People who live without money
I want to flash back to the late 1990’s. Alt rock was the background soundtrack as I wrapped up my sophomore year of college. As Pearl Jam crooned from my crappy speakers, I pondered how I would come up with my family contribution for tuition the following year. Though I had received scholarships, I still had to take out student loans, and my family was expected to pay a certain amount out of pocket. But it was always a stretch.
Usually, to cover my contribution, I would fly home to Connecticut from Purdue University and work many, many hours at my local Friendly’s (shout out to anyone who knows Friendly’s!). I was a kick-ass waitress and hard worker, making several hundreds of dollars in tips every week.
But this summer would be different. I realized that, in order to look good on my application to dental school, I would need to have some lab experience under my belt. So I asked around, and found a professor who had enough of a budget to pay me to be a gopher and let me do a research project. The money was paltry in comparison to waitressing, so I had to find a second job, working at a plasma donation center.
The thing of it was, in order to save the $3000 family contribution to stay in school, I would be left with just a few hundred dollars to live on for the summer. So, I started to hatch a plan.
A wonderful friend let me crash at her apartment for $50/month, so that was taken care of. For transportation, I walked. Food was going to be my biggest issue.
When I was still in school, I started to stockpile the least perishable items I could from my dining system’s take away option. Before the summer started, my then boyfriend drove me to the discount grocery store, where I bought highly caloric basics. A big bag of beans. A big bag of rice. Flour, oil, salt, sugar, and a packet of yeast.
That summer, when I was tired of homemade bread and beans and rice, I scoured the university listings for large events and meetings, and showed up when they were almost over. The staff was usually happy to give me a bag of bagels or fruit or pizza that they would have otherwise thrown away.
That’s how I managed to save my family contribution of $3000, check off an item for my CV, and actually survive while doing it.
But I’m not going to lie, it was difficult. I got fairly svelte that summer.
But it was also oddly freeing.
(I am going to insert here that, while not raised in a fancy environment, I was lucky to be born into a family that could meet my physical needs. Both of my parents grew up quite poor, and by comparison I was downright privileged. I was in college. I had a safety net. And I was, and continue to be very thankful for that. )
I realized that I could live simply and well. Some of my roommates really liked the homemade bread I made and bought more flour so we could have it more often. They shared what they had too. I realized how much food was wasted every day at the University and was happy that I could take it home and keep it out of a landfill.
So, imagine my surprise when I found out that there are lots of people who live like this all of the time. More specifically, there are people who live completely without money. On purpose. And when I heard them talk about how it made them feel, I was transported to those summer days in 1999, when I picked wild onions for some flavor in my food.
Voluntarily living without money is a thing. There are websites and books devoted it. Because it is a relatively rare occurrence in the developed western world, it is fascinating.
I decided to pick up a book called The Man Who Quit Money, written by Mark Sundeen. The author spent time with a moneyless friend named Daniel Suelo. He embedded himself into Daniel’s life and tried to understand what made him choose to live so unconventionally.
Daniel lives in Moab, Utah, in a cave outside of town, and sources his food from dumpster diving and the kindness of others. He will often exchange work for the things he needs, like basic supplies and medical care. He has a strong philosophy on money and spirituality, which you can read about in his blog.
In fact, reading about Daniel and other moneyless people, I saw a trend in common. Most of them had come to the conclusion that money could never provide them with happiness. They felt that money created a disconnection between them and the things they were consuming. As a result, they saw it in direct opposition with doing good for the environment or reducing suffering.
Money, in many of their minds, was spiritual.
Now, I am far from advocating a moneyless lifestyle, but after my own personal experiences living with almost no money and having to employ creative tactics to get by, I can say that those lessons have stayed with me. Oddly enough, I was pretty happy during that time, and it has shaped the way I look at freedom and happiness.
Here are some of the things I learned when living with (almost) no money:
Embrace simple
Beans and rice are boring, I know. And it could have become monotonous. But I found joy in reframing it to be a highly nourishing input to my body. The routines around making my food became more like meditations, mixing and kneading dough, for example. Instead of having exotic variations to eat every evening, I could engage in more mindful eating. If roommates were around, I could focus on enjoying their company.
Be creative
Having a lot of money can instantly solve problems. Which is why I enjoy living with it to be quite frank. But, when you can’t throw money at a problem, your creative mind gets to work. For example, to add flavor to my basic diet, I walked to the library and took out a book on edible native plants. To this day, I often stop on nature walks and see how many things I can identify around me.
Learn to barter
Most of us spend our time in exchange for money which we use to buy things. The FIRE movement is about leveraging earnings through investment so your dollars can continue to grow without any further time inputs.
The moneyless folks will directly exchange their time (work, expertise, services) for the things that they need (food, housing, transportation). Or, they will trade excess supplies for other necessities.
I love the idea of reintroducing an element of barter. Neighbors helping neighbors. In some areas, it is still alive and well. I happen to live near one of the largest Amish communities in the US, and know that barter is a common practice there, especially when it comes to labor.
Embrace the gifting economy
There are many groups that exist to re-home useful things without the exchange of money. One group that I occasionally interact with is my Buy Nothing group. Buy Nothing is a hyper local gifting community, where people can offer what they have or ask for what they need.
I love to garden, and often have extra seedlings or hot peppers that I simply cannot use. I post them in my group and by the end of the day, there is usually someone who is happy to take them off of my hands.
Live your ideals right now
If something like the environmental impact of waste bothers you, you can tackle that problem in a couple of ways. Start with your own house, reduce the things you buy with plastic packaging, start composting, etc. Then think about the larger community, are there organizations that prevent food waste? Are there ways to get involved in crafting local policy to make your town a better place?
The environmental impact is just one of many ideals.
My ideal was to be able to live a more creative life.
As I’ve read many stories of people who stopped using money, I understand their approach to be a reaction to something that goes against a personal value system. But anyone can start living according to their value system without giving up money.
That summer taught me a lot. It taught me about myself and my capabilities. It taught me the difference between my “wants” and my “needs”. It taught me to be grateful to have a whole family system to fall back on. It sharpened my sensitivity to those who are living without basic needs and made me wonder how we could ever change the gaping holes in our safety nets.
If you want to learn more about people who have lived/are living without money, check out these resources:
