Getting a Life: Strategies for Simple Living Based on the Revolutionary Program for Financial Freedom, "Your Money or Your Life" (Paperback)

~ Jacquelyn Blix (Author), David Heitmiller (Author), Joe Dominguez (Introduction), Vicki Robin (Introduction)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Revolutionary and life changing, the "voluntary simplicity" movement is about achieving financial freedom and living well for less. Now Getting a Life shows how real people have left the rat race for a more meaningful--and financially manageable--life that reflects their own true values and individual goals. Written by a couple who used the nine steps in the bestselling Your Money or Your Life to transform their own relationship with money, Getting a Life offers proven, practical ideas on how to use each step of the program. With honesty and humor, the authors and more than two dozen families and individuals share their personal experiences on such issues as paying for health care, raising children in a materialistic world, and breaking the link between what you do for a living and who you are. Getting a Life shows you how to adopt voluntary simplicity in your own life and what to expect once you do.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Penguin (Non-Classics); Reprint edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140258779
• ISBN-13: 978-0140258776
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #639,493 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

82 of 82 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very well done, July 5, 2000

By	Michael Mendenhall "september17th" (Monterey, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After reading "Your Money or Your Life" twice I wondered if there could possibly be a sequel to match it. "Getting a Life" was not disappointing at all, but it's hard to beat "Your Money or Your Life."

My overall impression of this book was very good. According to the authors, you don't need to read "Your Money or Your Life" before reading this book. I disagree. Read "Your Money or Your Life" first and then this book. You'll appreciate it a lot more.

This book consists of stories of people who used the principles of "Your Money or Your Life" to change their lives. I got a bit bored at certain points of the book as people's stories dragged on and on, but I still liked the stories because they gave a human face to the principles of simple living and freeing yourself from the rat race of earning and spending day after day, month after month and year after year. Much of the information is repeated, but the different viewpoints filled in a lot of missing pieces for me.

Here is my favorite passage from the book: "If you didn't need to work for income, what would you do with your time? What was the last thing you bought that you really didn't need, and why? If you had no money, would you still have the same friends? What would you estimate to be the total weight of all your possessions?"

Probably the most important thing for me with this book was the distinction some people made on how to live without a traditional job. In "Your Money or Your Life" the recommendation was to get your expenses down low and then live off interest from Treasury Bonds. It can be done, but that disappointed me. I was hoping for something a little more aggressive like a mix of dividend paying stocks and other investments. I was pleased to read the story of the man who did just that. He adjusted his life where he had a mixture of various investments producing passive cash flow, and he did just fine. That was a relief for me. I've been working on financial freedom for a while now, and the thought of living off Treasury Bond interest for the rest of my life, although safe, just doesn't appeal to me.

I also found some really good practical information in this book. The common misperception in this country is that we all have to buy a new car every few years. I was pleased to read stories of people who owned their cars for many years and just kept them in good running condition. There were many other tips regarding wasteful spending that I've never thought of before. I probably paid less than 10 bucks for this book. What a terrific return on my investment.

I'm giving this book 4 stars because I appreciated the real life stories it contained. It made everything very practical for me, and now I can see how it all fits into my life. Of course it can't match "Your Money or Your Life" as that was an extraordinary book. Still, if you liked that book, by all means read this book as well. You can't get enough of a good thing.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A very nice complement to Your Money or Your Life, June 28, 1999

By A Customer

Although I own and have read both Your Money or Your Life and Getting a Life, I prefer this book of the two. Blix and Heitmiller had what to most people is the American Dream: high-paying jobs, a nice house, a boat, a sleek car, and other yuppie 'toys'. But they gradually began to realize that they were trapped in a gilded cage -- although they had nice things, they were too overworked and stressed out to really enjoy them, or to pursue non-work interests in what little free time off they had from running the rat race. When they discovered Your Money or Your Life, their lives changed drastically, and definitely for the better. Their story (and others contained in the book) really resonated with me. It took a lot of courage for them to be as open as they were about all aspects of their lives, from their relationship with money to explicit itemizations of what they earn and spend every month (a taboo subject for most people, and one that I absorbed with avid fascination). Whereas Your Money or Your Life is a clear and explicit blueprint for achieving financial independence, Getting a Life is akin to a collection of survivor stories. This book also reiterates the steps contained in YMOYL (although in not as much detail), so it is a nice introduction into the realm of voluntary simplicity.

48 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good price but not very useful, February 8, 2003

By	MotherLodeBeth "MotherLodeBeth" (Sierras of California) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

We read Duane Elgins excellent book Voluntary Simplicity decades ago, and would simply caution that this book Getting A :Life will probably appeal to those who have lots of money and really do not have to worry about making ends meet. For those who are on some type of a fixed income. or those with middle class incomes in a precarious economy it doesn't have much useful information. And I agree with those reviews that note the "yuppy" element.

We run a small simple living group in the Sierras, that is like the ones we ran in Alameda and San Joaquin counties here in California. So we are not new to the live simply and get out of debt ideas. And I note that there is a big difference between spoiled brats needing to learn what is really important in life and those who know what is important in life and want to know even more about how to simplify their lives.

The Intenet be it google searches or Yahoo groups has a whole lot more free information that is useful than this book. Amazon[.com]offers a whole lot more books on the subject that I would recommend.