Book Review

The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine

One of my goals this year was to finish one fiction and one non-fiction book each month.  Yea!  I have already finished my first.  I recently read The Money Saving Mom's Budget, and I must say I did enjoy it.  To be clear, I gained the most from the first two chapters.  The first two chapters address what you need to do to really gain momentum and keep it going.

The first chapter has you establish three of your most prized financial goals.  Make it as wild and zany as possible.  After that, you should establish a time frame with realistic sums that you can expect to save each month.  Break it down monthly to weekly and even daily if you want to be truly daring.  Look at your current budget and see how you can manage to save that amount of money.  If it doesn't look possible, then adjust your time frame to meet your goals.

The second chapter is about putting first things first.  Establish order in your house and then tackle any financial chaos.  Crystal basically says that making a plan to organize your house and keeping it organized will assure that you will not be late on bills or lose rebates or misplace coupons.  I recently did this to my desk area in our home.  What a difference it has made?  Bills are dealt with on a daily basis because I need my desk space to be clear at night.  This organizational spree has overtaken the house and now beds are made daily, meals are planned, dishes are done, and laundry is sorted, washed, and put away.  This chapter is not an entirely new concept but in a book that one would presume to be about financial matters the chapter was unexpected.

The other chapters dealt with groceries, date nights, and going credit-card free.  If you have ever visited her blog, you know that these are topics that are dealt with daily on her site.  I am a frequent visitor so none of this was entirely new.  I was pleasantly surprised though by the last chapter titled "Embrace Today".  This chapter is about contentment for what you do have and where you are today.  How many of us get caught up in our financial goals and lose sight of what is right in front of us?  I have four lovely children who are happy and loving.  I have a husband who loves me and whom I love.  We are warm in the cold winters and cool in the summers in our home.  Yes, the home is not paid for but we are able to make the payments while still eating.  In this economic climate, that is quite the statement to make and we are truly blessed.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this book.  Just on a side note, Crystal is also donating the proceeds of her book to charity.  This is one book you can feel great about buying.