Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 28, 1993 TAG: 9303280220
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Reviewed by WANDA URBANSKA
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Amy Dacyczyn is passionate about parsimony.
While seemingly the entire nation in the 1980s indulged in a collective spending binge, running credit cards and credit lines to the hilt, Dacyczyn (pronounced "decision") developed her own brand of fun in finding new ways to make a penny scream: washing and reusing tin foil and Baggies; scavenging trash (or "treasure hunting") for toys, tools or household goods to use or sell at yard sales; and devising methods of minimizing the use of such American consumer-culture staples as shampoo, toilet paper and gift wrap.
The result of her one-woman frugality crusade - over the course of seven years on her husband's annual salary of less than $30,000 - was to squirrel away a $43,000 down payment on their $125,000 Maine farmhouse; to purchase two new automobiles; to feed and clothe a growing brood that now includes six youngsters; and to found, in June 1990, a newsletter called "The Tightwad Gazette."
Two and a half years and 80,000 subscribers later, that newsletter has become a book by the same name, sold for the Kmart blue-light special price of $9.99 and coming with an unheard-of-in-publishing, money-back guarantee if the book "doesn't show you how to save more than you paid for it."
Unless you're already a zealous skinflint, confirmed simple liver or have never emerged from the Great Depression, chances are you will get your money's worth from this vibrant pastiche offered up in the form of one of Dacyczyn's famous refrigerator stews - a little bit of this, a little bit of that - held together by her trademark humor and cheerful line drawings.
This mix ranges from the author's own analytical articles about the relative merits of buying new vs. used; to whether it's a bargain to make one's own baby formula; to tightwad ethics (Her Frugalness says it's wrong to pinch extra sugars from McDonald's); to the philosophical and environmental components of frugality; to Heloise-style hints from readers, the preponderance of whom are from Maine. One reader writes about reusing paint rollers (by freezing them overnight) while another urges others to save old calendars for reuse in 14 years.
In one of her many astute perceptions about the way Americans squander money, Dacyczyn cites the couple who eat out frequently while complaining that they're unable to save for a down payment on a home: "People commonly make the mistake of spending money on smaller items that are low on their priority list and, as a result, cannot afford the big things high on their list," she writes.
Dacyczyn minces no words about her disdain for such extravagances as brick-pack fruit drinks, Jell-O Pudding Snack Paks, potato chips and McDonald's meals - small-fry items that add up to a bundle in the long run.
Even those of us who fancy ourselves thrifty can find many a workable idea here. Yours truly, for example, has long been stumped by soap slivers. Hating to toss them yet finding it hard to get full purchase during a shower on soap no thicker than a postcard, I seized upon the "Tightwad" solution of bundling all those slivers into the meshing from a used onion bag to make them into a self-styled soap scrubber.
Dacyczyn's promotion of thrift already has spoken to thousands of consumer-overdosed, debt-weary Americans. Though hardly original, the knowledge of frugality has been lost by baby boomers and those younger who were raised by that courtier convenience and are only now beginning to wake up and smell the coffee.
Ironically, now that Dacyczyn has all the answers, she no longer needs them. Her tightwad concept has turned into a cottage industry that has made her rich and famous. The Dacyczyns have paid off the mortgage, her husband has retired from the Navy to become a full-time homemaker and her business, which employs eight, last year grossed more than a million dollars.
Perhaps her next book will explore the pitfalls of prosperity. Its title, "Lifestyles of the Rich and Reluctant."
Wanda Urbanska is co-author with Frank Levering of "Simple Living."
by CNB