Hey, everyone! I’m maybe buying a house, maybe, sort of, I hope? I don’t know. It’s a whole thing.
So since I’m having a CONSTANT PANIC ATTACK about my finances, seems like a pretty good time to talk about C. Spike Trotman and Diana Nock’s Poorcraft!
I was lucky enough to grab it via a Humble Bundle that may still be available if you’re reading this on Wednesday morning. And if you’re not, then you can still find it on Comixology.
Poorcraft is basically an educational comic for adults. It’s all about ways to pull back on costs and live more frugally while still living well. It’s highly informative! And also a little extreme, sometimes. Like, the section on urban foraging is punching way out of my weight class. But the rundown recipes focusing on basic ingredients is something I benefit from.One cannot live on scrambled eggs alone.*
There’s also a bit about how to cook a chicken! This is something I do not know!
The whole thing is framed as Penny imparting some finance-fixing wisdom to neighbor Mil, and…
Look, I don’t know your life. I don’t know your story. Maybe you are so super good with money that not a cent is wasted. Maybe you never impulse buy trade paperbacks and do not have a dress that you bought because it was on sale even though you never really go dress-wearing places.
Good for you. I’m proud of you. I do not share your financial focus. Also I want to make it clear that the dress is very cute, and was very inexpensive, and I actually thought I needed it for something at the time, and only God can judge me, so maybe get up out my biz.
The point is, I’m way more Mil than Penny. I’m not fully Mil – she’s got waaaaaay more bad financial habits than I do – but I’m coming into this with room to improve. And so, like Mil, I found myself recoiling at some of the tips and feeling pretty guilty about the reasonable tips and rules I don’t live by.
If you know that particular feeling, don’t worry! The tone to Poorcraft is largely forgiving of your missteps. Both because of the sunny optimism Trotman puts into most of Penny’s dialogue, and because of the art style Nock utilizes in the book. All of it – Penny’s character design in particular – reminds me of animation from the 1930s. Yes, she’s walking you through getting a credit counselor and explaining when you might need to consider filing bankruptcy, but I’ll be darned if she isn’t cute as a button when she does it.
The book acknowledges that many of us are more on the Mil side of things, and that not a lot of people are ready to go all the way to Penny’s level of frugality. The book is full of small, practical tips you can easily apply. So even if you don’t learn to turn one chicken into 10 different meals, you can still learn how to make your own cleaning solutions. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still a panic attack with a face at this point. But having read Poorcraft makes me feel like I can solve my whole “I only own seating for three, and do not have a table” issue without having to become a super-millionaire first.
Also, it made me feel like I can build stuff! Check back in a few months to find out in what wacky ways that goes horribly awry!
One final thing: if you read and enjoy Poorcraft, you may also want to grab the sequel. Poorcraft: Wish You Were Here is written by Ryan Estrada and drawn by Diana Nock. This one is all about traveling inexpensively, and it’s available in physical or digital form on the Iron Circus website.
Books I’m Picking Up This Week:
Fresh Romance #3
Help Us! Great Warrior #6
Jem and the Holograms #5
Princeless: Be Yourself #3
Thors #2
Sex Criminals #11
X-Men ’92 #2
*I’m exaggerating, of course. I also have coffee. And sometimes some peanut butter. So I’m golden.
Oh wow maybe this will help me with my finances lol. I seem to take in order information better in comic form.
Same here. This one especially, because it seems so much less daunting this way, compared to financial planning articles.