Any "Simple Living" devotees out there?

[Anonymous]

I overheard a few people in my office talking about their participating in something called the "simple living" movement...as near as I can tell, they don't use credit or take on debt, they shop in thrift and consignment shops and they meet at swap meets to get things they really need to replace like appliances or car parts. One guy was bragging he paid off his $26,000 student loan in less than three years as part of this "movement."

Does anyone know about this? Are there meetings or books or something? I unfortunately don't know these folks well enough to ask....

[MidnightVoice]

Google is your friend. 

There are a bunch of links out there 

[Anonymous]

I've heard of simple living but not of "simple living movement", maybe its something they got going on between them. Anyhow, check out the library for books on simple living, I recommend "Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck" by Michael Rubin, its not simple living but very good financial advice. "Good Debt Bad Debt" is also good, I forgot who wrote it. Some websites you can check are www.simpledollar.com and www.zenhabits.net I believe Dave Ramsey is against loans and credit cards (or something like that, I haven't read any of his material) so you might want to read some of his books, I think his has a radio show too. www.simpledollar.com has a review on one of his books here: http://www.thesimpledollar.com/2006/12/09/review-the-total-money-makeover/