Amish Money Tip – Do Not Waste

Money Secrets of the Amish by Lorilee Craker tries to find “true abundance in simplicity, sharing, and saving” by interviewing the Amish about their monetary habits.   The author uses her family roots, being of Mennonite roots, to connect with the Amish.  Following hard financial times, the author wants to share how the Amish were able to weather the financial downturn.

The appeal of the Amish money habits drew my eye to the book.  Is there something they were doing that I could learn from?  If so, how could I apply it to my life?  It is safe to say that I did come away with a few tips but the book itself was poorly written.

The Amish money secrets are mostly common sense ideas, to never waste.  The book spends very little time on the Amish and the theories/reasons why behind their habits.  Instead the author tries to instantly relate the “secret” to something in her life and assumes that her way of living is exactly like the readers.  This was played out throughout the book and made it difficult to read at times.

This approach made the author come across as condescending to not only the reader but also the Amish.  She mentions the Amish money “secret” but then articulates to act contradictory to the idea.  As an example, one should splurge every now and then, an idea the Amish did not understand.  Also, her idea of money “saving” by using the Amish “secrets” was backwards to the Amish philosophy.  Her saving calculations were not based on need, but rather on how much would the item have cost if she bought it full price.

Overall I would not suggest this book.  There were a few ideas that I did glean from the author, barter websites and locating local farmers for goods, but I would suggest a different book on financial ideas; most notably Dave Ramsey, of whom the author mentions a few times.

Disclaimer:  I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com&gt; book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.