An elegant study recently demonstrated that having more cash --- or even looking at riches --- decreases our enjoyment of the simple things in life, in this case, chowing down on a bar of chocolate.  Related studies have shown that we can increase our happiness by spending, but only if we give the money to others or buy experiences rather than things.  (Read more about the science over at Not Exactly Rocket Science.)

In the last year, I've started to notice the same trends scientists mention about spending and happiness.  I'm loathe to spend money on anything, but the cash we've given away, spent on restaurant meals with family, and used to buy our honeymoon cruise tickets have definitely increased my enjoyment levels.  While buying physical objects results in a short-term rush that fades away once we get used to our new toys, our experiences keep growing brighter and fonder in my memory.  I guess I know where to channel excess cash in the future!

I haven't read the book yet, but Dolly Freed's Possum Living philosophy is just too much fun not to share.  When she was 12 years old, her father quit his job and let her drop out of school, then the two of them began to live.  They worked just enough to get by, bringing in $1,400 in 1978 (equivalent to $4,673 today), but mostly lived off their garden and ingenuity.  "It's so easy to live without a job it's pathetic," said Dolly's father in 1979.

Dolly's lack of formal schooling was illegal, so she had to hide in the house while the other kids were at school, reading books that caught her fancy.  She clearly received a much better education than she would have in school, and churned out a nationally acclaimed book at the tender age of 17 before going on to become a NASA engineer.  If that's not proof of the benefits of simple living, I don't know what is!

I'm glad to run across someone else who believes that conventional jobs are optional.  Check out our own book, Microbusiness Independence, to find out the way we fund our simple lifestyle.

Mark Boyle got his economics and business degree, entered the rat race, then jumped back out.  For the last fifteen months, he has lived without spending a single penny.  His experiment is a bit too extreme for me, but I like to see that the lifestyle is possible.  He writes:

If you're entrenched in the rat race and can't see the way out, I recommend you read up on Mark Boyle.  Our Microbusiness Independence book provides a milder path out of the rat race, but if you try either method I suspect you'll be happier and healthier.

I read Helen and Scott Nearing's The Good Life about a year ago, and the part that really stuck with me was their daily routine.  The back-to-the-land couple divided each day up into three segments --- four hours laboring to bring in their food and money, four hours on intellectual work or the arts, and four hours socializing or working in the community.  The duo clearly found a balance that suited their bodies and souls, promoting a sound mind in a sound body.

When you look into the Nearings' lives a little more, though, you'll discover that the four hours of "bread labor" was mostly spent on the farm.  "Although they budgeted carefully, did grow a lot of their food, worked hard and didn’t spend much money, it was banks, stocks, annuities, monetary gifts, inheritances and unearned income from other people’s labor that kept Scott and Helen going," noted Nearing neighbor Hay Bright.

I didn't really like their division of time anyway --- as an introvert, the mere notion of spending four hours a day talking to people gives me shivers.  Instead, Mark and I have developed our own system, spending half the working day (three to four hours) using our bodies on the farm and the other half of the working day using our minds on the computer, either working or blogging.  Throw in a day every week or so spent visiting friends and family, and a weekend of leisure, and you have our version of the good life.

Most modern Americans have a hard time finding balance between the physical and the intellectual in their lives.  Either they work forty hours a week at a physically exhausting job and come home too tired to do anything except collapse on the couch, or they spend the same amount of time flexing their brain muscles and then try to cram all of that pent up physical energy into an hour or two of exercise per week.  The newfound balance in our current lives is one of the biggest reasons I advocate microbusiness independence to everyone.

Would a life without electricity and time-saving modern conveniences be full of relentless toil or a surprising amount of leisure?  Eric Brende left MIT to live in a semi-Amish community for eighteen months and find out.

In Better Off: Flipping the Switch on Technology, Brende relates his experience living in a "chow-chow" community --- a group consisting of renegade Amish, Mennonites, and even some typical Americans who relish the simple life.  He nicknamed the community Minimites since their lack of technology went beyond that espoused by most Amish and Mennonite groups, avoiding all motors and sticking solely to human and animal power.  The author expected relentless toil to take over his life, but discovered instead that he was working shorter hours than a typical American with a full-time job.  Since the group didn't pay for tractors or much heavy machinery of any sort, they had plenty of time for visiting, courting, barn-raising, and other community activities.  Meanwhile, while his body was working in the field, he had plenty of time to think and talk to his new wife and neighbors.

Mark and I have discovered the same thing in our quest toward simplicity.  By keeping our expenses low, it doesn't take many work hours to pay the bills.  Then we can spend the rest of our time experimenting with permaculture, growing our own food, and just having fun.  If you were intrigued by Your Money or Your Life's hypothesis that the typical American should only need to work three hours or less per day to make a living, but were too afraid to forego your modern conveniences, Better Off should be on your reading list.

Turn down the thermostat and you'll not only save money, you might live longer.

A 2004 study suggests that as humans migrated out of Africa and into colder climates, these more northerly people developed a mitochondrial mutation that allowed them to turn more of the energy they took in as food into heat to keep their bodies warm.  However, this advantage became a disadvantage when people of Eurasian descent hit the modern age and invented central heating.  Since our bodies no longer need to turn that food into heat, the energy is transformed into free radicals, one of the factors implicated in aging.  According to one of the study's authors, "When heat and cold are managed by technology, not metabolism, and people from warmer climates are eating the high fat and calorie diets of northern climates, there is a rise in obesity and the age-related degenerative diseases."

I don't have any data to back it up, but I've discovered that you can become used to much lower temperatures than you might expect.  Rather than turning on your heat right away in the winter, why not add a few layers to your wardrobe?  You might discover, like I have, that 50 or even 40 degress Fahrenheit feels just right.

A friend of mine is currently running a series on voluntary simplicity on her blog.  She's a member of a simple living support group and has put some serious time into thinking through the actions that make up simple living.

Her first post debunked a few myths about simple living.  She wrote eloquently that simple living is not necessarily equivalent to impoverished living, turning away from progress, rural living or denial of beauty.  "Voluntary simplicity is both an inner and outer way of being," she writes.  "Most often, it involves removing clutter from your home and also your spirit."

We can all use some pointers on decluttering our souls (though I probably need more work on decluttering my home. )  I hope you'll drop by Brandy's blog and follow along as she gives us some points to ponder.

Meanwhile, check out our ebook about starting a microbusiness that won't suck up your life.

For those of you who don't read our homesteading blog, I wanted to point you to the series I ran over there last week reviewing Your Money or Your Life.  This book is a great starting point for people who would like to quit their jobs but need a little push to help reach beyond the typical 9 to 5.  The entire program can also be downloaded for free from the Financial Integrity website, so you have no excuse not to check it out.

I'm not going to rehash the highlights I posted over at Walden Effect, but I did want to add another tidbit of information that I forgot to mention there --- ganzingus pins.  When I read Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin's description of this fictional object, it really resonated with me, and I suspect it will with you as well.  The authors argued that everyone has a simple-living achilles heel, some type of product we feel compelled to buy whenever we see it for sale.  The most obvious example of a gazingus pin is a fashionable lady's shoes --- I've read stories of people who have 3,000 pairs, clearly more than they can ever wear.

But don't think that the gazingus pin is an affliction that only strikes the shopaholic.  I'm a certified skinflint and I had my own gazingus pin until a few years ago --- field guides.  When I graduated from college and suddenly had a bit of spending money, I started treating myself to a new field guide every month.  The first couple of field guides gave me pure joy.  They were books that I'd longed to buy for a decade, and I pored over them, soaking up the new information.  But by the end of the year, I was reaching a bit to find field guides that appealed to me, and I was no longer having time to learn all of the information in each one before buying another.  Eventually, I stopped buying field guides and laid my gazingus pin to rest.

Being self-aware is essential when dealing with gazingus pins.  If you follow the steps to calculate your real hourly wage and then determine how much of your time each gazingus pin costs, you will probably quickly overcome the afflication and be well on your way to Microbusiness Independence!

After reading my post last week about simple living housing options, Andy wrote in to say:

Several other people have asked me the healthcare question, so I thought I'd run through some of the tricks we've come up with.  I'd love hear from other folks who might have solved the healthcare problem in another way as well.

• If you're eligible for a government program, take advantage of it.  There are a surprising number of free or reduced cost healthcare options out there which you may be eligible for.  When you're in the government system, you'll have to spend a bit more time advocating for your own needs, but not nearly as much time as you would otherwise be spending at that desk job!  Here are a few options to get you started:
  
• Mark served in the Navy for a few years, so it was a breeze to get him into the Veteran's Affairs healthcare system.  They pay for nearly everything (including most of your medicine costs) for ex-military employees who make less than around $30,000 per year, and still pay for a lot when your income is higher.
  
• If you're age 65 or older, you should clearly be in the Medicare system.
  
• Regardless of your age, if your health is very bad, you should check into the disability system, which will pay for most of your healthcare needs.
• Your local health department offers a lot of free or cheap services such as immunizations and women's health checkups, and most areas have clinics that will provide other kinds of health care on a sliding scale if your income is low enough.
  

• Sign up for a high deductible, catastrophic health insurance policy.  If you're not eligible for coverage through any of the government programs, you should sign up for a private health insurance policy.  I'm assuming your health is good --- if it's not, you should be looking into one of the government programs listed above (especially disability.)  Since you're pretty healthy, your primary needs for healthcare are twofold: relatively low cost preventative care and the unlikely but very possible chance of getting hit by a car or suddenly developing cancer.  With a high deductible health insurance policy, you cover the former category out of your own pocket, but are secure in the knowledge that you won't be bankrupted by the latter possibility.  Of course, you need to have at least a few thousand dollars in savings so that you can pay up to the deductible.  This type of policy is relatively inexpensive, although the cost will, of course, depend on your age, gender, and health.  You may spend somewhere between $100 and $200 per month.

• Consider alternatives to the doctor's office.  Many people who are used to being covered by health insurance rush to the doctor when they stub their toe or come down with a cold.  Your doctor really can't do much about problems like that, and you'd be better off staying home and putting your feet up for a day instead.  You may also discover that your recurring maladies can be solved through yoga or talking your problems out with a friend.  If you do have an ailment that needs the input of Western medicine, a nurse should be your first line of defense rather than a doctor.  Many grocery stores and pharmacies now have a nurse on staff who can help you with minor to moderate ailments, often for $50 or less.  I've had really good luck with these nurses, and have often found that they listened better than the overworked doctors I spent top dollar to visit.
  

• Barter with a doctor (or, better, a nurse.)  Chances are that you have a doctor or nurse in your circle of friends and family.  Remember that they are overworked and are probably sick of being stopped by sick people in the grocery store who want to show them their stubbed toes.  That said, these friends will often be willing to barter their services for your skills.  Can you trade a good meal or some plumbing work in exchange for that second opinion you'd like but can't afford?
  

• Be healthy.  Okay, I know you're sneering at me here, but there are so many things we can each do in our own lives to make sure we don't get sick.  Chances are that the flu you came down with is due to stress from dealing with your annoying boss, or  from trying to juggle Christmas visits to four family members.  When you follow our plan in Microbusiness Independence, chances are that you'll become much healthier simply due to being happy and to having more time to eat right and exercise.  Taking time to relax and finding a good balance between working your mind and your body will go a long way toward keeping you healthy, as will eating lots of fruits and vegetables.  You might be surprised by how seldom you feel the need to visit a doctor after you quit your job!
  

Our microbusiness ebook is premised on the notion that you can make a living in just a few hours a week, but that only works if you don't need to own a McMansion and a new car every year.  Housing is one of the biggest hurdles for many people who want to cut their expenses so that they can quit their job.  The average American family spends 20% of their income on housing, with the average price tag for rent or mortgage being over $16,000 per year.  Yikes!

Except for living in the dorms at college, I've never spent a penny on rent or a mortgage.  No, my parents didn't give me a house at birth, and everything I did can be repeated.  Here are a few options:

• Barter services for room and board --- I spent several years performing biological inventories on people's private properties.  Since I needed a place to live and wanted to be able to easily hit the woods at all hours, I asked for a room as part of my recompense.  I wasn't paying for utilities, rent, or food, so I saved up a few thousand dollars very quickly despite a low income.  You don't have to be a scientist to barter for room and board --- I had someone approach me asking if I'd keep an eye on his elderly mother in exchange for a place to stay.  I'll bet you have several skills you could barter.

• Acquire some roommates --- While I was bartering for a place to stay, my husband-to-be was renting out a whole building and then subletting rooms to housemates.  The rent he took in was often the same as or greater then the rent he sent to his own landlord, although he admits that he constantly had to be on the lookout for new roommates as people came and went.
  

• Live in your car --- A friend of mine got into debt and needed to save up some money fast.  He was living in the city and paying and arm and a leg for rent, so he decided to spend a few months living in his car.  Before he knew it, he was paying off his credit card bills and getting out of debt.  I know that this sounds too extreme for many people, but it's good to have a fall-back plan!

• Buy an elderly mobile home --- After hopping from home to home for several years, I wanted to settle down, so I used the money I'd saved while bartering for room and board to buy some land.  The land didn't have a livable structure on it, though, and I refused to go into debt to build or buy a house.  Luckily, my husband-to-be came up with a great plan --- find a free trailer to move onto our land.  Old mobile homes can often be bought for next to nothing (or actually for nothing) if you commit to hauling them away.  To find one, drive around trailer parks as close to your land as possible and look for decrepit mobile homes missing windows or doors.  Stop and talk to the owner of the trailer park, and chances are he'll be glad to be rid of the eyesore.  Hauling will be your biggest expense --- it cost us $2,000 to get our trailer moved in, but that's mostly because we needed them to bulldoze a road and haul it half a mile through the woods in the process.
  

For the last three and a half years, our housing expenses have consisted of property taxes (very low when your only building is a "worthless" mobile home) and utilities.  We've saved up yet more money, and are now building a small, well-insulated addition to our trailer to expand our living space (and lower our utilities.)  By keeping our housing expenses within our means, we've managed to stay out of debt while barely working.

Do you have a simple living housing tip?  I'd love to hear it!

The biggest factor that separates Microbusiness Independence from the hundreds of get rich quick ebooks out there is that we advocate simple living.  We firmly believe that every entrepreneur should make a budget and stick to it.  Then, once you've made as much money as you want to make that year, step back and enjoy it!  Go backpacking abroad, lie in your hammock, or write a novel --- remember that you work to live instead of live to work.

What is simple living?  Also known as voluntary simplicity, simple living is the opposite of traditional American consumerism.  Author Duane Elgin wrote "we can describe voluntary simplicity as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich."  Basically, if you drop your belief that you need to buy a new car, a big house, and so forth, you'll end up with huge amounts of time to spend on things (and people) you really care about.  Plus, by consuming less, you're helping the environment.

Mark and I put in only a few hours a week on paid work, which leaves us days to build our homestead from scratch and to build our own relationship.  I'm never surprised to hear about the high divorce rates in modern America --- after all, if both spouses go off to work for eight plus hours a day, what time is left to laugh and share and grow together?