Amy Dacyczyn...

...where is she now?

I was excited to see that this article I wrote about Amy Dacyczyn, the author of The Tightwad Gazette newsletter and books, is the most often read article I've had here at Frugal Follies.  So there definitely seems to be some eagerness to find what she's been up to.

To answer the question, I recently found this article: 'Tightwad Gazette' author drove frugality in the 1990s but now Amy Dacyczyn worries about massive U.S. debt, published in March 2009. In the article, the writer calls Dacyczyn to ask her about the current economic situation.

Today's problem, Dacyczyn said, seems to be part of a cycle that goes back to the Reagan era when Americans also were urged to spend their way to prosperity.

"It sounded backward to me," she said. "... We can't be a financially healthy country if this debt load that we've had continues.

And the stock market fall is just another sign that something needs to change

"Everyone over spent ... what we're seeing right now is just a big correction," she said. "We're probably seeing an overcorrection.

According to the article, she and her husband Jim still live in their farmhouse in Maine.  The children, who were young at the writing of the Tightwad Gazette newsletter, are preparing for college and weddings.  They're still frugal, though they don't track every penny anymore, and now splurge on a $8 Netflix account.

Read the Amy Dacyczyn interview here.

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