The Good Life for Less by Amy Allen Clark – A Review and Giveaway {CLOSED}

UPDATE:  The winner is Jessica sagegiveaway@  Congrats!

I’m a big fan of Amy Allen Clark and her blog, Mom Advice.

I listened to her speak at a conference I attended a few years back, and I was impressed by both her outgoing personality and her dedication to putting her family first even as she handles the demands of a large blog and writes a book!

Her new book, The Good Life for Less:  Giving Your Family Great Meals, Good Times, and a Happy Home on a Budget was released earlier this year and is a must read for anyone looking to live a more frugal life or for a newlywed.

Book Features

This book is divided into five chapters:

The Budget:  Make It, Live It, Love It.  As it says, this chapter is all about budgeting.  She goes through the entire process of setting up a budget, double checking bills for errors, and finding ways to cut your budget.  She also offers some great strategies for lowering your expenses.

If you have been frugal for years, you probably won’t find new information here, but for everyone else, there are great strategies to learn and implement.

The Frugal, Generous Kitchen.  Amy is clearly a woman who loves food (and I mean that in a good way), and feeding her family good food is important.  I love her suggestion for a lunch meat substitute.  Plus, what she suggests is a healthier, tastier option.  There are plenty of grocery store savings secrets in this chapter.

Recipes to Prepare and Share.  This section makes up a large portion of the book.  I would have preferred that this section be its own little cookbook sold as a supplement to the book instead of being included in the book.

What I like best about this section is that she explains how to make your own items such as cream of mushroom soup and poultry seasoning so you can save money over buying store bought.  The downside is that many of her recipes are heavy on dairy, so we couldn’t eat the majority of them even if we wanted to.

Good Times:  Holidays, Family Gatherings, and Special Occasions.  In this chapter, you can just feel Amy’s love for her family and her desire to make every day and holidays special for her family.  This chapter includes many suggestions for creating special memories on a budget.  There are also plenty of recipes for DIY fun items for kids like sidewalk paint and treasure stones.

Keep Your House Clean, Welcome and Organized.  Amy’s main thought here is that if you live in a smaller house, you  can save on many expenses.  Living in a smaller house is more pleasurable when you don’t have much clutter.  As someone who struggles with clutter, I loved her suggestions in this chapter.  Her weekly cleaning routine sounds manageable, and I love the recipes for homemade cleaners.

If you are looking to live a more frugal life while not skimping on good times and the ability to create warm memories, this is the book for you.  It is a fairly quick read, meaning you can implement her strategies even quicker.

It is also reasonably priced at $15 for the book or $9.99 for the eBook.

The Giveaway

Penguin, the publisher of The Good Life for Less, has generously agreed to give one lucky Mom’s Plans reader a copy of the book.  To enter, just leave a comment about what section of the book you think you would enjoy most and why.

This giveaway, which is open to U.S. residents ages 18+, ends on February 17, 2013 at 11:59 p.m. CST.  The winner will be chosen via random.org.

I received one copy of this book for review purposes only.  No other compensation was given.  All opinions are my own.