By Jacqueline Blix

The recent story in the Times' Scene section titled "12 Steps to a better you" contained good resources, but might have seemed overwhelming to people who are already doing too much. Instead, we recommend the nine step program in the book Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and the late Joe Dominguez -- a program that gave us a life beyond our wildest dreams. While Dominguez and Robin's nine steps ostensibly apply to money, the awareness they create spills over into the rest of life. Their program has you think about your values and purpose in life and evaluate whether your spending supports or sabotages what you say is most important to you. If people answer honestly, they can create an integrated vision for life, which is much more powerful than a shotgun self-improvement list.

We used the nine steps to transform our stress-filled, goodie-laden lifestyle into a rich, authentic life. We did not do this overnight, nor did we do it by becoming gazillionaires. The process took about six years from when we first envisioned freedom to when we left paid employment. Here is how our new life has unfolded in respect to the twelve areas in the Times article:

Personal Finance -- We are now financially independent. We live on interest from money saved using the nine steps. No more debt -- not even a mortgage. (See Stress Reduction)

Stress Reduction -- Because we have time and choice on our side with the backing of a financial nest egg, we can choose our activities and set our own schedule. (See Health)

Charity/Giving -- We now give time instead of money. David volunteers for Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers, Jacque with at the Fremont Public Association and the P-Patch community gardening program. (See Community)

Political/Community Activism -- We also take an interest in our neighborhood, helping with the annual Ballard Clean and supporting the North End Emergency Fund and other local projects. (See Home)

Career Satisfaction -- No longer pushing papers at the office or running with the rats, we can devote time to the "business of life." Our efforts now enhance our life satisfaction "bottom line," not the balance sheet of a corporation. (See Inner Knowledge)Continuing Education -- To help us in the process of making changes in our lives we joined a voluntary simplicity study circle in 1991. Over the last seven years we have enjoyed the intellectual stimulation of exchanging ideas and the friendships formed in this group. (See Recreation/ Relationships)

Fitness/Health -- Control over our time has made fitness a regular part of our life. David is an avid cyclist and Jacque takes time for aerobics and Yoga. (See Fun/Recreation)

Travel -- We enjoy traveling, economically, of course. We stay in hostels and live like the locals. On a two-month trip to Europe in 1994 we stopped over with some long-lost cousins in Sweden. (See Relationships)

Relationships -- We now can spend both quality and quantity time with those we love. When David gave the gift of labor to his parents five years ago, he not only worked around the house, but spent time with them. The reward of this gift hit home when his father died last June. David was grateful for those hours with his dad. (See Giving)

Fun/Recreation -- We have no lack of fun, getting together with friends and exploring the local area. David does self-contained cycling (a month-long trip on the California coast last fall) and Jacque knits and experiments with quilting. She also serves on the board of the Pacific Northwest Needle Arts Guild. (See Community)

Home -- We have time to spend on home maintenance and thus avoid costly problems in the long run. We also have a large vegetable garden in our small yard which includes a patch in the front. We frequently talk to neighbors walking by while we are gardening. (See Community above.)

Inner Knowledge -- Figuring out how much money was enough for us and evaluating our spending in terms of our values and life purpose meant we had to do some serious inner work. This work continues today since we have discovered a spiritual element to living more simply. After all, no religious tradition endorses greed. (See Personal Finance)

As you can see, all these themes overlap, demonstrating why a holistic approach works best in making life changes. Some people might argue that our transformation was easy because we once had high paying jobs. But other people of more modest incomes, with and without children, have also applied the ideas in Your Money or Your Life. We know this because we tell the stories of 47 other folks as well as our own experience of simplifying in a book called Getting a Life. (By the way, because we have enough money saved already, we're donating 97% of our net proceeds from the book to causes that support sustainable lifestyles. (See Charity/Giving)

So maybe the best resolution this new year is to take one giant step toward "getting a life" with Your Money or Your Life, rather than twelve steps in different directions.

© 1999 Jacqueline Blix