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gift stall - The Thrift Book: Live Well and Spend Less
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List Price: £14.99
Our Price: £7.24
Your Save: £ ( % )
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
Manufacturer: Fig Tree
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Hardcover
EAN: 9781905490370
ISBN: 1905490372
Label: Fig Tree
Manufacturer: Fig Tree
Number Of Pages: 256
Publication Date: 2008-11-06
Publisher: Fig Tree
Studio: Fig Tree
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Thrift-tastic.
Comment: I literally couldn't put this book down once I'd begun, thank you Santa.
I agree with the previous comments that to someone already skilled in the arts of jam making and knitting this book might seem to be stating the obvious, however, I'm in my early twenties and as a shopaholic/ thriftaphobic I gained a wealth of website knowledge and motivation enough to start my own book club(free fun). It might be simple old fashioned common sense, but sometimes we all need a push in the right direction.
Its the start of the new year, get yourself this book and make it your resolution to change your extravagant ways. Highly recommended. Insightful, funny and very well written - a must have for skint students!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Stick to novels India....
Comment: Having read the review by J Williams I couldn't have put it better myself. I have loved India's novels and looked forward to receiving this book for Christmas. However it is sooo Middle Class and sooo southern/Londoncentric. Probably particularly good for yummy mummies of Islington who think it's trendy to make out they are being thrifty but haven't got the slightest notion of what that actually means . I knew I wasn't going to like it when I read the bit about not shopping at posh supermarkets and going on to recommend buying an organic chicken at Waitrose and extolling the virtues of M & S!! When have they been the value options, or is this for folks currently doing the weekly shop at Fortnum & Mason???
The comment about Diane Von Furstenburg dresses was particularly patronising and I was bordering on hysteria when she stated that she wears cheap denim - from Gap!! I'm not sure most of us in the real world would put 'cheap' and 'Gap' in the same sentence
The holiday section barely acknowledged that there is anywhere to holiday in the UK other than Cornwall and are we meant to be impressed that she is saving up to buy a caravan at Camber Sands!!! AKA yummy mummies-by-the-sea!!!
Anyway hurrah for India, may she never have to wear Asda denim, use value loo roll, holiday anywhere north of the home counties, may her thrifty, eco la-de-da life never be cheaper and nastier than a day trip to Paris ooo such a bargain at as little as 59 quid return....
Customer Rating:
Summary: If this doesn't inspire you . . .
Comment: This book is worth reading just for India Knight's brand of bracing prose. The graphics are great and the humour is laugh out loud funny in places. Much of this book is commonsense when you actually study it carefully - but it's useful to have it available all together in one place. There are plenty of web addresses for people to surf and hints at what to search for to track down others. What I thought was really useful was the short section at the end of each chapter which suggested things NOT to scrimp on. The lay out is easy on the eye and it is altogether a well produced book - there are chapters on: food, clothes, crafts, community, having fun, beauty, holidays, home, money and finally emotional thrift. Perhaps this book ought to be set reading for children about to leave school then there would be less debt in the country and fewer social problems.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great tips!
Comment: This is my first India Knight's book and I loved it! I am already a knitter/crocheter/recicler/....but this book gave me lots of inspiration to keep on living well and saving at the same time. I found lots of very helpful websites, like etsy.com and lilylolo.co.uk (for mineral make-up) and lots more. Its especially good for people who live in London. Well done!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Patronising and disappointing
Comment: As a big fan of India Knight and someone who is actively trying to cut back I was delighted when I saw she had written this book. Having read it though I have to say I am quite disappointed. It's written in her usual entertaining style but the content consists mainly of patronising rubbish backed up by endless lists of websites which anyone good at Googling could have put together. It's also clearly aimed at townies/Londoners which is highly annoying for the rest of us. The suggestions for saving money seem to be split into three categories - a) things lots of people already do because they don't have much choice like taking a packed lunch to work or holidaying in the UK, b) 'trendy' ideas that people have actually been doing for years like making jam or handing down clothes and c) 'investment buying' such as the suggestion that you buy one Diane von Furstenberg wrap dress instead of 10 Primark tops which is all very well is you have £200 up front but that's not the case for most of us. She claims to advocate thrifty living but every chapter is packed with references to 'good' food (why do writers/chefs insist on referring to everything in this annoying way? - 'some good olive oil', 'some good bread' etc) and how you should buy organic/natural whether it's food or beauty products. She also contradicts herself, in one chapter suggesting we shop at Lidl because it's cheap then in the next advocating M&S (definitely not cheap) because of their environmentally friendly fishing policies. Most of the tips are common sense such as planning your shopping list and the stuff about joining the WI and knitting scarves for friends are just bandwagon jumping. This could have been a really good and useful book if she'd looked more at why we like spending money so much (10 Primark tops = 10 shopping 'hits') instead of churning out patronising junk and other people's ideas in the hope of cashing in on the current economic climate.
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