Donna Freedman didn’t just write Your Playbook for Tough Times. She lived it.
Freedman has learned how to survive and thrive during difficult financial times as a teenager, a 21-year-old single mom and as a divorced woman in her late 40s supporting a disabled adult child while earning her college degree.
Her new book, Your Playbook for Tough Times: Living Large on Small Change, for the Short Term or the Long Haul is the culmination of a lifetime of experience of how she managed to live life on an extremely tight budget. She knows how to navigate difficult financial situations and has provided a well-written guide to help you through those tough times, too.
Your Playbook for Tough Times is for folks who are already facing tough times due to a job loss or underemployment or crushing debt. It’s also for those who are anticipating a layoff or other impending financial challenge. And it’s a book for those working towards a dream like being a stay-at-home parent or early retirement.
What I love about this book is that it delves deep into how to save on everything and how to ensure your needs are met without being preachy or condescending. This isn’t one of those “stop buying your morning latte” kinds of personal finance books. At it’s heart, it will teach you how to make careful and creative financial decisions. Freedman’s mantra resonates throughout the book: “Save where you can so you can spend where you want.”
Freedman encourages readers to conduct their own “Financial Fire Drill” to better understand their absolute needs and to construct a bare-bones budget. From there, she teaches how to save on everything from groceries to utilities to entertainment. Freedman also offers sound advice for those who may need help affording medical and dental care. There’s no judgment here – just helpful information to help you get back on your feet.
Freedman is an accomplished personal finance writer who, in addition to her own successful blog Surviving and Thriving, has been a contributor to Get Rich Slowly, Money Talk News, and the voice behind the former Smart Money blog at MSN. I had known her for several years on the interwebs before I finally met her in person two years ago at a conference in which we were roommates, and I can tell you this: Freedman is the real deal. She lives what she writes about. From walking several blocks from the hotel in the Texas heat to a Walgreens where she got a great deal on Diet Coke (instead of spending a fortune in the vending machine), to saving the cool free swag we got at the conference as a gift for her nephew, she knows how to stretch a buck. But she’s not stingy. Her kindness and generosity shine through in all she does, and it shines through in her new book, too.
If I had one criticism of this book, it’s that I wanted it to be longer. Fortunately, she’s planning a second volume to help folks continue their frugal journey.
Until then, be sure to grab your own copy of Your Playbook for Tough Times. It’s a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to learn how to better manage your money, not just during tough times, but for always.
While I did receive a review copy of this book, the opinions expressed here are 100 percent my own and were not edited or influenced by the publisher, author(s), or their affiliates. This post also contains affiliate links which help support this blog at no additional cost to you. Please read my full disclosure policy for more information.
Thanks for the thoughtful review, Christina. So glad to hear your opinion.