Meet the Man Who Lives on Zero Dollars

[jeffrey]

Daniel Suelo lives in a cave. Unlike the average American—wallowing in credit-card debt, clinging to a mortgage, terrified of the next downsizing at the office—he isn't worried about the economic crisis. That's because he figured out that the best way to stay solvent is to never be solvent in the first place. Nine years ago, in the autumn of 2000, Suelo decided to stop using money. He just quit it, like a bad drug habit...

Meet the Man Who Lives on Zero Dollars: Career + Money: Details

[MoneyBagz]

Very interesting article jeffrey, thanks for the link

[GREENBACK]

A nice read. While I enjoy camping and don't mind hunting my own food, I probably won't get this extreme anytime soon...lol.

[Beppington]

Wow that really has me thinking. I don't see me taking my life that far, but ...

... I think it's good to learn about extremes at all ends of the spectrum, so you can be a good judge of yourself, make sure you're happy & that you're not being more injurious to others than you previously thought.

[wincrasher]

I've seen a bunch of these type articles lately.

But it's an illusion at best. Everything comes at a cost - it's just that these people aren't paying - somebody else is.

Others are paying the property taxes that pay for the schools, police and fire dept. People are paying utility bills so that there is an infrastructure to have a society. People pay for groceries so that their is a sustainable agriculture industry. I could go on.

You can sit back and scavenge for a living. Yes, you aren't using YOUR money - but you are using somebody else's. I see no pride in it. I see it as giving up.

[wnlbutterfly]

I think I have to agree with the giving up aspect. It would be different if he was living in a cave and still helping others. But what is the point unless he is writing a book to enlighten others or such. I mean what is he doing to contribute to society.

I would also like to know if all his debts were paid in full before he took off into the hills. Sounds like the towns people have accepted him and you know from the article that he is homeless by choice.

[LuxLiving]

More about this gentleman in his own words...

All FAQ's on 1 page for print-out (Living Without Money)

[Slandgie]

There is something to be said for this type of living, albeit extreme.

[Mike75]

Very interesting. Hard to imagine somebody living without money in today world Can this guy give a lacture to my wife?

[PaydayLoner]

Originally Posted by wincrasher

You can sit back and scavenge for a living. Yes, you aren't using YOUR money - but you are using somebody else's. I see no pride in it. I see it as giving up.

Exactly. The reason he can "scrounge" to find things is that other people get paid to make them, other people earn money to buy them and then discard them, and then he can find them.

The litmus test is: would it work if everyone did this? And the answer would be no, because there would be no streets of Moab Utah to scrounge through and find discarded things. You'd be dependent only on what naturally grew, and even then, the population would need to be spread so thin that they didn't overwhelm the resources available.

What happens if your cave is the best living quarters around, because no one is being paid to build houses, and someone else wants to kick you out and move in? Suddenly a person's right to peaceful ownership of private property would become a pressing issue, I bet. And from private property would come ownership of the means of production ("I spent 10 hours carving that spear head out of stone; no you can't use it to kill a buffalo unless you share some of the meat with me.") And then we're right back to a capitalistic society.

I think the basic idea behind it all is actually pretty good: be content with what you have. Don't tie your self-worth to what you own.

But it doesn't require adopting the false illusion of giving up money to do that. I've had people say to me, how can you live in such a small apartment? I'm always surprised. As long as I'm warm and safe and comfortable, why do I need more room? I've got the whole world to go out and walk in, if I want to move around more.

But that's wa-a-ay different than pretending I'm not paying rent to a landlord and working at a job five days a week to do so.

[cheerio]

I couldnt do it

[1milliondollarchallenge]

That was a great read! Thanks heaps.