Read Online Small Change by Sheila Roberts - Free Book Online Page A

really need to live a fabulous life.
    That and a credit card, thought Tiffany.
    Stay with me through these pages and I'll give you all kinds of tips for squeezing every bit of fun and glamour out of a dollar that you possibly can. I am living proof that any woman can live like a diva on a dime.
    Tiffany was up for that. She flipped through the pages to the chapter titled “Looking Great for Next to Nothing.” Consignment stores are the way to go, claimed Rebecca. Did you know that you can outfit yourself in designer clothes for secondhand prices?
    As if.
    Cara had finished with her teenage hair makeover now and the girl waltzed out the door, obviously feeling like a million bucks. The girl had paid more than a dime for that haircut. If you wanted to look really good you had to be willing to spend money.
    What did this diva chick look like? Tiffany turned to the back of the book and checked out the author photo. Okay, she had to admit the woman looked pretty glam, but if the diva on a dime had really gotten those clothes at a consignment store Tiffany would eat her acrylic nails.
    She flipped back to the chapter and read on. Everything I'm wearing in my photo on the back of this book I got at consignment stores … right down to my bra—Victoria's Secret, I'll have you know.
    Shut up. Tiffany studied the picture again, giving a lock of her blonde hair a thoughtful twirl. This woman had to be right around the corner from the New York garment district. You wouldn't find anything like that around Heart Lake.
    Tiffany read on. Get your nails and hair done at votech schools for a song, said the diva on a dime.
    Tiffany dropped the book like it was a hot potato. If women listened to that kind of advice and went to vocational schools they would be missing out on getting top-notch beauty care. And she and Cara would be standing at the freeway exit, begging for money.
    Tiffany didn't want to read on, but morbid curiosity got the best of her and she picked the book up again and turned the page. The first thing she saw was the heading “The Truth About Tiaras.” That got her attention.
    Most jewelry stores have a huge markup. It can run as high as one hundred percent. You'll save a bundle if you buy your jewelry from direct importers or wholesalers who don't have the high overhead. Okay, now that was valuable information. Negotiate, advised the diva. A jewelry store may not be able to match the price you found at, say, a wholesale site on the Internet, but trust me, they can come down some.
    Tiffany probably wasn't going to be able to afford any new bling until she was ninety-nine, if then, but this was good information all the same. Okay, maybe there was something to this diva on a dime stuff. Tiffany's next client came through the door, so she had to set the book aside. As she did, she couldn't help wondering if somejeweler somewhere was reading a copy of this book and having the same reaction she'd had over the thought of discount manicures.
    She heaved a sigh. Tough times affected everyone, both businesses trying to keep their doors open and people trying to keep a roof over their heads. A girl did what a girl had to do, including finding affordable beauty treatments. Still, she was glad there was no votech school near Heart Lake.
    No wholesale jewelers, either. That was probably just as well.

• 6 •
    S aturday night Rachel got comfy in her sweats and T-shirt. Then she dipped into her hidden stash of Hershey's kisses, and settled on the couch with her secret guilty pleasure: a romance novel.
    She'd been a loyal reader since she'd picked up her first paper-back in college, but when things went south with Aaron she had taken all her romance novels to the Goodwill. Dumb. She'd had some first edition hardbacks in there that were probably worth something now. At the time, though, she hadn't cared. The last thing she'd wanted to read about was some pretend woman's happy ending with her perfect man. The