Poorcraft by C. Spike Trotman and Diana Nock

This fall, millions of young people will be heading off to college. They'll be dealing with bills, rent, and sometimes even learning to cook for themselves for the first time. Even more will soon start their first jobs, move to unfamiliar cities, and chase their dreams. All this will involve learning to live on their own and within their means. One great resource to help them develop these skills is Poorcraft: The Funnybook Fundamentals of Living Well on Less.

Written by C. Spike Trotman and illustrated by Diana Nock, Poorcraft tells the story of a wasteful girl, Mil, learning the "fine art of living well on less" from her thrifty friend, Penny. And while, yes, the humor in this book is pretty groan-worthy, the advice is solid and well organized. Each chapter focuses on a different aspect on frugal living, from housing to food to entertainment. The book contains tons of resources for people just starting out including simple recipes and links to useful websites. There's also information on avoiding scams like payday loans and for-profit colleges.

Of course, Poorcraft isn't just for young people starting out. Almost everybody could stand to spend less these days, especially if they want to do more with their lives than work and worry about bills. When pitching the idea on Kickstarter a few years ago, Trotman said she got the idea to write Poorcraft after meeting many people who dreamed of writing comics but "aspiring creative types are pretty easily discouraged by the specter of the 'starving artist.' It doesn't have to be that way! And not enough people realize that."

Poorcraft is available from Iron Circus Comics as a $10 paperback or a $5 DRM-free ebook. (Cross-posted on my blog.)