Review of Phil Villarreal’s Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel
October 30th, 2009 | by mbhunter |I requested a review copy of Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel, and the first time the book was sent out, somehow it got lost in the mail. The publicist contacted me to ask if I was going to review it, and I said that I never remembered seeing it.
They sent me another copy, and looking back, I really wish that I hadn’t responded to that e-mail.
Many of the tips in this book will quickly and efficiently alienate you from your family, your friends, your colleagues, and the businesses you patronize. Try these tips once, or at most twice, and they will tell you about it, or they may just not want you around anymore. Try these tips with the wrong person on watch, and you could get fired, or land in jail.
Mr. Villarreal issues this warning in the front of the book:
Honor. Integrity. Honesty. Dignity. If you live by any of these values, you may as well drop the book right now, because they’re against everything it professes.
Oh boy, is this ever true. I should have put the book down right there, but I didn’t. One word that should have been added to that list of nouns is decorum. It’s been a long time since I’ve read anything, or talked with anybody, with as vulgar and self-indulgent a speech pattern, and with such disregard for polite topics of conversation. (There are only a few people that have permission to talk to me about my wife’s privates, and Mr. Villarreal isn’t among them.)
There are plenty of ways to save money without lying and stealing, but he wastes far too many pages describing these bad ways:
- Saying it’s your birthday (when it isn’t) in order to get free food at a restaurant
- Manufacturing fake price matches for grocery store items
- Taking the five-finger discount with office supplies from work
- Catching a double feature by sneaking into the second movie on the first ticket
- Taking money off the bar that was clearly left for the bartender
- Complaining about a meal when there’s nothing really wrong, just to get reimbursed
- Faking homelessness
And these aren’t lying or stealing but they will make you a problem child very quickly:
- Being just plain cheap with friends on road trips, gift exchanges, potlucks, and splitting the check
- Taking several of every food service supply that isn’t nailed down in a fast-food restaurant
- Actively avoiding tipping of any kind
- Being a repeat problem customer to get free services
- Abusing trial subscriptions and return policies
There were some good tips in this book, but it isn’t worth slogging through pig manure to find a couple of quarters.
Get Wise Bread’s book instead. 100% scoundrel-free, guaranteed.
14 Responses to “Review of Phil Villarreal’s Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel”
By Laura Morrison on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for the heads up. Not a book I want in my library!!!!
By Financial Samurai on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
Definitely some cheap and dishonorable ways to save money for sure! We’ve probably all done something like this, to some degree one way or another.
Mr. Villareal’s publicist is hard at work! I think I’ve read 7 reviews now of his book from the PF community.
Any giveaways?
By TJ SMith on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
Wow…thanks for the warning. I have gone through a lot to change my own lifestyle and become more prudent in my purchasing patterns and learning to save instead of spend, but I never imagined turning it into a criminal, etiquette free enterprise. Thanks for the warning!
By Bargain Junkie on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
I met someone who posed as a food critic to get free meals in restaurants. How low can you go? In my book, BARGAIN JUNKIE, I give tips on honest frugal living. You can live well on the cheap without being immoral!
By Phil Villarreal on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
It’s a humor book, folks. If it doesn’t make you laugh then it’s failed, but judging it on its practical merits is like saying Gallagher’s mallet is an ineffective way to prepare a watermelon.
By Ginger on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
In Phil’s defense, the book is meant to be a joke, not a valid or serious source for frugal tips.
It’s only for entertainment purposes. I would hope that people don’t follow any of those tips!
By FB @ FabulouslyBroke.com on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
To be fair to Phil’s book, I think he meant it to be a tongue-in-cheek read.
It wasn’t meant to be serious
At least, I didn’t think so.
I wouldn’t personally carry out any of the tips in there, except trying samples & picking pennies off the floor.
With that being said, I HAVE known people who have done a couple of those “tips”, so he isn’t so outrageously far off the mark on nailing super cheap people.
By Krystal on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
Agreed with FB. His book wasn’t meant to be taken seriously. I thought it was hilarious!
By mbhunter on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
I’ll comment on the defense that the book was meant to be a humor book.
If it was indeed meant to be a humor book, then that message was unclear. The writing style is humorous — if more so to an “adultolescent” than to someone who’s outgrown lighting their gas — but that doesn’t imply that the book is a “humor book” whose content is not to be taken seriously. It just means that the writing style isn’t dry.
Like I said, some of the tips were good! But, if that’s the case, then why shouldn’t I assume that all of the tips were meant to be taken seriously? I don’t think it’s fair to expect readers to know when the tips are real and when they’re not.
This country is entering a state of decline, which includes a decline of morals. I’m not interested in recommending a book that I think is contributing to that decline.
By Phil Villarreal on Oct 30, 2009 | Reply
@mbhunter, check the upper left corner of the back of the book which labels it “humor.”
By mbhunter on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
OK, I missed that, even after looking on the back cover several times just to be sure that you didn’t classify it as a humor book.
Notwithstanding that, explain to me, then, why people who buy your book on Amazon also buy Wise Bread’s book (which I link to in the post) and Trent Hamm’s book (who writes at The Simple Dollar)? These are real frugal living books. Yet you’d like me to believe that yours isn’t a real frugal living book.
If your book isn’t meant to be taken seriously, then why are people buying it with books that are?
By LB on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
People who are interested in personal finance are also interested in personal finance humor.
By mbhunter on Oct 31, 2009 | Reply
OK, that’s fine, too.
The bottom line is that there are far better reads than this book. It was a waste of my time to read this book, and I was offended in the process.
At one point in my life I would have thought this kind of stuff was funny, but I’ve grown up since then.
By reader on Nov 1, 2009 | Reply
Sorry, but I just think it’s a funny book. Sure, some of the tips are doable but the manner in which it’s written is clearly tongue in cheek.