Books and blogs that inspired me to quit my job, work online, and move to Mexico

On By Nicole HennigIn Living abroad, Living in the U.S., Location flexibility, Mexico, Minimalism, Travel, Work & money

Books, simple living
Before I became location-flexible, I spent a few years thinking, dreaming and reading about it. I’ve always loved reading about other people’s experiences for inspiration.

At first it didn’t seem possible to find a way to live without my salary. I had some income from side businesses, but not nearly enough to live on. It looked like I had only two choices: stay in the rat race and continue to earn a good salary and benefits, or quit my job and become a bag lady, struggling to make ends meet.

Well, it turns out there are alternatives. All the reading that I did got me to stop thinking so much about money and focus instead on something more valuable: my time.

Of course it helped that I’m a white, middle-class American with all the privileges that brings.  And I already had years of a salary and benefits, and skills that could be used for online work. But even if you don’t have all those factors, I think it’s becoming more possible to design a different kind of working life, one that allows for a bit more freedom, balance, and a chance to focus on what’s important to you.

These are the books that inspired me and helped me see that it is possible to create an enjoyable life after leaving a salaried job (without becoming a “bag lady).”

Here’s a table of contents, since this post is long!

  1. Simple living/minimalism
  2. Cheaper places to live in the U.S.
  3. Taking a career break
  4. Cheap places worldwide
  5. House-sitting
  6. Mexico
  7. Travel and living abroad
  8. Tiny houses, moveable houses, etc.
  9. Ideas for earning money

1. Simple living/minimalism

I’ve enjoyed reading on this topic for many years. I like getting rid of stuff and I feel better with fewer possessions. Here are some books that inspired me to move to a smaller place and get rid of most of my possessions (something I did in stages,  starting a year before I left my job).

Books:

Blogs

2. Cheaper places to live in the U.S.

Since I lived in Boston my whole adult life, I thought about moving to a less expensive location. I grew up in Omaha, Nebraska and considered moving back, except for the fact that I enjoy living car-free and the public transportation there is not so good.

But, Omaha has changed a lot since the years when I lived there and I may still consider living there for part of the year at some point in the future. There are some walkable neighborhoods and a lot of interesting renewal projects where historic buildings are being turned into living spaces.

I enjoyed reading about different parts of the U.S. and comparing the price of living along with other factors that matter to me (walkability, arts & culture, weather). Here are some good starting points.

Books that compare different places

Web sites for comparing places in the U.S.

  • City Data – It’s fun to browse their forums, where people ask and answer questions about living in different parts of the U.S.
  • Rentbits – Compare apartment rental rates in cities around the U.S.

Books about specific places

3. Taking a career break

One idea I had was to take a break from my job for a year. Of course, this would have involved complex negotiations with my employer. In the end, I decided that I really didn’t want to go back to the same job, it was just the idea of a safety net that appealed to me in case I didn’t like living without a salary.

Books to read if you’re thinking of this option

Meetup group:

4. Cheap places worldwide

Books on where to live

I’ve always enjoyed traveling outside of the U.S. and did more of it when I was younger (Russia, Guatemala, the Yucatán peninsula of Mexico, and India). Once I got busier with career life, I never seemed to have enough time, so I traveled less later on. Because I’ve always wanted to see more of the world, I started investigating how it might work for me to live outside of the U.S.

I started with general overviews of many places worldwide. Also, books written for retirees are useful, even if you aren’t retiring.

Then I decided to focus on Mexico and Latin America.

I also subscribed to this magazine (print and PDF):

  • International Living Magazine  They promote a lot of expensive seminars for people wanting to buy real estate in other countries, but if you can ignore the sales pitches, their articles are quite interesting and inspiring.

5. House-sitting

One way to live cheaply and see the world is through house-sitting. It’s a great option, especially if you’re handy with repairs and good with animals. Since I’m allergic to cats and not really very handy, it’s not my first choice. But I did enjoy house-sitting for friends in Boston while they went to India for four months. It gave me the chance to continue living in Boston (but more cheaply), when I first left my job.

Books

Websites

6. Mexico

After reading about many locations, Mexico appealed to me. It’s a short flight from the U.S., I already knew a little bit of Spanish, and I like the idea of not being too many time zones away from my friends back home (good for Skype conversations).

Here’s what I read that helped me choose where to go in Mexico.

Books

Website:

Oaxaca, Mexico
I chose Oaxaca as my first place to live for several reasons. It’s known for fascinating culture (art, crafts, music, ancient ruins, colonial architecture). It’s also a big enough city to offer all the things that cities offer (public transportation, cultural events, good restaurants, etc). It has a community of expats, but they don’t stay in a gated community speaking English all the time, like some other places in Mexico. It sounded interesting to me and it is!

Books

Websites & Blogs:

Living in Mexico City

Someday I will visit Mexico City. I don’t know if I’ll live there, but I might. These are books that have inspired me about living there in spite of pollution and crime. It turns out that pollution has been reduced in the past few years and the crime is similar to other large cities worldwide (not anything like the drug-related violence in the north of Mexico).

Articles

Books

Blogs

7. Travel and living abroad

Here are a few more books and blogs that have inspired me.

Books

Blogs

8.  Tiny houses, moveable houses, etc.

Books on tiny houses

Another idea for living simply is to live in a “tiny house” or a moveable dwelling of some type. I may try that in the future. Here are some books that have inspired me about small space living.

Books

Blogs

I like the Tiny House movement so much that I created a website to aggregate information about it,: http://smallwow.com/tinyhouses

9. Ideas for earning money

Books on earning a living

I’ve been interested in entrepreneurship for a long time. In 2009 I started a side business with a co-worker. It’s called Feedwelder, and it’s a tool for webmaster to easily blend and display RSS news feeds on websites for a small monthly subscription fee. It’s not live yet, but we plan to go live in 2013.  I also teach online courses and I enjoy that immensely! This year I’m working on two book projects and next year I hope to develop more courses.

All of these involve creating tools, products, services that bring in money after I’m done creating them. What I learned from my reading is that it’s better not to sell your time by the hour or project, because that’s not much better than having a salaried job in terms of time spent (it may even be worse, because you have to drum up business). Instead, I work very hard during certain months of the year (creating products), and then get income from those products while I’m on vacation or relaxing and visiting different locations.

A year from now I’ll report back on how sustainable this is. If it doesn’t work, I could always apply for a salaried job again. I’m going to do everything I can to make it work, though, because I love this way of life!

Books

Blogs

So that wraps it up. This post is longer than I expected! I read a lot in the past few years and it was fun gathering all this information in one place. If you have suggestions for additional resources, let me know!

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