Written with a light-hearted, yet serious and knowledgeable tone, the small book goes through how to create a budget without living like a pauper.

READ IF YOU…

• Love “vintage” reads
• Want to learn to better budget, with the help of the 1930s Vogue editor
• Want a clean-cut, entertaining read, with a funny and quirky voice

Title: Bubbly on your Budget Author: Marjorie Hillis| Rating: 5/5

• Genre: Finance, Self-Help, Women’s, Feminism, Nonfiction, 1930s, Vintage
• Publication Date: First edition: 1937

I love vintage books like Vogue’s Marjorie Hillis’ Live Alone and Like it. And coming from the 1930s Vogue assistant editor is another book, Bubbly on your Budget.

Written with a light-hearted, yet serious and knowledgeable tone, the small book goes through how to create a budget without living like a pauper. What I love is how Hillis stresses enjoying life – no matter your income, and how you can have a small income, yet be creative with how you manage your money so that you still enjoy life, don’t feel too constrained, and live like you mean it. This book was written in 1937, during the years of the Great Depression, when people were struggling or tight on funds.

Hillis provides the argument that it’s not how much you have that makes the life but how you manage what you have that makes all the difference. Her point is that everyone’s poor, but not everyone has to live like it. With good management, planning, and resourcefulness, anyone can have their cake and eat it too – though in moderation. She’s not pushing spending like a profligate – but also not supporting living like a pauper. Her aim: to be smart about your money and live the best life you can – all in style, all within budget, and all without missing out on the bubbly.

Of course, today’s financial lives are a bit more complicated than what the book has to offer, and investing in bonds, like the author proposes, may not be the wisest financial move, but just for the glance into the 1930s is well-worth the read. Bubbly on your Budget is great for anyone looking for a common sense approach to simpler aspects of budgeting, a fun vintage and period piece, and/or a fun and bubbly author voice.

This book is in contrast, in a way, to Madeleine Henry’s Breathe in, Cash out, which follows the author’s experience as a fictional character as she navigates working on Wall Street and feeling burned out, unhappy, and life-poor.