Simplifying starts with tentative baby steps. Your first step is always the hardest. However, after you get started you’ll be off and running in no time.

For example, at the beginning of 2008 Logan and I sat down and decided we were going to live a minimal, debt free life. Writing down our goals was one way we paid off our debt quickly. We also implemented a number of money saving strategies into our routine.

Below are 51, simple, micro-actions you can use to spend less and save more. Some of the tips are really easy to implement, while others might take more effort.

1. Live within your means. Don’t buy stuff you can’t afford. This probably sounds like cliché advice, but how many people do you know that charge stuff on their credit cards all the time? Know the true expense of items by converting the price of stuff into your labor cost to earn it.

2. Stop trying to impress and please other people.

3. Unplug from stuff.

4. Take care of your stuff.

5. Cut your own hair or have your partner do it. Do you really need to spend $50 on a hair cut, or can you do it yourself?

6. Plan in advance. Planning drastically reduces the dreaded impulse buyer regret. For instance, make lists before you go grocery shopping and research the best deals for things like clothing and food.

7. Research value, quality durability, and the price of products.

8. Sell your car.

9. Don’t purchase cosmetics, wear minimal make-up, and use a straight razor.

10. Barter and share your stuff.

11. Decrease your housing costs. If you’re paying an excessive amount to “own” or rent, take some time to evaluate the value of your location and the space you use.

12. Learn about minimalist home cooking.

13. Embrace the idea of a staycation.

14. Say no to Cable TV.

15. Sell your smartphone and use Skype or switch to an inexpensive prepaid cell phone plan.

16. Be a proud “cheapskate.”

17. Take advantage of My Kids Eat Free.

18. Use the freecycle network.

19. Grow your own vegetables.

20. Take public transit, rather than driving.

21. Car-pool.

22. Look for good deals on car insurance.

23. Buy local food. Healthy, organic, and fair trade foods can be very expensive in stores. To obtain this great food inexpensively look for a local farmer’s market to save money. Farmer’s markets allow you to purchase directly from the producer without the overhead cost of brick and mortar store fronts. This type of wholesome food can improve your health and reduce nutritional-related disease costs.

24. Don’t buy toxic cleaning supplies. Use baking soda or vinegar instead.

25. Ditch your gym membership and go for a daily walk, run, or bike ride.

26. Move closer to your place of employment.

27. Save gas money by telecommuting at least one day a week.

28. Create your own minimal business.

29. Repair or make your clothes.

30. Re-use and recycle.

31. Compost!

32. Rather than heading to a cafe, make your coffee at home.

33. Destroy your television and reduce your exposure to advertising.

34. Invite your friends and family over for dinner, rather than going out to eat.

35. Make your own unique holiday and birthday gifts.

36. Get your books from the local library.

37. Pay in cash and don’t use credit cards.

38. Volunteering is an excellent way to give back to your community and a way to meet new friends.

39. Give yourself 30 days to think about a purchase before you buy the item.

40. Go through your clothes and learn how to dress minimally.

41. Buy food in bulk.

42. Make use of your crock pot to pre-cook lunches.

43. Reduce your meat consumption.

44. Brew your own beer or make your own wine.

45. Cut back on unnecessary magazine subscriptions and live simply with the help of blogs.

46. Do it yourself. For example, can you learn to perform basic home maintenance?

47. Check out your local community calendar for free, family friendly events to attend.

48. Read Your Money or Your Life. If you want to understand more about finance and money management, consider checking this book out from the library. Why am I advocating that you read this book? Economic uncertainty, layoff’s and other world events have many people stressed out about money, how to spend it, save it and invest it. This book lays out simple steps that will help you gain a better understanding of money.

49. Before you buy anything, ask yourself these 3 questions:

• Did I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to life energy spent?

• Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?

• How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living. What expenses would increase, decrease or disappear if I didn’t go to work everyday?

Note: Questions are from Your Money or Your Life.

50. If you’re struggling with your finances ask for help.

51. And don’t forget to have fun!

So RowdyReaders, do you have anything to add to the list? Leave a comment and share your experience.

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Ohh and my blogging buddy Brett interviewed me about car-free living and my tiny business at Step 1 Minimalist. Be sure to check it out!

“Stupid work” happens when you give into fear, give up creative control, and stop doing work that matters.

Depending on your field of expertise your idea of stupid work might be different from mine. For instance, by the time I was in my mid 20′s I worked at a number of “real jobs,” had a BA and two masters degrees. But I didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment or that my work rocked. A lot of my work was unnecessary, automated, and stupid. Attending three hour meetings, commuting over 2 hours a day, and playing office politics were a few of the many stupid things I engaged in. This type of work left me feeling dissatisfied and pressured to conform to what others wanted my professional life to look like. I also wondered if all my education mattered or if it conditioned me to follow the status-quo.

In many ways I think the motivation for doing stupid work emanates from fear. The fear of being useless, fear of being without money, or the fear of doing something different. By choosing to stop doing stupid work you can make meaningful choices. For example, a meaningful choice might be scaling back the time you spend at the office and devoting those hours to volunteer work.

Here are the top four things that will help you do work that matters.

1. Produce work that creates a better world.

I think people are hungry to do meaningful, creative work. Work that contributes to producing a better world; one in which we can get more from less.

Ask yourself:

• How does my work make other lives better?
• Does my work give me time for family and community?
• Do I  have creative control over my work?
• What is my legacy?

2. Expand your knowledge base to pursue creative endeavors.

Keep learning and expanding your knowledge to pursue creative endeavors, to question the status-quo, and to make informed choices.

3. Focus on one thing at a time.

In an age of distraction there is a lot to be said for focus. So many folks try to do 5 things at once, rather than focusing on one task. For instance, if your working on an article focus on that task. Do you research ahead of time and then start writing.

4. Keep asking questions.

Professionals control the technical means but not the social goals of their creative work. The professional’s lack of control over the political content of his or her creative work is the hidden root of much career dissatisfaction … Professionals are licensed to think on the job, but they are obedient thinkers. ~Jeff Schmidt

Continue to ask yourself hard questions about the nature of work. By asking tough questions you might be “unprofessional,” but you won’t be an obedient thinker.

What would you add to the list?

Over the last month, I’ve been interviewing amazing bloggers about minimalism, location independence, financial freedom and more. Every Thursday, a feature interview is posted on RowdyKittens. Last week, I spoke with Beth Terry of Fake Plastic Fish. This week the feature interview is with Adam Baker, of Man Versus Debt.

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Tammy Strobel: Adam, on your blog and in your new book, Unautomate Your Finances, you talk about selling everything you own, attacking your debt and living abroad. What inspired you to take such a big leap?

Adam Baker: Both Courtney and I had always wanted to travel more.  We had been attached to the idea of travel, but were constantly making excuses for why we weren’t doing more of it.

But specifically, it was the birth of our daughter, Milligan, that really put things in perspective.  We realized how much our debt was weighing down on us (restricting our freedom) and that if we didn’t start living our life consciously now, we’d probably never take the chance to.  So we buckled down and set to work!

Adam: Unautomate Your Finances is about the process Courtney and I went through in getting back some traction in our finances.  It’s about our decision to take purposeful steps to increase our awareness in our financial life, even though we knew many of the steps and action weren’t convenient.

It’s sort of become a thesis statement on how we’ve achieved our small slice of success (and how we continue to attack the rest of our journey).  It’s the culmination of everything I’ve learned and studied in the past few years, including what stuff worked and what stuff failed for us.

The book itself is over 25,000 words and 80+ pages, but is broken into easy to read sections (Theory, Science, and Application).  It comes with budgeting PDF’s, an excel template, and interviews with Leo Babauta and J.D. Roth.  It was a huge undertaking, but I’m very proud of the result and the value.

Adam: Keeping it as short as possible, if I could only focus on 3 tips they would be:

1. Actively track your spending.  The key here is to find a system that is simple, easy to do, and that promotes *active* tracking (not looking back at spending 30/60 days removed).  In the guide, I suggest several system for tackling this.
2. Plan your spending. Some people call this budgeting (I’m not afraid of the word).  Spending plans, spending goals, whatever.  You need to be able to have a simple plan of where you are going to spend your hard-earned money.  Courtney and I use a simple 2 page, pen and paper, budgeting system using just a few categories (and rounding numbers).  I share it in the guide and it’s worked very well for us.
3. Take stock of everything you own. In other words… make a tangible list of every single item you own.  Start with a room if it’s too big to take on initially.  This is a great exercise in awareness.  Just going through everything, you’ll notice areas and rooms you need to purge.  It’s a great way to gain momentum, lessen you burden from clutter, and raise some extra cash (once you start selling it)!

Adam: Yeah, most of the time when we think about our finances or we set big life goals we think 5, 10, 20, 40 years down the road.  We think about saving for this concept of “retirement”, what our “dream house” would be, and where I’ll business will be in 10 years.

Dreaming in the present is about ditching all these future ideas and focusing on what you can make of your life to day.  Almost all of us have ways that we can (or steps we can initiate) to increase or income in the next few months (or even weeks).  Almost all of us could dramatically decrease spending in areas where we aren’t passionate in the nest few DAYS.

If you would have told me two years ago that we would have sold all of our stuff, paid down our consumer debt, and spent almost a year traveling the world… I would have laughed at you.  But it wasn’t actually that big of leap.  It was very possible and very logical actually.  We just actually had to start dreaming (or brainstorming) in the present rather than talk about “retiring early to travel” 20 years down the road.

Adam: Without a doubt, the number one influence on my life and my career has been The Art of Non-Conformity by Chris Guillebeau. Chris’ work deeply resonates with me and drives me to be more passionate and empowering.

Other big influences have included Tony Robbins, The 4-Hour Workweek, Dave Ramsey, Leo Babauta, and J.D. Roth.  Each has helped shape my life/career in a different way.

I almost never miss articles from the Art of Manliness (manliness), Nerd Fitness (fitness), or ViperChill (blogging).

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For more interview awesomeness read:

• Simplify Your Life By Using Less Plastic: An Interview with Beth Terry

• Leo Babauta, “A call for simplicity in this age of chaos.”

• Minimalist Home Cooking: An Interview with Jules Clancy

• Minimalism is a State of Mind: An Interview with Chris O’Byrne

• Danielle LaPorte, “Growing an Empire that Works for You.”

• Ashley Ambirge, “Let One Word Guide Your Way: Fun”

• How to Live Anywhere: An Interview with Karol Gajda

• How to Pursue the Reality You Imagine Yourself Living: Interview with Everett Bogue

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This is the third article in a three part series about finding happiness through simple living. The first focused on on how to find happiness without shopping for it and the second article concentrated on 12 steps to achieving happiness.

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We all have basic needs. The need for food, shelter, water, and companionship. Meeting those basic needs is a foundation for happiness. However once those needs are met, how much more do we really need?** Studies show that people have basic psychological needs, like being loved, feeling connected to others, doing work we love, and having a sense of control.

So can money buy happiness? Well I think it depends.

It depends on how you define money.

We all define our relationship with money differently. I view money as life energy. I have to trade my valuable time for money. Making a lot or a little money isn’t good or bad. However, I strongly believe you must be passionate about what you do for money. We only get one life. So it’s essential to live it well, with integrity.

It depends on how you spend money.

You might love to spend money on fancy cars, stereo’s or the latest gadget. Or you might be satisfied with a low cost bike, going tent camping on the weekends and eating organic foods. You might have three children, aging parents or no children and really healthy parents. All of these factors will have an impact on your happiness and how you spend money.

It depends on the community you live in and the people you hang out with.

Have you ever bought something based on peer pressure? I know I have. I bought two cars because “society,” and well meaning friends and family members told me I “needed” cars to be successful. It’s easy to go with the flow and not question basic assumptions. The community you reside in as well as friends and family members can have a huge impact on our happiness and how we decide to spend money. Asking questions and challenging the status-quo isn’t easy.

It depends on your life experience.

Our life experiences shape our choices, how we spend money and how we view happiness. In essence it’s all about perspective.

We all have to buy things. So when you do spend money, consider some of the following tips.

1. Before you buy more stuff, ask yourself a few questions.

Stop buying excess stuff and continually question your consumption patterns. In Your Money Or Your Life, the authors encourage people to ask themselves three questions before they buy anything:

1. Will I receive fulfillment, satisfaction and value in proportion to life energy spent?
2. Is this expenditure of life energy in alignment with my values and life purpose?
3. How might this expenditure change if I didn’t have to work for a living?

By asking yourself these questions, you’ll be able to examine your true consumption patterns. In addition, these questions can help you clarify your values and true purpose in life.

2. Give something up.

We are a very prosperous country and many of us have the privilege of thinking about how we can be happier, find joy and balance. If your needs are met, consider being generous. Donate a portion of your income or your time to an organization you believe in. In The Story of Stuff, Annie Leonard points out that activists and volunteers are some of the happiest people on the planet. Get involved in your community and do something.

3. Support local artists and businesses.

Supporting local artists and businesses makes me happy. It sustains the local economy and it’s one way to make community connections. It’s not a bad thing to spend money. However, before you spend money, do your research. Making thoughtful, informed choices will bring you greater happiness than impulse spending.

4. Rethink your relationship with money.

Americans need to rethink their relationship with money. For a country so “rich” we are deeply unhappy and in debt. Happiness can’t be found at the mall.

Have you considered rethinking your relationship with money and happiness? How much is enough? And what do you truly need to be happy?

I’d love to hear from you in the comments section. Do you think money can buy happiness?

**Note: I’m not trying to romanticize poverty. It is a serious problem that requires broad policy solutions and grassroots advocacy. If you are reading this, by default you’re privileged. You have access to a computer, the education to use technology, and a wealth of resources at your finger tips. If you want to get involved with an anti-poverty organization, please consider donating to Kiva. Or volunteer with an anti-poverty organization in your community.

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Getting out of debt has simplified our finances greatly. We continue to seek out new ideas to simplify our money management system. With that in mind, I’ve been thinking about my RowdyReaders. Over the last few weeks, I’ve received a number of emails asking how we got out of debt so quickly.

Below are a few tips that have helped us reduce stress and manage our money more effectively. The following tips are based on what we have learned from Your Money or Your Life, Adam Baker’s Unautomate Your Finances and our own trial and error experiences.

1. Create a basic budget.

Setting up a basic budget will help you estimate your expenses. This is super helpful information, especially if you want to start cutting your costs to lead a minimalist lifestyle or exit the cubicle forest. In some ways, I think budgeting is like dieting. It doesn’t always work. However, I think it’s important to outline your monthly expenses. They might fluctuate, but at least you’ll have a general sense of your financial obligations.

Micro-action: Set-up a basic budget. You don’t need any fancy programs to create a budget; a pen and paper will work perfectly.

2. Use simple tools to track your expenses.

Tracking expenses is a good exercise because it forces you to take a hard look at what you’re spending your money on. In the past we used a program called MoneyDance to automatically track our finances. It’s not a bad tool, but the program made my life a lot more complicated than it needed to be. The tool didn’t help us focus on what we were spending our money on. In essence, we weren’t paying attention. Now we’re using a basic spreadsheet to track our income and expenses. I feel more in touch with our finances as a result.

Micro-action: Evaluate how you track your expenses. Can you simplify the process? Do you use a fancy computer tracking tool or can you use something more basic, like a pen and paper?

3. Pay in Cash

In Your Money or Your Life the authors define money as life energy. We exchange precious, non-renewable life energy for money. Once we know what money really means to us, we’re more likely to be mindful of our spending.

If you use cash you’re less likely to overspend. It’s a whole lot easier to swipe a credit card and disassociate from a particular purchase. Giving up cash is like giving up a treasure. You can actually feel your balance being reduced.

Micro-action: Start using the envelope system. For example, envelopes can be separated by spending category in your budget for things like groceries, dining, laundry, etc.

4. Lots of accounts and automation can lead to errors.

In Unautomate Your Finances Baker talks about how automation can be a good thing. For example, I love having my cell phone bill automatically deducted from my checking account every month. However, Baker also emphasizes that too much automation can lead to unnecessary stress and errors. Having a minimal number of checking, savings and credit card accounts open is much easier to manage.

Micro-actions: Are there any open accounts that you can close? Make a list of all your open accounts and figure out how you can simplify. For instance, we just merged a number of savings accounts into one. We had a tax savings account, tiny house savings, flexible savings, and a small business savings account!

5. Use Credit Cards Sparingly

Using a minimal number of credit cards (or not at all) is key to spending less. For instance, we only have one credit card and use it for car rentals only. In my experience, I’m more likely to go out to eat and buy unnecessary stuff on credit. Using cash has made me more mindful of my purchases.

Micro-actions: Consider the option of going credit card free. If that’s too scary, put your credit cards in a safe place. If they are hidden in a drawer, you’ll be less likely to overspend.

Also, be sure to order a free credit report to see what accounts you have open and what accounts should be closed.

6. Check your online balance.

Before you make any big withdrawals or transfers, check your online bank balance. This seems like simple advice, but mistakes happen. For instance, I made a slight accounting error a few weeks ago and ended up with an overdrawn checking account. I haven’t done something so lame since high school and it was all because I hadn’t reconciled my account balance. Fees on an overdrawn account add up quickly. And that’s money you could be saving.

Micro-action: Be aware of the balance in your checking and savings accounts. Log-in frequently to make sure your purchases have cleared and that they match your own records.

7. Stop buying stuff, sell your car(s) and pay off your debt.

I’ve received a number of emails from folks asking how we got out of debt so quickly. The short answer is: we stopped by unnecessary stuff, sold our cars, and focused on paying down our debt rather than investing money in the stock market.

You can do this too. Getting out of debt won’t happen overnight, but it is possible. It took us two years to pay off $30,000. It was hard, but I’m thankful that burden is gone.

In addition, we continually look for ways to improve our money management system. That includes reading a lot of books, blogs and listening to what has worked for other people.

Micro-actions: I highly recommend simplifying your finances as much as possible. If you’re not sure where to start, read Your Money or Your Life, Unautomate Your Finances and The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life.

*Disclaimer – I am not a financial expert or an accountant. And it’s important to remember everyone’s situation is different. Before you make any big financial decisions, consult a financial professional.

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You don’t have to live your life the way other people expect you to.

Have I mentioned how much I love Chris Guillebeau lately? I recently finished re-reading 279 Days to Overnight Success and Social Media As a Force of Good. These guides are amazing and inspiring. If you haven’t read any of Chris’s work before, head over to his blog and review the content. I’d also highly recommend reading a few of his free reports:

The Brief Guide to World Domination manifesto helps you learn to defeat gatekeepers and take over the world (peaceful goals are accommodated too). The sequel, 279 Days to Overnight Success, tells the case study of this site and how you can create your own unconventional career. Both of these reports are completely free.

Breaking out of the 9-5

Earlier this week, I signed up for the $100 business course and am so excited! The class is perfect timing. Especially since I’ll be working on my tiny business full time this year. I’m looking forward to helping others with their upcoming projects and learning all I can from Chris, Pam and my classmates. The extra support will help me work past my fears, challenges and remember the big aha of 2009.

If you are interested in becoming a full-time writer, blogger or artist, the tips offered by Chris are practical and easy to implement.

Full disclosure: I’m participating in the unconventional affiliate program. If you purchase any unconventional guides, I’ll receive a 51% commission. So you’ll be supporting RowdyKittens and The Art of Non-Conformity.

“I refuse to spend the first 60 years of my life worrying about the last 20.” via Possum Living

We’ve been following the program laid out in Your Money or Your Life for the last few years. The program helped us get out of debt and seriously question how we spend money (our life energy). We’ve been talking about streamlining our finances for the last few weeks and reading The Simple Guide to a Minimalist Life prompted us to take action in 2 areas: expense tracking and the use of credit cards.

1. Tracking expenses.

Right now we track all of our purchases through a program called Money Dance. Tracking expenses is a good exercise because it really forces you to take a hard look at what you’re spending your money on. The number of receipts I’ve been entering is crazy! I think it’s a sign that we’re spending too much money.

2. Cash only, no credit.

We use our credit card sparingly and pay them off every month, but I’d rather use cash. Cash is easier to manage (at least for me). Also, once the cash is gone we won’t be tempted to overspend. Overspending is so easy to do when using a credit or debit card.

For example, I’m thinking of using an envelope system. The envelopes would be separated by spending category, for things like groceries, dining, laundry, etc. We won’t have a lot of money lying around the house because a majority of our bills are set up through automatic withdrawal. I’m able to set aside money every month for our fixed bills, like rent, power and the internet. Automatic withdrawal has made my life a lot easier and has cut down on the amount of paper that enters the house.

Money management isn’t rocket science. But it’s important to reflect on the type of tools that are useful. Using a good expense tracking system, doing automatic bill pay and using cash are a few ways that keep my financial life sane.

What about you?

The 11th issue of the Small Living Journal (SLJ) is out and it focuses on small spaces and finances. Read my contribution to the journal, 9 Tips to Live a Small, Debt-Free Life.

Do you have any tips to add?

Earlier this week, Jania and Robin interviewed us for an upcoming episode of Peak Moment Television. It was so much fun! Once the interview is posted I’ll let you know. In the meantime, check out Jania’s latest post:

Walking into Tammy and Logan’s apartment the first time, I saw how beautifully they’d accomplished simple living. Two bikes on a wall rack in the bedroom, a few versatile pieces of furniture, long-term food storage hidden under the kitchen window seat.

Yesterday we came to their “tiny house” to tape a Peak Moment Conversation with them. Their 400 square foot home still felt spacious, even after we added four chairs, two tripods, and a reflector stand!

Click here to continue reading.

Marketplace recently reported that, “President Obama is considering a plan that would require companies to open up and contribute to 401ks for their employees.” Kai Ryssdal recently talked with “Duke professor and behavioral economist Dan Ariely about why Americans have such a hard time saving money.”

What do you think about required 401ks? Are they good, bad or ugly?