Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back

By Karyn Bosnak

Drowning in $20,000 of credit card debt, shopaholic Karyn Bosnak asked strangers for money online -- and it worked!

What would you do if you owed $20,000? Would you: A) not tell your parents? B) start your own website that asked for money without apology? or C) stop coloring your hair, getting pedicures, and buying Gucci? If you were Karyn Bosnak, you'd do all three.

Karyn started a funny yet honest website, www.savekaryn.com, on which she asked for donations to help her get out of debt. Karyn received e-mails from people all over the world, either confessing their own debt-ridden lives, or criticizing hers. But after four months of Internet panhandling and selling her prized possessions on eBay, her debt was gone!

In Save Karyn: One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back, Karyn details the bumpy road her financial -- and personal -- life has traveled to get her where she is today: happy, grateful, and completely debt-free. In this charming cautionary tale, Karyn chronicles her glamorous rise, her embarrassing fall, and how the kindness of strangers in cyberia really can make a difference.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jan 26, 2010
• ISBN: 9780061997068

Karyn Bosnak

Karyn Bosnak spent her early working career as a daytime television producer for various talk shows, including Jenny Jones and The Ananda Lewis Show. She is the author of Save Karyn, an inspiration to shopaholics and women in credit card debt everywhere. She lives in New York City.

Reviews for Save Karyn

[msmonica_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Debt...we all have but most of us want to hide it. Not Karyn! In this great memoir, Karyn details how she acquired debt and ultimately, how she beats the debt. In the beginning, Karyn was simply trying to live the life of a New Yorker ala Carrie Bradshaw. But what the show failed to tell Karyn (and myself) is that NYC life is not as simple as a brownstone on a journalist (freelancer) salary. Instead, everything adds up and quickly! Although it's easy to say, no Karyn...don't do it!, I often found myself nodding my head as I read knowing that I did the same thing as she did. Taking a cab when I know I should take the train...check! Cute shoes that cause blisters...check!But the most admirable part of the book is how Karyn attacks her debt and finally gets out of it. Her book inspired me to weed through my closet and visit Buffalo Exchange to make a sale. I also began to post my books for sale. Karyn reminded me that our debt might seem insurmountable, but it only is if we don't take action. I loved this book and all the humanity Karyn displayed.

[erikarae_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a delightful book. It is funny, and it is a [mostly] true story! I have read it 3 times and have passed it around to at least 4 of my friends and all have loved it just as much as I have.

[blehner_4 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

First things first - yes, I only give this book two stars, but that's not to say I didn't like the idea behind it and Karyn Bosnaks determination to to get out of debt.That said, the author presents herself as a shopaholic in best Becky-Bloomwood-Style and she's spending and spending and spending. Singing songs of praise on Saks & Co. (and the likes) take up a good part of the book, seasoned with the odd date with men who'll disappear as fast as they appeared. With the idea of creating a website where she asks people to help her with $1,- each, reasoning that with enough people helping out, she could achieve her goal, things start to get a bit more interesting after all. Especially the columns in the "Daily Buck" make up for a lot of the flaws - including the lack of authorial skilly - in the book.In short: A book on a clever idea that worked, yet a sloppy conversion to paper.

[jjameli_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Karyn Bosnak is a genuis..lol! The fact that her savekaryn.com website worked is astonishing, and it so wouldn't work right now. I really enjoyed her honesty about how she got into debt. I'm sure everyone wants to spend frivilously, but of course knows better. Being able to see how one rationalizes spending money they don't have on 600 dollar coats, and expensive lingerie was very interesting, and funny. I don't see how people were in a uproar about the way she got out of debt. I wouldn't have gave her money, nor did I care that some did. Karyn Bosnak is a ordinary women who got herself into finanical trouble, and out of desperation, and part joke, came up with a genius idea. In the end she got a book deal, and I'm sure is now living a debt free nice life. Happy ending I would say.

[meggyweg · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a fairly good memoir, straightforward and honest. It was interesting to read how Karyn convinced the world to send her money to pay off her bills. However, the story as to how she got in so much debt almost made me hate her, because she was such an idiot. "I'll cut up my credit cards and keep just one for emergencies...omg I have a date and nothing to wear, this is an emergency and I must charge a $200 outfit!" I wanted to grab this woman by the shoulders and shake her. I sincerely hope she has learned her lesson from this experience. I hope also that she teaches the reader one, so they don't have to learn it the hard way.

[bookangel_a · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I found this book to be a very easy and light read. Finished it very quickly. However, I could never make up my mind whether I liked her or not, and whether I agreed with what she did. I personally love to shop, but I always look for bargains and am careful with my money, so part of me blamed her for buying so many things she didn't need and "wasting" so much money. But I was pleased that she seemed to learn from her mistakes, and found a way to get out of debt without declaring bankruptcy. I don't think I would have the nerve to ask for help like she did, and to keep her cool when faced with criticism like she did. I heard she got a movie deal at the end of the book, but haven't seen any notices about an actual movie coming out...

[allison7sivak · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Ugh. Thank god this was a library book.

[lyssrose · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Light and entertaining, 'Save Karyn' is mostly full of what NOT to do, when dealing with credit and debt. Light-hearted and fun, I enjoyed the majority of the book; however, towards the end, it really just became a rehashing of her website, and less an insight into what actually went INTO the site.Bottom line: worth reading, but take a cue from Karyn, and purchase it used, or better yet, borrow it from a library!