Life Without Money
This is a very interesting story about a woman that has successfully lived in Germany for 15 years without any money.
Heidemarie’s incredible story began 22 years ago, when she, a middle-aged secondary school teacher emerging from a difficult marriage, took her two children and moved to the city of Dortmund, in Germany’s Ruhr area. One of the first things she noticed was the large number of homeless people, and this shocked her so much that she decided to actually do something about it. She had always believed the homeless didn’t need actual money to be accepted back into society, only a chance to empower themselves by making themselves useful, so she opened a Tauschring (swap shop), called “Gib und Nimm” (Give and Take).
Her small venture was a place where anyone could trade stuff and skills for other things and skills they needed, without a single coin or banknote changing hands. Old clothes could be traded in return for kitchen appliances, and car service rendered in return for plumbing services, and so on. The idea didn’t really attract many of Dortmund’s homeless, because, as some of them told her to her face, they didn’t feel an educated middle-class woman could relate to their situation. Instead, her small shop was assaulted by many of the city’s unemployed and retired folk eager to trade their skills and old stuff for something they needed. Heidemarie Schwermer’s Tauschring eventually became somewhat of a phenomenon in Dortmund and even prompted its creator to ask herself some questions about the life she was living.
She started to realize she was living with a lot of stuff she didn’t really need and initially decided not to buy anything else without giving something away. Then she realized how unhappy she was with her work and made the connection between this feeling and the physical symptoms (backache and constant illness) she was feeling, so she decided to take up other jobs. She began washing dishes for 10 Deutchmarks an hour, and despite many were telling her things like “You went to university, you studied to do this?”, she felt good about herself, and didn’t feel like she should be valued more because of her studies than someone working in a kitchen. By 1995, the Tauschring had changed her life so much that she was spending virtually nothing, as everything she needed seemed to find its way into her life.
So in 1996. she took the biggest decision of her life: to live without money. Her children had moved out so she sold the apartment in Dortmund and decided to live nomadically, trading things and services for everything she needed. It was supposed to be a 12-month experiment, but found herself loving it so much that she just couldn’t give it up. 15 years later, she still lives according to the principles of Gib und Nimm, doing various chores for accommodation in the houses of various members of the Tauschring, and loving every minute of it. Schwermer has written two books about her experience of living without money and asked her publisher to give the money to charity so it can make many people happy instead of just one. She’s just happy being healthier and better off than ever before.
All of her belongings fit into a single-back suitcase and a rucksack, she has emergency savings of €200 and any other money she comes across, she gives away. Heidemarie doesn’t even have health insurance as she didn’t want to be accused of stealing from the state, and says she relies on the power of self-healing whenever she gets a little sick.
Great story – should be taken very seriously.
I agree. This is an inspirational story and proof that what I am proposing is possible.
I love this. I was actually just talking about this with my husband a couple of days ago. It got me to researching how to live this way, and I found out something pretty sad. I don’t know about Germany, but in Canada you can’t live without some money. Revenue Canada taxes barter and trade and places value on services rendered. They can and will collect tax, whether in the form of cash or assets from someone living a barter and trade lifestyle, or accept jail time in lieu of money. Like I said, sad.
Wow, that is bizarre. How does our government take services as a form of tax? Does that mean that if you perform a service you are required to pay money in tax regardless of whether or not you earnt any? That seems bizarre and very illegal…
I agree, completely bizarre. I can’t believe it’s legal either. This site can probably explain it a bit clearer than I can. http://www.taxtips.ca/personaltax/barter.htm. I think the only way to live in a true barter and trade system, and not worry about tax, would be to buy land and try to secure allodial title, but I’m not even sure if that would work on income tax, only property.
With enough people we can do anything. We can hire lawyers to delay things in court for years while we build our empire around us. By the time the Government is able to get their hands on us, we will have established an independent Nation. They can’t tax us then, although they could invade. But we will be ready for that too…
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How amazing! I think the story is wonderful.
Thanks to Michael Kelly for this info!
Very very very interesting!
I can’t wait to hear more of her story… it seems the site is still in developement. It is amazing how many stories like this are surfacing at the moment…
This is absolutely fabulous.