LIVING WITHIN MEANS IS GAINING ACCEPTANCE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, February 7, 1993                   TAG: 9302040139
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
DATELINE: COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO.                                LENGTH: Medium
LIVING WITHIN MEANS IS GAINING ACCEPTANCE
Getting frugal isn't as sexy as getting rich.
Check out the bookstores. Their shelves are overflowing with books on how to make a bundle by starting a business or by investing in stocks, real estate or rare coins.
But some authors are betting the public is ready to accept the slightly subversive notion that it's possible to live - well - within one's means.
Leading the pack is Amy Dacyczyn (pronounced "decision"), author of "The Tightwad Gazette" (Villard Books, $9.99).
Dacyczyn is living proof that it's possible to satisfy a champagne taste on a beer budget.
Married to a Navy petty officer whose annual salary was less than $30,000, this Maine mother of six saved $49,000 in seven years by buying food in bulk, purchasing other goods second-hand, and recycling everything from aluminum foil to bread-bag tabs.
With the savings, she realized a lifelong dream: In 1989, she and her family moved into a century-old New England farmhouse with attached barn.
"Certainly the recycling of aluminum foil did not greatly contribute to our dream," she writes in the introduction to her book. "Rather it was the attention to all the thousands of ways we spent our money that made a tremendous difference."
Convinced that others could do the same, Dacyczyn launched a newsletter, The Tightwad Gazette, in 1990. The newsletter now has 80,000 subscribers and a reputation as the nation's leading adviser to skinflints.
Subscriber Linda Hubbell of Pasadena, Texas, summed up the feelings of many when she wrote: "If Amy Dacyczyn handled our government budget for a year, she could eliminate the national debt."
In her book, Dacyczyn shares a wealth of cost-cutting tips and explodes several popular myths, including the one that two full-time incomes are necessary to maintain a middle-class lifestyle.
Other experts of frugality include writer Dean King and the editors of The Penny Pincher's Almanac, who collaborated on "The Penny Pincher's Almanac Handbook for Modern Frugality" (Fireside Books, $8.95).
Their motto: "A dollar saved is a dollar-and-a-quarter earned - after taxes."
The book contains chapters on penny-pinching approaches to money management and higher education, and includes sources to turn to for more information.
Another new book is Jonathan Pond's "1001 Ways to Cut Your Expenses" (Dell Books, $8).
Pond, the "Today" show's financial-planning consultant, takes a by-the-numbers approach on how to save on everything from utilities to vacations to funerals.
Entry 1001 reads: "Ask to be cremated. While you won't enjoy any benefits from this expense-saving tactic, your heirs will."

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB