Hi everyone. I have another book review for today. More Than Just Making It by Erin Odom.

Being that I stole Penny’s day, I thought I would let her pose with the book.

*Disclosure: I received this book for free as part of The Book Look Bloggers book review program. I am not required to write a positive review, all opinions are my own.

The author writes a blog, The Humbled Homemaker. She grew up middle class with frugal parents, but she always had enough. Her dream was actually to be missionary which she did do after college.with her husband. They thought they were making a wise financial choice when they purchased a home. Unfortunately, the recession hit  in 2009 when they both lost their jobs. They ended up owing more than the value of the house. They also had a little girl to provide for.

The family ended up moving in with the author’s parents temporarily. Her husband found a job teaching in North Carolina, but the pay was very low. She worked for the newspaper, but her salary varied monthly. She ended up having to apply for Food Stamps which she was embarrassed to do, but had no choice. She eventually realized that she didn’t have to feel ashamed because those services were there to help. It made her rethink everything she believed about government services. She always thought those on them were lazy, but she discovered that is not the case. Many are working poor that just can’t make ends meet.

Part of this book is her personal account of her family’ s continued financial struggles. These also led to marital problems, yet they somehow ended up having three more children since 2010 which made it even harder to make ends meet.Once she started making money on her blog in addition to her husband’s salary, they were able to get off of public assistance.

They have more money now, but still live frugally. They purchase all their furniture used and their vehicles too. Much of the book is about how anyone can live on less money. She writes about planning meals and saving money on them. She also explains that some have spending problems and others have income problems. They had an income problem because they did not earn enough to cover the basic needs. The only debt they had was their house.

I think this is a great book for anyone that has financial trouble, especially young couples. I did have one major problem with it though because for me personally, it was useless. My financial troubles are always around veterinary care for my 13 cats. They did not have a pet or write about anyone having one. I know it is my choice to have so many cats, but what would someone in their situation do if they had a dog or cat and it was sick? So many end up returning them to shelters or abandoning them when they can’t afford them. It would have been nice to read some solutions to these issues so people would not resort to that. Because of that , I am only rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

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