Planting Seeds for Simpler Life

Todd Homchick, a West Hollywood building contractor, wanted to simplify his life even before Sept. 11. But the terrorist attacks gave the self-employed building contractor the impetus he needed to change.

“Those events caused me to pause and look around and take stock of my life,” said Homchick, a married father of two who typically works a 50-to-60-hour week. “And it became clear to me that my thoughts and ideas and feelings were not necessarily in alignment with my actions.”

Homchick is one of about 100 Los Angeles-area residents who recently joined Seeds of Simplicity, a discussion group that’s part of the “voluntary simplicity” movement. Advocates of voluntary simplicity encourage people to get out of debt, unclutter their homes and rethink work and spending patterns that might be adding stress to their lives.

Evidence shows that interest in voluntary simplicity has spiked in the wake of the terrorist attacks. Simple-living Web sites nationwide report sharply increased traffic since terrorists flew airplanes into American landmarks. Simplicity-oriented discussion groups say attendance is up. The bible of the movement, “Your Money or Your Life: Transforming Your Relationship With Money and Achieving Financial Independence” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin, briefly zoomed onto the list of the top 50 titles sold at Amazon.com shortly after the attacks--and nine years after the book was first published.

Robin, who lives on less than $11,000 a year in Seattle, believes that the core ideals of voluntary simplicity--spend less, work less and focus on important personal goals--are resonating with Americans who have been shaken by the recent events and who are looking for more meaning in their lives.

“We have been the holders of a set of values that are now showing up on everybody’s radar screen,” said Robin, president of Seattle-based New Road Map Foundation, an all-volunteer nonprofit charity that promotes low-consumption living. “The argument [for simple living] that was harder to make in the 1990s is a slam-dunk right now.”

At the Simple Living Network, a Web site run by simplicity guru Dave Wampler from his home in Trout Lake, Wash., average visits rose from 2,500 a day in the months before the attacks to 3,500 a day afterward, with some days peaking at 8,000 visits, Wampler said.

The number of people visiting the simplicity-oriented Web site operated by Center for a New American Dream in Takoma Park, Md., rose to more than 110,000 in October, a 50% increase from the month before, spokesman Eric Brown said. The previous peak had been 100,000 in July.

“There is definitely a ratcheting-up of interest,” Brown said.

Robin, one of the best-known simplicity proponents, has said she often faced skepticism from the public and media when she discussed the merits of downshifting--skepticism that she said has abruptly waned.

“In the 1990s, it was an uphill battle. I was always facing the question of deprivation, of whether [the simplicity movement] was about giving up and being deprived,” Robin said. “After Sept. 11, I think, people are realizing what’s really important is the quality of your relationships.”

No one knows how many people are practicing simple living. The last nationwide poll on the issue, taken by the Merck Family Fund in 1995, found 28% of Americans then said they had “downshifted,” or decided to earn less in order to spend more time with family or pursue favorite causes. In addition, 62% of surveyed adults agreed with the statement “I would like to simplify my life.”

Since then, the voluntary simplicity movement has greatly expanded its reach. Volunteers have set up a loosely connected network of Web sites, and groups across the country have started meetings and workshops to promote alternatives to overly busy lives centered on work and spending.

Some espouse simplicity from an environmental standpoint, arguing that excessive consumer spending uses up natural resources and hurts the environment. Others primarily seek a spiritual aspect, saying they’re finding the peace that eluded them while they were trying to keep up with the Joneses.

Still others promote frugal simplicity--cutting spending to deal with layoffs, debt or the desire to have one parent stay at home to raise children.

Penny Yunuba, who runs discussion groups and workshops in Boston based on “Your Money or Your Life,” said many people are attracted to simple living at first because of an economic crisis.

“They don’t have enough money to pay off their loans or they hate their jobs and want to stop working,” said Yunuba, a former computer saleswoman who now lives on about $7,000 a year. “After people get past that kind of stuff, they have enough space to think about [other aspects of simplicity].”

Not all voluntary simplicity advocates are as committed--some might say as extreme--as Yunuba. Most of her income comes from renting out half of the duplex she bought when she was still working. She dines out rarely, instead inviting friends over for dinner parties in her home. The few clothes she buys come from thrift stores. She sold her car years ago and uses public transportation or a bike to get around her Jamaica Plain neighborhood.

Other voluntary simplicity advocates, such as Homchick, have mortgages, cars and children, all of which require more income.

But since joining Seeds of Simplicity, a nonprofit membership program sponsored by Cornell University’s Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy, Homchick is looking for ways to reduce his family’s spending and make his home more energy-efficient. He also has applied for a lower-paying--but more potentially fulfilling--job as superintendent of construction for the nonprofit Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, reflecting his long-held desire to work for an environmental cause.

About 2,000 people in Los Angeles meet regularly in churches, community centers and homes as part of Seeds of Simplicity, said Carol Benson Holst, the program’s director.

Members discuss ways to consume less, reduce clutter and devote more time to cherished causes. They also provide a support group for lifestyles out of step with the mainstream.

At a Nov. 8 meeting in La Crescenta, Seeds of Simplicity members discussed ways to wean children from advertising-fueled consumption. They also discussed President Bush’s suggestion that Americans spend more to help the economy, wondering whether it was wise of political leaders to encourage more consumption when the typical household carries $8,000 in credit card debt.

“There’s a subtle implication that what we’re talking about isn’t patriotic,” Holst said.

Critics point out that two-thirds of the nation’s economy depends on consumer spending, and some dismiss voluntary simplicity as a fringe movement that has misrepresented Bush’s call to open wallets.

“People were cutting back on their normal spending [after Sept. 11], which was bad for the economy,” said Scott Krugman, spokesman for the National Retail Federation, a Washington trade group.

“No one’s asking consumers to spend more than they have. It does retailers no good and the economy no good for people to spend beyond their means.”

But many in the voluntary simplicity movement reject the idea that “normal” consumer spending--that is, spending at pre-Sept. 11 levels--is necessary for a healthy economy.

Instead of going into debt to buy items they don’t need, consumers would be better off saving for their own retirements or investing in technology that could reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, said actor Ed Begley Jr., a voluntary simplicity advocate.

Begley invested some of his earnings from the television series “St. Elsewhere” in solar panels for his Studio City home and electric vehicles for his family.

“We’re being told to spend because it’s good for the GDP [gross domestic product], but is it good for families? Is it good for the environment?” Begley said. “There may be a certain amount of economic adjustment [because of lower spending], but that’s a good thing.”

Taking their argument a step further, some in the simplicity movement are convinced that overconsumption in America has helped contribute to poverty and social injustice elsewhere in the world.

“We recognize the imbalance of wealth and resources is one of the root causes of terrorism,” Holst, of Seeds of Simplicity, said. “We want to live simply so that others can simply live.”

Robin’s New Road Map Foundation has sponsored “Conversation Cafes”--meetings in Seattle coffee shops and bookstores--to talk about the war on terrorism and possible peaceful alternatives.

Robin, Wampler and other leaders of the simplicity movement also began talking earlier this year about changes to public policy that could promote simple living, such as a 32-hour workweek, lower taxes on savings, and higher taxes on consumption, use of natural resources and pollution.

Robin acknowledges that politics could inject controversy and divisiveness into a movement that has been relatively free of both but sees political action as a natural outgrowth of simpler living.

“We have no place to hide anymore on this planet. You can’t pull up the drawbridge,” Robin said. “The politics of simplicity really is the next edge of this movement.”

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9 Steps to Financial Freedom With Voluntary Simplicity

The voluntary simplicity movement uses the following nine steps, adapted from “Your Money or Your Life,” by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin.

Step 1: Make a balance sheet.

Count up how much money you’ve earned in your lifetime (old tax returns or the annual benefits statement you get from Social Security can help). Then list all your assets and all your liabilities. This gives you a snapshot of what you’ve earned and what you’ve done with the money.

Step 2: Compute your true wage.

Subtract the costs of commuting, day care and other job-maintaining expenses from your annual pay. Divide what’s left by the number of hours spent working, commuting, getting ready for work and decompressing from work. The simplicity movement calls this your “real” hourly wage.

Step 3: Keep track.

Write down every dollar you earn and spend and divide it into budget categories. Calculate the cost in hours of each expenditure in each budget category.

Step 4: Ask questions.

Ask yourself whether the expenditure in each budget category was worth the hours of life it cost you. Ask whether the expenditure was in line with your values and goals. Then ask how your spending might change if you didn’t have to work for a living.

Step 5: Chart your life.

Chart total monthly income and total monthly expenses.

Step 6: Minimize spending.

Cut monthly expenses by spending more consciously and more in alignment with your values.

Step 7: Maximize income.

Exchange your time for the highest pay consistent with your health and integrity.

Step 8: Seek independence.

Construct a savings and investment plan that eventually will provide income to replace your job.

Step 9: Manage your finances.

Become knowledgeable about long-term income-producing investments and managing your finances for a safe, steady and sufficient income for the rest of your life.