Ideally, you’d spend months or even years carefully purging excess belongings—but life may have other plans. Maybe you or someone you love has a health crisis and needs to move into assisted living. Or someone has died and their home has to be cleared before next month’s rent is due. Maybe you’re just moving soon…

In a recent poll at my Everyday Cheapskate website, I asked: What would you do with an unexpected windfall of $10,000? Responses ranged from saving every penny to giving all of it away to using it to get caught up on bills. This got me thinking: What fascinating answer would I get if I changed…

Is that even possible? In this consumerism-obsessed, materialism-driven age of time? Is it possible to make a complete mental transition from being obsessed with what we want to being content with the simplicity of what we actually need? Can a person truly turn their needs into their wants and make their needs few? I am here to tell…