Author Amanda Kintz recently sent me a copy of her book titled “Dirt Cheap Adult – A Millennial’s Guide to Life on a Budget” for a book review.
Who is Amanda Kintz?
Amanda Kintz is a lifestyle blogger who is the founder of CrunchyHippieLife.com. She mainly blogs about “crunchy living” which is considered natural health, frugal finance, and eco-friendly living. She has been blogging since 2013 sharing tips on these topics with her readers. She’s also an RN.
What is this book about?
Her book “Dirt Cheap Adult – A Millennial’s Guide to Life on a Budget” is a story about her lifestyle journey she has been on since 2013.
Amanda depicts how in her first year of marriage their household income was only $16,000 and she also had debt. Her book also details how she skimmed, saved, and budgeted down to the penny to become debt-free.
Over the course of several years Amanda was able to attain financial freedom, pay off student loans, sponsor two children overseas, and also live a very budget-conscious healthy lifestyle.
What I love about this book
What I love about this book is that this is a true story of somebody that started out their professional life in debt, but was able to overcome their debt. Amanda and her family found a way to attain financial freedom through making tremendous sacrifices on some things in their lifestyle. Her book focuses on the five main topics listed below.
Finances
On the topic of finances, Amanda has included budget templates in her book. She also talks about how to budget your money and some of the budgeting methods that she used to attain financial freedom.
Amanda also goes into detail and things that the reader can do to slash their budget. There are a lot of budgeting tips included in this book. One of those examples would be DIY cleaning products. Some of these products are detailed enough where you can actually make the product at home yourself.
Food
You should not read this section if you are hungry. I made the mistake of doing that and was scrounging around in the pantry for some granola bars! What I loved about this section is that there are tons of recipes for the reader to actually try to live both cheap and healthy on this topic. There are also all kinds of food hacks for the reader to try.
What is important to point out is that Amanda basically held herself to $25 a week to grocery shop for her entire family. I was shocked when I read that because I know how expensive food can be for a family. She found ways to make cheap meals and stretch that $25 as far as possible. And she did this while also focusing on maintaining a healthy lifestyle and eating a well-balanced diet.
There are not a lot of carb-infested recipes listed. There are recipes in there for things such as homemade yogurt and also guidelines on what types of foods are cheap but also healthy for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
Health
I found this section to be very fascinating. Amanda covers a lot of different topics within the health niche. She discusses how through using Rakuten and Groupon‘s health and wellness deals, you could purchase services where your insurance is lacking. For example, you could buy a groupon from a dentist or optometrist in the area and save a ton of money for those services.
There is also a section called “natural medicine cabinet essentials” which discusses ways the reader can make their own health products at home for a fraction of what it would cost to buy over the counter. One of those products is activated charcoal which can be used to whiten your teeth since it binds to toxins.
There are also recipes in there to make homemade deodorant, homemade body wash, and even your own toothpaste.
Lifestyle
This section was one of my favorites. There is a lot of detailed discussion about eco-living on a budget, but at the same time, not sacrificing your lifestyle. Some items that are covered are how to compost and recycle and steps to do that. Another lifestyle hack that was also discussed was how to make and use homemade paper towels.
There is also a recipe for homemade coffee as well and who doesn’t like coffee!?
What is great about this book is that Amanda and her family still lived a very active lifestyle while going through this financial transition. Her family learned that you can still do fun activities and it doesn’t have to break the bank.
For example there are over 15 things that Amanda‘s family did for entertainment on a budget. I think this is great because not only does this promote family time, but you are also saving money. There are also hacks in there for things such as creating gift baskets on a budget and hosting parties on a budget.
Adult Topics
The final section of this book covers bigger financial topics such as things to look for in an apartment lease, how to buy a car and what to look for, and also touches on the topic of education and how to cut costs for that.
Book Recommendation
I would recommend this book for a couple of reasons.
First of all, this is a personal story about a family that started in debt and over the course of six years, they were able to overcome that.
That offers a lot of inspiration to others that may be currently in debt and trying to get out of debt. This is a modern-day success story where it’s detailed step-by-step how one family overcame the process.
Second, this book is chalked full of hacks and money saving tips. For example there are all kinds of recipes in this book for food items and also ways to make household items. That is a guaranteed way to trim money from your budget if you follow some of these recipes that act as an action plan for the reader.
Third, this book also talks about mindset. I wholeheartedly believe this to be true. In order to change one’s life or aspects thereof, that person does have to be in the correct mindset to do so.
If a person is not open to the new possibilities, then that person will never be open to change. That person will be “life-locked.” They will be stuck in whatever current position they are at in life. Their life growth will be stifled and, as such, they will continue to experience everything that is currently taking place in their life. That may include financial stress, living paycheck to paycheck, and bad health.
That is why this book is a great read because it talks about how one family changed their mindset and found ways to make change happen through frugal living and other hacks.
As a result they are now on an upward mobility path in life. Their financial freedom will exponentially expand by leaps and bounds. They are now climbing the ladder.
They made change happen and are now reaping the benefits of that and and will continue to do so. That is why I would recommend “Dirt Cheap Adult – A Millennial’s Guide to Life on a Budget” by Amanda Kintz.
Buy this book today and change your life!
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