Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

In the book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture, Ellen Ruppel Shell writes about how the United States' retail culture has gone from one of value to one of low prices/low quality. And while in today's economy everyone is trying to save a buck, these "savings" start to translate into lost jobs and industries for the USA.

Shell makes a seeming dry topic very interesting - her writing style is clear and concise and her examples allow the average consumer to understand the "bait and switch" game that is going on. Among the chapters, she talks about; the rise of outlet stores that have nothing to do with their corporate parents - except in perceived value, the notion that IKEA is a green company - it's wood suppliers are among the worst in terms of ecology violations, the recent scandal of poisonous toys coming from China and the impact that all this outsourcing of goods is having on foreign workers and American jobs.

If you consider yourself to be frugal or an informed consumer - you should read this book. Worth the time and an enlightened read. It might change the way you shop.

Bitter is the New Black

Jen Lancaster is not a nice person sometimes. Come on and sit next to me, sister! In her memoir Bitter is the New Black: Confessions of a Condescending, Egomaniacal, Self-centered Smart Ass, or Why You Should Never Carry a Prada Bag to the Unemployment Office - yeah what a subtitle - she tells it like it is. She goes from being a "on her way up the corporate ladder" yuppie/shopaholic to being an unemployed mess, and trying to recover from the downfall. In the meantime, she marries her long term boyfriend (for the gifts - their broke, but the fact that the hotel where they have it is having a porn convention is a stitch), gets a pair of dogs that like to chew her expensive footwear, and starts a website to get rid of the frustrations. And that website catches on. And thus a writing career is born.

This book is a combination of many things. It's a a study of employment dos and don'ts, job searching dos and don'ts (if they tell you they want you to work on a pretend business plan and come back for another interview - they really are just scamming you out of a consulting fee - cause they are going to steal it if it is good.), and learning how to live within your means. Along the way you have the wacky family stories (her mother being hungover the day of the wedding - insisting she only had one glass of wine - that kept getting refilled), the touching moments between Jen and Fletch (he's a keeper!), and an example of what not to do while your drinking too much (phone calls are bad). It is also a book about the myth of the American dream that mass marketers want everyone to spend their money and time achieving. She learns that one the hard way. But everything is done with humor and being a smart ass doesn't help sometimes - but it sure is funny.

Take the Office, mix it with Bridget Jones, with the acidity of Seinfeld, and add Chicago and there you will have this book. Cause you know it is all about Jen. Very funny. I can not wait to read the next one.

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver (with Stephen L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver) is a book about family: her family, the farming and agricultural family, and the family of men. (And it is written with her family - her daughter provides the recipes and nutrition segments, her husband, the food industry issues.) Can one family of four sustain themselves on locally grown food for a year? That is the question that Kingsolver and her family attempt to solve. It helps that they live on a farm in southwest Virginia, but they "survive" by growing and raising their own food, going to local farmer's markets and seeing where items are grown in their local stores. Her segment on turkey reproduction is very funny and scary. Funny - from her descriptions - scary, when you realize that certain breeds no longer reproduce naturally at all - it is bred out of the birds.


Do they make - sure. Is it easy? Not so much, but the tone in which Kingsolver writes just guides you through the seasons. She does not have the stridency of a convert, for she writes about their dilemmas and "must have" items (coffee for the adults, mac and cheese for the kids and their friends) with candidness. But she gives the reader hope that the food environment is changing-back to food grown in healthy ways for both the farmer and pickers and the eaters. And she provides resources and recipes to help the average folk contribute along their path. As someone who grew up with a large vegetable garden and canning, I really liked how she handled the whole topic of raising your own food. I was very impressed by her writing - I think I need to try one of her other writings. A great thoughtful read.

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America is a book authored by Barbara Ehrenreich. Ehrenreich when railing against polices in the current presidential administration, tells her editor that some one should do a book on the jobs of working class people. He tells her she should write it. And thus began the idea for the book. She puts her regular life on hold and takes various jobs to see if she can live the American Dream for a month on those wages. To vary the experiment she goes to different states - Florida, Maine and Minnesota. She uses her maiden name and does not list that she has a degree on her job application. She has other limitations and personal restrictions, but ends up with these jobs: waitress, an nursing home aide, a cleaning lady, and a retail worker in a Walmart.

Within this book, she points out some interesting things about this working world - the rise of testing - both drug and psychological in the hiring process. How workers are so busy with the struggle of living that they really don't have time or money for anything else. And that most are unaware of the rights they have as workers. She writes of her co-workers with compassion, and a bit of guilt, for she realizes that if it were not for her college education, as a middle aged woman this would probably be her working world.

The hardest part of this book is realizing that for most of us - we are only a few paychecks away from living this kind of daily struggle. Very thought provoking, and makes one appreciate what one has, and it will make you leave a bigger tip at the next restaurant you go to. You may not appreciate her politics, but you will realize that for some, the American dream is far off. A very good book.

Feeling the Budget Pinch? Shopping, Money and America

By coincidence, I ended up reading two books on the topic of spending money. And as one ended up supporting the other - it worked out quite well. The first title was Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping by Judith Levine. Levine took the challenge of having her and her sig other, just buy what they needed - not what they wanted, for a year. It becomes a fascinating study of minutiae - is a Q-Tip really not a necessity? (I think they are necessary!)What about a fancy mustard or new shoes to replace worn ones? How does one can convince oneself that you really NEED an item?

She finds that just deciding these things can be exhausting, and that shopping for some has become an extension of oneself. She goes into a lot of buying psychology and investigates the simplicity movement. She is not rich, although she does have two residences in which they both work from home, which complicates matters. Does she save more in NYC or Vermont? But in Vermont, they need to drive. You find yourself cheering her on, as the urge to cut back and enjoy the little things, really does start to happen. They are not saints - they have some failures, and you may think their neccessities are frivilous. In the end, she makes you want to try it (kinda like going through Lent for a really long time) and she succeeds in saving $8000. Could you do it?

To continue in this anti-consumerism mode, the book, Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic by John De Graaf, David Wann and Thomas H. Naylor is a funny and serious look (yes, they can be in the same book) at consumers in American society today. Originally, the book was meant to go along with a PBS series of the same name. This version is a updated second edition. It is interesting that the term "affluenza" has now entered the mainstream - a google search gets many hits and not all from the U.S.

For someone who has not looked at the concept of over consumerism and the simplicity movement - this might be a great place to start. With it's facts, figures, stories and interviews; it tells the tale of how life improvement became the concept of getting more stuff. For those wanting to take the serious plunge of consuming less, this might inspire you to keep you on the path of curing your affluenza. Well written - and they made the economics easy to understand.

After September 11th, the general public was told to go shopping to keep up the economy. If you thought that was a bit goofy or wacked, these might be the books for you.