BOOK REVIEW
THE CHEAP HANDYMAN BY B.S. HARRIS
The agony and the ecstasy of trying to save a buck when dealing with home repairs. By Matthew St. Amand Photos by Dave Hunter
For the cheapskate—or, more politely put, the frugal among us—there is something admirable, almost valorous, about saving money. We hear the slogan in advertising all the time: “Why pay more?” Why, indeed? Lakeshore resident, Brian Harris, has authored a book that celebrates and enshrines his frugality in a series of forty-nine entertaining stories, titled The Cheap Handyman. At the outset, readers must recognize there is an element of bravery required to share stories of this kind. The author risks readers laughing at him, not with him. Brian avoids this pitfall because his reasoning is always sound. This is not a bungler simply bumbling into another fine mess. These are situations every homeowner faces. There is the time the family’s refrigerator went on the fritz. When you’re raising two kids, keeping up with mortgage and vehicle payments, going out to purchase a replacement refrigerator is no simple task. As luck had it, Brian explains in the book: “I saw an ad for a used one, checked it out, and purchased it on the spot.” All he needed to do was pick up the fridge and bring it home from the seller’s house, which was “about a mile or so” away. For this job, Brian enlisted his “weathered, beat-up trailer”.
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