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Vintage Your Life!: Besser Leben, Weniger Ausgeben Zwischen Küche Und Kleiderschrank (2008)

by India Knight(Favorite Author)

3.72 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

3442171881 (ISBN13: 9783442171880)

languge

English

genre

Nonfiction

publisher

Goldmann

review 1: I thought this would be a good book to read to get some ideas at living cheaper as I embark on my new life of living on a narrowboat. Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything new - many of the tips I already do and the rest weren't relevant to me (things to do with childcare, loans, credit cards, houses etc.). The author makes assumptions that the reader is female and has children - it would have been better if things were sectioned off so you could read the sections relevant to you - but instead it just got my back up. It may well be that the vast majority of her readers are female but I hate stereotyping like this.I started off reading every word but then the author started to annoy me and so I started skimming instead. It's quite middle class. The author is clearly from a... more privileged back ground and talks about buying decent clothes from expensive shops because they last longer and are more ethical. Yes I agree with the author on these points but not everyone can afford to buy from designer shops even knowing that it's worth it in the long run (maybe?!?) and especially as this book is about thrift - seems counter intuitive! She also mentions several highstreet stores which do not use child labour. Again I commend the author for highlighting this to readers although she only does the bare minimum. Three of the stores mentioned were Marks & Spencers, H&M and Gap. Now these stores may not use child labour (at least not at the time the book was published), but Marks & Sparks have all their underwear made in Israel and both H&M and Gap both use Sweat Shops even though they don't have children working in them.The author also did quite a bit of hippy-bashing at times although she did later say that "the hippies were right though" about many things. This is out of order in my opinion.Another thing I found annoying was that the author mentioned something that would help you save money i.e. making yogurt or sewing your own clothes but didn't go in to much detail about them but instead recommended a book which would be quite expensive - this book is about thrift not about having to buy more books - I already have a book habit as it is! And if it weren't for book recs it was endless links to websites - if I had wanted to surf the net for information on thrift, I'd have done so and not borrowed this book from the library.
review 2: I picked up this book at the library as had seen it on Amazon but was not sure that it was worth buying - oh the irony.I did really enjoy the book but it is not one that I would have been pleased to part with money for. The tips in it are all just common sense really although the reason for giving it the higher score is the way in which the book is written. I loved India's descriptive writing which at points I found really funny and all were situations that I could relate to.Overall a good book but don't expect to save mega bucks after reading it, you already know deep down how to save money! less

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