I believe that every single parent should read this book right before their kids graduate college. I have graduated from college, have my degree, and I'll be danged if I can find a decent paying job with insurance. Our Wal-mart was going to pay me only 6.75 an hour..and that was with money added in for years spent working on a farm..and that was with my degree. Not something a person could live on. This book is a must so that people can understand why so many college kids are coming back home (like I did). You just can't make it out there anymore it seems, and 7 bucks an hour won't pay the rent...and that is being serious.

An eye-opener, though I wish people of all financial status and age could have the opportunity to read this. Provides just the icing on the cake insight into the "working class." Quite interesting to see the growing paranoia of the author as she struggles to find semi-decent housing- perhaps this was the biggest struggle she had to face during her research. She does end with some broad rather PC conclusions but you have to remember that she's now back to her high-paying job and upper-middle class lifestyle. She's able to end on a cheery note that does not match the true dire conditions of the struggling working class Americans.

Wow...and I thought "I" didn't make enough money! Eye opening, surely! Truly makes you think about the true meaning of a 'living wage'.

This was a very interesting social experiment about living (or not being able to live) on minimum wage. She works 5 different jobs throughout the book and talks about each one in detail. I really enjoyed it!

Great insights into the working poor. I would highly recommend this book! It was a highly interesting and fast read.

Great book for all to read, especially young people who think they don't need a college or trade school education to get by.

Making it (or not) on minimum wage in America. Life as a daily search for minimum wage work and affordable housing in the "land of plenty". Ehrenreich demonstrates that she couldn't have made it on the "mean streets", but her report ennobles those that have no choice but to do just that, every day.
Nickel and Dimed is a quick, entertaining and important read.

Thought provoking, especially to those of us who have been lucky enough not to struggle just to put a roof over our heads or food in our mouths. Even more interesting than the wage issues, were the company policies and behavior of "management" in the places the author worked.

A voyeuristic look at low-wage jobs (restaurant servers, Walmart clerks, maid services, nursing home operations) seen through short stints performed by the author. While Ehrenreich is pushing measures that will increase wages and resources for the lower class and includes some commentary throughout the book, she spends a lot more time focusing on her experience than arguing the issue and its potential solutions.

I thought this book was eye-opening - especially the working conditions and heavy-handed management scrutiny that this segment of the labor pool faces.

3 stars out of 5

The author raised many valuable sociological points concerning the plight of the working poor in America that makes this book a needed read for those of us in the more secure and comfortable class. As an economic experiment of trying to live off of minimum wage jobs, the experiment was so baldly flawed as to not yield any valid conclusions.

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Really enjoyed reading this book. Very eye opening.

"Nickel and Dimed:..." is an excellent book describing how difficult it is to survive on minimum wage in this country. Not only does this author describe how difficult this was to do physically, the readers also get a sense of the emotional toll this experiment took on her. In a nutshell, the author got an assignment to go undercover as a minimum wage worker so she could truly get an idea of this lifestyle. She took jobs such as: maid, waitress and sales clerk. What ensues are descriptions of heartbreaking stories of her co-workers who either had to live with many roommates or even live in their vehicles. And these are people with jobs! Can you imagine how impossible it is to survive without a job. The author describes the desperation her co-workers felt and even her own sense of defeat and desperation even knowing that this was only temporary (the experiment lasted 3 months with one month spent in 3 cities each).

I always knew it sucked to try and live on minimum wage. But I never realized just how much of the world is actively set against you when you're at the way-low end of the pay scale. Even if you're a committed lefty, this thing is an eye-opener.

Nice story, reads well, good for a quick cute story. Not that inspirational.

This is a book that should be read by every high school person in America, especially those students who are underachieving -- a foretelling of their future if they do not work hard in school. Then once they read it someone needs to let them know that, yes, these are VERY REAL experiences for the downtrodden. I think the book should not be criticized because B.E. was not really economically challenged and could get away from the situation after she decided the experiment was over, because no one who is that poor has written any books like that to tell us about that eperience. I feel like I have lived a very little of that and I always take on 2nd and 3rd and 4th jobs to earn etra money and there is a lot of degradation in working in people's homes, cleaning their toilets and doing the work for them that they don't want to do for themselves. Also, just last night I started the book that 1700 people on this website have on their wish list -- The Help -- and these two books have lots of similiarity so far.

This is a great first-hand study of what it's like to try to live on minimum wage or less in our affluent country. It's actually pretty depressing, but eye-opening. None of the people the author encountered in the first chapter (as far as I've read so far) have been people of faith or connected with a church. I would be interested to know how that added dimension in a person's life helps them deal with their low-income situation.

A few years ago, I was stuck in a dead-end big -box store job and working a second shift at a convenience store. I WAS one of those "nickeled and dimed" so I was able to see what she experienced.

There were aspects about this experiment that I liked. She was able to see her co-workers as human beings and understand their plight. She befriended co-workers and got to know them on a personal level. She changed jobs often, looking for ways to make her survival easier. She showed the poor diet you are relegated to because of your slim options.

The primary aspect I did NOT like was that, at any time, she could quit her experiment and go back to her reality. My problem is that this IS the reality for so many people. They don't have the option of quitting or digging into an untouched bank account. They might have kids or other responsibilities to deal with. She had options at her disposal where these people don't. It's easier to be happy knowing that you can quit at any time when these people can't. For her is was an experiment. For us, it was survival. There is little hope like that for people stuck in these situations.

Her experience is like going to the zoo and stepping into a cage to see wild animals knowing she could leave at any time. Being stranded in the Serengeti struggling for survival is a very different experience. Her experience is helpful but not real.

Unfortunately those that can make a difference by bringing manufacturing back to the US and with it, decent paying jobs back for workers are the ones that need to read this book. And they won't.

I thought this book was quite enlightning!!! I will never look at these types of workers the same way again!!!! Everyone should read this book!!!

sad - but fascinating.

I really loved this book. (I'm from maine) So I new all the places she went to work at. As a women who Would never have to walk a day in the shoes of a lower paid women.Chooses to so she can see what life is like for a women Nickel and Dimed.

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