Here’s a nod to one of the better nomadic lifestyle/work from anywhere/break free from the desk blogs out there. It’s called “Location Independent Living” and they’ve got some great content. The blog is edited by Lea & Jonathan Woodward and they’re, well, location independent.[ad]

Start by checking out their About Page

Topics covered include: How to start a location independent business, Travel tips, How to deal with family and friends that rain on your parade, Challenges and impracticalities of the location independent lifestyle, and on and on it goes.

This blog is all about helping others who don’t want to play by the rules…

• Realise that there are ‘real’ and ‘normal’ people living this kind of lifestyle (who aren’t millionaires)
• Understand how you could create your own Location Independent lifestyle
• Get a better quality lifestyle for less work & less money

Check out Location Independent Living here

The Nerdy Nomad (Kirsty) is currently on a working hiatus. I’m not sure she’d describe it that way but she definitely far from home and she’s definitely making money. She earned over $2,500 in April from her internet based money making activities.

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Right now she’s kicking it in Shanghai and blogging about her activities at NerdyNomad.com
Her situation is a perfect example of what I talked about in the “What is Wealth?” post. You don’t need millions to live a life like a millionaire. Here’s an excerpt from a post made while in Bangladesh.

When I think of earning a living online I imagine my work day will involve sitting on a beach with my laptop sipping strawberry daiquiris listening to waves crashing all around me. I don’t image being holed up in a hotel room drinking tea and listening to the call to prayer but that doesn’t mean it might not be an interesting way to work. I doubt Bangladesh makes anyone’s list as a dream destination for the mobile worker but if you’re up for something different then it might be worth a look…

Check out the Nerdy Nomad here

What is wealth? Excess money? Stuff? Perpetual vacation? The best definition I’ve heard is that true wealth is time. Yes, that’s right. Time.

American society (and, arguably, much of the world) is obsessed with gaining possessions: cars, homes, money…stuff. But what’s the point? To get more stuff? My dad always use to tell me, “Even if you own your stuff, it owns you.” You still have to care for it, maintain it, protect it. Right?

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But what about time? Sweet, sweet time. With time you can visit with family and friends. Time allows you to leisurely decide what you’d really like to do today. Time allows you to savor that bottle of wine, the view from the veranda, or the flamenco dancers in the zocalo.

So since we’ve established that it’s not about a certain amount of money (although who can live without it?) or a certain accumulation of nice things, let’s define exactly what wealth could be…

- A small condo somewhere on the coast of Mexico where you could live a very comfortable life for less that $36,000 per year.

- The ability to work 3 days per week and spend time volunteering and hanging out with loved ones the rest of the week.

- A yearly sabbatical to learn and hone a new skill. Perhaps Latvian sheep rearing?

The point is that it doesn’t necessarily require a ton of money to do, well, pretty much anything you want that meets our definition of wealth. You simply have to be willing to tear yourself away from the American “ideal”.

Lifestyle engineering is all about being very purposeful in the way you put it all together. So next time you’re tempted to raise your cost of living by purchasing a new car or that extra 1,500 sq ft that you don’t need in your new house take the example of the following couple who, by all appearances, have a pretty idealistic lifestyle.

…Every winter we would go down to Mazatlan, Mexico, where we owned a timeshare. We loved the warm weather (usually 25° to 29°C during the day in the winter months) and the long sandy beaches and the very Mexican feel of the place. We started off visiting for two weeks a year, then it became three. At first, we stuck to the tourist areas. But Mazatlan is a good-sized city of about 600,000 people and after a while we discovered what’s known as El Centro — the city centre — and we really liked it. The houses are old there — some go back to the late-1800s — and they’re very affordable. As well, there is lots of local culture, great shopping, an open-air marketplace and plenty of restaurants and cafes….

Full story here

Steve Case (former AOL CEO) launched a new company called Revolution Money. I don’t want to go on and on. Here’s the point I want to make. A component of Revolution Money is Revolution Money Exchange. Basically this allows you to do the following…

• FREE to register for an account
• FREE to add money from your bank account
• FREE to send money
• FREE to receive money
• FREE to request money
• FREE to transfer money to your bank account

The only thing this company doesn’t have going for it is name recognition. But how can PayPal beat free?
These kind of tools are always helpful when traveling and making small payments quickly. Way better than Western Union.

Check it out here. You can refer a friend and make some moolah!