Smart Cookies´Debt Diet Book for Women
Book Review of the Best Selling Guide To Making More Dough
Nov 13, 2008
In September 2008, Random House Canada published the Canadian version of “The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Making More Dough: How Five Young Women got Smart, Formed a Money Group, and Took Control of Their Finances”.
It may seem like a long title for a relatively short book, and while some may dismiss it as a more practical version of ‘chick-lit’, it is a valuable tool for money management. Aimed at women who are either confessed shop-a-holics, have trouble saving money, or leave their finances in someone else’s hands, this should fill the literary need for women who prefer reading plain language to financial terminology.
The titular Smart Cookies are a group of five middle-class American women ranging from their mid-twenties to early thirties. They gained fame through Oprah Winfrey’s talk show, which featured a series called “The Debt Diet”.
You Don´t Have to be Female to go on a Debt Diet
Though the book is marketed for and aimed towards women, the advice it relates is simple and applies to every age, gender and financial bracket. As any self-help book would suggest, it urges the reader to assess their current situation, and focus on what they would like to change about themselves.
The Money-Making and Saving Techniques in question all begin with discussion questions and provide a short précis at the end of each chapter, which include steps that the reader can apply to his or her life.
Smart Cookies’ Break Social Taboo on Discussing Money
As most self-help books suggest, they recommend having the reader write down his or her goals and money related challenges. The innovation behind this particular book is how people relate to money as a social taboo: One does not discuss their income, their saving plans or any financial difficulties with friends.
The Smart Cookies’ address society’s façade about money: Unless you are divulging facts about your bills, receipts, income and spending habits, it had better be with your financial planner or your accountant. If you happen to be opening up such private information to your buddies in a social context, you run the risk of being seen as crass.
The “Smart Cookies” address this taboo, and suggests forming a money group with some like minded and discrete friends to help one focus about financial goals on a regular basis, not unlike Weight Watchers group therapy.
Common Sense Approach is Nothing New
The tips themselves are not anything that wasn’t previously mentioned in any money-management book. Tips like setting up a budget from a month to month basis and itemizing where funds go, from wages to utility bills and luxuries have been covered multiple self help books.
For every woman who discovered four versions of the same skirt in her closet, the book recommends paring down repetitions while assessing what the reader would consider a fashion need. Taking inventory in one chapter referred to going through one’s closet and providing a list of “must haves”, and ensuring the basics were covered, while eliminating the impulse purchases. One clever approach to finding ways to get rid of clutter and making cash, was to sell old clothes or unwanted items on Craig’s List.
The gimmick in this book lies in its friendly coffee klatsch feel; Each paragraph is broken down into personal anecdotes that the reader may relate to. Each chapter ends with a summary that has “Smart Steps” that makes this 221 page book a worthwhile read.
The Canadian version of The Smart Cookies’ Guide to Making More Dough: How Five Young Women got Smart, Formed a Money Group, and Took Control of Their Finances is available through Indigo Books and Amazon.ca at $19.76 and $18.87 respectively. (A frugal tip may be to search for a used version of that same book – one of the tips suggested by the book itself.)
