I always hate the end of the month when the money runs dry. No money equals stress, no fun, and generally less food. Not if you are Heidemarie Schwermer, however, who has firmly given “The Man” the finger and has been living at the end of the month for the last 16 years.

In her early 50’s, Schwermer decided to see what it’d be like to leave her job as a psychotherapist and live money-free, this journey/experiment/lifestyle has been documented in the film “Living Without Money.” Check the trailer above.

Schwermer relies generally on other people’s goodness, staying over at friends’ houses, getting clothing from exchanges, and digging around for leftover food at markets. At first she also did odd jobs around her hosts’ homes, like gardening or window washing, to earn her keep but she says that these days they don’t expect anything in return. At the bottom of it she’s a well dressed homeless person who people don’t mind giving stuff to.

Her family were WWII refugees and fled Germany in the 1940’s. Her father had owned a successful coffee roastery and kept a nanny and full-time gardener on his payroll. “We were well-off but ended up as riff-raff,” she says. “Then we became rich again and [we] had to defend it. I’ve always had to justify myself, whether we were rich or poor.”

Business Insider interviewed her and reported that:

[T]hroughout her life, she became fascinated with finding ways to live without money. A former teacher and psychotherapist, Schwermer formed Germany’s first exchange circle, “Give And Take Central” in 1994. The group helped locals exchange simple services like babysitting or house cleaning for tangible goods. “I noticed that I needed money less and less,” she told Business Insider. “And so I thought, I can try to live one year without money.”

Schwermer attempted to live without money at least four times, she says, but it wasn’t until a friend asked her to house sit for three months that she finally took the plunge. “I said, ‘The time is right. Now I’ll do it.’ I gave everything away.” That included her apartment, which she sold first, and everything that wouldn’t fit into a small suitcase.

It’s pretty remarkable to be sure. Schwermer is also different from homeless people in that she gives lectures and teaches people (hippies) the ways of bartering. And she’s good at it, apparently being able to get a good deal of fruit in exchange for a pencil. I am not sure what is going when she gets too old to travel, as she scoffs at the idea of a pension, and it would seem strange for her to end up relying on the state after so long being totally self-reliant.

[Source: Huffington Post]