Book Review: The Money Saving Mom's Budget (5 People win a Copy!)

Crystal Paine, of MoneySavingMom.com released her very first book a couple days ago entitled The Money Saving Mom's Budget.

This book is perfect for families or individuals looking for financial help.  The language in which it is written is so simple and down-to-earth that anyone can understand it.  It is written for real people like you and me.  If you're looking for some numerical mumbo jumbo that sounds all fancy-shmancy, don't read this book.  If you're looking for something simple, easy-to-understand, and practical,  read this book!

Unsuspecting readers may confused to find that the second chapter is all about reducing clutter from your life.  If you're wondering how in the world that has anything to do with your finances, you need to read this post over at Amy's Finer Things.  I could completely relate.  Are you starting to understand why this book is so practical and down-to-earth?  Crystal addresses the real issues that need to be addressed regarding our finances.  She starts down at the very foundation of the house before she tries to put the shingles on the roof.

Thanks to great training from both my parents and my husband's, we have never had much of a problem managing our finances or staying out of debt.  But, we can all learn something new, and I found quite a few great little nuggets in this book.  (You know, like how keeping clutter out of the house can help reduce expenses.)  There are tons of little tidbits thrown in there on just about everything you can imagine, from how to save money on eyeglasses to how to save money on your groceries without using coupons to how to make your own homemade cleaners.  Tons, really.  So many that you just need to read the book.

Whether you've already got a good handle on your family's budget or whether this is all new to you, there is enough practical wisdom packed in those 224 pages for every single person who reads this book to learn something new.

One thing in particular that has helped our family is going on a cash budget.  As I mentioned before, we were already doing pretty well managing our finances and we honestly did not think there was anything else we could cut out.  We don't have a landline; we drive a fully-payed-for used car; we do everything that frugal people are supposed to do.  Why in the world should we have switched to a cash budget?  Amazingly, our already crushed-to-the-tiniest-size-possible grocery budget dropped even lower when we switched to spending cash only.  Our savings has increased when we thought there was no more money to squeeze from anywhere.  Crystal explains all the whys and the hows of the cash budget in The Money Saving Mom's Budget, and I guarantee that you will be forever grateful to yourself if you read it and put her advice into practice.

Hopefully I've given you enough reason to grab this book (at the reduced price of only $8.40 right now).  But I'll mention one final thing.  I've been reading MoneySavingMom.com for around 4 years, and I have seen that the contents of this book stem from principles that are lived out in Crystal's life every single day.  She's sharing her own experiences so that others can avoid the hard road of debt or ill-managed finances.  All this is given not in a know-it-all fashion, but in genuine care and concern for others.

You can order a copy of The Money Saving Mom's Budget from Amazon.com or pick it up at your local Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Win  1 of 5 copies!

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