Living without money, how does that work out in practice? The Irishman Mark Boyle has been doing it since November 2008 and he's having a great time. He's living in England in an old caravan given to him. He start symbolically on Buy Nothing Day, a yearly day to not buy anything together with others.
For Mark Boyle it's especially a reaction to the consumer society in which we live and the knowledge that we're responsible for the things we do, to make the Earth a nicer place to live.
Money disconnects us
Thus he writes: "If we would grow our own food, we would no longer throw away a third as we do today. If we'd make our own tables and chairs we'd no longer dispose of them the moment we would want to change our home's interior. If we would clean our own drinking water we wouldn't waste it that easily."
As long as we keep on using money, he writes:
These symptoms will surely remain. That's why I decided to give up money, originally as an experiment, and I immediately felt myself more connected to the stuff I use and consume.
Freeconomy Living
But how can we acquire our stuff and how can we satisfy our needs if we'd all live without money? Mark is asking himself that question and started the network Just For The Love Of It. This Freeconomy network enables folks to show what they want and can give. So that people who need it can use it. Mark Boyle also writes articles for The Guardian. He gives a lot of tips and describes why he chose this way of living and how it's changing him.
He also published a book about it: The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living.
