How to Live Well Without Owning a Car

by Chris Balish
How to Live Well Without Owning a Car
Author: Chris Balish
Publisher: Ten Speed Press
Total Pages: 228
Release: 2006-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 9781580087575
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You don't need to own a car to live well in America. In fact, you'd probably be better off without one. In this groundbreaking guide, award-winning journalist Chris Balish exposes the true costs of car ownership and shows how car-free living can put anyone on the path to financial freedom. Using the book's car cost worksheet, first figure out how much owning a car really costs-you'll be surprised. Then, see how easy it is to transition to a car-free or car-lite lifestyle using Chris's strategies for commuting, running errands, taking trips, dating, socializing, and more. You'll also find hundreds of tips and success stories from car-free people in cities and suburbs across America. Without car payments, rising gas prices, and traffic jams to worry about, you'll have more money and leisure time to spend as you choose. Discover why getting rid of your car may be the soundest and sanest lifestyle change you can make. Reviews View a video clip from NBC's Today Show: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25609661/ "Chris Balish offers a mix of the practical-a worksheet to figure out a car's total cost and impact-as well as the horrifying: The average American walks just 300 yards a day." —Sierra Magazine "If ever there was a practical inducement to get out of the car trap, this is it. For the multitude of Americans stuck in traffic and spending thousands of dollars a year on their cars, Chris's lively and pragmatic step-by-step solutions provide a way out." —Jane Holtz Kay, author of Asphalt Nation "Chris Balish's book can help environmentally conscious Americans live their values. If you're concerned about pollution and global warming, follow the program in these pages. There can be life without a car. And a good life at that!" —Ed Begley, Jr., actor and environmental activist "[Chris Balish's] prescriptions are feasible and most important, reasonable." —San Antonio Express News "Even if living car-free or car-lite isn't for you, you'll still learn a lot from this book. I did." —Michelle Singletary, Washington Post Listen to Chris Balish talk about living car-free in Los Angeles on NPR's Morning Edition.

Strong Towns

by Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Strong Towns
Author: Charles L. Marohn, Jr.
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 262
Release: 2019-10-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1119564816
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A new way forward for sustainable quality of life in cities of all sizes Strong Towns: A Bottom-Up Revolution to Build American Prosperity is a book of forward-thinking ideas that breaks with modern wisdom to present a new vision of urban development in the United States. Presenting the foundational ideas of the Strong Towns movement he co-founded, Charles Marohn explains why cities of all sizes continue to struggle to meet their basic needs, and reveals the new paradigm that can solve this longstanding problem. Inside, you’ll learn why inducing growth and development has been the conventional response to urban financial struggles—and why it just doesn’t work. New development and high-risk investing don’t generate enough wealth to support itself, and cities continue to struggle. Read this book to find out how cities large and small can focus on bottom-up investments to minimize risk and maximize their ability to strengthen the community financially and improve citizens’ quality of life. Develop in-depth knowledge of the underlying logic behind the “traditional” search for never-ending urban growth Learn practical solutions for ameliorating financial struggles through low-risk investment and a grassroots focus Gain insights and tools that can stop the vicious cycle of budget shortfalls and unexpected downturns Become a part of the Strong Towns revolution by shifting the focus away from top-down growth toward rebuilding American prosperity Strong Towns acknowledges that there is a problem with the American approach to growth and shows community leaders a new way forward. The Strong Towns response is a revolution in how we assemble the places we live.

Your Money: The Missing Manual

by J.D. Roth
Your Money: The Missing Manual
Author: J.D. Roth
Publisher: "O'Reilly Media, Inc."
Total Pages: 338
Release: 2010-03-04
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1449388884
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Keeping your financial house in order is more important than ever. But how do you deal with expenses, debt, taxes, and retirement without getting overwhelmed? This book points the way. It's filled with the kind of practical guidance and sound insights that makes J.D. Roth's GetRichSlowly.org a critically acclaimed source of personal-finance advice. You won't find any get-rich-quick schemes here, just sensible advice for getting the most from your money. Even if you have perfect credit and no debt, you'll learn ways to make your rosy financial situation even better. Get the info you need to make sensible decisions on saving, spending, and investing Learn the best ways to set and achieve financial goals Set up a realistic budget framework and learn how to track expenses Discover proven methods to help you eliminate debt Understand how to use credit wisely Win big by making smart decisions on your home and other big-ticket items Learn how to get the most from your investments by avoiding rash decisions Decide how -- and how much -- to save for retirement

The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches

by Jeff Yeager
The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches
Author: Jeff Yeager
Publisher: Crown Currency
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2007-12-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0767929241
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It used to be that “stuff” made you cool. That is so twentieth century. Jeff Yeager, the man dubbed The Ultimate Cheapskate by Matt Lauer on Today, offers a completely fresh take on personal finance, teaching us how to enjoy life more by spending less. He will show you how to buy less stuff, retire young, and live financially free, while you make a positive difference in people’s lives and save the planet along the way. The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches lays out the practices and principles that have made cheap the new cool. Live within your means at thirty and stay there. The Ultimate Cheapskate was living well on what he earned at thirty, so when he made more money, he saved every penny. Now he is “selfishly” employed, doing work he loves and helping others. Do for yourself what you could have others do for you. Cheapskates are die-hard do-it-yourselfers. It’s all about having the right tools, and The Ultimate Cheapskate will get you started. Pinch the dollars and the pennies will pinch themselves. It’s not the $3 cup of coffee; it’s the big-ticket decisions that determine whether you’ll be financially free. So buy a house, not a castle. The Ultimate Cheapskate’s Road Map to True Riches promises a quality of life you cannot buy, a sense of satisfaction you cannot fake, and an appreciation for others and for the planet that gives life value. Open your road map and prepare to discover the true joys of financial freedom.

No Impact Man

by Colin Beavan
No Impact Man
Author: Colin Beavan
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2009-09-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1429952571
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Bill McKibben meets Bill Bryson in this seriously engaging look at one man's decision to put his money where his mouth is and go off the grid for one year—while still living in New York City—to see if it's possible to make no net impact on the environment. In No Impact Man, a guilty liberal finally snaps, swears off plastic, goes organic, becomes a bicycle nut, turns off his power, and generally becomes a tree-hugging lunatic who tries to save the polar bears and the rest of the planet from environmental catastrophe while dragging his baby daughter and Prada-wearing, Four Seasons–loving wife along for the ride. And that's just the beginning. In other words, no trash, no toxins in the water, no elevators, no subway, no products in packaging, no air-conditioning, no television . . . What would it be like to try to live a no-impact lifestyle? Is it possible? Could it catch on? Is living this way more satisfying or less satisfying? Harder or easier? Is it worthwhile or senseless? Are we all doomed or can our culture reduce the barriers to sustainable living so it becomes as easy as falling off a log? These are the questions at the heart of this whole mad endeavor, via which Colin Beavan hopes to explain to the rest of us how we can realistically live a more "eco-effective" and by turns more content life in an age of inconvenient truths.

48 Things to Know About Sustainable Living

by Victoria Klein
48 Things to Know About Sustainable Living
Author: Victoria Klein
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Total Pages: 132
Release: 2010-10-28
Genre: House & Home
ISBN: 1618581155
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While the debate over our changing environment rages on, one thing remains clear: being green is a hot topic—socially, politically, and economically. Whether you’ve “been green” from birth or don’t even know what the three “Rs” stand for, 48 Things To Know About Sustainable Living can help you make small, affordable (or free!) changes that will have a major impact on the environment and simplify your everyday life. Chock-full of tips and useful Web sites, 48 Things will show you how to easily become planet-friendly by: Discovering eco-friendly substitutions for everything from food and clothing to appliances, cleaning products, office supplies, and transportation Reducing waste and electricity, saving you time and money Taking advantage of both modern green technology and renewable natural resources

Possum Living: How to Live Well without a Job and With (Almost) No Money

by Dolly Freed
Possum Living: How to Live Well without a Job and With (Almost) No Money
Author: Dolly Freed
Publisher: Tin House Books
Total Pages: 163
Release: 2019-02-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1947793217
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“A back-to-the-land classic” (Garden & Gun) that will “inspire you to embrace a simpler life” (O, The Oprah Magazine). In the late seventies, at the age of eighteen and with a seventh-grade education, Dolly Freed wrote Possum Living about the five years she and her father lived off the land on a half-acre lot outside of Philadelphia. At the time of its publication in 1978, Possum Living became an instant classic, known for its plucky narration and no-nonsense practical advice on how to quit the rat race and live frugally. In her delightful, straightforward, and irreverent style, Freed guides readers on how to buy and maintain a home, raise and grow their own food, cope with the law, stay healthy, save money, and more, all in the name of self-reliant, independent living. Forty years later, Possum Living remains an essential guide to going off the grid. This updated edition includes an introduction by Novella Carpenter, and new wisdom from Freed on aging, used cars, emergency funds, and how to get back in touch with yourself. Possum Living, says Freed, is about how to cook; to go fishing; to be with family, friends, and neighbors; to forage for wild berries; to enjoy a hobby; to relax; or, even better, to do nothing at all. Some of the best living, she reminds us, happens in possum time.