The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches: A Practical (and Fun) Guide to Enjoying Life More by Spending Less

A fellow cheapskate on the road to riches

Jeff Yeager has truly created the road map for not only finding your inner cheapskate but also finding what is of true value in your life. It seems that so many people talk about being happy but Jeff seems to have found the road that leads right to joy. Living your life within 'actually under' your means allows you to truly experience life rather than worrying about how the next bill is going to get paid. Too often when people are trying to determine how they are going to retire it seems to come down to making more instead of learning how to live in such a way that you can be free from the constant strain of keeping up with others or making that next payment. My fiance and I always have a great time together, we always seem to have fun but we also spent a lot of money at times. After reading this book we find we still have a riot but we spend a heck of a lot less money. It's amazing all the ways you can save and we have found it both to be fun and creative to come up with new ways to go out and have a great time while spending less or nothing at all. When we started planning our wedding and everything we read said to plan to spend $20,000 I though 'heck no!' 'ok maybe that wasn't the language I used but you get the idea'. I picked up the challenge and we're planning a great time for family and friends without spending a ridiculous amount of money. This book can change your whole outlook on money and what it takes to have a happy fulfilling life if you pick it up and give it a read. If your goal is outdoing everyone on your block, why not try outdoing them with the size of the joy in your life rather than the size of your house. Be cheap everyone! Live well!

3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

A must read!

Part wit, part wisdom, makes reading Jeff Yeager's book more fun than a trip to the Dollar Store. The book, chock full of brighter and cheaper ways to be in the world, is a must read for cheapskates and extreme spenders alike. Jeff's advice, and the humorous way he delivers it, will excite that part of the brain you thought long dead. You know, the saving, thrifty, I'm on the lookout for loose change part. Once you stop laughing, new techniques for saving money and preserving our planet are a sure bet. A treasure trove of great advice. Straight up. On the rocks.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

Full of Bad Humor... and a few tips

This guy is a joke, too bad he can't tell one! After reading through chapter after chapter of what he thinks is humor, I was disappointed in buying this book. Yes, he has some money-saving tips, but many of his tips are down-right miserly. I didn't find this book helpful and now at least I know to steer clear of his other writings!

Great read!

I read about this book in the Washington Post "Book Review" section in 2006 or 2007, where it came highly recommended, and finally purchased and read it on my e-reader this past month. It's written in a very humorous and lighthearted voice, yet carries many important tips as well as sound advice. The author's premise is that we can just as well build our savings by spending less than by earning more. (Of course, the combination of earning more AND spending less would be ideal! haha) He makes a good point in the beginning of the book about 'being happy with less' as opposed to 'needing more to be happy'. The book reminded me of a comment a close friend from a developing country made once during her second visit to the USA, which was that in the States "needs are created" so that people think they need more and more and more, losing sight of the fact that their basic needs have already been met. Jeff Yeager - the author of this book - makes this argument (in my case, he was 'preaching to the choir', but so nice to read someone that agrees with me!) and provides concrete examples of how we can espouse the philosophy in practice and save more by spending less. The book had me laughing out loud in some sections, and includes concrete, practical examples of areas in which we can spend less, save more and also help combat world hunger and other ailments by giving excess to charity. Already, since finishing this book, I've been spending less money and putting more into my savings account. My only regret is that I didn't read this in college!

Interesting Book

I thought the book was pretty funny and a reality check. What I thought was interesting that the writer can be a real cheapskates and also Most now I write Most writers that help you save money don't have children. I really would like to see a saving guru or financial planner tell you how to deal with preteen and teenagers with a budget.

Looking for some ideas to cut cost?

This book offered some good tidbits on savings. It was fun to read and I learned a little at the same time. I would say the book is not for the "hardcore budget mizer wanna be".

The Zen of Cheap

This book should be compulsory reading, not simply during these economically exciting times but, perhaps more appropriately, during our days of fiscal fecundity. For Jeff Yeagar is not concerned with the miserly pinching of pennies as a means of accruing more and more wealth, his goal is to free us from our infantile dependency on money and help us get the green monkey off of our backs.

To this end, Yeager gently and humorously takes us by the hand and leads us, one step at a time, away from the dysfunctional (some might say, abusive) relationship we have with money to demonstrate how we can become the dominant partner. (Leather jodhpurs and riding crop, one must suppose, are optional, but if you do insist, pick them up at a thrift sale.)

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Yeager's ideas are as simple as they are radical and he conveys them through folksy anecdotes and witty writing. At the very least, one must accept his sincerity (obsession?). While it's hard to imagine another human being adopting all of the behaviors espoused in the book, full adherence is unnecessary; you need only to take on board a few of the principles to greatly improve your life and your relationship with money, which, let's face it, is your life.

Buy this book; after you read it, you may never buy another (that's what libraries are for).

Cheapskate Has Good Tips

I found Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches interesting, easy to read, and full of good tips for someone, like me, who likes to be thrifty. The chapter on saving money on food offered ideas that I had not thought about before and mentioned one of my favorite stores, Dollar General. I hope the author will give us another book soon.

The Cheapskate knows his stuff!

The Ultimate Cheapskate's book should be required reading for every consumer. I found this book to be very well written and easy to read. In fact, as a busy mother of 9 year old twin boys, I read this book in just over a week. Jeff Yeager puts into words the way I live my life! He obviously has a great sense of humor which makes the book a lot of fun. The book also makes you think about choices we make in life and how they can influence your financial situation. I hope to become one of his 'Miser Advisors' and I also hope to see more books from this author! Bravo!

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