Money Secrets of the Amish ~ a book review

I just completed reading Money Secrets of the Amish - Finding True Abundance in Simplicity, Sharing, and Saving by Lorilee Craker.  Cracker is of Mennonite heritage and is a New York Times Best-Selling Author.  This book was a response to the strained economic times in which most Americans are now finding themselves.  Yet despite these economic challenges, many of the Amish, though not immune to the "economic downturn" themselves, seem to be keeping their heads above water, financially, more than many of their "fancy" counterparts.  Cracker divided up her narrative into 12 chapters that challenge the reader to rethink how they shop, how they do gift-giving, and bartering services among many other topics.  Included at the end of each chapter are specific challenge prompts to engage the reader in trying out these savvy spending, sharing and saving ideas.

I enjoyed reading  this book and have come away inspired to rethink many areas of my own spending and saving.  I want to look into buying some food items locally (fruits, vegetables, eggs, etc.)  and possibly learn the canning process.  Just typing that last sentence makes me a little nervous - as I have hardly ever canned anything in my life and from what I have seen is always a time consuming activity.  I am thinking of how I can be more creative/economical in my gift-giving and how I can greater utilize local thrift stores to make our dollars go further. 

I received a complimentary copy of this book for review from booksneeze.com  The comments are my own.