The 30-Day Money Cleanse: Take Control of Your Finances… (2024)

The 30-Day Money Cleanse is best suited for a young audience - As in, straight out of school (aka: Not Me). I found this book to be oversimplified and while it has a few useful reminders, it didn’t offer anything new or groundbreaking.

The 30-Day Money Cleanse suggests writing down your financial goals then examining the emotional reasoning behind each. I do agree this is a good practice, as it can help people identify the “why” behind their decisions. The book also suggests being as specific as possible, when outlining your goals and financial guidelines. For example, don’t have the goal “Spend less on dining out”. What does this actually mean? Specify how many meals per week you plan to eat out, or how much money you plan to spend on dining out for the whole week. This way you’ll have a realistic assessment of your actual (vs. perceived) expenses.

I know most books related to the topic of personal finance are subjective but I am tired of the example of giving up a store bought coffee as a method to save. I personally don’t see this as a “frivolous expense.” I (admittedly, choose to) see it as a necessity for my peak performance at work, and have long ago decided the opportunity cost of purchasing it on my way into the office, outweighs the time and effort of me making it each morning.

Though I wasn’t a big fan overall, The 30-Day Money Cleanse is on the shorter side and written in a casual tone. I think young adults who are just getting a handle on their finances and trying to set longer term money goals would get the most benefit out of this book, as a starting point, though I’ve read a few finance books here and there and feel there are others offering more insight that would likely provide greater benefits/tips to potential readers.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

A few years ago, I found a financial program that worked well for me. I haven't seen anything yet that beats that.

In the beginning, before getting to the 4 week plan, this book feels rather unfocused to me. Once we get into the weekly plan, it does get a little better, though still feels at times like there's a bit too much filler and not enough focus on the actual how-to. There are some really good bits here and I think for some readers, Feinstein Gerstley's plan may work well, but for me it just missed the mark. I was expecting a more practical, step-by-step guide rather than so much discussion about figuring out what the reader's goals are and what's worth spending money on. If you are someone who prefers a lot of discussion, this may work for you. If however, you really just want to get down to the nuts and bolts of getting ahold of your finances and getting serious about reaching your goals, this will likely be a miss for you as well.

Thank you to Ashley Feinstein Gerstley, Sourcebooks and Netgalley for the opportunity to take and review this book. All comments are my own, unbiased opinion.

If you're looking for a great program for getting your financial life in order, check out The Total Money Makeover: A Proven Plan for Financial Fitness and Your Money or Your Life.

Read this over the course of a few hours because I knew I wasn't going to do the program, but was interested to see if I could incorporate anything from Gerstley's cleanse into my life. Tbh this book was a more positive, mindset-building ra-ra coddle and less minute version of the book I should have been reading instead, I Will Teach You to Be Rich: No Guilt. No Excuses. No BS. Just a 6-Week Program That Works.

While a few sections resonated and were good reminders (like writing down your top three money-related goals, and understanding the true cost of achieving them in a realistic way p148), I would say that this book is better suited to people just starting their personal finance journey. This cleanse involves getting to know yourself, your surrounding and circle of influence, your values, what SMART goals are, your mindset, and your triggers. And does not have a lot to do with how to build wealth. I would definitely recommend this to my 20 year old brother and his friends. (Similarly, The Spender's Guide to Debt-Free Living: How a Spending Fast Helped Me Get from Broke to Badass in Record Time is another excellent foundational read, but involves less mindfulness and more action.)

Well-formatted, pretty graphics, and solidly built framework, I'm just not the intended audience.

I would recommend this to anyone who is just starting their money management journey and needs a place to begin. Generally, I don't appreciate using diet language on universal things like money (or food, for that matter), i.e. "Money Cleanse" and "The Financial Diet." Diets don't work, and the point of financial freedom is long-term impact.

The 30-Day Money Cleanse by Ashley Feinstein Gerstley is a must have! Whether you are a money saving novice or just need to get back on track, this book will not only illuminate tips to answer the paramount question of how our money is being spent but it also gives practical suggestions for a money mindset, rewarding ourselves, saving funds for future goals, removing financial stress and much more. Great comprehensive read with relevant tips.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Synopsis from the Publisher/NetGalley.com
Create a healthy money mindset that will eliminate financial stress, form a positive money habit, and align your finances with your values...

Take control of your finances and de-stress your relationship with money! Like food, money is something all of us use but none of us talk about—creating a stressful relationship that most of us suffer from, obsess over, and try to avoid altogether because it feels too impossible to manage. No matter your income, understanding and CONTROLLING your own financial position will allow you to not just exist securely but to be happy and free in your choices.

It’s good confirmation that I’m doing pretty well with my money.

This is an example of a book that could have (and should have) been summarized in a short article. There was no need to drag this on for 250 pages, especially given the amount of empty space (intentionally left so people can make notes), along with large font. It only took 2-3 hours to go through the book and I am not a speed reader.

The main point of the book is solid. Write out what is essential for a normal life (housing, food, transportation etc.) and then categorize everything else in a different category (luxury). Then, reduce/eliminate that other category for a month. Most people who do that will dramatically cut back on the extra expenses that creep in. However, this book spends too much time trying to make this concept more difficult than it needs to be so different goals can be hit each week. While the general financial advice is reasonable, for people looking to get their financial house in order I would start looking elsewhere.

This book is probably best for people looking for a quick read, and want something with no barrier to entry on the topic.

I didn't like the introduction because it sets the bar as low as it possibly can be, in my opinion. Plenty of people have money issues but also are not simultaneously serial impulse shoppers that go on two expensive vacations a year.

That being said, I do think that this book is useful. Even if the introduction frustrated me, it's not entirely without merit.

Anyone who wants to get their life -- and money -- on track should at least skim or page through this book. Gerstley uses a goal-based approach that examines a person's emotions and reasoning behind their spending in order to channel that spending into new habits and intentions. For those purposes, the exercises are helpful.

Age group: high school and up.

Maybe great for someone else but not what I was expecting. More so for if you have a really negative relationship with money, or destructive self talk in regards to money; author talks about how you can use their advice in regards to other problems ("diet feels out of control-these same concepts can be applied to improve your relationship with food and nutrition... morning routine- look at how you're talking to yourself")
We're going to add this as the honorary first dnf book since discovering goodreads exclusive shelves. what a time to be alive.

Not for me. Maybe good for someone who has never had to manage their own money before, fresh out of school or making their first real paychecks. Too simplified and assumed that there was too much frivolous spending.

Gerstley keeps up a peppy tone for readers who are just getting started sorting out their finances, and are feeling overwhelmed. Each exercise has one or two examples. I think readers will have a hard time thinking of their own examples and more could have been included. Why not include a list of all the common household expenses so you can just tick off the ones that apply to you? I liked some of the exercises, such as using descriptive words to make a list of your values (e.g. popularity, faith, prosperity, restraint, helpfulness, fierceness). Gerstley introduces concepts like opportunity costs, but could have included more, such as lifestyle creep.

For beginners only, this is the book to recommend your friend or relative who is always moaning that they don't know how to start untangling their money woes.

I heard about the book on Jean Chatsky's HerMoney podcast.

This book is probably for a younger audience and encourages people to ask questions about what they want to do with their money, ideas for free or frugal experiences to avoid spending money, and some ideas and explanations about mindset around money, how to list wants vs needs, and how to allocate money around them. The plan is a 4 week activity, which is most probably designed to give the reader and idea of how to manage money and to kick start a lifelong money plan and money habits - some people might mistakenly think the 4 week cleanse is enough and is all that is required.
While this book is OK, I would recommend the book “the barefoot investor” by Australian Scott Pope, any day over this book.

If you haven't read a finance book before, this is probably a good first get-control-of-your-money book to start out. If you've read finance books before, this probably won't have any new information for you to glean from it. I did like that the author compared getting your finances together to Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. You're cleaning up your finances and getting rid of what you don't want to spend time on to allow more time for what you do love.

Not your typical create-a-budget-and-stick -to-it book. This one looks at your attitude and thought process about money. Lots of exercises to make you stop and think about what you spend money on and the rewards you get from it. A really good book to adjust your financial attitude.

It's a great book for some one who needs a reset and really needs to examine where their money goes, why they want to make a change and where they want to put their money in future. Helpful exercises and worksheets.

3.5 Stars

Really enjoyed this book. Now I'm going to slow down and actually TAKE the 30 day challenge!

This is a book that is worth buying to be able to truly implement the 30 day cleanse. I renewed it several times and sort-of followed along but would consider buying to have in my personal finance arsenal.

Lots of great tips and pieces of advice.

I stick with my previous update that this book is an easy read but not really what I was expecting since it only focused on a more enriched demographic.

A helpful tool with an exercise-based format. I found it to be useful as a step forward in financial organization even though I didn't keep to the tight 30-day format.

Lots of good exercises for getting control of your money and using it with intention. Designed to be a "week by week" program for four weeks (but the author states up front that you can do the program however best fits your life). My wife and I had already put a lot of the steps in place before reading, but this was the kicker we needed to commit to being more mindful with our money and our budget.

Just about everything in the book I’ve already done. I don’t think it would help me much.

While some people may avoid reading, discussing or even thinking about money I'm quite the opposite. I'm fascinated by different budgeting methods, approaches to saving, how people manage their money and more, so I was intrigued to read The 30-Day Money Cleanse and was especially drawn in by the cover design. I liked the idea of comparing your finances to a health cleanse and the metaphor works, to an extent, here.

This a great introduction to financial awareness - not budgeting or saving, perfect for someone who hasn't taken the time before to seriously meditate on their earnings, spending and savings. It's clear this isn't meant to be a comprehensive resource yet the author then claims at the end of the book: "By now, your new money habits are no longer guidelines; they have become a lifestyle. After you've completed the Money Cleanse, your relationship with money and your money mindset will be transformed forever." To claim this book enables the reader to achieve this is deceptive.

The book is filled with feel-good talk of adjusting one's spending habits (the old take your lunch to work don't buy your lunch, and cancel all non-essential or forgotten subscriptions get more than a throwaway mention, which shows the basic ideas that are explored in the book) and substitutes "scary" financial terms with motivational-esque terms like Money Party (for sitting down and dealing with your finances), Financial Bliss Checklist, Happiness Allocation, and Opportunity Cost. Perhaps for some this language will bolster their enthusiasm for tuning their finances but for me it was too surface-level and relied too much on buzz phrases or ideas and not enough practical financial advice. Yes it's important to evaluate where your money is going day-to-day but when the idea of opening a separate savings account not connected to your other bank accounts (to avoid easily transferring money) comes about 80% of the way into the book you know you have a structural issue with your book.

If you're going to write a concise book that's easily digestible for our "busy lives" at least make it jam-packed with useful information and advice - The 30-Day Money Cleanse plays it way too safe and in doing so leaves very little impact by the time you finish reading.

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks for the free review copy.

You’re supposed to read this book over the course of a month, but I chose to read it all at once. While definitely geared toward a younger audience, I found several activities to be helpful and adaptable to any age group. I feel privileged to even have enough money to want to get better at managing it, and this book offers some great advice specifically about our mindset around money. I especially found the exercise around noticing our toxic spending environments to be useful and eye opening. I do plan to incorporate several learnings into my life.

very disappointed with this book! it was written so poorly that at some points I had to read a sentence twice to even understand what author was trying to say.
Also for me it was to philosophical and not helpful.

This should be a blog post and not a book.

It's very upbeat; like having a financial cheerleader telling you as long as you believe you can do it! She mentions being a financial adviser and I imagine the author is more effective in person rather than this more generalized dispersal of common sense advice. Not that the book is useless but it focuses on changing on how you think about money/spending. Like even if you aren't any good with money you can learn and to take tackling you finances at your pace instead of trying to afford Rome in day and even if you make mistakes it's important to not just throw up your hands and give up. But just being more positive doesn't necessarily fix anything and calling financial planning something else doesn't mean you'll have more control in the future.

I found it did help to have written down what I'm spending and seeing where everything goes. If I can make a colorful pie chart out of something can't be that outside my abilities, right? And so does keeping an overall goal (a vacation, a house, financial security, etc) in mind when I'm tempted by something. Though the book could be improved by mentioning that even some the big ticket items you feel like you'll never be able to afford can be made more possible not just by budgeting yourself but by taking advantage of stuff like Groupon or buying the plane ticket years in advance/flying out on Halloween or whatever. It was embarrassing to follow the step where you explain where you're cutting back to friends/family ("your inner circle" with more focus on solvency and less Death Eaters) though it did surprise me who I was comfortable being blunt with and who I decided to just plan around.

On the flip side, it would be depressing read for someone who follows her instructions and sees how little there is left over from necessary spending (even though the book acknowledges how little saving/extra people have these days when she brings up statistics to show you're not alone in not being a millionaire who can disregard frivolous spending). Plus a lot of advice also seems very commonplace? Like not using a credit card so it feels like you spent money.

The list of 100 frugal fun/joys (includes read a good book, go to a museum, give a compliment, donate 5 dollars, calling someone you haven't seen in a while, sleeping in) seems like it should be cool internet thing to pass around and add to. For example: I'd add it's priceless to subtly move your garden gnomes around to convince the neighbor's kid they have parties when no one's watching (ala Toy Story) and gnomes are creepy so if they're in your yard (instead of a community plot) they can act as additional home security. Or, it's not free, but giving microloans to a place like Kiva means you might get to see the money again and you can even join a like-minded group that gives financial help to similar causes/people (women, green gadgets, students, etc).

This book is a basic step by step guide to approaching your relationship with money in a more mindful way. The author spends some time talking about the emotional aspects of money and uses the metaphor of a cleanse to get you to form better habits - there's plenty of motivational speak with some anecdotal inspiration.

The book is then split up into a week by week list of things you want to think about and do. While this is great for someone looking for an introductory lesson, I felt that the exercises were a bit simplistic and made too many assumptions like the reader has an issue with compulsive spending, shopping or other such extreme attitudes instead of addressing a potential range of people with beginner to advanced knowledge of the subject. With all this, the book also does not quite manage to become a comprehensive resource or transform your relationship with money - despite my interest in the topic, I wasn't quite driven by the author to follow all the instructions step by step. It would have also been more useful to have examples of completed exercises like money journals to help the reader visualize what they aspire to (read Refinery29 Money Diaries: Everything You've Ever Wanted To Know About Your Finances... And Everyone Else's! The book and online series are super interesting and will certainly drive introspection & conversation)

Overall the advice in the book played it a little too safe and didn't leave me wanting to learn more. Some of the terms used like Financial Bliss and Money Parties also did not resonate with me but may be more appealing to someone who wants to make money more fun. Read if you are new to the topic and want a really small step/dip into personal finance. I would say 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.

Disclaimer: I received an advanced copy of the book for Netgalley in exchange for a review.

I'm disappointed that so many people disliked this book. I thought it was wonderful! Maybe it's the wrong choice if you're looking for someone to tell you how to save/spend/earn--how much to put where--etc. There are so many books like that out there already. This one breaks the mold because it covers the EMOTIONAL side of our money relationship. Even if you were taught about saving or investing or paying down debt, you probably received little advice about aligning your spending with your values. And maybe that sounds too frilly to you. But I'm someone who's been through severe ups and downs with money, has read all the Dave Ramsey and Susie Orman stuff, was taught from a young age about savings accounts and CDs and IRAs, and I feel like this is the first book that ever really spoke to me. Ashley Feinstein Gerstley's writing applies to you whether you have extra income or are struggling to pay the bills. Maybe on the surface it's about giving up your latte habit, but I didn't personally feel like that's the root of the book. It's about WHY you get your latte in the first place, and whether or not you can meet that desire/need in another, less-expensive way; or whether it's a habit worth keeping. I love the idea of a happiness allocation and calculating the opportunity cost of things. Perhaps I just read this book at the right time, as I'm analyzing all corners of my life, looking at values and boundaries and time management, and this one is in a similar style. If you like Kate Northrup's money story better than Dave Ramsey's, this one might be for you.

I read this in a day and really appreciated what I took away from it. It is short, to the point, motivating, and keeps moving you forward to having more control over your money, spending habits, and aligning your spending with your goals. I was surprised to see that there were several negative reviews for this book being simple or rehashing ideas they’ve come across elsewhere. While that may be true, the delivery in this book resonated with me. Personally I had not come across a book that had you focus in on your life goals and then relate it back to your spending. Similar concepts like picturing your “rich life,” yes. But honestly my rich life doesn’t necessarily mean spending more discretionary money. I’d travel more and have a lot more time freedom, but I wouldn’t be splurging on designer brands. Also I think most personal finance books will be a rehash of each other for maybe 80%? It’s their spin and perspective that will vary. Mostly I read them to see what that little something else is that I can learn and to keep it front-of-mind for myself during a time when I’m figuring things out in my financial world. Given the turmoil and constant news speculation of a recession, I’d recommend this one to anyone who wants a quick and hopeful approach to managing their day-to-day money.