All of a sudden, it’s chic to be cheap on a printed sheet.
Spurred by a burst of publicity about a Maine housewife who started a homespun newsletter for frugal folks in 1990, closet cheapskates have emerged during the last two years to start up as many as 35 no-frills newsletters that tout tightwaddery. Most are desktop-published jobs that are short on graphic artistry but long on good advice and self-deprecating humor.
With recession-weary consumers and President Clinton’s “shared sacrifice” pitch setting a national tone of thriftiness, newsletter publishers foresee a growing acceptance of their parsimonious punditry on the printed page.
“It’s actually not so much the money-saving ideas that people buy my newsletter for; it’s actually a monthly frugal infusion that supports their lifestyle,” says Amy Dacyczyn, publisher of the Leeds, Maine-based Tightwad Gazette, the monthly newsletter that helped launch the boom in penny-pincher publishing.
An appearance on “Donahue” and a cover story in Parade magazine helped launch Dacyczyn and her newsletter to national prominence, boosting Tightwad Gazette’s circulation past the 100,000 mark at one point last year. Since then, circulation has dropped to a steady 60,000 subscribers, but renewals are strong, says Dacyczyn, who also goes by the moniker “The Frugal Zealot.”
Tightwad Gazette is filled with tips that range from the practical (for example, “10 Painless Ways to Save $100 this Year”) to the downright stingy (“The $64,000 Question: How DO You Recycle a Vacuum Cleaner Bag?”).
In preparing her newsletter each month, Dacyczyn also spends an “amazing amount” of time calculating out items such as whether using cloth napkins is really more cost-efficient than using paper. (Not surprisingly, cloth is, but not by much, Dacyczyn says.)
“The point of the Tightwad isn’t to help people decide whether they should use cloth or paper, but to teach them to calculate things on their own,” she says.
While Tightwad Gazette is filled with calculations and strategies for squeezing every penny out of a dollar, other newsletters take different approaches.
California-based Cheapskate Monthly preaches living comfortably within one’s means by offering straightforward advice on subjects ranging from couponing to cooking and from finding freebies to finance. Above all, Cheapskate Monthly strives to teach people to live up to its credo: “Bringing dignity to the art of living within one’s means.”
“My newsletter encourages people to shine some light into the dark corners of their lives and figure out where they’re spending their money each day,” says Cheapskate publisher Mary Hunt, who started the newsletter in January, 1992, as a way to generate some extra income to help pay off the more than $100,000 in unsecured consumer credit she ran up before her husband lost his job as a banker.
“I hit bottom,” she says, “and while every little bit counts, I can tell you that recycling aluminum foil was not going to change my life at that point.”
What did work for Hunt, who also works as a commercial real estate broker, is what her newsletter is all about. Hunt says people need to figure out exactly where they spend and then define the items in life that are essential versus optional. “When you really get down to it, optionals are what take up your money,” she says.
Jackie Iglehart also started her newsletter, The Penny Pincher, out of necessity, after her husband’s salary was cut by $20,000 in a corporate restructuring. As its title implies, Iglehart’s newsletter is about pinching pennies and trying to show people how to get high quality for less money, she says.
“Our philosophy has always been that we’ve pinched pennies in one area in order to spend in other areas,” says Iglehart, whose newsletter offers tips that range from common sense to uncommon (“Call up a funeral home and ask them for their leftover flowers”).
Likewise, Live Better for Less doesn’t tell readers where to get the cheapest quality, says Chicago-based publisher Anitra Earle. Instead, Earle writes about getting better quality for the same amount of money that Brand X costs as well as taking care of what you’ve already got. Sample stories deal with topics such as taking care of cashmere sweaters.
For her part, Florida-based publisher Melodie Moore preaches “saving dollars not saving pennies” in her Skinflint News, which grew out of a tip sheet that her husband’s large family used to pass among each other. Today, Skinflint’s circulation has grown to nearly 50,000 by offering full-length stories (“Free Program for Prescription Drugs”), shorter Skinflint Tips from readers, and Skinflint Kitchen Test recipes from readers such as Cajun chef Paul Prudhomme.
Living Cheap News, published by Californian Larry Roth, is aimed at busy people who want to save money.
“When you get right down to it, knowing how to re-use dryer lint and how to recycle orange juice tops really doesn’t make sense for a lot of people,” says Roth, explaining his philosophy of providing easily accessible ideas that can save money for people on the run.
With the success of on-the-cheap newsletters, it’s probably not surprising that the next level of tightwad trendiness seems to be started already, with penny-pinching publishers parlaying their success into book contracts, calendars, merchandise and appearances on TV talk shows. Can “Lifestyles of the Tightfisted and Frugal” be far behind?
Dacyczyn’s first book, “The Tightwad Gazette,” was published last January. Hunt’s “The Best of the Cheapskate Monthly” debuted in February.
Ever the tightwad, Dacyczyn offers this advice to prospective buyers of her book, which carries a $9.95 price tag: “Some of the warehouse stores sell it for $7.”
Good advice, but not as candid as Living Cheap editor Roth is about his own book, “Living Cheap: The Survival Guide for the ’90s” (Ropubco, $14.95). “If you’re really trying to live cheap,” he says, “get it from the library.”
TIGHTWAD PUBLICATIONS
The Tightwad Gazette, RR1, Box 3570, Leeds, Maine 04263-9710, 207-542-7962. $12 for 12 eight-page issues a year.
The Penny Pincher, Box 809, Kings Park, N.Y., 11754, 516-724-1868. $12 for 12 eight-page issues a year.
Living Cheap News, Box 700058, San Jose, Calif., 95170, 408-257-1680. $12 for 10 four-page issues a year.
Live Better for Less, Ondine Press, 21 E. Chestnut St., Chicago, Ill., 60611, 312-642-3493. $12 for 12 two-page issues per year.
Skinflint News, 1460 Noelle Blvd., Palm Harbor, Fla., 34683, 813-785-7759. $9.95 for 12 eight-page issues a year.
Cheapskate Monthly, P.O. Box 2135, Paramount, Calif., 90723, 310-630-8845. $12.95 for 12 eight-page issues per year.
