A little while back, I posted an Instagram photo of these books and people asked which ones were good and which weren’t. I have these books to inspire me and remind me to do certain things – and some people were interested to see just how helpful I found them. Some are more helpful than others but I will go into each book, one by one – and give you some positives and negatives. Here I bring you the best and the worst of the money saving and money making books currently in my possession.
The Family Manager Takes Charge (Kathy Peel) – available here
This isn’t primarily a money saving book nor is it primarily a money making book. This book is actually designed to ‘get on the fast track to a happy, organised home’. What this book does have to offer however is everything you need to get on top of your finances and be as organised as you want to be. By making sure you are on top of your finances, you are bound to save money! I dip in and out of this when needing some inspiration and this really does help. Some sections aren’t relevant to me but that is generally the way with most organisational books or blogs.
ProBlogger: Secrets For Blogging Your Way To a Six Figure Income (Darren Rowse & Chris Garrett) – available here
There are so many blogging books around yet this one hardly gets mentioned anymore, in favour of books such as Blog Inc. Whilst I never started blogging with the intention of earning an income from it, I am lucky enough to be able to do so and when searching for books on blogging, I came across this one. Darren Rowse is perhaps better known as the man who launched ProBlogger.net in 2004. He has a wealth of blogging knowledge and whilst some of the information he shares may not be that easy to understand for newer bloggers, other bloggers should be able to utilise his techniques to their own advantage.
Get Rich Blogging (Zoe Griffin) – available here
I found out about this book a long time ago via London Beauty Queen and was interested to see what fresh ideas Zoe had. Whilst the information she gives is sometimes more relevant to the UK audience than other blogging books, most of the book tells us exactly what we already know, even when first starting out. It’s worth a read but please don’t expect to learn too much from it.
The Greatest Guide To Winning Competitions (Karen J Jones) & Winning Consumer Competitions (Kathy Kantypowicz) – available here & Kathy’s is available here
You may be wondering why I have included competition books. I love to enter competitions and these can often save you money – and even make you money at times. Where does the saving come in? When you win something you would have been buying anyway! Where does the making come in? When you win cash prizes! I recently read a fantastic post on Young Adult Money where David Carlson talks in more depth about making money through giveaways. Whilst both of my books are a little outdated now, the best one is surely the Winning Consumer Competitions book – I know Di also owns a copy– as it was the book that got me interested in comping when I was about 11!
The Money Diet – available here / Thrifty Ways For Modern Days –available here / The Three Most Important Lessons You’ve Never Been Taught –available here – all by Martin Lewis
I make no secret of the fact that I use Martin’s website moneysavingexpert.com and that I always try to catch his TV shows when they are on. The knowledge he has is astounding and this shows in his books. By far the best is definitely The Money Diet, giving you a number of ways to save up to £6000 a year! Thrifty Ways…is a handy little book of money saving tips from the fantastic community on the MSE forums and the book I like the least, The Three Most Important Lessons, is basically a rehash of everything Martin has said previously so not as great as the other two. I know that The Money Diet has helped me; I hope it can help you.
The Thrift Book (India Knight) – available here
My least favourite book of them all. There are some handy money saving tips in here – however, I find India’s tone often comes across as patronising and the majority of the tips are rehashed from other books such as those by Martin Lewis who I personally think is the better authority on the subject.
What books do you feel are the best and worst for money saving and money making? Do let me know in the comments below.
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I will definitely be adding some of those books to my ‘to read’ list, I think you did a list on your blog a while ago & I discovered some great books on your advice from that post too so thanks 🙂