Posted: Sun Aug 02, 26 7:56 am Post subject: A Moneyless Life Style
Remember Mark Boyle and his year or so without money? Apparently he's still off grid some 25 years later.
Well I ain't planning to go quite as far as finding a caravan off Facebook and going to live off grid in the middle of nowhere with no money for a year. I'm feeling a bit too old for that sort of thing. Having been pretty close in the days of my just past but long ago youth I'm not sure that I'm still young enough and fit enough.
But the ideas and ethics behind the way of life still run strong. It's a challenge ( ) having no family responsibilities. I've cleared out an awful amount of excess from the cupboards in the way of unused worldly goods. Thought back to moving from south to north with enough of needs in a white transit van. And decided that I'm not in need of any more worldly goods.
We'll start with the bedside table. It's an old peculiar ex laundry basket. The laundry goes in one that can be washed out now. It's round, on wheels, woven, the wrong colour. And quite good enough. I'd have to pay to have it take to the tip due to size and shape. I'm watching Facebook where people are giving stuff away but more and more are charging small amounts for second hand. It's not the swap shop it used to be.
Last edited by Florence on Mon Aug 03, 26 8:26 am; edited 1 time in total
Expectations have a lot to do with lifestyle. And health.
Two doors along, Peter had a stroke and is no longer fit enough to use the local bus. He doesn't order food online so the local taxi firm makes a small fortune out of him to go shopping.
George next door the other way suddenly realised that he was paying out a fortune on taxis, picked up his bus pass and went shopping in a different larger village on the bus route. He's just that little bit fitter and can walk to the bus stop. Which is quite close.
Both people miss the "little yellow bus" that used to run round the village and drop us in the main street "up the hill". Mind now that both the banks have closed and the remaining cash points are unreliable. Buses don't run on a route where only 2 people get on it. With a vertical hill to get there and half an hour to walk if you are fit to reach the same end - well you go where any bus goes. Yes I miss the little yellow bus too. But it won't run just for me.
Libraries are for lending books. And you can choose from a fairly large selection. Better than pulling out a Kindle or similar and possibly paying a subscription for books that might not be as good as the selection in the library. We are fairly good locally at donating books.
Gone are the days where you could pick up a free newspaper on the bus or train when going to work. Apparently the free paper I'm thinking of still exists but it's a shadow of its former self.
The village shop stopped trying to sell newspapers some years back as there were not enough customers. The owners returned almost as many as they were sent and the turnover of magazines was negligible to the point of none were sold. Bet the moneyless man certainly didn't miss news print.
Radio, television, internet have changed the way we get news. And entertainment. How this supply fits in with going moneyless? Well have no television. Radio and internet I do have. As yet, not so far down the road of moneyless to go without these. Admittedly I used to be a regular user of the library computers when "down south". And very cash free indeed.
I've set up the back garden to be almost moneyless in the upkeep. Need a new mower to keep the grass down. The last one was a bad buy! But have enough seeds to back up the self seeding flowers for a year or two as well as one or two perennials which can be bought on.
It's pleasant enough to sit out in. Not quite moneyless yet. But close.
Thinking to "back in the day" - local libraries used to have local papers on the stand - great for those who were looking for employment. (Guess why I spent time in the library down south ) and you could get an hour free on the computers every day to look for jobs if you had a library card.
It's not like that now. Gone are budgets for newspapers. And you need to keep an eye on more places that newspapers and "agencies" for jobs. But you can still get that hour on the computers if you have a library card. Can't imagine the younger generation gathering in the library to use the computer to look for jobs. Be done on the mobile phone. Which is not part of a cash free lifestyle.
[u=https://serenarenner.com/project/mark-boyle-qa-learning-to-live-with-less/]Mark Boyle[/u]
Hope the link works this time. A strange character in some ways but the ideas behind living without money are worth considering. He certainly didn't plan his way of life and I suspect he was bailed out by people periodically. But that dents the person not the idea.
Nowadays "the welfare state" is supposed to cover our basic needs (shelter, some food, some clothes, access to getting paid employment, help if we are ill, that sort of thing).
I remember reading somewhere that when the welfare state was first introduced, the five year budget to cover health was spent in the first year as people came forward to have their teeth sorted, glasses, the basics. That I can well believe.
Oh but living without money doesn't cover the fact that you can have free eye tests but need to pay for the spectacles if required.
And though the NHS provides hearing aids free at the point of use, most of us have progressed to using ones that don't have to have batteries replaced with much faffing around very frequently. Can't imagine anyone living in a caravan off grid managing with those. You could lose the batteries on a well mown green on a professional golf course.
It is virtually impossible to deal with anything these days without internet. Those out of work need a mobile phone at least, to pay any bills etc.
I can quite believe that the new NHS used up a 5 year budget in one year. Before that, unless you belonged to a Friendly Society, you had to pay for a doctor's appointment, so many people just had to go without health care. Some years ago, I heard a doctor who qualified just as the NHS started saying how wonderful it was to be able to prescribe basic things like thyroxin to women who had been getting worse and worse with underactive thyroid and give them a new lease of life. Others would have suddenly had health care too. Both my grandfather and father belonged to Friendly Societies as they were both working before the NHS started.
I never thought to ask my family about health care before the NHS. It would probably have been "interesting" hearing the replies.
I have a free bus pass that works after certain travel to work and school journeys in the mornings. And free all day weekends. Paid for by the County Council out of tax payers money. So not free really.
I read up on it some years ago and have also heard odd snippets like the doctor on TV. I think most men who could afford it paid into some sort of Friendly Society, but of course those that couldn't afford it had to go without.
We get free bus passes too, but of course we pay something towards them with council tax. It is useful for some people, and we can get into the city using a bus pass if we want to go there, and also if we are away anywhere.
I've just booked free patient transport to go to the RVI for cataract removal. I wonder who pays for that? Somewhere in the NHS budget that doesn't cover all that they are supposed to do.
Hope the operation goes well. Just as well to have the patient transport as you wouldn't be able to drive even if you had a car. I have had to drive husband home from a few eye appointments over the last year or so. Hoping that is all on that problem now, but he may have to have a cataract operation at some point.
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