When I was a kid, my favorite daydream was finding an old house with no water, or electricity, or heat. I would walk the highway, finding fantastic amounts of popcans to cash in so I could fix it up. Later in life, I had the opportunity to put my dreams into practice. To my surprise, frugal living actually worked. Anyone can live better for less, and enjoy it all the while.

If you'd like to hear an interview with Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced 'decision'), the queen of tightwaddery herself, a RealAudio interview is available. For those who may only have a passing knowledge of the 'frugal' or 'tightwad' movement, Amy was the founder of the popular 'Tightwad Gazette', which has, alas, been laid to rest. The enormous popularity of the newsletter contributed to its end; according to Amy...it simply got to be too much.

The famous tightwadmama is online, too. The site includes the complete text of the Tightwad Frugal Newsletter for all issues. Look for such tantalizing pages as Homestead, Tightwad Homelife and Over the Garden Fence. Enough to keep you tightwadding for a long time!

This page has an enormous list of contents on everything from appliances to toys. Nothing fancy at all, just some very creative ideas about how to reuse just about anything, as well as a very good resource directory, full of ideas on where and how to acquire items 'on the cheap.'

This is a no-nonsense site that will direct you to some good, basic methods of saving painlessly. As a resource listing, it's invaluable, covering everything from email discussion lists to 'getting your financial house in order' to an imaginary flight into the (economic) future. It's a lot bigger site than it looks at first, too, so be prepared to spend some time there. You'll find it worth the time.

A very interesting site created by a woman who lives and teaches simple living. Fun to read, and very informative, this page will help you see the logic and real savings in frugal living. It's more of a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts experience approach to living well within your income, whatever level that income is.