I have been a simple liver for most of my adult life. The conversion came when I was a highly paid bank vice president and walked into Abercrombie and Fitch (the old style store). I found nothing in the store that I wanted to buy. At that point I realized that buying anything was not a source of pleasure for me. I became a devotee of simple living.
Fifteen years later I wrote a book on simple living which is available online.
I did everything possible for a married man with children to lead a simple living life. I told each child as he or she was born that they had to pay for their own college and university or get scholarships. I had a wife, and subsequently other women with whom I lived, who shopped at Goodwill or Salvation Army. For several decades I owned only 200 objects (excluding work related implements) and lived as a house sitter with all my possessions in my car.
Also, within three years of realizing that I did not need money for any objects, aspirations or for social climbing I became self-employed. From that point on I lived off of my own directly generated earnings.
Enough about me. This blog is about the way in which the world, through the Internet, is making it feasible for millions to become simple livers.
The greatest benefit of simple living is that your mind is clear of all the possessions that typically clutter it. From a human point of view, the reward is that you can do any type of work or play you want without needing a salaried job.
The Internet has brought us Air B&B which allows one to travel nearly anywhere comfortably and inexpensively. For me as a simple liver I always depended on staying with friends or the communities of the hippie era. That limited my domestic travel and made foreign travel more difficult.
The Internet has brought us Craigslist which opens the entire world of second-hand objects and low-priced living to each of us. EBay has been helpful in that regard too.
And most importantly Taskrabbit has allowed us to earn a living at our own pace and use the great variety of our own unique skills.
Today, it is easier for anyone to become a simple liver if they have the determination and the desire.