Money Basics

The Complete Cheapskate How to Get Out of Debt Stay Out and Break Free from Money Worries Forever

The Complete Cheapskate How to Get Out of Debt Stay Out and Break Free from Money Worries Forever

Hunt knows how to live on the cheap, and she’s proud of it. Although she’s probably doing just fine (after the roaring success of her newsletter, “The Cheapskate Monthly,” and her previous books, including Mary Hunt’s Debt-Proof Living and Cheapskate Monthly Money Makeover), Hunt has thousands of tips for lowering bills, managing savings, getting out of debt and changing your attitude about money. In a chipper, conversational tone, Hunt explains how she became a cheapskate, what readers need to do in order to become cheapskates themselves, and how following her advice will help them achieve financial freedom. Eschewing heavy financial talk, Hunt focuses on simple methods for getting out of debt-e.g., how to develop a “Freedom Account” to handle irregular expenses, and how to shop more economically for groceries. This is an uncomplicated guide squarely aimed at helping those in tight financial straits.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Overall, Very Bad Advice
As someone who really enjoys shopping and nice meals (but can be thrifty where and when it’s needed), I was initially attracted to Hunt’s book because I knew a bit of her backstory–but most of her advice is obvious at best, quite bad at the worst.

Basically, the only truly sound piece of advice she gives is if your situation is really dire, you need to get help from CCCS or a similar agency (and yes, they definitely have their black marks, but sometimes that structure IS what’s needed) and not to be afraid, they’ve heard way worse.

Past that, most of her advice (and I include her many on-going columns, etc) is either absurdly complex (I agree about her “plans” essentially entailing hiding money from yourself) or based on very fuzzy math of worse possible versus best possible case scenarios.

Or she just plain doles out really crap advice, like one couple she featured in Woman’s Day and how she “helped” them. In this scenario she had a family living madly beyond their means, including owning a far too expensive house. She “helped” them beginning in late 2006, when the bubble was still inflating—but rather than have them (sensibly) sell an obviously too expensive house (and pay off their credit card debt with the proceeds), she put them on her plan.

The result after a year of her “help” (which involved sometimes going hungry if they didn’t have the money, including never touching savings)? They did now have some money in savings (and also had taught themselves to set aside $$ for gifts!!!), but they had bearly made a dent in their unsecured debt. Plus they still were living in the house—which is now no doubt worth less than they owe on it.

With her worst case/best case scenaios, she thinks you should plan ahead if you notice a major appliance weakening, start squirreling away money each month–so you can pay cash. She’ll then illustrate how much more the item will cost you with a 22% APR credit card, making just the minimum payment.

Okay, this is certainly all true BUT: sometimes things die with little to no warning (and sometimes old things last for a long time). It also fully ignores the fact that generally you can purchase the item interest free for a year or so (and pay it off in that time) or that many credit cards have significantly lower interest rates than 22% AND that you can certainly pay more than the minimum if you so desire.

She did a similar thing in comparing the cost of getting a hybrid to keeping her old, fully paid for car—DUH!!! Obviously, even if gas is $10 per gallon, it’s cheaper to keep the NO payment vehicle. Just not a valid comparison.

Oh and her Christian stuff gets really old, too.

5 Stars Read it, Believe it, Do it!
This book changed my life. It only took five years. I now have $0 bills and a nice nest egg. Just follow the advice in the book to the letter. I give this book to everyone I care about.

1 Star PSA: The Author’s a Fraud
Her style is annoying and smarmy, but that’s the least of it. Claiming it came to her “out of the blue,” Mary Hunt stole her newsletter idea (and story ideas and some illustrations) from Amy Dacyzyn’s Tightwad Gazette (Dacyzyn has records that Hunt subscribed to her newsletter from Dec 91 - 93; Dacyzyn corresponded with Hunt regarding obvious “copying” of ideas and illustrations but Hunt did not reply or attribute the source).* First called “Cheapskate Monthly” and now “Debt-Free Living,” the preview issue on Hunt’s website likewise presents unattributed ideas as Hunt’s own (Heloise’s vinegar hints, for instance). She advises you to buy a house at half the price that you can afford, make double payments so that you can pay off the mortgage in “about five years,” and then sell that home and buy the house of your dreams. This is a program outlined in Ted Carroll’s LIVE DEBT FREE (published 1991), which she cites (amazingly!) in “Complete Cheapskate” but claims as her own idea on her website. “Owning your home free and clear,” she says, “…is what Harold and I are working on now.” (Cough, cough! She’s had plenty of time to put her plan into action, plenty of dollars to do it, and she’s “still working on” it?!?) Meanwhile she has churned out an armload of books and regurgitated her ideas for every TV camera she can find. She doesn’t have to practice what she preaches because she hauls in the dollars of the faithful through coaching seminars, books, and her newsletter (a $29.95 value, she claims, but if you check it out, you’ll see it is a compendium of links to other sources, outdated quotations, and self-promotion).

I’m afraid that with the current economy, a lot of people will be tricked into shelling out for this kind of warmed-over hash. Check it out at the library, if you must, but don’t buy it. I’ve found Ron Blue’s Master Your Money to be a more practical, Christian and truthful resource. Amy Dacyzyn’s work is the original (which is why she is so widely copied). Flylady.net has budgeting and checkbook hygiene advice; googling will provide more information than you can ever process. Why doesn’t Mary just admit that the way she got out of debt and broke free from money worries was not by being a cheapskate, but by being a plagiarist?

*Sept. 1996, Issue 76, The Tightwad Gazette

2 Stars Doesn’t help much
Being the ultimate cheapskate I went to the library to look at this book to see if I would want to buy it. I am so glad I didn’t buy it first. Everything in this book you can look up in the net for free. There are no suggestions that I haven’t seen before.

If you are brand new to the frugal experience, save your money and do web surfing instead. You are already paying for that.

5 Stars Very useful
Loved this book. So many practical ideas for getting out of debt. Especially her rapid debt repayment plan. I appreciated Mary Hunt’s inspirational story for motivation. It’s a very useful book!

Buy/More Info

Bye Bye Standby BBSBUSA Energy Saving Kit

Bye Bye Standby BBSBUSA Energy Saving Kit

Use the Bye Bye Standby to help curb energy consumption and reduce electricity bills. Bye Bye Standby is an easy-to-install device (equipped with a remote control) that enables you to cut the power to electrical devices effortlessly. This is especially useful for devices that are frequently resting in standby mode.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars These are great!
They work so well, I haven’t seen my electric bill yet, but it’s so easy to shut off all of my outlets before I leave the house. Each remote will work with 12 plugs!!! (I purchased 3 sets of two) (they all have channel settings on the back) GREAT PRODUCT!

5 Stars Awesome!!
These things are great! I have purchased two sets, and have one remote at the front door, and one in the bedroom. The distance is pretty good, I tend to make sure I am close enough to hear the click sound made, when I turn things on and off. You can see that the remotes only have 3 switches on the front, but there is A/B/C/D on the back. On the units plugged into the wall, you select A-1/2/3 B-1/2/3 C-1/2/3 D-1/2/3, so by default you have have A set in the back and control three units, moving the back control to B allows you to control another set of three. I currently use it for my tv setup in the front, pc in the back, wireless router/internet box, and tv in back room.

This is the best power conservation hardware I could find, not to mention the awesome price. I know these will pay for themselves within a month or two!

5 Stars save energy the easy way
I always tried to turn off all my peripherals but my husband never did. This does it for him! No thinking involved. And it is pretty idiot proof for set-up, so I could do it myself!

5 Stars Conveniently Solved My Problem
My problem was finding a device that works with a powerstrip. Before finding Bye Bye Standby I bought an appliance timer but the powerstrip would not turn on. This is perfect solution to saving money!!

5 Stars Works Great!
Works great, just hit the remote at night or before going to work. Hope to see a difference in my electric bill.

Buy/More Info

Digital Coin Counting Money Jar

Digital Coin Counting Money Jar

This “smart” Jar counts every coin as it slips though the slot.Then, sums up your total deposits and displays them on an easy- to - read LCD screen. So you never have to count manually- or wait an extra second to reward your self when you reach your goal.

User Ratings and Reviews

5 Stars Pretty neat jar!
I bought this jar for myself after seeing one at a friends house, and thought it to be the perfect solution for the random piles of change I had everywhere. I then ended up buying my parents one and my sister one after they commented on how much they liked it and wanted one too. I’ve had mine for a year, and it recently stopped working on me, (2 yr old spilled water on it, and it got in the inside of the lid and ruined the electronic part of it). The jars that my parents, sister, and friend have all still work great though, and I really liked the jar, so I just bought another one! It holds a lot of money, about $300 worth! I know some people wish that it would separate the coins to make rolling easier, but my bank lets its customers use its counter/sorter/roller for free, so it’s not an issue for me. I recommend this jar, it’s cool how fast and how much you can get saved up in it!

5 Stars Great motivational tool
First of all I’d like to say that I was very pleased at how quickly my order arrived in the mail. Next, I love this coin counting money jar! I’ve been trying to lose some weight by setting small daily goals. As we all know, the motivation comes and goes and when I don’t feel that motivation it’s easy to blow off my goals. I purchased this money jar to set up a reward system that will motivate me to reach those daily goals. For instance, I give myself five cents for each five minutes of exercise I do and I get 50 cents for logging all my food and staying within my recommended calorie range each day. At the end of each month I will use what I’ve earned to reward myself for my accomplishments. And I don’t have to feel guilty about spending the money on myself. I highly recommend this product for anyone whether it’s for a child or for yourself.

4 Stars Right on the money.
Wish I had bought more. Gave it to my 10 year old and every child and adult in the room said….oh I want one of those. Something everyone can use. Iwill be buying more of them.

5 Stars good gift
i got this bank for my mom so she doesnt have to count all her change.she loves it to death,so why not buy it

5 Stars Very pleased
I bought this product for my dad for Father’s Day last Spring. His job keeps him on the road for long periods of time and he often comes home with so much change in his pockets that he can barely walk, so I knew this would be perfect for him. I was right! He loved it and it works great! I finally broke down and purchased one for myself.

The only problem is that it sometimes gets pennies and dimes confused and every once in a while it won’t count a coin. That’s not a huge problem, though. It doesn’t happen too frequently and it’s always a nice surprise to find that we have a couple dollars more than we thought we did.

I would definitely recommend this item.

Buy/More Info