Thriving On Less: Simplifying In A Tough Economy (2020 Founders House Edition)

By Leo Babauta

Leo Babauta released Thriving on Less as a free companion eBook for his book The Power of Less in 2008, at the start of the Great Recession. During this economic crisis, millions of people lost their jobs. Babauta, known for his popular blog, Zenhabits, offered it as a guide to the worried and perplexed.

While a slender volume, Thriving On Less is packed with practical tips and strategies to downscale the way you live to better cope with the economic contract that was rocking the nation—and the world.

Twelve years later, we face a similar economic disaster, but one that has come as the result of a global pandemic which forced the economy to grind to halt in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

With this modest update, you get access to the same practical ideas offered by Leo Babauta to help in this current crisis!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Founders House Publishing LLC
• Release date: Jun 22, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393840749

Leo Babauta

Leo Babauta has been a reporter, editor, speechwriter, and freelance writer for the last 17 years. Babauta lives in Guam with his wife and five children, where he posts regularly on ZenHabits.net.

Book preview

Contents

Foreword to the 2020 Founders House Edition

Introduction

Chapter 1 - A Simple Lifestyle

Chapter 2 - Focus on the Essentials

Chapter 3 - Thriving on Less, Not Struggling

Chapter 4 - Focusing on Enough, Not More

Chapter 5 - Make Small Financial Changes First

Chapter 6 - Look at Large Expenses for the Long Term

Chapter 7 - Changing Your Spending Habits

Chapter 8 - A Guide to Getting Out of Debt

Chapter 9 - Tools for a Frugal Life

Chapter 10 - Resources

Copyright Information

Thriving on Less

Simplifying in a Tough Economy

2020 Founders House Edition

Leo Babauta

Foreword to the 2020 Founders House Edition

Leo Babauta released Thriving on Less as a free companion eBook for his book The Power of Less in 2008, at the start of the Great Recession. It was a serious economic crisis and millions of people lost their jobs and incomes. Many were forced to face the fact that they were living way beyond their means. Babauta, a well-known writer who’s blog, Zenhabits.net, has been a means to introduce simplity, minimalism, mindfulness, and other assorted subjects to thousands of readers.

For those who read it at the time, it provided many practical tips and strategies to downscale the way you lived to better cope with the economic contract that was rocking the nation—and the world.

Twelve years later, we face a similar economic disaster, but one that has come as the result of a global pandemic which forced the economy to grind to halt in order to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

As before, with this new edition of Thriving On Less, we at Founders House hope to distill a bit of the same practical ideas offered by Leo Babauta to help you better weather this economic storm. We hope you find something helpful for your life in these brief pages.

Sincerely,

Shaun Kilgore

Founders House Publishing

June 2020

Introduction

In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.- Albert Einstein

The recent economic recession has a lot of people worried, about their jobs, their businesses, their homes and their bills. When your income is dropping or in jeopardy and you still have a mountain of bills to pay, things can get pretty scary.

However, tough economic times do not have to be a time of struggles! If you look for the opportunity in the middle of difficulty, as Mr. Einstein suggested, then tough economic times become an opportunity to transform your life.

The problems of our economy stem from unchecked consumerism—people buying houses too expensive for their incomes, getting into too much debt by spending too much, living a lifestyle of more and more with the idea that things will only continue to get better. Unfortunately, this kind of consumerism is unsustainable, both at a global and a personal level. Eventually, the bills have to be paid and things will be corrected to a more sustainable level.

What does this mean for you, personally? It means that in order to survive in a