Even yahoo is reporting articles on the subject "Can you live without money" ..whats your opinion?

I am not 100% if i link the website or quote the text....
If i need to edit , please let me know by u2u.

The article speaks of as the title states... living in a moneyless environment.

I hope you enjoy the read, personally there is some negativity added where it is not needed.


We've all had to cut down on spending since the giant global recession hit in back in 2008. But in this age of austerity and belt-tightening, is it possible to not only curb your spending but actually live WITHOUT money at all?

Mark Boyle thinks it is, and he should know; he's been doing just that for more than two years. Mark was the manager for organic food business when he decided to bite the bullet and live 'off-grid', initially for a year.

He got a caravan, which he was allowed to park on an organic farm in exchange for some manual labour, and begun his cash-free existence. For food he foraged, grew his own or bartered with neighbours. To get around he got a second-hand bike with a trailer and to go to the toilet… he used a compost heap.

Despite the challenges he enjoyed the experience so much he made the lifestyle choice a permanent one. He told Yahoo! Finance: "Since I gave up money I haven't been happier or healthier and fitter to be honest. I could have gone back to using money at any moment, but I've chosen not to."

It was environmental concerns — and a fairly hardcore anti-capitalistic attitude — that made Mark forgo cash. "I think we're slightly misguided in this country these days about what will make us happy. We think consuming more and more and more will make us happy, that we'll suddenly find happiness at the end of that rainbow.

"I happened to start this around the exact time of the credit crunch back in 2008 and I think that event shook people's faith in the whole economic system and made them realise that security isn't necessary guaranteed in notes and coins and electronic numbers. Security is relationships with people in your local community."

[See also: 19 ways to get something for nothing]

What we can learn

While not everyone will share Mark's world view or want to live his extreme lifestyle, we could all reconsider our relationship with cash.

"I think everyone can make a transition towards being less dependent on money," Mark said. "For most people living completely moneyless is unrealistic, unless they are totally committed. But I think everyone wants to save money and have less of an environmental impact and have some fun in the process. It doesn't have to be a big sacrifice."

With this in mind, Mark spilled the (ethically sourced) beans on how he's managed to nab holidays, accommodation, garden tools… and a place to live, all for absolutely nothing.

How to get... a house

…well, a caravan at least. Mark picked his up at freecycle, an online community of millions of likeminded money savers. It works like this: If you've got a toaster that you don't want, you can post a message on the site saying "I've got a toaster" with your post code. You can also post wanted messages like "I need a new toaster". Then if someone does they'll email you back, saying "I have one, pick it up at so-and-so-time".

Mark says: "It's very simple, you can send out an email and in 15 minutes you'll usually have what you're looking for. I've got everything from mobile phones to tents to my caravan. This woman got in contact and said she had one that she couldn't be bothered to fix-up so I just took it off her hands. It was worth £500 and in really good condition."

How to get... Legal advice and lawnmowers

One thing us Brits are getting worse at, it seems, it talking to our neighbours. That's where sites like's like Freeconomy (which Mark helps run) come in. Essentially it's online community where people can share their skills, knowledge and tools - all for free.

Mark says: "The superficial thing about Freeconomy is sharing tools and what have you, but actually it's about just getting people to know their neighbours again.

"Why does everyone in a street need a lawnmower or a certain kind of drill? Why can't people pool their resources? That's what the site does, if a lawyer borrows a lawnmower, he can give some legal advice in return, all for free. It's a win-win-win situation."

How to get... a place to stay in Paris

Want to go on holiday but can't afford hotel or B&B prices? Amazingly, you might not have to pay for these either. Couch surfing is becoming more and more popular, with sites like, er, www.couchsurfing.org... giving you access to thousands of potential holiday homes. Not only is it free, but you'll get invaluable insider knowledge on the city you're staying in from your hosts.

Mark says: "If you're going to Paris for weekend, you just send an email to members at somewhere like Couch-surfers and you'll get loads of replies.

"I'm a host and I have used it before to stay in places like Portugal, France and Greece. Everyone takes it in really good spirits, plus there's a fantastic verification system, so it's really safe."

[See also: Free ways to get entertainment]

How to get... a free holiday on a farm

Don't fancy staying on a stranger's couch? There's another way to get free holiday accommodation, as long as you don't mind getting your hands dirty. WWOOF is a worldwide scheme where people can go and stay on an organic farm totally for free in exchange for working 15-25 hours a week.

Mark says: "It's a great chance to go and learn loads of skills about growing food and living amongst nature.

"The farms are usually beautiful and lovely places to stay and you get food and accommodation on top of that. It's about having a good time but also helping out these farms which don't really make any money.

"People can get a break from city life and it won't cost them a penny. I've done it in New Zealand and Australia and I've done a bit here as well. I've met so many amazing incredible people doing it."

How to get... free grub

Unless you want to go rummaging through supermarket bins, nabbing yourself some free grub is going to take a little effort and imagination. However even busy folk with jobs and families can still cut down on the grocery bills without too much fuss (or buying an allotment). Mark's first tip is to buy a ready grown fruit tree from somewhere like here.

Mark says: "He's a guy in Devon who grows his own fruit trees and you buy them one or two years already grown. Then you simply plant them and in another year or so you start getting fruit. And there's almost no effort.

"As long as you plant them in the right place you have almost unlimited fruit for up to 25 years. It's ideal for people with no time or space."

Foraging is another way of getting free food that's become trendy in recent years thanks to TV shows like Roadkill Cafe and the success of the Noma, the world's top-rated restaurant which made its name with foraged ingredients like 'radishes in edible soil'.

According to Mark it's worth swatting up before hitting the hedgerows yourself at sites like ReaditSwapit, or even doing a day course (www.wildmanwildfood.com...) . It's worth the effort though.

"It's a really fun way to spend a day," he said

"The UK is amazing for foraging between June and October. You just need to bring yourself along a little book and see how many plants you can find and how much food you can get for free. It's a really good way of connecting people with their local plants."

[See also: How to eat out for less]

Mark Boyle is the author of The Moneyless Man

Personally i believe it can be done .
Growing Veg , catching fish and other animals for eating.
As long as you hold some basic knowledge it is an easy option.

Yes I can live without money-
If the gov't doesn't step in to stop me

Its all good and it can be done yes. I have done it myself for 12 months.

My only question is :

How do you barter for internet connections?

Maybe pay an internet cafe in fish or eggs?

Guess I answered my own question.....

reply to post by guessing
[more


its a great idea but it raises more issuse with value of items


does 2 eggs = shoes? or maybe my shoes are better made so give me a chicken and 3 eggs for my shoes


i think it'll be hard to put value to items of need

This generation is amusing.
People sitting in their air conditioned homes, typing on their $2,000.00 PC's with huge flatscreen monitors, posting on forums via their high-speed broadband connections, complaining about how broke they are

I remember being so broke that I was living in my car and bathing in the bathroom sink of fast food restaurants. I remember when something as simple as a flat tire was a huge ordeal that took a month to overcome. I remember bringing home food that I took from the dumpster behind a restaurant. I remember stealing toilet paper from the college bathroom because my 2 jobs that I was trying to hold down while studying at the same time was still not enough to buy basic necessities.

Can one live without money? Sure. Do we want to? No. One thing is certain, the rich always get richer, even if only relatively. If we are all kicked out into the street, the elite will be laughing about it on forums from their air conditioned mansions.

Of course that's the Natural way. Money is Unnatural. See the crime, see the greed, see the adicted, see the poor, see the super rich. All is out of balance


Need to go back to the way of the Nature

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
Of course that's the Natural way. Money is Unnatural. See the crime, see the greed, see the adicted, see the poor, see the super rich. All is out of balance


Need to go back to the way of the Nature

You think people won't kill each other for food or shelter? guess again as it happend all the time back in 'utopia'. Problem is not with money itself, but on the fact that massive government spending on handouts to the undeserving (the illegals and the Government itself) is drowning peoples ability to keep afloat.

Taxes rise, food rises, fuel costs rise, housing costs rise but wages slowly decline. A country with a tiny government and a very free environment for the individual (what the USA used to be) is ideal. Sadly even the USA has given up on the idea that man is born free and has rights that cannot be taken away.

This is a great source of inspiration.
But you see, there are people that don't want you to think like this.
Because then you wouldn't be a slave to the system.
Then you can't fund wars, genocide, and oil rights.
Face it, that's what your taxes do.


I personally believe that man was more harmonious with nature before the "invention" of money.
Which in reality, is a delusion of wealth. Wealth equals power to those who accept it.
Because if you don't believe that money equals power, to those who have money, you are useless.

Our system (or society) is set up that way.

It's disgusting to see countless live wasted away because of the desire for wealth.

Good thread.

If you want to live a very subsistant lifestyle, basically the life of the proverbial "hermit" or "hobo"....sure, you can do so with no money.

However, throw in a spouse...in my case a wife, and the dynamic changes. I have searched and there are few women that willingly choose the "vagrant" life style. How do I know? I lived in a barn for 3 years with no running water and cooked/ heated with a wood stove....had a big garden, grew my own food, solar powered showers...ie a water hose coiled up and heated in the sun for a 30 second hot shower at the well.

I dated and most of the women liked visiting the rustic lifestyle... but every damn one of them wanted to know what my plans for the future were... in effect saying, "You aren't going to live this way forever, are you?"

Even living as a homesteader, you will need some money...property taxes alone will cost you, if you live in such a state or county.

Then, there will be certain items as a homesteader you will need...certain tools, instruments, implements, etc. Youcan barter, but at some point you will need money. And that is good only as long as your health holds out. Should you suffer the unintended broken appendage...your survival skills are greatly curtailed as are your foraging skills.

Yes, you could be a squatter on someone else's land, but you are using their money indirectly. I have often considered moving into the Natl Forests of the Blue Ridge Mtns and setting up a small homestead/ camp and living. Even with my skills, living would be a daily chore...and there would be no sleeping late because it is messy outside...if you want to eat, you have to forage...and fish...and hunt... everyday...plus firewood, and sow some rootcrops...turnips, rutabagas, etc.

The alternative is free land homesteading, which I understand is making a comeback up in the northwest US. Again, this is a very real and hard life that you could live...question is...could you realistically do so...would you want to?

Growing fruit trees and bartering for scraps is not as easy as made out to be. Talk to your grandparents....ever wonder why so many farmboys were willing to join the Army in WWII...my uncles all said army life was easier and better fed than farm life....you didnt have to get up as early, didnt have to draw up water from the well, fed 3 good meals a day, running water, clean beds...etc.

Can you live without money? Yes you can. I have found that your happiness is determined by how little money you can live with.

I must admit to you all now that I am a banker, well I'm more like an office clerk in a bank but I have no say in the economy ( and no I didn't have a hand in the crisis no matter what you may think ).

I have to admit that we as a society CAN in my humble opinion or reckoning live without money, after all we became the dominant species on the planet not by having money but by finding a way through adversity, lack of food, designing housing, transport and by building huge structures that endure to today and created societies and cultures without money, our ancestors did it up until about 4-5 thousand years ago.
Yes they had shiney baubles to show off their wealth or power same as we have today, but I feel that having money or lack off is nothing more than a control system to ensure those that have can keep down those that have not.
Look at the mindset of those with wealth for example, they have the can do attitude, they can attend the best schools and colleges, take the nicest trips abroad to foreign countries to broaden their horizons, where those without have to struggle to take a weekend off and are bombarded by adverts and psyop programming that to be popular or wealthy you must work hard for someone else, to better them and their companies, instead of bettering yourself, or failing that, that you must step on the backs of others to be better thought of.

Yes we can live without money but we are not giving ourselves the chance nor the opportunity to find another way.
Think of it this way, there is so much hunger. poverty, illness and social problems with crime that ALL stem from MONEY. Now I'm not offering a way to Utopia but if we keep going down the same path chasing something insubstantial as money is then we as a species are doomed, how many creatures on this planet have money? and yet they do quite well ( without Mankinds interferrence) without it.

Without money , the pharma companies could release cures for most if not all current illnesses, but they do not, take the common cold, or cancer, I'm pretty sure they have had cures ( according to other posts here on ATS) for years, but if they cure it, they cannot get anymore money for temporary fixes.

The criminal fraternity wouldn't need to exist to burgle, or steal or kill for money. yes rapes and other killings ( say for crimes of passion etc) would still exist but the main cause of crime, drugs and cash wouldn't supply the demand after unless your stealing for personal gain because you want something you couldn't sell it on could you?.

Same for the food industry, people could supply their own foods if they had enough land to cultivate but who has these days? oh yeah thats right, the rich.

Science could provide us with a means off this planet or more efficient generators to power the world and such like into the future if they had no worries about costs.

Companies and the people of the world would have to understand that to make the change would take time, and that some may have to wait to get their cars or TVs handed out but unfortunately people are lazy, greedy and selfish and want their goods NOW, should the Governments of the world say to the people " Hey we're abolishing money tomorrow" you just watch the world descend into chaos as the people rush to loot the shops to get what they want, are simply what they have been programmed to pursue, the latest Ipod or TV or car.

Trouble is with doing it quick is that if people are not being paidf then they wouldn't want to work, services would collapse, water plants would fail, power stations would shut down, and then people would complain that their bins aren't being emptied, or theres no petrol for their cars or theres no power for the TV they looted.

Until we get the chance to at least try to live without it , we'll never break the cycle, but why aren't we trying to live without money is a more relevant question, and its not being asked by those who think they have the most to lose.

Think on this as well before you really assume that we MUST HAVE money to survive as a society, A: are you going to be able take it with you when you die, or B; able to buy immortality to be able to continue enjoying having money?
After all you chase after it your whole life and yet at the end you go out of this life with what you came into it with.

One day we will not have money and then and only then will we be a better people.

Been doing that for years.. Get everything that need from my garden, fishing and trade.

My family had done it for several generations.

It's not as hard as people make it out to be.

Until the g-men knock on your door for their share. That's when it becomes outrageously difficult. Suddenly you aren't working for yourself and your family. Now your working for yourself and your family and the government. Despite how insignificant that percentage may seem the need to earn an income to pay them changes the whole dynamic.

So you can, I can, anybody can. Right up until the gov gets in the way. Then it becomes exponentially more difficult. Farming didn't make army life look better. Farming for the gov made army life look better. Intentionally.


Posted Via ATS Mobile: m.abovetopsecret.com

Originally posted by Astr0

Originally posted by TribeOfManyColours
Of course that's the Natural way. Money is Unnatural. See the crime, see the greed, see the adicted, see the poor, see the super rich. All is out of balance


Need to go back to the way of the Nature

You think people won't kill each other for food or shelter? guess again as it happend all the time back in 'utopia'.

Ask an Alien if they use an monetary system? Or is that an Utopia too?

Problem is not with money itself, but on the fact that massive government spending on handouts to the undeserving (the illegals and the Government itself) is drowning peoples ability to keep afloat.

Money is Unnatural. It creates those undeserving people you claim exist .

Taxes rise, food rises, fuel costs rise, housing costs rise but wages slowly decline. A country with a tiny government and a very free environment for the individual (what the USA used to be) is ideal. Sadly even the USA has given up on the idea that man is born free and has rights that cannot be taken away.

Taxes rises, why?
Who benefits. I don't. Ah the bankers benefit again. I believe they still not have suffered from this crisis. I have read that they still give record breaking bonus away.

Lets be smarter then this frog humankind please..