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Forget trying to make money - you don’t need a single penny
‘Instead of watching the TV, turn off the light, stick on a few beeswax candles and fritter the hours away making love' - lessons from the new discipline of 'freeconomics'.
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More FTSE charts & pricesby Chris Marshall on Jul 28, 2010 at 00:01
Follow @cmarshallCWForget economics or even Freakonomics, in this age of austerity the ‘freeconomy’ is booming.
It’s hard not to be drawn in by its greatest proponent, Mark Boyle:
‘Living without money and having a great time are by no means mutually exclusive. If anything, it wasn't until I gave up using money in November 2008 that I started to really enjoy life, not just two-sevenths of it. In hindsight, my old Groundhog Weekend was incredibly boring – mundanely going for a few drinks to the pub, a nice restaurant or to see a movie at the cinema. Worse still, spending 3.8 hours of each precious day – or an entire 11 years of my time on this planet – watching TV. Where's the adventure in any of that?’
These words are from Boyle, aka ‘The Moneyless Man’, writing in The Guardian.
He provides a few examples (of which I’m paraphrasing here, but you get the gist):
‘Instead of going for a pint, why not make your own booze? Organise a day out with friends foraging wild apples for cider.’
Or
‘If you like art, there are always free exhibitions in and around big towns and cities.’
Finally, my favourite:
‘Instead of watching the TV, turn off the light, stick on a few beeswax candles (from local bees, of course, who haven't been fed sugar), and fritter the hours away making love. It increases your health, will strengthen your relationship and is infinitely more pleasurable than EastEnders. If you're single, abandon fear and ask the one you've got your eye on to come out for a wild food forage.’
Its Ray Mears meets Martin Lewis meets Austin Powers.
While Boyle may sit on the extreme fringes of the coalition government’s Austerity Britain – and few can be bothered to follow Boyle into a year without cash – austerity chic appears to have replaced conspicuous consumption; cheap and free has never been more popular, or more acceptable (take the booming popularity of Freecycle schemes for example).
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11 comments so far. Why not have your say?
A L Miller
Jul 28, 2010 at 09:28
This is rubbish!
The light, and even the TV, are much cheaper than beeswax candles.
Remember, we gave up candles because of the cost and the filthy smoke.
report thisFiroz Noman
Jul 28, 2010 at 09:48
This topic does not make any sense to me. Reading this topic is just waste of time.
report thisTaxman
Jul 28, 2010 at 09:59
If you can reduce your income (and that does not sound too difficult) then you reduce the tax you pay and you have more leisure time. Only problem may be that you start to worry about adequate pension funding but there are ways around that. see www.taxpractice.co.uk
report thisGrumpy Old Man
Jul 28, 2010 at 10:55
Unfortunately,making love and hours no longer figure in the same sentence for me.Would love to make it last that long but it ain't gonna happen like that anymore, I reckon!
Beeswax candles are too expensive.....Mrs.Grumpy and I have to put up with ordinary ones!We don't mind.
report thisHerb Kane
Jul 28, 2010 at 11:07
Why do you fools waste your time with this nonsense
report thisEllaCh
Jul 28, 2010 at 12:29
Hey, I like Grumpy Old Man he has a sense of humour, it appears some people take themselves too seriously on here :0)
PS. Mr G with pills anything is possible!
report thisRedundant (Old Timer?)
Jul 28, 2010 at 12:30
Ah! The summer no news so lets have nonsense hits citywire!!
report thismartin roach
Jul 28, 2010 at 17:53
I don't agree with the article so i am going to spend my time complaining and calling the writer names, saying thing that would never do to someone's face. There you are, now I feel better.
report thisThe pacifist capitalist
Jul 28, 2010 at 19:26
Define money! Where does this person live and what does he eat? Does he own the bees that produce the wax? If so they are a form of money - an easily exchangeable commodity that more than a few people value.....
I'm all for living cheaper but there are very few people on this planet who don't rely on some form of money, albeit not the hard cash in one's pocket. Therefore, I agree that this is an ill thought out article. How about an article on what money actually is and why it is a good and necessary thing?!
report thisVictor Meldrew
Jul 28, 2010 at 20:39
Beeswax candles might be tax deductable if you write about them.
report thisAnonymous 1 needed this 'off the record'
Jul 29, 2010 at 00:45
What a sad bunch of comments. He is only trying to put a bit of sparkle in your life instead of the usual 9-5 grind for more material possessions !
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