Know someone who’s graduating from high school or college in the next few months? Have I got a grad gift for you.
Zac Bissonnette’s “How to Be Richer, Smarter and Better-Looking Than Your Parents” would actually be good for any young person who’s flailing around right now. Say, someone who finished a degree in December but hasn’t been able to find himself, a passion or even 40 hours of work per week.
The author was 23 when the book was published — and it wasn’t his first book. Slacker.
The subtitle of Billee Sharp’s book is “The D.I.Y. Guide to the Good Life.” If that sounds like you, then enter to win this book.
It’s designed to help you consume less and create more. Sharp’s philosophy is “applying effort, common sense and imagination to daily living,” which she says can ultimately free us from unnecessary expenses.
Or you could view it a how-to for spending more on the things that matter to you (organic food, non-exploitative manufacturing) by reducing costs elsewhere.
I went dumpster wading again today at the recycling center. In the mixed paper bin I spied half a dozen like-new comic books sitting atop magazines and flattened cereal boxes.
Although melting snow was dripping down from the top of the bin, these books were dry and clean. Of course I took them, and gave them to my nephew.
He doesn’t care where I got them. In fact, he’s still stoked about the 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle I found earlier this week in the same bin.
Guess where I’m doing my Christmas shopping? (Kidding! Maybe.)
Want to change careers but fear you’ve already invested “too many” years in your current one to give up?
Or needing to focus on what’s happening right now while still hoping for change?
Maybe you’re trying to follow a dream but beset by setbacks and naysayers. Or you’re either on top of the world or at the depths of despair.
If any (or all!) of this is true, you might want this week’s giveaway.
How much do you earn? How much do you think you should earn? This book by Brian Tracy offers ways to “maximie your income at any time in any market.”
If you ‘d like to know more, enter to win a copy.
Amy Allen Clark knows a thing or two about frugality. She and her husband found themselves in financial trouble before the first of their two children was born. It was sink or swim, and she chose to swim: She championed the cause of cutting back expenses and paying off debts.
But that was just the start. Clark founded the MomAdvice.com website. She became a spokeswoman for brands like Kenmore, Kelloggs and Minute Maid. Now she’s written a book called “The Good Life For Less: Giving Your Family Great Meals, Good Times and a Happy Home on a Budget.”
That’s “shooter” as in photographer, not as in hunter.
This week’s giveaway “Snap Decisions: My 30 Years as an Alaska News Photographer,” is more than just the moose-and-goose-in-the-spruce school of photography.
I do have to say, however, that the moose photo to the left is one of my favorite images ever published in the Anchorage Daily News.
Interested in not just starting but also “monetizing” (ugh — hideous neologism!) your own site? You need this week’s giveaway.
It’s a copy of “How I Make Money Blogging: The Beginner’s Guide to Building a Money-Making Blog,” an e-book by Crystal Stemberger. The author, who owns or co-owns eight sites, offers how-to advice on everything from choosing the right title to how much you should charge for ads.
Well, they’re not. Or so says my MSN Money colleague Liz Weston, aka the most widely read financial columnist on the Internet. Her latest book, “There Are No Dumb Questions About Money,” is this week’s giveaway.
Liz bases her text on real questions people have asked. In other words, this is information that people like you and I can use.
As a writer she is direct but also compassionate. While she understands how people can get into money trouble, she also is clear that the best person to help you usually is you.
In honor of Labor Day I’m giving away three books about the working world — and how to approach it on your own terms. Three books, three winners.