Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel

Join me as I interview Phil Villarreal author of Secrets of a Stingy Scoundrel, a book filled with practical and not-so practical tricks, with some outrageous tongue-in-cheek stuff, such as pretending you're an illegal immigrant to get free emergency room care and buying a cubic zirconia engagement ring and passing it off as a family heirloom.

Phil Villarreal is a reporter for the Arizona Daily Star and contributing editor at Consumerist.com, and draws from a life of obscene frugality that dates back to his days subsisting on A1 and tuna sandwiches as a freshman at the University of Arizona, where he graduated with a business management degree in 2000. He was inspired to write the book in 2007 when his schoolteacher wife, Jessica, quit her teaching job to be a stay-at-home mom. Over the course of three months, Villarreal wrote a chapter a night to complete the manuscript, only to suffer rejections from dozens of literary agents and publishing houses. Villarreal’s luck changed when the economy went bad and his money-saving became timely. He has two blogs (philmguy.com andbecauseitoldyouso.com), and is a contributor to OK! magazine.

So if you want to learn how to be frugal but still live the good life, you won't want to miss this show airing Sunday, March 14 at 7 PM EST.