A 17 Years without Money! Pensioner in Germany lives it!

[Zoebird]

http://nz.news.yahoo.com/a/-/world/10067044/happiness-is-a-life-without-money-in-rich-germany/

cool little story about a lady in germany who lives with. . . well nothing. :D

[iris lily]

Interesting, but not enough detail to see how she does it.

I understand moving form house to house to house sit, but does she do that all within one city> Otherwise, she'd needs transportation costs. I suppose she could hitch rides, but even ride sharing requires that you give the driver money.

Food in Europe is expensive. How does she eat besides the occasional soup kitchen, scraps form neighbors, etc.? During gardening season you could probably barter work in cleaning up someone's garden for free produce, but how often? and during the winter?

Need more details.

Still, very interesting. The fact of her gender and her age, and her "pink 'n pearl" look will serve her well in getting people to trust her and offer things. A young male, especially one of color, wouldn't have a chance at it.

[julia]

I've read her own articles about her life - I think they were only in German but I'll have a snoop around and post back if I can find them in English. I have a feeling she started it as a protest/experiment and then just carried on.

[kally]

very interesting at her age.

[HappyHiker]

An interesting read, but a one a million case study..most of us need some cash to get by...but I do love the bartering system where no money exchanges hands.....

[Zoebird]

Well, she does get cash (pension), but apparently gives it away (about $1k per month), and apparently most people give her food (in barter), and I would assume the same for rides, homes, etc.

we tried to house sit when we moved here -- it was my plan for the first 6 months and budgeted in, but no one would take us because we had a baby! It was *so* annoying. we are the cleanest, neatest family we know, and we agreed that we would "baby proof" it for them and then put everything back before they came home, but still no dice.

i think as a single person, this could be quite easy, but someone has to own the shelter, the transport, etc. KWIM?

a friend of mine is moving onto a farm to live in a caravan and yurt, and this farm is owned by a man who wants several families living and working on the farm in community. the man owns the land, and it is rent free to anyone who lives there, so long as they work the land and participate in "community" events (dinners, music night, etc).

it's a great idea, but how do you get the land to start with, kwim?

another friend of mine is -- truly -- a professional squatter. he finds abandoned and empty buildings, and basically moves in and dumpster dives to fix things up. he also dives for food, clothing, etc. He often gets things as gifts from people, who obviously pay cash money for them.

i'm not advocating that anyone take this on, personally, but i do find it interesting how she did it.

---

i also think that there are some pretty cool ways around things. some friends and i are creating our own car share because -- quite honestly -- neither of us wants to bear the entire cost of maintaining a car. we are drawing up the papers now, and it looks like a third couple might go in with us. we want to use it for grocery or similar runs, and also for travel -- which is the same purpose as the others -- so it wouldn't really be used mon-fri, but only on weekends. so we'd have to "book" our weekends, kwim?

anyway, it's an intersting concept. in the alternative, we are thinking of just buying it and "renting" it to our friends. this might be an easier way for us to manage the costs. This would be only when they want to travel -- instead of renting from a local company, they pay gas and they pay us a little bit (say, $20 per day) to use the car. I'm also trying to figure out how to insure around this, though insurance isn't really necessary in NZ.

[chrisgermany]

Here is her website:
http://projekte.free.de/gibundnimm/englisch.html
For those who read German there is also her new book as pdf and free.
And a link to her movie:
http://livingwithoutmoney.org/

[Spartana]

Very cool. Something I would do but with a little bit of money as I don't like the hassle of bartering for everyday things like food. My sister did something like this in Zoebird's home turf - New Zealand. She had planned to stay just a month but ended up staying for over a year. She lived in a caravan (travel trailer) for free in exchange for picking fruit (yes, kiwi fruit). She bartered for most of her food with some of the locals, hitchhiked everywhere, and didn't really use any money at all once there. I believe she returned home with 16 cents in her pocket! She's done similair things like that in other places as well. But I agree with the others that it is much easier for a single person (especially a single female) to do this then someone with kids, pets, or who is elderly.

[redfox]

I was appreciating her stance, until I got to the part about believing in self-healing. As someone in her mid 50's with 2 chronic health issues, I am glad for assistance with them. Ditto for my stepson with spondylitis. Self healing is great for colds & flu - not so fabulous for many conditions.