Detroit News Columnist Brian J. O’Connor to Speak at the Rochester Hills Public Library

Brian J. O’Connor

Detroit News Columnist Brian J. O’Connor will discuss his book “The $1,000 Challenge: How One Family Slashed Its Budget  Without  Moving Under a Bridge or Living on Government Cheese” on Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m. at the Rochester Hills Public Library.

Middle-class incomes are stretched more than ever. Feeling the strain himself, personal finance columnist Brian O’Connor decided to put his own family’s spending to the test. He began a ten-week experiment to see if his family could cut its monthly living expenses by $1,000—without sacrificing anything truly important. From groceries and transportation to entertainment and insurance, O’Connor ruthlessly tackled his family’s Top 10 spending categories with an eye on rooting out big savings. The result is his new humorous guide to family budgeting and cost-cutting in the new normal of the post-Recession landscape: “The $1,000 Challenge.”

O’Connor shares his family’s cost-cutting adventures and offer helpful strategies for getting your own finances back on track. Whether he’s sharing secrets to shrinking your grocery tab or helping you scour bills for unnecessary fees, O’Connor tackles the frustrations and fears of controlling your own financial fate, but always with a smile. Books will be available for purchase after his presentation.

O’Connor covers personal finance and the economy for The Detroit News, where his “Funny Money” column humorously chronicles the financial implications of everything from potty training and the Pregnancy Industrial Complex to tax avoidance and the shadowy international baking cabal that forces consumers to buy unnecessary hot dog buns. In addition to winning three humor-writing awards from the National Society of Newspaper columnists, he is a two-time Best in Business winner for his column, as well as an awarded finalist in the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards and winner of the Christopher J. Welles Memorial Prize from Columbia University.

Registration is required and open to those with a Rochester Hills Public library card. To register go to the Events Calendar at www.rhpl.org or call 248-656-2900.

The Rochester Hills Public Library is located in downtown Rochester, two blocks east of Main Street off of University Drive on Olde Towne Road. For more information, call 248-650-7124.