BOOK REVIEW: LIVING RESOURCEFULLY, YET VERY WELL

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Living Resourcefully, Yet Very Well, by Susan A. Mahalick (Amazon.com, 2012).
 
Book Review by Dennis Moore
 
July 15, 2012 (San Diego)--Susan Mahalick, an expatriate who grew up in New Jersey and later lived in Iowa before moving to Baja California,  has written a thoughtful and practical guide to being frugal and resourceful.  Living Resourcefully, Yet Very Well is a book based on her own personal learning and life experiences, starting when she was a little girl. She indicates in this well written and thought provoking book that  she learned to save from a very young age and still remember her “little bank book.”
 
Now living in Baja California (Mexico), because she, “ can’t possibly afford to live in San Diego,” like me and so many other Americans living south of the border, she has mastered  the art of Living Resourcefully, Yet Very Well.
 
Susan states in her book, “My rent is $300 a month for a place with a fantastic view. The air is clean. The food much cheaper than in California and eating out is even totally possible. I can get a shrimp burrito and a glass of good beer for under $5 any day of the week at a seaside restaurant with waves crashing up over the rocks in plain view.”
 
I have actually enjoyed the same experience as the author.  Her credo is: “Always live within your means, and do not think you need that bigger house or better car.”
 
 
 
This quick read offers helpful advice and hints at frugality, such as:
  • Research the big purchases
  • Do the same with insurance every year to see if you get the best deal
  • Educate yourself on the types of loans available
  • Buy good clothes that are not the latest fashion trend and take good care of them
  • Barter skills you have for something you need
  • Have a friend pick up items for you. Offer to do the same for that friend
  • Recycle everything you can
  • Paper towels-- do you REALLY need them?
  • Do your own beauty salon services at home
  • Storage units are a waste of money unless it is a temporary situation
  • Get a roommate or more than one if you have the extra room
  • Gambling is a great way for the establishment to make money. Don’t do it
  • If you live in a foreign country, look at what insurance programs they offer. (I have found Mexican health insurance to be very affordable.)
 
I have already started implementing some of Susan’s helpful advice, and recommend this book to others.
 
Dennis Moore has been a freelance contributor to the San Diego Union-Tribune  newspaper, EURweb and the Baja Times. He is the author of a book about Chicago Politic: “The City That Works: Power, Politics and Corruption in Chicago. He is a resident of Baja California. Moore can be contacted at Damien_brandy@yahoo.com or you can follow him on Twitter at: @DennisMoore8.

 


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Comments

Living Within Our Means

This very well written book is indeed an alert to everyday wasteful spending...beyond our needs and beyond our means.  It is a need-to-read that will awaken you as it did me.  The list Dennis Moore's super review has given on "ways to save" covers the headliners.  The surrounding details are an awakening indeed.  I recommend highly as both an enjoyable read and a financial life lesson needed by the great majority.  Thank you, Susan Mahalick, for the dedication and effort given to this book topic.           

 

Kindle not necessary

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