Don't Need Much Money is exactly what it sounds like: a site about needing less, so you have more. More time. More freedom. More room to actually live.
The idea is simple. The less money you need to survive, the more time you have to thrive. Lower your living costs, live a healthy lifestyle focused on longevity and mobility, stay out of debt, and build a little savings, and you buy yourself something far more valuable than money: time. Time to do what you actually love, spend with people you care about, and put toward things that matter.
This site is my own real life running that experiment.
Most of what you'll find here are recipes and day-to-day habits. They aren't filler posts, it's intentional. Cooking from scratch, buying smart, wasting less, eating well, and staying healhty, fit, and limber all without spending much are some of the most direct ways I practice this philosophy day to day. This blog doubles as my own recipe box and exercise notes, and I share it because I figure if it's useful to me, it might be useful to you too.
The other half of the philosophy behind this blog is what you do with the time and freedom you gain. I believe making a big impact on the world actually starts with making a small one: living lightly, leaving things better than you found them, and showing up with small, consistent acts of decency toward the people around you. Big change is usually just an accumulation of small acts done consistently over a long time, not one grand gesture.
Lastly, every so often, I write about the bigger ideas behind why I live this way - reflections on personal freedom, the true cost of things, books that have shaped my thinking, and even bigger explorations like using AI to reimagine how entire systems like healthcare could work better. These posts are less frequent because they take more time to think through and research, but they're where the "why" behind this site lives.
If I had to boil all of this down to one idea, it's this. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness aren't just words on a founding document; they're a practical guide. Living them out means respecting all forms of life, achieving liberty through simplicity, and pursuing happiness by discovering your own purpose. There's an old Shaker hymn that says it better than I can: "Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free." That's really what this whole site is circling around.
One important example of how all of this comes together for me is food. I eat a mostly vegan, whole foods diet, built around beans, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, and fruit, and I lean on fiber and gut health as a guide more than chasing protein numbers. This isn't a trend I picked up randomly; it's backed by the research behind the Blue Zones, the places in the world where people live the longest, healthiest lives. To me, eating this way is a genuine trifecta: it's good for the body, good for the wallet, and good for the environment, all at once. A lot of the recipes on this site come out of that approach, even when I'm not making a point of it.
So that's this site: practical, frugal living (mostly recipes, sometimes gardening, exercise, and shopping tips) paired with occasional bigger thinking about freedom, impact, and how to live well with less. My hope is that something here, whether it's a recipe, a lifestyle note, or a bigger idea, inspires a small change in how you live too.
Further reading on the philosophy behind this site:
- Personal Freedom vs Living Costs
- Make a Big Impact by Making a Little Impact
- Simple Life Is Key
- Top Ten Reasons to Go Vegan
- Why Beans
- Blue Zones Diet