I just finished reading Scratch Beginnings: Me, $25 and the Search for the American Dream. Author Adam Shepherd decided to try a year-long experiment in being broke. He randomly selected a city in the southeast out of a hat and showed up there with just $25 and the clothes on his back. The book was a response to author Barbara Ehrenreich’s book, Nickel and Dimed. Ehrenreich worked a series of minimum wage jobs to prove that the working poor can not work their way out of their position. Shepherd proved something else.

Shepherd started off in a homeless shelter, working extremely low-paying jobs from day labor companies. Soon he got a full-time job and through hard work was able to rent a low-end apartment. Shepherd details his experiences through his year-long experiment and in the end his secret to success isn’t much of a secret. Shepherd believes anyone can succeed as long as they work hard enough, use a budget and limit spending.

By the end of his experiment Shepherd not only had a fully furnished apartment (largely thanks to his connections working as a mover) but he also had a truck and several thousands of dollars in savings. The book’s website says it is now being published by Harper Collins and will be available in early 2009. I checked out a copy from my local library. Let me know what you think of this concept.