have some tips on saving money but in my opinion that's not the book's purpose - it's about someone's journey to meet their goals and see if it's possible to achieve the seemingly impossible.

This book has come in for much criticism but I found it a really interesting read, although perhaps because I am fast becoming obsessed with money-saving! I did, however, find myself absorbed by Kath Kelly's story. I think it is a record of her experiences during that year, she is not saying "do this, I did", which is the thing people seem to get on their high horses about. She was obviously lucky to be in the job and situation she was in, but that doesn't mean it was always easy for her; when her bike was stolen I nearly cried for her because it was one of her lifelines. She and her friends made their own rules for her year, and it would seem she stuck to them, although I had to question her managing to do her shopping by buying her groceries on the reduced shelves for 10p a lot of the time - I think I would probably starve to death waiting for this to happen in the supermarkets round me! Also, I thought her "roadkill money" was a great idea, but having started looking last year for it I have been so disappointed as I've only found a 10C (Euro) coin!

I'm sure she's a very nice lady but some of this book she comes across so patronising that by the end of the book I didn't really like the author! Oh dear. It's an interesting idea but she doesn't make an intersting enough subject matter for an entire book...

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