Two books I've read recently (Stop Acting Rich and 7)
A little while back, I saw that Money Saving Mom was listening to this as an audiobook, so I checked it out from the library.
It was an interesting book, but I felt like it could have been boiled down to maybe about two chapters.
Here, I'll sum it up for you so that you don't have to read it:
1. People who are truly wealthy, with money in the bank, aren't obsessed with labels and brands and status symbols. They buy based on quality and engineering (they drive Toyotas instead of Jaguars.)
2. Most people who are obsessed with labels and brands and status symbols aren't really rich. They have a lot of income, yes, but they're not making headway. They're just breaking even, or maybe not even doing that. He calls them aspirationally rich people.
3. The exception to this rule is the glittering rich, like celebrities, who can afford to live extravagantly and still put money in the bank.
What this all means is that if you want to ever be rich, and you're not on the path to be glitteringly rich, you need to stop acting like aspirationally rich people and live like someone who actually is rich.
Which basically means that you need to be frugal and spend your money wisely.
So, you know, hang around here and catch the frugal bug!
(disclaimer: My main goal in life is not to be rich and I don't think that should be your main goal either. But I do think we should try to spend our money wisely and save for the future, so we shouldn't act like the aspirationally rich.)
I'm not really too sure where I heard about 7.
(probably on a blog somewhere or another.)
It's written by a Christian mom, pastor's wife, and speaker, Jen Hatmaker. She's a funny lady, and so this book was really entertaining.
Fed up with the excess in her life, Jen gave up certain indulgences for a month at a time and she chronicled the journey in this book. For instance, for a month she ate only 7 foods, or wore only a limited number of clothes.
Because she was living the typical suburban life, parts of this year were very challenging for her, and that means this book was written from someone in the trenches, not someone who lives in an ivory tower. So, instead of feeling judged and criticized when you read this, you'll probably feel inspired.
I especially loved the chapter where she focused on living green, because without flinching, she addressed the Christian church's laxness in this area. If you've been submerged in Christian culture, you know that it's not an easy place to talk about eco-friendly living (I actually have a whole post in my head about that!) This should not be the case, and I was so happy to see someone speaking up and telling us we need to change.
Jen manages to be humble even here, though, partly because she was producing a lot of trash before taking on the 7 project.
If you're not a Christian, but are interested in simple living, I think you would enjoy reading this book. Jen isn't preachy, and she's bound to make you laugh at some point. And whether you have warm fuzzy feelings about Christianity or not, it would be hard to hate someone who's trying to live on less so that she can be more generous and help those who are less privileged.
And if you are a Christian, this will be a great read for you. Jen tackles some topics that we don't think much about in our middle-class, suburban churches, and you might find yourself a bit challenged when you get done reading.
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What have you been reading lately? Anything good?
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Joshua's 365 post: Venus Flytrap, in Macro Mode
Thanks for the recommendations, I'll have to check my library to see if they have copies. I'm impressed by the author only eating seven foods for a whole month! That's a pretty limited diet, I imagine that wasn't easy for her? What were the foods, if you don't mind me asking?
Let's see...I know she included eggs, avocados, chicken breast, whole wheat bread, sweet potatoes, spinach, and one other thing. Plus moderate amounts of salt, pepper, and oil.
Oh, I think the last thing was maybe apples?
I agree with Thomas Stanley, author of "Stop Acting Rich." But I think he missed a category. His first category are the old rich, the ones who so clearly have money they don't need to flaunt it, or they don't care what others thinks. Or they do care, but it's about what other old rich think, and flaunting is so declasse, donchano?
The missing category is the nouveaux riches, who really do have money but who feel the need to flaunt it for a number of reasons: if they don't flaunt it people won't know they're rich, or they want to impress people who aren't aware of the subtle indicators of wealth, or (in the words of the old rich) they "don't know any better."
Sidenote: a conversation between two good friends of my acquaintance, one old rich, the other a successful entrepreneur.
Entrepreneur: Alas, the best I can do is become nouveau riche.
Old Rich: Yes my dear, but that beats ancien pauvre (old poor) any day.
Kristen, how does Stanley's book compare to "The Millionare Next Door"?
My last sentence was unclear. How does "The Millionare Next Door" compare to "Stop Acting Rich"?
Well, if I'd read The Millionaire Next Door, I could tell you! 😉
I agree with what Stanley said too, in case I didn't make that clear. I just felt like the book was a LOT of fluff, especially since I know he's written multiple books on this topic (I assume the other ones say much the same thing.)
It's been a while since I have read either book, but I think Stop Acting Rich is basically a re-write/update of The Millionaire Next Door. The take-away messages are basically the same, but Stop Acting Rich is not so over (filled) with data and as I said the data used is more recent.
WilliamB - I think you are dead on about the old rich. It makes me think about my grandparents. Despite neither graduating from college and my grandfather not even finishing high school, when they passed away we were shocked to find out that they had millions of dollars saved. No one would have ever, ever, known that they were so incredibly wealthy.
I think the problem with the Eco-Friendly stuff in Christianity is due in large part to many environmentalists themselves. Many I've encountered place the earth as their deity and view anything we do must honor "Mother Earth" or Gaea. These neopaganists do much to discredit simple common sense things people can and should do that are beneficial to the environment we live in.
I visited a church in town when looking for a new one, I heard a deacon(?) give a prayer not for the sick, the poor, the tired, those in war etc. but for endangered species. My wife and I walked out. These people were worshiping the creation and not the Creator.
"Many I've encountered place the earth as their deity and view anything we do must honor "Mother Earth" or Gaea."
This is parallel to saying "I don't want to give to charity because many who urge this (ie, churches) view that anything we do must honor the Christian God."
Should I stop giving to charity because I don't honor the same diety?
Good response, WilliamB. Plus, I think if the congregation was praying "for endangered species", that's not praying to them and worshiping them, but praying on behalf of them, praying to God that we don't mess up his creation!
That being said, there can be annoying and stiff-necked partisans on any stance on an issue, but why should that keep us from doing the right thing (tip of the hat again to William).?
I should preface this that I don't believe in Global Warming and many of the other policies that the environmentalists want to make us do by fear. There are other motives besides pagan worship of course: socialism is a key motive as is the desire to control "the masses."When people tell me that I am giving cancer to some child because I don't use an "ethically sourced cell phone" or that eating organic bran flakes will make me live forever I'm naturally skeptical.
I am motivated simply by what works and what will save me money. I'll bring my cans and bottles back for the deposit and I'll use reusable grocery bags to get the credit my grocery store gives. I obviously won't dump antifreeze down a storm drain because that would be stupid but at the same time I'm not all brokenhearted that some duck somewhere decided to be stupid and eat a potato chip wrapper.
FWIW, in regards to your straw man, I only donate to Christian based charities.
I disagree with you on the duck...animals aren't smart enough to know that what's floating in the water is trash and not food, and we can't really fault them for that. We, on the other hand, are smart enough to not put trash in the water, so we're culpable when we do.
Hi Battra92. As someone who does care about the environment, I think one can be an environmentalist without subscribing to socialism, paganism or fear-mongering. I definitely roll my eyes at extremists myself, and while I try my best, I often come short of my own ideal and can't always eat organic or recycle every single thing or completely avoid packaging, etc. But I think we can all agree that our public spaces are more pleasant (and safer) to be in without trash littering the grounds, and that regulations are important in preventing factories from dumping toxic chemicals willy nilly into the air and water. I'm a scientist and an atheist - my motivation is simply to preserve as best as we can, the one planet we have for ourselves and future generations.
Also, whether you recognize it as real or not, global warming isn't a policy. 🙂
On the fear-mongering front, I think extremists on both sides tend to be pretty heavy-handed. I'm a Christian (and an environmentalist), but I cringe every time I hear about the next apocalypse or who must be going to hell for x, y, and z. 🙁
For me, there's a point in reading a book like Millionaire Next Door, or Stop Acting Rich. I have teens and a young adult in the house. In my experience, from time to time, young people will feel like they're missing out on something in life, due to their family's financial circumstances.
There's a lot of peer pressure to have the "right" clothes or car, for them. I can tell them over and over that we're putting a priority on things that will matter, like charitable giving, their university education, their health needs.
It's not until I say something like "you know, people who have a lot of fancy stuff, don't necessarily have the money to pay for it, and will wind up with big debt at some time", or "I read that so-and-so never even owned a luxury car, but preferred to live simply", that my own kids will perk up and listen.
That's just my experience. The book 7 sounds like a very interesting read. I'll look for it at my library.
Thanks! 7 looks interesting, and I always appreciate being steered away from books that can just be condensed down to a few bullet points. (I know that a lot of the time, we need stories, background and more details in order for those points to really resonate, but for people who've been engaging with these topics for a while, it's good to know if there's nothing really new there.)
And I also wanted to thank you for your note about 7 - I never want to shy away from a book because I don't share the author's faith, but I also know that there have been times when a book has ended up focusing very heavily on religion when that wasn't what I was going for, so I've adopted a more inquisitive attitude before picking things up. (That said, I think that there are some really interesting discussions that can happen around how different faiths, including Christianity, intersect with ethical frugality, including eco-friendliness, so I'm going to look forward to your post on that!) I really appreciate how you wholeheartedly share your faith-filled life *and* your welcoming embrace of those of us who aren't part of that side of things by making observations like these.
So I've been thinking about reading 7 for a while now, but this post finally got me to bite the bullet and order it. I'm already in semi-extreme-purge mode, but I think this could push me over the edge to just get rid of stuff!
Yay!!
I find it interesting that the default most people see is that you are either Christian or an environmentalist. I am both, as I see that my faith dictates that I care for all of God's creation: this planet that He so lovingly gave us to live on, the other species that He took time to make, and my brothers and sisters around the world that Jesus tells us we should love. My actions directly and indirectly affect the health of everybody (look up cancer rates on farmworkers, or the health of those living near plastic factories, or the asthma rates of children who live close to landfills). I am not worshipping creation, I am committed to not destroying God's creation and people.
Like Jennifewr B. I am both a Christian and an environmentalist. There is a huge overlap between frugality and environmentalism and if you are frugal you can sometimes choose to be more environmental, even when it is more expensive, because of your generally frugal choices. I first learned that idea when I read the Tightwad Gazette many years ago (pre-blog days).
Yes, indeedy. Totally agree.
Thanks for these reviews, Kristen. I'm going to add 7 to my library hold list.
Dang! It's not in my library. On to Plan B.
Boo. Did you check used books at Amazon or half.com?
I did check Amazon, but I am currently in an anti-Amazon mood. Also checked the interlibrary loan and it wasn't there either. Forgot about half.com. So went with the possible corporate giant in another country instead of the corporate giant here. 🙂
My local store, Powells, didn't carry it either, so then I went to bookdepository.com - a UK based online book store that has worldwide free shipping and discount prices (good if you send gifts to other countries). Just discovered they have a wonderful feature - you can click on "video" and they show what books people are buying from faraway places. You could sit and stare for hours (Dance with Dragons went to Malta!).
Katy - is this Powells in Chicago or in Portland, Or? The Chicago store is nice but if it's Portland then I'm envious.
You can also try Barnes & Noble online or interlibrary loan.
Never mind re interlibrary loan, I'm not reading well today it seems.
Yes, I am one of those lucky Portlanders! You can buy from Powells online and you can also sell your books to them online. Also, if this is a value of yours, there used to be a way, and probably still is, to buy through the website of the union for the bookstore workers. I think a small amount goes into some sort of fund for them.
In my opinion, Powell's is one of our state's greatest attractions, next to the Columbia Gorge and the Pacific Coast, of course! 🙂
I'm proud to say "I think I recommended 7 to you Kristen!" back in July. I picked it up at a garage sale and loved it. I'm not Christian (I'm Muslim) but I totally identified with it and loved her humour, humbleness and the spiritual aspects of it.
Oh, it was you, then! Thank you. 🙂
Hi, interesting book reviews - I especially like the look of your first choice. I'm rather late arriving on your blog but there's one book (by an American, which has to be an odd choice from a Brit!) that I think is fantastic, and that is Depletion and Abundance by Sharon Astyk. I bet you know it!
Nicola http://homemadekids.wordpress.com
I have recently read "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrne. An interesting book about self help that expands on the law of attraction.
Thanks. I just ordered 7 for my iPad.
The way I look at the intersection of faith (any faith) and environmentalism is similar to something that you once wrote Kristen, which really clarified it for me.
An environmentally friendly approach to living is best viewed as stewarding the gifts that God has given us. Simple as that.
Amen.
Well said! I'm proud that our small town Methodist Church does a great job teaching our children to care for the earth, and it helps that the church practices what they preach. 🙂
I just listened to Tim Keller's sermon, 'Can Faith Be Green'. One of the best discussions I've heard about Christianity and the environment.
http://sermons2.redeemer.com/sermons/can-faith-be-green
I've put 7 on my reading list for Christmas break.
Thank you! I do love Tim Keller, so this will be good, I'm sure.
I started reading Stop Acting Rich but found it to be a book that would have been better in a world where people write to the natural length of an idea. Which is not 75,000 words for all ideas. I think 10,000 words would have sufficed. But my fundamental problem with both it and the Millionaire Next Door was the morality-tale aspect of looking at wealth. In this narrative, "real" millionaires prefer to wear thrift store finds, while people who wear/drive flashy stuff must not actually be wealthy. The price of consumer goods represents a very, very small part of the net worth of anyone with a net worth of 8-figures or above. You can spend $3000 on a purse and it's a blip in one's wealth -- a 15-minute fluctuation in the stock market. It could be that you're trying to impress people, or it could just be that you saw it and liked it. It doesn't actually have to mean anything. Doesn't Dave Ramsey drive a Jag, by the way? He mentions buying one (used) in one of his books.
Yes. This expectation that every topic needs to be expanded to fill a whole book is a little silly. Then you end up with books that are 50% filler, and it makes for a non-interesting read.
Once I've completed 'The Road Less Travelled and Beyond" I'll download 7 - I love the book cover alone....
Yay! My library has "7". Thanks for the suggestion.
Just started reading 7, it is soooo good, thank yo so much, I cant wait to read more later today : )