Well, I finally finished Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel: 100 Dirty Little Money-Grubbing Secrets and it sure was interesting! (and a nice change of pace)

It takes an special person to pull something like that off, and Phil Villarreal does so with the shocking grace you can only expect from such a book ;) I still don’t know whether to hug or punch him, but needless to say it was damn entertaining.

That’s probably the best word to describe this book: Entertaining. I’m fairly confident that if you were to try and pull off even half of these 100 tips you’d find yourself in jail. Or in an alley somewhere with a broken nose. BUT, a broken nose with an extra $50 in your pocket ;) That being said, there were also a ton of EXCELLENT tips to try out with a good conscience – especially in the first half of the book (the last 20 or so makes you want to take a shower).

Here’s a snippet from Tip #38: “Don’t Poop On Coupons”:

“It saddens me that coupon clipping is viewed as the pastime of the desperate housewife, some meaningless, mundane project to fill the time between soap-opera airings, floor mopping, and self-supplied, amateur porn web-camming. Here and now I want to start an effort to reclaim coupon clipping for men everywhere. I want Harley riders to start keeping plastic, accordion-style coupon holders in the back of their hogs. I want UFC fighters to tout the benefits of $1 off Raisin Bran coupons after bouts. I want John Wayne to rise from the grave, visit a Circle K, and push a buy-one-get-one-free Thirstbuster card over the counter…Coupons are real money, and to throw them away is to ignite your wallet in flames.”

He goes on to share his best tips on getting these coupons, but I thought this was an accurate sampling of his hilarious nature. Overall, he did a great job keeping my A.D.D. attention and really opened my eyes to a level of frugality I never thought possible. If you have an open mind, I recommend it 100%. If you’re a good little boy or girl, I wouldn’t think twice about picking it up ;) Unless, of course, you want to LOOK like a bad ass and carry it around with you? That would most definitely shed your goody-two-shoes image within minutes, believe me. I can’t tell you how many stares I got on the train while reading this the past few mornings. It also looks like Phil has earned himself a sexy little fan club:

The Giveaway (if you haven’t been scared off yet):

Here’s what to do in order to win one of two copies – it’s super easy, and super fast:

1. Drop a comment with your very own “dirty little saving secret”
2. And 2, well….there is no #2. Just do #1 and you’ll be entered :) And if you’re not feeling feisty enough, just make one up or steal someone else’s tip so you can be entered – whatever works.

I’ll be giving away both copies Saturday morning so be sure to leave some sort of contact info here so I can easily alert you! And I’ll be using Random.org to pick the 2 winners so everyone has an equal shot (if you can’t wait until then, check out Amazon and get it while it’s cheap). Now comment away my dear friends! It’s time to rot someone else’s brain with such awesome scoundrel-ness :)

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PS: You can also find Phil on Twitter (where he tweets), Consumerist (where he writes), and The Arizona Daily Star (where he reviews). Thanks for the free books my man!
PPS: There’s another giveaway at PF Firewall that ends Wed. @ Midnight, so enter there too.