Many people have told me that they were happier earning less, when they had less responsibility and were less stressed. Spending less can require discipline, but hopefully that shouldn't be too hard with your goal in mind. It can also be easier to achieve simply by making a plan for how you will do it and going straight to part time work so you haven't got any choice. If you feel you have an addiction to shopping or your lifestyle, this can be harder - check out the section below on working on yourself . Employers might be happy for you to switch to part time if you ask. This could actually help them to not lay people off as times get rougher. I've often thought how unfair it is that so many people will lose their jobs when everybody could keep them if we all just worked less hours. If your employer isn't interested, you may need to look for a new part time job, or check out the section below on starting a micro business . The cool thing is that a lot of this getting prepared stuff will actually save you money, in part that is the whole point. So read on below for some more ideas. Love them or hate them, getting to know your neighbours will likely be the most important thing you can do. Western society seems to have developed a taboo against relying on your neighbours, we expect to be able to completely