About

My name is Jo Nemeth.

I have been living a low-impact, money-less life since March 2015. I will continue living without money for as long as I can and I will continue to live low-impact for the rest of my life.

While living as low-impact as this is not for everyone, I strongly encourage people to reduce their personal footprint as much as possible.

It would help if we asked this simple question before making any purchase: “Is this something I want or something I need?” Go for the things we really need and leave the rest – great advice from my mother and a great way to minimise impacts. It’s amasing how little we need to be happy. 

For readers in Australia a good place to start, if you have internet access, is Shop Ethical.

An inspiration for me, and a source of information, is Irishman Mark Boyle. Mark lived money-less in the UK for three years. You can read more about him and get some tips here.

There are many others choosing to reduce their footprints to this extent around the world. There are also, sadly, millions who have no money when they need it and struggle for survival on a daily basis through no choice of their own. It is partly for these people, as well as for our own, that I do this. I don’t want to add to the structural injustices existing in our world that make it possible for so much poverty to exist.

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These are some thoughts about why I am living a low-impact (and currently money-less) life:

  • Develop a greater awareness of the connectedness/relatedness between things
  • Waste reduction and reuse – live off the rubbish of others so I don’t need to consume new resources as much
  • To help develop and participate in a gift economy that I believe is the way of the future and vital for our ongoing human development
  • Supply chain issues – don’t want to lose contact with the impacts of my consumption. All consumption has effects, many of which are distant and hidden, especially when money is used in this globalised system with its long and complex supply chains. We can be naively irresponsible in our destruction and violence against others in far off places when we buy things. I don’t want to make the lives of other people and creatures worse so that mine can be better.
  • Reduce stress – live relatively stress free without having to make/chase money
  • Help others – give to others and make their lives a little easier
  • To find what is real and what is unnecessary and superfluous – just how much of a hold on me does this money thing have
  • Don’t want to work for a wage anymore – we live in a kind of system of wage slavery and don’t get to live connected, meaningful lives the way most of us would like to
  • Searching for alternatives – this is just one of many ideas that could be part of the solution or, at the very least, it is part of the conversation

 

If you would like to contact me please send me a message through this blog, by email at jo.nemeth69@gmail.com, or by using the links below.

I really like to hear from people with ideas and questions.

Cheers….

 

https://www.facebook.com/jolowimpact/

https://www.instagram.com/jolowimpact/

 

https://www.abc.net.au/life/jo-has-lived-without-money-for-five-years/12162314

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-05/woman-spends-a-year-without-money-to-help-environment/7239864

 

13 thoughts on “About”

  1. Good morning JO,
    I read something about you and immediately felt that kind of life that would make me very happy.
    I like to help others and see that my help make others happy.
    I felt a strong connection with your lifestyle and I would like to know more about everything that makes you stronger and helps move forward with this great lifestyle.
    Now you have a fan in Canada who want to know more about you and your lifestyle.

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    1. Thanks Ricardo. Great to hear from Canada! I do indeed feel pretty happy in this lifestyle – I’m glad you feel the connection to this way of living. We all (in the West at least) need to reduce our impacts and simplify our lives so our children have a habitable planet. This is my way of doing that – I’m sure you have your own ways. I’ll keep posting about this adventure and feel free to ask any questions if I forget to mention something. Cheers, Jo

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  3. dear jolowimpact,i have a question, I am 26,ive been living with very little money for a long time now , when i say very little, i mean 30-60 $ usd per month , and all of it is spent on food,because i can never find a job ,and my entire family wants me to get a job and work for a paycheck, and they think im weird becuase i dont eat meat ,but at the same time i dont actually want to work and be a slave for fake money because everything seems out of proportion to real costs,for example i can buy a sweatshop toy for like 3 dollars , but 3 dollars will never make up for the real costs of the materials and slave hours that was put into making it, and then they toy gets thrown out, nothing makes sense , and most if not all fortunes are made off of producing shitty music , horrible television programs, and unhealthy food.And i do not want to support this stuff any longer, im at the point where i feel guilty for even purchasing food from stores, because it comes in boxes and plastic bags which get thrown out, and the plastic never degrades, and ive become hyper sensitive to everything i do and others do as time goes on, and i can no longer be oblivious and ignore it anymore. So ive been wanting to give up money for a long time now and thats all i think about more and more. But my question is how do i quit money and live outside when its very very cold ?i live in pennsylvania and it gets sub-zero often in the winter , and i was thinking i want to catch a bus and escape deep into the woods. Do you have any ideas on how to stay and live outside in the cold 24/7 ?

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    1. Wow, cookiedemon, I really feel your pain! Some of the things/feelings you describe are very similar to what I was feeling when I decided to give up money. I don’t know how you could survive in the bush in a place like Pennsylvania – it’s a very different environment from the one I live in here which is sub-tropical. Even here I am not living outside although I can understand the urge to. I have found that a good way to live for free on the land is to do an exchange of energy for a place to stay. There must be farms in the countryside there with some forest who would be happy to have some help in exchange for you living for free on their land for a while (where you could build a little shack with whatever materials are available or camp out). Is this possible? I know a lot of farms around here are in need of extra hands and are happy to have that extra help without having to try to find money to pay for it (they don’t have money to spare but do have space and often and old shack). I hope this helps a bit. I’m sorry I can’t offer more. Please let me know how you go. My contact details are at the bottom of this page (above the comments though….). Cheers and best wishes, Jo

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  5. Wow! What courage you have. I live in Sydney and like many others time poor and it seems the years race away faster each year. Did you ever have a kids or a family Jo? Your ideas on a “gifting” community has so many human benefits and the economy we have at the moment is slowly enslaving the vast majority of us. You sound very happy which is very important. People genuinely seem unhappier the more they have and want. I would love for me and my kids to be able to meet you one day. Respect

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    1. Thanks David. I am pretty happy – just still have the same human struggles sometimes but am a lot less stressed. I have a 21 year old daughter. She is amazing – married and doing her own thing these days. I am still learning about the gifting culture….it’s a big shift and pretty great! Cheers, Jo

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  6. Hi Jo — I am a late starter altho’ I have always tried to recycle & be resourceful. I teach people to recycle clothing ( in my free sewing classes) I am given lots of material so I use that personally & make things for others…have always had a small vegi patch & have not bought them from the Supermarket for years – I am on a pension now (72) but wish that I had had this (your) lifestyle before. I wish you a very happy future & we ALL need more people like yourself to open the eyes of others to what can be achieved by each one of us if we really TRY & don’t pursue our greedy/self satisfying lifestyle – We are running out of time ….. Go Girl !

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