All The Money You Need

Survival Jobs 154 Ways To Make Money While Pursuing Your Dreams

In the first-ever guide to finding a satisfying job that will keep food on the table while you focus on your perhaps less lucrative dreams, Deborah Jacobson presents a detailed survey of employment possibilities that keep stressful money worries away and allow plenty of time for pursuing one’s true calling in life.

Survival Jobs proves that you don’t have to wait tables while looking for your big break. With frank and funny advice from an author who has traveled the survival-job road, Jacobson introduces opportunities both on and off the beaten track that suit a wide variety of schedules, skills, and personalities. Survival Jobs includes:

• “Jobs for the CEO in You” (apartment manager, massage therapist, and other “be-your-own-boss” suggestions)
• “That’s Entertainment” (from working as a personal assistant to performing at theme parks)
• “Nine to Five…Not” (clock in at the crack of dawn or the midnight hour as a limousine driver, a video-store clerk, or an airport employee)
• “You Gotta Have Heart” (jobs that satisfy the spirit and pay the bills: pet care, social work, children’s entertainment)

For each job, she describes:

• Duties and responsibilities, the pros and cons
• Likely salary, necessary skills, and educational background
• Ideas for getting started
• Sources for contacts, including names and phone numbers in major cities

User Ratings and Reviews

1 Star It’s like The Office, only in text form
I began reading this book as an actor hoping to find some alternatives to waiting tables. I didn’t make it very far when the book lost most of it’s credibility. The title of this thread references “the office” thanks to an episode where Michael, not knowing about pyramid schemes, introduces one to his employees. I was a bit shocked to find that the author of this book actually listed pyramid schemes or as they are called in the book and by the starters of these scams, “Multi-level marketing.”

Shortly thereafter she suggest starting a 900 number. Sadly, i’m not kidding. Then, Yardsales? Is this really a suggestion?

Then I came across my current job, waiter. Apparently I will need to talk to my boss tomorrow, as here we are 10 years later and I’m still not making minimum wage plus tips. Try 2.13. Which brings me to my next complaint or point and that is a lack of research as most of the job write ups seem to be based on a lot of hearsay.

Based on experience I can say that several jobs, like that of the “DJ” and “waiter”, are suggested and talked about in this book with most of the information being “hearsay” and flat out false. There appears to be very little research in any of the jobs suggested in this book.

I could go on and on about the flaws in this book. I can only venture that the bulk of the good reviews are friends or family of the author. That is the only way to explain it receiving anything that resembles a positive review. I only hope that Mrs Deborah Jacobson is through writing books or giving employment advice at least as this book is the equivalent of a overweight person giving out tips on dieting. Do yourself a favor and pass on this book.

5 Stars Good info. Very useful
I’ve referred back to this book several times during my life when I was between jobs. It’s very useful. It has a lot of original ideas that I wouldn’t have considered otherwise. Well worth the money.

5 Stars I Recommend This Book To Every LA Creative Type I Meet!
I cannot say enough good stuff about this book. Wow! It basically details amazingly innovative ideas for how to make money without having to take a 9 to 5 job in LA. This book reshaped the way I pursued income and is the best non-acting book for actors I can recommend. I currently have six freelance jobs (and have had as many as ten different ones at a time this year) and I love the flexibility, financial stability, and freedom to be creative that this lifestyle provides. Not for everyone, but if you’re tired of the “golden handcuffs” that a full time job can be in this town, this book will open doors for you, big time!

1 Star Silly little trifle
This is a silly little book. The ideas are a poorly written patchwork with little real guidance. It is the equivalent of many of the “spam” mail scams that we constantly receive offering “work at home opportunities”

I believe the writer takes advantage of people looking for solid advice. It is difficult enough for people trying to survive, be it as an actor, musician or whatever without shelling out money for such a mis-guided and simple minded product.

Apparently from what I read the author quit the entertainment industry and becam a Cantor (which was not listed as one of the 154 ways to make money), so apparently the advice in the book did not work for her!

Save your hard earned money, don’t waste your time on this book.

4 Stars Interesting and informative
It’s definitely a must read book for people who would like to build a “portfolio career”. If you are not for the 9-5 office culture and you’d rather do a more interesting and unconventional job.

This book will guide you through a series of weird, fun and unusual jobs. As the titled reveals, they will probably be only for survival, so forget the big bucks if you want to work as a personal shopper, a focus group participant or a food demonstrator.

A good and well written reference book. Keep in mind that it would be easier to get those jobs if you live in a big city.

By Thei Zervaki, a career and business coach

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The Complete Cheapskate How to get out of debt stay out and break free from money worries forever The Cheapskate Monthly

Mary Hunt, founder and publisher of Cheapskate Monthly, offers practical advice for getting your personal finances under control through debt-reduction plans, living within a budget and more, all while still enjoying life. Sharing her personal story of how she went from spendthrift to America’s favorite cheapskate, Mary will inspire you to immediately begin the process of turning your finances around to financial freedom and security.

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The Complete Cheapskate How to Get Out of Debt Stay Out and Break Free from Money Worries Forever

In need of a Money Makeover?

Let America’s most popular cheapskate show you how to go from financial chaos to freedom and security–painlessly and in less time than you ever imagined.

Mary Hunt has helped thousands live a debt-free life with her popular newsletter, “The Cheapskate Monthly.” In The Complete Cheapskate, Mary puts all the very best money advice she has in one place. Becoming a classy, dignified cheapskate is not all that difficult, and Mary shows how with her user-friendly principles of saving, restraint, and living debt-free.

This book will teach you how to:
- Create–and stick to–a monthly spending plan
- Live well off 80% of your income
- Climb out–and stay out–of debt’s hole
- Stretch every dollar to its absolute maximum
- Manage savings and investments
- Lower bills on clothes, food, and gifts without lowering living standards
- Live within a financial plan that includes a margin for fun and spontaneity

With hundreds of tips on cutting expenses, The Complete Cheapskate is the indispensable guide for people ready to regain control of their finances, relieve the stress money has created, and prepare for their future.

User Ratings and Reviews

2 Stars Overall, Very Bad Advice
As someone who really enjoys shopping and nice meals (but can be thrifty where and when it’s needed), I was initially attracted to Hunt’s book because I knew a bit of her backstory–but most of her advice is obvious at best, quite bad at the worst.

Basically, the only truly sound piece of advice she gives is if your situation is really dire, you need to get help from CCCS or a similar agency (and yes, they definitely have their black marks, but sometimes that structure IS what’s needed) and not to be afraid, they’ve heard way worse.

Past that, most of her advice (and I include her many on-going columns, etc) is either absurdly complex (I agree about her “plans” essentially entailing hiding money from yourself) or based on very fuzzy math of worse possible versus best possible case scenarios.

Or she just plain doles out really crap advice, like one couple she featured in Woman’s Day and how she “helped” them. In this scenario she had a family living madly beyond their means, including owning a far too expensive house. She “helped” them beginning in late 2006, when the bubble was still inflating—but rather than have them (sensibly) sell an obviously too expensive house (and pay off their credit card debt with the proceeds), she put them on her plan.

The result after a year of her “help” (which involved sometimes going hungry if they didn’t have the money, including never touching savings)? They did now have some money in savings (and also had taught themselves to set aside $$ for gifts!!!), but they had bearly made a dent in their unsecured debt. Plus they still were living in the house—which is now no doubt worth less than they owe on it.

With her worst case/best case scenaios, she thinks you should plan ahead if you notice a major appliance weakening, start squirreling away money each month–so you can pay cash. She’ll then illustrate how much more the item will cost you with a 22% APR credit card, making just the minimum payment.

Okay, this is certainly all true BUT: sometimes things die with little to no warning (and sometimes old things last for a long time). It also fully ignores the fact that generally you can purchase the item interest free for a year or so (and pay it off in that time) or that many credit cards have significantly lower interest rates than 22% AND that you can certainly pay more than the minimum if you so desire.

She did a similar thing in comparing the cost of getting a hybrid to keeping her old, fully paid for car—DUH!!! Obviously, even if gas is $10 per gallon, it’s cheaper to keep the NO payment vehicle. Just not a valid comparison.

Oh and her Christian stuff gets really old, too.

2 Stars Doesn’t help much
Being the ultimate cheapskate I went to the library to look at this book to see if I would want to buy it. I am so glad I didn’t buy it first. Everything in this book you can look up in the net for free. There are no suggestions that I haven’t seen before.

If you are brand new to the frugal experience, save your money and do web surfing instead. You are already paying for that.

5 Stars Read it, Believe it, Do it!
This book changed my life. It only took five years. I now have $0 bills and a nice nest egg. Just follow the advice in the book to the letter. I give this book to everyone I care about.

1 Star PSA: The Author’s a Fraud
Her style is annoying and smarmy, but that’s the least of it. Claiming it came to her “out of the blue,” Mary Hunt stole her newsletter idea (and story ideas and some illustrations) from Amy Dacyzyn’s Tightwad Gazette (Dacyzyn has records that Hunt subscribed to her newsletter from Dec 91 - 93; Dacyzyn corresponded with Hunt regarding obvious “copying” of ideas and illustrations but Hunt did not reply or attribute the source).* First called “Cheapskate Monthly” and now “Debt-Free Living,” the preview issue on Hunt’s website likewise presents unattributed ideas as Hunt’s own (Heloise’s vinegar hints, for instance). She advises you to buy a house at half the price that you can afford, make double payments so that you can pay off the mortgage in “about five years,” and then sell that home and buy the house of your dreams. This is a program outlined in Ted Carroll’s LIVE DEBT FREE (published 1991), which she cites (amazingly!) in “Complete Cheapskate” but claims as her own idea on her website. “Owning your home free and clear,” she says, “…is what Harold and I are working on now.” (Cough, cough! She’s had plenty of time to put her plan into action, plenty of dollars to do it, and she’s “still working on” it?!?) Meanwhile she has churned out an armload of books and regurgitated her ideas for every TV camera she can find. She doesn’t have to practice what she preaches because she hauls in the dollars of the faithful through coaching seminars, books, and her newsletter (a $29.95 value, she claims, but if you check it out, you’ll see it is a compendium of links to other sources, outdated quotations, and self-promotion).

I’m afraid that with the current economy, a lot of people will be tricked into shelling out for this kind of warmed-over hash. Check it out at the library, if you must, but don’t buy it. I’ve found Ron Blue’s Master Your Money to be a more practical, Christian and truthful resource. Amy Dacyzyn’s work is the original (which is why she is so widely copied). Flylady.net has budgeting and checkbook hygiene advice; googling will provide more information than you can ever process. Why doesn’t Mary just admit that the way she got out of debt and broke free from money worries was not by being a cheapskate, but by being a plagiarist?

*Sept. 1996, Issue 76, The Tightwad Gazette

5 Stars Very useful
Loved this book. So many practical ideas for getting out of debt. Especially her rapid debt repayment plan. I appreciated Mary Hunt’s inspirational story for motivation. It’s a very useful book!

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