Save It (Easy Ways To Save Money)
Red Hen Publishing (Published 2009)
Written By Esta Hammond
Review 4 stars— Excellent Book

How the blurb describes the book:
Do you have debt you need to pay off?

Do you want to get ahead and create a financial buffer?

Would you love to pay off your home loan, save up for something special or take extended time off work?

Every tip that you implement from this book will help you reach your goal faster.

See just how easy it is to save money on everyday things like food and groceries, petrol, cleaning, phones, banking, credit cards, insurance, electricity, beauty, even holidays and entertainment, just to name a few.

Most of the tips in the book are also as beneficial to your health and the environment, as they are for your wallet.

Start saving today so that you can afford the special things in life!

Mr Home Budget's Review:
Esta Hammond does an excellent job documenting some extremely good savings tips. The book is divided into sections, including but not limited to:

Banks
Home Loans
Concessions For Pensioners
Cleaning
Pets
Babies and Children
Presents
Weddings
Home Phones

While this is just a selection of the topics, in total there are 38 sections. Some sections are quite small at only a few pages long. However, Esta picks and gets to the root of the top saving tips for that section/subject. Plus instead of generic ideas we have all heard a thousand times before, she somehow comes up with new saving concepts which a vast majority of the population have probably never thought about.

Be warned though, if you are looking for a full "How To Budget" book from start to finish, this is not that book. However, reading and putting Esta's ideas into practice around your own home can do nothing but good for your money situation. In fact, by using just 10% of the best ideas it should save you hundreds if not several thousands of dollars each year, paying back the cost of the book, many times over.

A few tips which stood out to me included:

"If your kitchen bench tops and cupboards are in outdated colours, instead of replacing the whole kitchen you can order bench tops to your specifications from cabinetmakers. You can also change the colour of your cupboards with special laminate paint designed for this purpose, which you can buy from most hardware stores."

And "Make your own gift hampers. Buy packaged food such as shortbread and jam when it's on sale and then put it in a basket or box and wrap it with cellophane and ribbon. Check use-by dates as sometimes items are on special because they're close to their expiry date and you don't want them out of date by the time you give the present."

And finally "Instead of using the dryer to dry your clothes, find an area in or around your house that can be your rainy-day drying area. You can tie string under your verandah/carport/patio, or use a clothes horse in the laundry. You could even put a tarp over your washing line."

Right at the end of the book Esta touches on how to run a full budget. But this is only a quick skim over of the subject and not an in depth read. You probably will not learn anything but the basics.

The bottom line is the book will have you nodding your head as you read. Each time you see something which you can use in your home, why not write it down right away. Make a goal to implement this new saving tip within 30 days of writing it down. The possibilities could be endless.

Pros:
Covers every subject extremely well and in great depth.
Thinks up ideas, which are simple, yet effective, most ideas can be put into your budget right away.
While some ideas are generic and you have probably heard them a thousand times before, others are very unique and it is doubtful you will know about them.

Cons:
Some of the tips are not 100% saving tips, while they can be useful, they will not save you money.