Is it possible to live with no money? German Heidemarie Schwermer has been doing exactly that for the past 16 years. Schwermer gave up her job as a psychotherapist and opted to live without any money. Her penniless journey has been documented in the film ‘Living Without Money’.

How exactly did Schwermer manage to live with no money?

In 1994 the German established the first “exchange circle” called “Give And Take Central”. The idea of the exchange circle was to have services exchanged for tangible goods. Schwermer said:

I noticed that I needed money less and less. And so I thought, I can try to live one year without money.

She had tried to live without money at least four times before actually committing to it properly. It was when a friend of hers asked her to house sit that she made the decision to do it. And in order to live a life without money, Schwermer “gave everything away”. All she took with her was a small suitcase and intended only to live without money for a year, but instead she has been living like that ever since. Schwermer said:

I only wanted to try to do an experiment and in that year, I noticed a new life. I didn’t want to go back to the old life.

The idea of living without money was not well received by her family. Her two children only see their mother a few times each year. But her “come-and-go” lifestyle is part of her now.

Most people my age like to sit in their gardens. I like to travel.

In order to live that lifestyle you have to pack lightly as you do not have a permanent residence to store your possessions. Schwermer lives  by the seasons. With changing seasons her “old” clothes would be given away and she would rely on donations from friends and her hosts. Schwermer said:

I see a lot of miracles in my daily life. For example, in the beginning I found food. I thought about things and then I found them in the street or people came to bring them to me.

Schwermer never stays in one place for longer than a week and turns down offers to extend her stay, Schwermer says it’s her “job to be in the world with people”. She has speaking engagements around Europe and helps promote her documentary. The only payment she accepts is enough to cover her train ticket.

I’m always thinking how I could make things better for life in the  world. I am something like a peace pilgrim. I go from house to house sharing my philosophy.

I think it is necessary to see that we are all from one fountain and that the whole world is one organism. We are little cells and we have to work together.

Schwermer may have given away all of her money to live this life but by no means is she homeless. Scenes from her documentary show her searching for leftover food at markets or for food that has been left on the ground.

You cannot compare me to other homeless people. They are not well-liked and invited into other people’s homes.

And still she continues to live a successful and happy life without money.

[Source: Business Insider]