Author and TV host Wanda Urbanska is leading a revolution in thinking. She is at the forefront of the simplicity movement, and she says the economic downturn and recession of the past couple of years may be just the thing we need to dramatically improve our lives forever.

In her new book, “The Heart of Simple Living: 7 Paths to a Better Life,” Wanda explains how taking steps to become financially independent, to think smaller in terms of homes and to re-embrace a sense of community can help you get back on track in life, no matter if you’ve already accumulated wealth or if you are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Wanda says she lives by the same tenants she espouses in her book. For example, she shares how she made a bad decision in buying a big home in 2007 and how she’s trying to correct that now. She said there is a trend underway for people to live in small, green, paid for homes, and she said this could be the best thing that happens to homeowners in this country.

She’s even doing her part to help others get on board with this idea. She’s working with an organization called Builders of Hope, which saves teardown houses and turns them into affordable, not poverty, housing. She says the group has applied for a patent for the process and is already pushing forward with plans to reclaim teardown homes in North Carolina and New Orleans. She said she hopes someday soon this will occur in every city in the nation.

Plus, Wanda shares how she just crossed a major item off her bucket list: she’s just back from an 8-month sabbatical in Poland, her father’s home country. She shares how she visited with the late Polish president and first lady just weeks before their tragic deaths in a plane crash. 

Click here to learn more about Wanda’s book and her PBS show, Simple Living.