I think this is a great question, and it is a constant quest of mine (the Mustache efforts are really only a subset of my overall efforts in this direction). The best advice I can give from my efforts is that at some point you need to turn thinking into daily action, as it seems you are doing. Most people (or at least most people on this site already know we should spend less, drive less, exercise more, eat better, sleep more, spend more time with friends, read more, watch TV less, pick up hobbies, et cetera, the question is how to put that in action. You can't appreciate nature by reading blog posts about how you should be appreciating nature (although they are OK in moderation), for example. At some point you need to get up and take a walk. Here are some things that I try to do (and often fail but keep trying again) that may be helpful:
-- Every day write five things I am grateful for.
-- Every day set daily priorities.
-- Every day bike to work.
-- Set a specific limit (time limit, page limit) on internet activites.
-- Got rid of cable and on-air TV (netflix and internet streaming with AdBlock only).
-- One cup of coffee a day; no soda; no caffeine after 4pm.
-- Every day get out of bed when the alarm goes off (no snoozing).
-- Follow a set bedtime route (unless special events intervene): no internet 1 hr before bed, no TV 30 minutes before bed, bed by 10:30 (I am married and have a young child, no reason you coudn't follow the same approach with a later deadline).
-- Go to religious / spiritual services once a week (for me, church) and actively engage with philosophy / theology / religion to try to understand the big mysteries of life.
After a lot of reading and thinking, my primary conclusion is that the modern "mass media culture" is toxic in very many ways. First, it is primarily designed to manipulate you into buying things you don't want. Second, it causes people to engage in short term gratification (fun, relaxing show) to their long term detriment (huge time suck). Third, it causes unwarranted jealousy / envy because the lifestyles that are portrayed are unreastic (as well as environmentally unsustainable) -- most TV is basically rich, attractive people in their 20s and 30s acting irresponsble and mean to each other. Children are banished unless they advance the plot. Elderly people disappear, except when they need to be mocked for their values. Poor people quietly clean things in the background. Fourth, things like professional sports and musicians are not bad in theory but in practice they crowd out space for amateur activities. We used to be a nation of people that played sports in our fields and town squares. Now we are a nation that grows obese as we watch others play sports in staggeringly expensive stadiums built on taxpayer money.
Modern mass media is in my opinion a temple to all of the things people think will make them happy but will not. Time spent consuming various forms of mass media (TV, corporate websites, glossy magazines, etc..) should be limited as much as reasonably possible. Our culture has become so warped by it over time that to live a normal satisfying life you need to be countercultural (although perhaps not outwardly so). If you simply follow the average American (or increasingly, average British, German, etc...) path it will be extremely difficult for you to create a meaningful life.