By Michelle Archer, Special for USA TODAY
Jeff Yeager's first Cheapskate book hit the shelves in early 2008, just as many Americans were becoming more familiar with frugality, willingly or not.
To promote the book, Yeager set out on a "Tour de Cheapskate," trumpeting the joys of a less-than-large lifestyle while often biking to publicity stops and crashing on the couches of fellow tightwads. It was during this sofa-surfing junket — and through a subsequent lengthy questionnaire filled out by hundreds of cheapskates eager to bare their thrifty souls — that Yeager gathered material for his new book, The Cheapskate Next Door (Broadway, 256 pages, $12.99).
In this one, he uses the same folksy humor to analyze the habits of people who are happily living not just within their means, but well below them. While no two tightwads are alike, Yeager writes that many approach money matters in the same way:
•Mortgages. They often buy less house than they can afford and plan to pay off their home loans early.
•Cars. Most buy a used vehicle instead of a new one, and they often pay cash.
•Kids. Many teach their offspring about frugality when they are young and expect them to shoulder much of the burden of college tuition, preferably without taking out a student loan.
•Necessities. They spend much less on food, clothing and recreation than the typical American family and "way, way, way less on dining out."
•Debt. Most consider it a four-letter word best avoided.
These and other habits, Yeager writes, had largely insulated cheapskates from the raging economic inferno sweeping the country, allowing them to sleep soundly at night at a time when so many Americans weren't.
Among those sound sleepers is Yeager, a former non-profit executive who has carved a niche by appearing on television and in print as the "Ultimate Cheapskate." He lives, frugally of course, in Maryland with his wife, who is quoted in the book as joking that it takes the jaws of life to get her husband's wallet out of his back pocket.
In general, Yeager says, cheapskates have no interest in keeping up with the Joneses (they can kiss our assets, he writes), they differentiate between needs and wants, and they generally ignore advertising. Unsurprisingly, they tend to live greener lifestyles by default, as reducing and reusing are wallet-friendly concepts.
With a word like "secrets" in the subtitle, readers will expect some dirt. Yeager reveals (but doesn't condone) some underhanded tactics — such as the business traveler who takes his burnt-out light bulbs with him on trips to swap out with a hotel's working bulbs or the military man who "table poaches" by eating unfinished food off the plates of diners who have left a restaurant.
His own secrets are more likely to be clothes that are washed every second or third wearing (saves money on laundry and prolongs the life of the clothing) and hung out to dry instead of being tossed in a dryer.
One cheapskate Yeager found must use the dryer at least occasionally, because she makes paper from dryer lint as a cheap hobby.
Scattered throughout the book are Cheap Shots, quick tips on saving money cheapskate-style. Yeager, for example, usually serves guests "recanted" wine by funneling the cheap boxed stuff into empty premium-label bottles, but if he must buy a good bottle, he uses a website that sells blemished-label wines for less.
And did you know you can get a prescription filled at warehouse-club stores such as Costco without being a member? That's because pharmaceuticals are regulated by the federal government, Yeager writes.
Some secrets in Yeager's book may be more palatable for non-cheapskates to adopt than others — freeganism (formerly known as Dumpster diving), for example, isn't for everyone, but it's not difficult to unplug the toaster when you aren't using it or to wash clothes in cold water instead of hot to save a buck or two. Whether you are a born penny pincher or merely cheapskate-curious, you're bound to learn something from the Cheapskate Next Door.
Archer is a freelance writer based in Seattle.
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