‘I’ve spent no money in two years!’
Sounds impossible? Find out how this NSW reader makes it work
Penniless NSW mum Jo Nemeth hasn’t spent a cent for two-and-a-half years, and says she’s never felt more fulfilled.
‘I’d be lying if I said it was always easy, it’s not,’ beams the 48-year-old, who lives in a tiny home on wheels – a converted wagon – on a friend’s property in the NSW town of Lismore.
‘It’s exciting to live like this. The thing I miss the most is being able to buy a warm, sweet, milky drink – oh, and hot running water!’
Since April 2015, Jo has never opened her purse, shunning supermarkets, cafes, boutiques, and other commercial places.
‘Everything we buy leads to waste, and ultimately more harm to the environment,’ explains Jo of her decision to live this way.
Instead, she grows her own vegetables, has a rainwater tank, cooks using a rocket stove fuelled by twigs she collects, and hitchhikes to get around.
‘I’ve got loads of clothes. I’ve still got my old ones, plus friends often give me their cast-offs,’ explains the frugal mum.
And no, she’s not on the dole. Jo adds: ‘Sometimes people call me a bludger, but I’m not costing the state anything.
‘In fact, I still work – often! But I don’t accept money for helping others out. Then if somebody chooses to give me, say, some spare eggs or some bunches of beetroot, that’s fine.
‘And I still get to eat out, occasionally. Sometimes friends say: “It’s our shout. We just want your company, and we’re taking you out to dinner!”’
Jo waited until her teenage daughter, Amy, now 21, had left school and moved out of the family home before embarking on her brave experiment to try surviving on a cashless lifestyle.
She quit her job as a community development officer, threw away her credit cards, stopped renting her home and spent her last dollars on buying bags of cement and other building materials.
‘I asked some friends if they’d let me build a small shack on their property so I could live there for a year or so, and in exchange I’d work on their orchard,’ she recalls.
‘Then in November, I decided to live in a beautiful wagon my parents had built, and move it to various properties as opportunities arise.’
Jo’s change of lifestyle came about after she read the book Changing Gears by Greg Foyster in 2014.
‘[It’s] about a couple who’d simplified their lives, and I thought: “Yes, I need to do more.”
‘I’d already been worrying about the environmental damage we humans have made on the planet, and I wanted to do more to reduce my own carbon footprint. For me, living without money was the answer.
‘Instead, I decided to live off other people’s waste and excess resources.
‘At first I was scared about what others would think, but most
people have been tremendously supportive and encouraging. And it’s amazing how much is out there! A friend found me a great kitchen sink by the side of the road,’ says Jo. The hardest thing for the Lismore mum was breaking the news to her boyfriend. ‘His career was firing, he was earning good money and we just had different aims,’ she says, sighing. ‘Though we loved each other dearly, in the end it was all too hard and, sadly, we went our separate ways.’ Though it was heartbreaking, Jo says: ‘The upside for me is I now live a life based on my ethics, values and morals. I don’t have to compromise the way most people have to do in order to keep their paid job. I live by my own rules! I’m still a productive member of society and it’s still about give and take. I just don’t use cash. ‘For example, when a friend’s husband died recently, I was able to spend lots of time around her, helping her get back on her feet. I paint friends’ homes. I garden and work at an organic market in return for vegetables. I don’t think I could ever go back to my old lifestyle.’ Jo is also regularly called on to talk at seminars about her lifestyle, and she writes the successful blog Jolowimpact. And now, she’s calling others to consider a more lowimpact lifestyle. Jo adds: ‘It’s amazing how little we need to actually be happy!’
‘I wanted to do more to reduce my own carbon footprint... living without money was the answer’