Have you ever met someone, and thought to yourself that the two of you are kindred souls, that you just get each other completely? I have a good friend,
Kelly Sangree, and even though we've never met in person, we are very close, since we seem to simply understand how the other one ticks.
Kelly says, though, that she "had a leg up on me", that she knew we'd be good friends, even before we spoke for the first time. She's been a loyal blog reader "since long before you were even gluten free", she says... That means roughly 4 or 5 years, minimum, she's been reading my blog...
Kelly's got three kids, homeschools one and sends another one to school, has a few gluten free members of her household, and is natural minded, super thrifty, DIY, creative gal, who likes to problem solve to figure out innovative solutions for various money related queries... She also manages without a car most of the time, bike riding her super cool cargo bike...
When I need someone to problem solve with, to ask input on for tough dilemmas, Kelly is the one I often turn to, because she has a great head on her shoulders, and I know her advice will usually be spot on.
So when I heard that Kelly wrote a book on frugality, entitled
Hard Core Poor- A Book on Extreme Thrift
, I immediately asked her if I could do a book review, because, knowing her, I knew I'd love her book.
I wasn't wrong.
I have ADD or something similar. Unless a book is a gripping novel, sucking me in, I usually have a hard time getting through books, because something always comes up and distracts me from the book, no matter how much I like the book or the information covered within. (I usually have, at any given time, at least 10 books that I'm in the middle of...) This tends to be especially true with non fiction books...
Kelly's book, though, captivated me in the way only great novels usually can. I've read many finance related books in the past, many that I loved (including
The Complete Tightwad Gazette
,
The Total Money Makeover
, etc...) but none spoke to me as much as the book "Hard Core Poor".
As I read the book, the Kelly I know and love shined through- her wisdom, insight, creativity, and humor, all those things about her that I appreciate (and the reasons I'm proud to call her a friend), come through clearly in the book, making it a real pleasure to read.
You know how they say that a lot of those frugal books and blogs out there are woefully short of actual, practical ideas to help you save money- they usually just say "stop buying those lattes and you'll have extra cash" or focus entirely on couponing, so there isn't much of tangible use that you get out of the book?
Kelly's book has a lot of practical, down to earth ideas that will actually be more useful to you than just "stop buying lattes" or "use coupons".
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Kelly with two of her kids, on her super awesome cargo bike |