Damn, he’s done it. Adam Baker of Man vs. Debt has written the book I meant to write and never did. He’s gung-ho like that, never letting a good idea sit for too long. In fact, he’s included interviews with big names in personal finance and simplicity like JD Roth of Get Rich Slowly as well as a forward by Leo Babauta of Zen Habits.
If you want to find out how Adam and his family …

(Ed. Note: In honor of our house officially going on the market this week, here is the post where we hashed out whether we should sell or not.)
One of the myriad of questions we had to confront in our planning is whether we want to sell our house in Seattle before we leave on our trip. This issue has both financial and emotional considerations so coming to a decision requires a great deal of openness …

This week I took a trip from Seattle to New Mexico with my cat, Roo. She is going to live with my mom before we head off on our adventure, and I thought I had planned everything perfectly:

Food and water with containers in my backpack
A checkup and health certificate from Roo’s vet
The appropriate carryon carrier for a pet

When I got to the airport I went to the desk to pay Roo’s fare. (If you were …

I feel like this post should have a soundtrack because it is Very Important to our trip.
The Final Countdown by Europe, perhaps?
The last big step – financially and materially – is to sell our house. It goes on the market in 2 weeks, and we have a bit of competition from other townhouses in the area as well as a recovering but still down market overall.
Our house is in great shape, and we have some …

When it comes to making big changes in your life – saving money, decluttering, following your dreams – we often think of bold moves, things like winning the lottery or having a television show film your clutter in return for having an expert clean it up for you.
In reality, though, success is made up of a series of very small steps.
We’ve often talked about strategies we’ve used to save money for our big trip. But …

You know, I’d love it if you all thought I had nerves of steel and an iron will, but the truth is that I don’t.  And while it has been mostly easy to save the money and downsize our possessions, there are times when my willpower is tested.
This week we got a catalog for Crate and Barrel.  We don’t get many catalogs, but because we bought our couch there we are on the mailing list. …

Yes, we are officially on our way to Ecuador on October 1, 2010 at 11:55 p.m.  A redeye from Seattle to Miami with a long layover on October 2 will allow us to have lunch with our friend Pat before we board the plane to Otavalo.
How much did this flight cost us?  $100!
How did we do it?  Well, like we do everything…a lot of planning.
First, we have always been good about keeping track of frequent …

This is the first post in a new feature I’m calling “Of course you can do it!”  Each post will tell the story of someone who did something big and give few pearls of wisdom you can use to pursue your own goals.  We’ve got stories from people who have lost 50+ pounds, ridden bicycles on 100-mile races less than a year after taking up the sport, gone back to college, saved a lot of …

Did you get a chance to hear Debb Whitlock interview me on the Femme Finance radio show on Friday?  She was generous enough to provide me with a copy of the interview, which I have edited down for you below.  (If you are reading this via email or feed reader, you may need to click over to the site to get the audio player.)

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Listen in to find out:

How we set up our lifestyle …

Do you know how long you have to work to pay for your stuff?  A picture is worth a thousand words (or, in this case, perhaps a thousand dollars).
Matt over at Steadfast Finances has made me see our possessions in a whole new light.  He has used a Google Calendar to show how many days of work it takes to pay a mortgage, car payment, utilities,  etc.  Click here to see the photo.
If you do …

Good news! This Friday I’ll be a guest on the Femme Finance radio show in Seattle.  The host, Debb Whitlock, is a financial advisor here in Seattle who specializes in working with women.  We’ll be talking about money, specifically the lifestyle and financial changes we had to make to get ready for this trip.
The nice spin on this interview is the fact that Debb and her husband Pat (“The Mayor”) were with us at dinner …

When it comes to downsizing, you can easily get bogged down in not only what to get rid of, but how to get rid of it.  You know that I’m a big fan of Craigslist, and we’ve made thousands of dollars by downsizing this way.
But what about the good stuff? You know, the things that are beautiful, distinctive, and loved but no longer serve a purpose in your life.
My birthday was this week and …

Do you cringe every time you open your cable bill?  Yeah, we did, too.  And in an effort to save even more money for our trip and gain back a little bit of the time we were losing to television, we gave up our cable last summer.   We’ve now saved an additional $600 toward our trip, and we’ll keep saving at the rate of $100/month until we leave.
But that still leaves a hole in …

Whether you’ve ever had a one-night stand or not, you’re probably familiar with the phrase “walk of shame.”  That’s the next morning, when you are still dressed in your glittery clothes from the night before and have to make your way home amongst the regular people getting coffee and going to work.  Everyone can tell by looking at you that you went overboard the night before.  Chances are you probably have a hangover as well.
This …

Have you ever been dying to know the answer to something but felt too embarrassed to ask?
We often do this in group learning environments because we don’t want to look dumb.  But when it comes to gossiping with our friends, there seems to be no limit to the questions that can be thrown on the table.
Now that we’ve all become such good friends, I’d like to gossip a little bit with you.  And I don’t …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
There, we’ve done it.  You now know exactly what we did to save half our income last year to take the trip …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
How would you like to see the world while you pay off your debt?  Living without cable or a car seems much more …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
You can really complicate your budget process by adding a bunch of tools, reading a ton of books, and listening to everyone’s advice. …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
One thing that can easily throw you off track with your budget is a birthday or holiday.  Guilt, habit, and social pressure make …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
As part of this series I want to show you other people who have reached a personal financial goal. …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
So you’ve made up your budget and you’re on the way to financing your big dream.  And then you look around your …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
Now that you’ve worked out how much your big dream will cost, where you are currently spending your money, decided which expenses are …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
One woman’s trash is another woman’s treasure.  And what’s right for me may not be right for you.  But I think we …

Today I’m coming to you from my office closet with a confession about a purchase that was unwise, inappropriate, and way too expensive.  You’ve probably done the same thing, too.
The point is to start thinking of those types of purchases, why you made them, and how you can exercise a little self-control in the future.  After all, what you are saving for is more important than any purchase you make now in a moment of …

This is part of a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
Back in my spending heyday, it was nothing for me to drop $300 on a pair of boots, plan a weekend trip …

How much are you spending?
Can you tell me how much per year you spend on groceries or cable TV? Or how much money you charge each year on your credit cards?
If you don’t know, you are not alone.
What’s important to many of us is what we can have right now, not what we can have later on.  So it makes sense that our spending habits function much the same way.  We worry if we have …

This is the first in a series called How We Saved Enough Money to Change Our Lives and How You Can, Too. Click here to get all the posts delivered directly to your email inbox or feed reader.  You’ll want the inside scoop on how we saved $75,000 for the adventure of a lifetime!
How much money do you think it takes for two people to travel around the world?  Actually, let’s take it a step …

We’ve talked a lot about our lifestyle changes over the past year as we get ready for the Big Trip.
Now that we’ve hit our financial goal, however, it makes sense to tell you exactly what we did to save almost half of our income in a year (and the things we did leading up to this year) so you can do it, too.
Whether you are planning for a trip like ours or a completely different …

Today is the anniversary of the day we decided to take the trip.  Oh sure, it started out as a tipsy conversation after a long dinner and a few margaritas on a holiday weekend.  But the more we talked about it, the more we liked it.
Maybe we were loosened up because of the holiday and festive atmosphere.  Or maybe we were just ready to make a big move in our lives and needed a little …

REI is a fun place to go shopping if your idea of a good time is anywhere outdoors.  We have the flagship REI store here in Seattle, so we recently took an afternoon trip to try on backpacks.  Because we had signed up for the REI newsletter, we also had a handy 15% off coupon if we found something we liked.
When you go to REI, you get a sales associate with some outdoor experience.  Our …

Last Friday we helped some friends clean out their garage. No, we don’t do this for fun, though I have to admit we had some. These friends had just consolidated a big chunk of their outside life into their personal garage, and they needed help getting their space back.
Enter the Craigslist Guru, also known as my husband Warren.
He has a very effective method you can use:

Assign one person as the picture taker/ad poster; everyone else …

Can you believe the end of the month is already here?  We’ve barely touched on the topic of money, it seems, so you can be sure we’ll be coming back to it soon.
Money Recap
Here are the most popular money posts from this month:

How to Set Up a Budget
How to Agree on a Budget
Money-Saving Tips from Readers
What You Want Now vs. What You Want Most
Your One-Page Financial Education

What’s New?
Next month launches our newsletter, 3 Things.
Why 3 …

Do you need to dive a little deeper into the subject of money than we’ve done in this series?  Hey, I understand completely.
These are some of the resources I like, and I think you’ll find them helpful, too.

The Simple Dollar – Trent Hamm writes about personal finance from the perspective of someone who has hit rock bottom and recovered. We’ve already talked about his One Page Financial Education on the blog.  You can follow …

Editor’s Note: Since the theme this month is Money, on Fridays we will be featuring a money-making or money-saving idea.
Today’s money-saving tip comes from my friend Karen Rosensweig, also known as The Incredible Chef.
Karen spends each day cooking a month’s worth of meals for clients who have food allergies, medical conditions, need to lose weight, or are just too busy to cook healthy, delicious meals.  She also has classes to teach people how to do …

Editor’s Note:  The current theme is Money.
“I used to think being frugal was spending as little money as possible” but that’s just being cheap. Now I know frugal is being wise with your purchases and spending money carefully to receive the most value.” ~ Rachel at Small Notebook
When it comes to changing spending habits to reach a lifestyle goal, many people make the mistake of becoming cheap instead of frugal.  In fact, a lot of …

“Don’t give up what you want most for what you want right now.” ~ Lynn Mitchell
The hardest part about lifestyle design is keeping your eye on the bigger picture.  Your friends won’t be changing along with you; they may not even agree with your lifestyle goals.  So comparing yourself to them in terms of what they buy, where they live, and how they spend their time is pointless.
Easier said than done, right?
We are all social …

Editor’s Note: Since the theme this month is Money, on Fridays we will be featuring a money-making or money-saving idea.
The SmartyPig contest drew in a lot of comments on how to be creative in saving an extra $50 a month.  Married with Luggage Readers are not only good-looking; they are also smart!
The winner won’t be announced until Monday, but we can all benefit now from these savvy tips.  (Have you entered your tip yet?  …

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post from Erica Adams of SmartyPig, the online savings company. Be sure to read to the end for your chance to win a $50 savings card.
In an ideal world, the need to constantly obsess over your finances would never happen. But the world we’re currently living in, especially from a financial perspective, is far from ideal. Money makes the world go ‘round. And in almost every corner of the …

The theme this month is Money.
You actually don’t need a page for this – you can actually sum it up in one sentence.  Spend less money than you earn.  But you may already be past that point with credit card bills, loans, and hard-to-break habits.  Many people are.
No sweat.
Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar has broken it down for you in a fun 1-page drawing followed by 48 pages of sound advice.  Best of all, …

Editor’s Note: Since the theme this month is Money, for the next 4 Fridays we will be featuring a money-making or money-saving idea. This one is for all of those frustrated writers out there looking for a paid gig and comes courtesy of Suzanne Lieurance, the Working Writer’s Coach.

If you dream of leaving the 9-5 rat race to become a full time freelance writer, you need to think BIG but start small. You won’t break …

Editor’s Note: The theme this month is Money.
Now that you know how to make a budget, you can get down to the nitty gritty of where to spend and where to save.  And if you have a partner, the decisions can get complicated.

Your wife wants to keep her $150 hair appointments every month, even though you are over your head in credit card debt
Your husband plays golf every week to the tune of $100, not …

The theme this month is Money.
Budgets get a bad name.  Most people associate them with being broke or having a spending problem.  But budgets are really just coordinating your resources with your expenses.  And if you want to design your own lifestyle, you have to get control of your money.
So, let’s do it!
How to Set Up a Budget

List all your net (take-home) income sources for the year and divide by 12 to get your monthly …

This month’s theme is Money.
When it comes to lifestyle design, money can make or break your plans.  No, I’m not talking about the amount of money you have – you can usually live quite well on much less than you think.
What I’m talking about is your relationship with your money.  Do you manage it and use it to steadily reach your goals?  Or do you wonder why it is so hard to make it to …

Before we start decluttering, we need to know what to do with all the great (but no longer great for you) items that will need a new home at the end of the project.
Some items will go in the trash and you’ll wonder why you ever kept them (broken coasters, anyone?). Other items need recycling (such as old batteries), and still others will go to Good Will or your local consignment store.
But what about the “good” stuff that you know would sell quickly if you only had a way to advertise?

When you have a big goal that requires money, one of the first things you probably cut out of your budget is eating out.
What that means brewing coffee at home, packing a lunch every day for work, and eating in at night.
This may not be hard at first because of your enthusiasm for your goal, but over time it can become frustrating if you do not plan well.  And if you are like me …

Editor’s Note: This is the second post in the 5 signs of a great life series. Click on the introductory post for links to all 5 signs at the end of the series.
Do you want what you already have?  Or do you keep wishing for something else?
People with a great life have something in common: appreciation.
When you concentrate on your good fortune you will be less inclined to search for happiness in new possessions.  (Trust …

Do you have a great life, or are you just getting by? If you have to think about that question, keep reading.
A great life doesn’t come by accident, and those happy people you know are not just lucky or more intelligent than you (though it may make you feel better to think that way).
For years I’ve had people tell me that I’m lucky, and after working my buns off to show that I “deserve” this …

“Clutter drains your energy – and you don’t realize it till it’s gone. Every item in your home has an energy to it. When items go a long time unused, unloved and uncared for, they become stuck, stagnant energy that actually physically drains you of your energy.”
~ Ariane Benefit
This week is National Clean Out Your Drawers Week.  Okay, I made that up.  But seriously, this is a great time of year to do this.

The weather …

The biggest requirements for a year on the road are time and money.  With more money you can see the world in less time, and with less money it will take more time.
We are focusing on saving enough money for a $200/day budget with more time spent in less expensive countries and less time in the more expensive countries.
Besides just saving the money, our situation is further complicated by the fact that we own a …

A few weeks ago my husband came home with a buzzed haircut.  Normally he wears his hair short and his beard cropped close, but this was entirely new.  His thought?  Having a buzz cut will be an easy, low-maintenance way to keep his thick hair manageable while we travel.
Um, remember we aren’t leaving for a year or so.
This is one of the reasons I love him.  He is always planning ahead, seeking out the best …

When I think back on the decision to make this trip, it amazes me how much prep work we have already done.  Who knew being responsible would make it easier to run away from home?
When we got married, we both had credit card debt and car payments.  We worked at paying those down, but at the same time we bought a big house outside of Boston, traveled extensively, ate really good food and drank a …

When I am not working, and occasionally when I am, I find that my mind wanders to the future and how we can orchestrate the change we dream of achieving. Having started a company in the past, I know the rewards it offers and sacrifices it can require. However, I am not sure that I am ready to start a something again that will require staffing, big investments, venture capitalists, etc. Right now, I would love to start something that is simple and just solves a customer problem.

I think I would love to create a web design company that helps small business owners grow their revenue. It seems so rewarding to take a person who is living their dream and help them make it a reality. I could offer sites for $500 and build them from anywhere in the world. All the communication could be via email so time zones will not be an issue. The challenge will be recruiting customers, since my goal would be 10 new customers per month. This would give me a comfortable living, though nothing extravagant.

I am delighted to exchange a big paycheck for the freedom that comes with embracing your life and future.

Last night we went to dinner with some old friends.  We haven’t seen them for over 2 years, and it was great to catch up with them.

We had an amazing dinner, good wine, and great conversation followed by…the bill.  Holy cow!  Did we really just spend that much on one night out?  A weeknight?

Our bill was $250 for drinks and dinner.

We cannot continue to spend money like this if we are going to save for the trip, but we also need a way to spend time with good friends and still maintain a life of connections with the people we love.

We decided to set September 30 as our "day of reckoning" about the extra spending.  We have a previously booked trip on September 25, so this will give us time to close out our prior financial commitments toward travel and begin saving for the 2010 trip.

And progress on the budget started last night.  Some good friends invited us to brunch on Sunday, but we turned it around and invited them to our house.  We will likely do a lot more entertaining this way in the future.

We’ve done a strict budget before when we started the company, and I know we can do it again.