The Art of Simple Living

A former real estate investor with a hectic lifestyle, Elaine St. James is now a successful writer, as well as an advocate and practitioner of simple living. Her books, from SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE in 1994, to SIMPLIFY YOUR WORK LIFE (2001), provide comprehensive and thoughtful guides to simple living so readers can make better use of their own time, energy and money. In a recent e-mail interview, Elaine St. James shared some of her insights:

How has simplifying your life benefited you?

ESJ: Probably the biggest benefit was that I was able to step back a bit and see that it was possible not only to make a career change, but also to figure out what I wanted to do for the next phase of my life. I think one of the biggest challenges we all face in our fast-paced world is finding the time to simply enjoy our lives, and to truly think about and decide how we want to live them.

Any financial benefits?

ESJ: The biggest financial gains came from moving to a smaller home and, when I could finally let go of my foreign sports car, driving a simpler car -- a Honda. (Moving to a smaller house freed up a lot of time, too.) And then of course, contrary to what I had believed, changing careers had a very positive impact financially, too. I'm now a firm believer in doing what you love and the money will follow, though as I've pointed out -- especially in some detail in the financial chapter in SIMPLIFY YOUR WORK LIFE -- it's important to keep your day job and/or to build a financial base that will carry you through what might be lean times at the beginning of a big change. And of course, changing my consumer habits has had a dramatic and positive effect on my cash flow. I think most of the readers I've heard from would agree with these.

Do you think people need to be of a "certain age" before simplifying becomes a relevant goal in our society?

ESJ: When I wrote SIMPLIFY YOUR LIFE, I thought I was writing it for what I think of as "maturing yuppies" like myself. But I've been amazed at the variety of people I hear from: all ages from teens to senior seniors, all walks of life, and all economic and educational backgrounds. I think life is complicated for everyone today, even more than when SIMPLIFY first came out, because of the speed at which life now appears to have to move with the advancements in technology.

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