Review of New 4th edition of Miserly Moms

I read the first edition of Jonni McCoy’s Miserly Moms: Living on One Income in a Two Income Economy, back in 1994 or so. I reread the new 4th edition, which is subtitled Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy. When I read the first edition I thought it was useful and employed several of the practices she recommends to help save money. On reading the 4th edition I decided I had several problems with what she writes and how she recommends saving money.

First, the first 150 pages of the book are ways to save money at the grocery store. Many of the ideas are worthwhile, such as being wary of shopping at warehouse clubs, keeping track of food prices and eliminating convenience foods. The focus of the book seems to be on food. Although the rest of the book (another 140 or so pages) focus on other things, I found that these chapters did not have the depth in them that the chapters concerning grocery shopping had. There were tips but they were not as complete as previous chapters.

What I really don’t like about this book is her tone. Frugality is something that she practiced as a necessity in order to achieve her goal of staying home to raise her children. Her Guideline 1: Don’t Confuse Frugality with Depriving Yourself, is about how if you feel cheap trying to save money you will abandon your frugal ways. She then goes on to say that she was “determined to maintain a sense of class and still be frugal.” (p. 33) And that is my problem with this book. Throughout the book McCoy comes off as a snob.

McCoy advocates having a goal in mind when embarking upon the lifestyle change that frugal living demands of us. I also advocate this in my presentations about frugal living. But the one goal that she doesn’t recognize is the necessity of having to live a very drastic, frugal life due to circumstances such as job loss. The subtitle of the book, Living Well on Less in a Tough Economy, tells us that one can still remain classy even when one is faced with job loss, etc. I don’t think this is true. Concern for how you look and what things look like to the neighbors got many people in financial trouble to begin with. That is one of the things that has to go by the wayside when one is faced with economic hardship. Maintaining the fiction that all is well if we cut a few corners here and there won’t be enough for many people.

Should you read the book? Yes, if you want some tips on saving money. No, if you need to employ drastic frugal measures due to job loss, medical issues, divorce, etc. The tips she offers and many more tips are found in the Complete Tightwad Gazette, by Amy Dacyczyn.