Be Thrifty: How to Live Better with Less. This item is unavailable.Be Thrifty: How to Live Better with Less

It all starts with a penny. An indispensable omnibus for graduates sharing their first apartment, young families stretching a dollar, retirees, students, frugalistas (the fashionably frugal), career-changers, and anyone who wants to cut back and needs ideas for how to get started, Be Thrifty offers positive solutions for every facet of our lives, covering food, health, finances, entertainment, education, travel, clothing, pets, and those often costly special occasions from a big family Thanksgiving to getting married.

Be Thrifty is not about being cheap—it's about being smart and self-sufficient. Drawing on the work of experts in every field, it shows how to cut your food bills, cut your credit card debt—cut your own hair. Financial writers explain how to create a budget, and the thriftiest ways to invest in the market (thrifty people are savers, and savers need to make their money work hard). Professional chefs give step-by-step advice for shopping for the cheapest, tastiest ingredients—and offer recipes that put those ingredients to good use, from homemade Chinese "take-out" to the frugal barbecue. There are also tips on creating a home spa; why beeswax candles burn the longest; the twenty best bottles of wine for under $10; tips for building a budget music collection, including how to buy from a flea market with confidence; how to sell your home without a realtor; the adjustable-wrench guide to home plumbing repair; how to make your own fresh mozzarella for less than half the cost of an Italian deli's brand; the basics of negotiating a killer rate on a car; keeping your clothes looking great without a trip to the dry cleaner; unspooling old sweaters and repurposing the wool; the stuff you should buy in bulk and the stuff you shouldn't; how to outfit a nursery; and much, much, much more.

Thrift—the word derives from thrive. Be Thrifty—it's how to thrive, and feel good and virtuous about it, too.

Pia Catton is a journalist and the coauthor of The Comfort Diner Cookbook. She lives in Washington, D.C.

Califia Suntree is a writer and editor based in Portland, Oregon. She writes about food at spooningblog.com.