Extreme Savers

Kevin at Truck and Barter is blogging about the CNN/Money ongoing series about "extreme savers". These are people that often save 25% (or even half) their gross income.

I have an "extreme saver" in my own extended family - the Unknown Brother In Law. Oh, the stories I could tell: He once saved money while on unemployment, and was able to pay off a $100,000 mortgage in a little over 7 years (on a family income of about $50-60,000 (this was in addition to other savings/investments). And let's not mention the paper bag we found in his basement with about a hundred elastic waistbands from old briefs.

We used to joke that he held onto a buffalo nickle so tightly that there'd be a pile of "you know what" at his feet.

The CNN/Money articles are not in one easy to read place, but you can see them by clicking here - it takes you to a Google search that catches them all.

All joking aside, we could all save and invest a bit more (sometimes a lot more) than we do. One good (and amusing resource) is The Complete TightWad Gazette, which is a compilation of hundreds of money saving tips.

Of course, my brother in law says that the Tightwad Gazette is not hard core enough...