BookLook Bloggers gave me a copy of Michelle Singletary’s book, The 21 Day Financial Fast to review.

Michelle is a syndicated columnist for The Washington Post. She write extensively about money, so I was looking forward to finding some new money-saving tips.

The premise of the book is that for 21 days, participants will stop using credit cards and buy only the barest of essentials. Like a dietary fast, she wants us to abstain. It’s written in a devotional style, with a short chapter for each day. There’s a lot of talk about, God, Tithing, and Scripture. The author is a Christian Conservative, writing from a Biblical perspective. It’s somewhat similar to Dave Ramsey in that way. Not exactly my cup of tea…

Many of her tips are routinely found in every financial book: budgeting, saving, limit credit card use, etc. Pretty standard stuff. If you’ve never read about finance before, the information would be useful. For those of us who read about this topic extensively, there’s nothing new.

I do like the idea of taking a periodic spending break. Most people have more clothes and shoes than they could wear in a lifetime. The kids have more toys than a store. Add in the endless DVDs, music, and magazines and it’s no wonder the average home is swamped with clutter. We are a nation of conspicuous consumption.

While I didn’t do the challenge exactly as written, I have gone much longer than 21 days without buying big ticket items. As my readers know, I do a lot of couponing. I doubt I’d quit couponing for 3 weeks unless I had 2 broken legs, but it’s good to be aware of what I’m buying and why.

The 21 Day Financial Fast gets 2.5 stars out of 5 from me.

Would you try a financial fast?