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| The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches: A Practical (and Fun) Guide to Enjoying Life More by Spending Less | 
 enlarge | Author: Jeff Yeager
Publisher: Broadway
Category: Book
List Price: $12.95
Buy New: $6.82
You Save: $6.13 (47%)
Buy New/Used/Collectible from $6.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  (74 reviews)
Sales Rank: 47343
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.1 x 0.8
ISBN: 0767926951
Dewey Decimal Number: 332.024
EAN: 9780767926959
ASIN: 0767926951
Publication Date: December 26, 2007
Release Date: December 26, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
It used to be that ?stuff? made you cool. That is so twentieth century. Jeff Yeager, the man dubbed The Ultimate Cheapskate by Matt Lauer on Today, offers a completely fresh take on personal finance, teaching us how to enjoy life more by spending less. He will show you how to buy less stuff, retire young, and live financially free, while you make a positive difference in people?s lives and save the planet along the way. The Ultimate Cheapskate?s Road Map to True Riches lays out the practices and principles that have made cheap the new cool.
Live within your means at thirty and stay there. The Ultimate Cheapskate was living well on what he earned at thirty, so when he made more money, he saved every penny. Now he is ?selfishly? employed, doing work he loves and helping others.
Do for yourself what you could have others do for you. Cheapskates are die-hard do-it-yourselfers. It?s all about having the right tools, and The Ultimate Cheapskate will get you started.
Pinch the dollars and the pennies will pinch themselves. It?s not the $3 cup of coffee; it?s the big-ticket decisions that determine whether you?ll be financially free. So buy a house, not a castle.
The Ultimate Cheapskate?s Road Map to True Riches promises a quality of life you cannot buy, a sense of satisfaction you cannot fake, and an appreciation for others and for the planet that gives life value. Open your road map and prepare to discover the true joys of financial freedom.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 69 more reviews...
 Loved it - He's both cheap and green, funny too. November 16, 2008
This is the rare finance book that instead of concentrating on gathering more, more, more, reminds us to be happier with less, less, less.
We have a great collection of board games, and we spend so much time either at work, or worn out from work that we have a hard time getting around to playing them.... how sad is that?
Laugh-out-loud funny, throughout this wonderful sage book October 22, 2008
I loved the sauciness. Lots of off-color jokes here, racy stuff, but not offensive to me at all , a female as you can see.
This book is indeed a scream. And, well, I loved where the author is coming from, of course, too. Frugality, he in essence explains, is not only easy on the wallet, it's a moral thing, also. Consumption is hard on the planet. His statistics on oil use for our cars, etc., gave me pause.
It was refreshing to hear a guy boldly give credence to the simple (cheap) pleasures in life. But more than this, he gives us perspective on what is truly valuable.
Today it's predatory lenders who have descended upon the land, and we have them to blame for the economic mess we're in today. Now, blame is good. But after that, you just need to protect yourself from the predators. And Yeager explains clearly why it's not a good thing to be in debt, tax breaks (on homes) notwithstanding.
Now, I'm a bit like this Yeager guy, bike rider, cheapskate, but I learned a lot reading this book. And it didn't hurt that this one is just so darn funny. Can I meet you, Jeff? I'd like to be your friend like everyone else and his brother.
101 Reasons Why I'm A Vegetarian
The Zen of Cheap October 18, 2008
This book should be compulsory reading, not simply during these economically exciting times but, perhaps more appropriately, during our days of fiscal fecundity. For Jeff Yeagar is not concerned with the miserly pinching of pennies as a means of accruing more and more wealth, his goal is to free us from our infantile dependency on money and help us get the green monkey off of our backs.
To this end, Yeager gently and humorously takes us by the hand and leads us, one step at a time, away from the dysfunctional (some might say, abusive) relationship we have with money to demonstrate how we can become the dominant partner. (Leather jodhpurs and riding crop, one must suppose, are optional, but if you do insist, pick them up at a thrift sale.)
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Yeager's ideas are as simple as they are radical and he conveys them through folksy anecdotes and witty writing. At the very least, one must accept his sincerity (obsession?). While it's hard to imagine another human being adopting all of the behaviors espoused in the book, full adherence is unnecessary; you need only to take on board a few of the principles to greatly improve your life and your relationship with money, which, let's face it, is your life.
Buy this book; after you read it, you may never buy another (that's what libraries are for).
 Cheap is Chic!--Learn how to live on less but enjoy life more! October 11, 2008
Cheap is Chic and Fun too!!! That's the overall message of a truly unique book on the topic of saving money and living frugally. I thought I had read every book out there on money management and was amazed to find a book that actually had something new to say on the topic. Jeff Yeager's book, "The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches" was a total surprise to me! He doesn't just show you how to save money, but he challenges you to consider a whole new lifestyle..one of truly living more and spending less. If you are tired of working long hours to earn a living, being frazzled at the end of the day, and then wondering where all the money went, then this is the book for you.
We are a family of six who has been living on the same income for 10 years. Why? Because we wanted a better quality of life than the rush-rush-spend-spend modern day rat race. We wanted to have Daddy and Mommy home more and we wanted to spend time truly mentoring and being involved in the lives of our children. So my husband turned down the lucrative business opportunity that came up right after graduation, and ended up in computer programming...from home! He has never made a lot of money in the small company he works for..but it has always been enough.
The idea of Enough is a concept Jeff Yeager really wants you to wrap your mind around. How much is 'enough' for you? JUST A LITTLE MORE... is most people's answer, according to Jeff. Just as he suggested, we discovered that by lowering that figure, we could live our lives the way we wanted to without worrying about the money so much. That is a big part of what this book is about.
On the practical side, Jeff gives you lots of great ideas on how to save money in his book. He suggests putting more energy into saving money on the 'big purchases' in life, rather than sweating over every penny. He challenges you to try the cheapest fitness program ever, "doing it yourself" which will not only save money, but should get you into shape too! There are even more great ideas packed into this little book, but he takes it one step further and that's where this book truly leaves the rest behind.
He asks us to get to the root of the problem--out of control spending-- by asking yourself a few key questions. Why do you spend money in the first place? Is money a means to an end..or the end itself? Is getting more and saving more really what defines your life? Will it make your quality of life better? In our culture, we have been advertised at and lied to and told that we need more, bigger, better, and newer to make us truly happy. We don't! Jeff Yeager is giving voice to a new revolution--the idea of skipping "the Money Step"! We need to turn off our TV's and 'just say no' to the advertisers that promote discontent.
He asks you to reconsider your pursuit of working more to save more or spend more. He wants you to ask yourself, "What would I do if I had more time?" Most of the answers we would give have very little to do with money. If we learn to live on less, we don't have to work as much or at least not at such stressful 80-hour-a-week jobs, and instead we can embark on the adventure of living life to the fullest. He suggests that doing it yourself more will not only save money, but increase your quality of life and your health. What better message could we give our kids than the self-respect that comes from being more independent and learning to 'make do' and live without. We need to teach them how to measure the value of life more by the things you do and the people you love, than by the money you make, the clothes you wear, or the car you drive.
On the minus side, I have to agree with some of the other reviewers, that even though some of the stories in his book are absolutely hilarious, the crude humor and sexual references really detract from his message. For that reason alone, as a Christian, I have to put a disclaimer on my reference. But his message of 'skipping the money step' is eye opening, challenging, and timely. He admittedly doesn't deal with the costs of child-raising and over estimates the cost of doing so. But I can promise you that his principles work with raising kids as much as any other endeavor. As homeschoolers, we discovered, years ago, that you can raise your kids on way less, even as teenagers, than what most people think.
Negatives aside, this book is worth every penny, if you are willing to respond to the challenges he gives you, to get out of the rat race and start living again. And if you want to save a bunch of money and put it in the bank..well that's fine too! But have fun doing it!
a different spin than most September 24, 2008
What I like most about this book is the emphasis on living well by spending modestly, rather than striving to earn more and buy more. There are some helpful exercises to help put things in perspective and then to start saving.
Yeager reminds us of how good even modest-income Americans have it, and encourages charitable giving and being environmentally aware.
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