Beating Broke

Personal Finance from the Broke Perspective

How to Live Without Money

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Live without Money

Have you ever considered what life would be like if you quit your job?  How would you provide for yourself and your needs?  Could you live without money?  Is that even possible in our modern era?

It is possible to live without money, but you would have to put aside some of the creature comforts your used to.  You would also likely work just as hard as you do now, when earning a wage.

How to Live Without Money

To successfully live without money, you need to find ways to find shelter and food, at the minimum.

Where to Live for Free

Live Without Money
Photo by Christine Roy on Unsplash

Sure, you could couch surf if your friends are agreeable, but there are other ways to find shelter without paying cash.

Take Care of An Elderly Person

Some elderly people would like to remain in their own homes, but as they age, they need more assistance.  They hire live-in care givers who take care of them in return for free room and board.  If you have the right skills, this can be an excellent way to find shelter for free.

Manage an Apartment Building

Another option, if you’re handy, is to take care of the maintenance in an apartment building in return for a free apartment.  This option is more suitable if you live in a large city.

How to Eat for Free

Eating for free can be trickier than finding a place to live for free.

Food Pantry

If you’re trying to survive with no money because you’re in a difficult financial place, you can visit a local food pantry.  They will likely give you enough food for a week if you’re careful.

Soup Kitchen

Likewise, you can visit a local soup kitchen and get a free meal.  If you live in a bigger city, you may be able to go to a different soup kitchen every day to get a hot meal.  Again, this is an excellent choice if you’re financially struggling.

Volunteer at a CSA

If you have a farm near you that offers CSA subscriptions, you may be able to barter for food.  Some CSAs (community supported agriculture) will trade five or ten hours of work a week for a CSA box.  This will likely not provide all of your nutritional needs but will supply your fruits and vegetables for the week.

Dumpster Dive

Lastly, some people dumpster dive for food.  While this may sound disgusting and unsanitary, not to mention dangerous, there is an entire community dedicated to avoiding food waste by dumpster diving.  You’ll want to take adequate precautions, but you can get quite a large amount of food by rescuing restaurant and grocery store cast offs.

Final Thoughts

Trying to live without money is challenging.  I’ve given suggestions for getting a place to stay and food for free, but what about the other things needed in our current society?  How would you pay for a car and gas?  Clothing?  Some people simple forego a vehicle and only use the clothes they have.  If you determined to live without money, you can.  Other people have, at least for a few months or years.

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Using your network to achieve your financial freedom goals

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This is a guest post by Millionaire Mob, a blog focused on investing in dividend growth stocks, passive income ideas and travel hacking. We have helped thousands of people with bettering their financial future through our personal finance tips.

A solid network is a promising asset in your financial freedom journey. Having a strong network is crucial to achieving financial independence.

“No man is an island” an old adage goes.

How are you utilizing your existing networks to reach your financial goals?

We are social beings and are connected with different people within different circles. We have people around us some who are family, friends, and colleagues that we have formed a strong bond with. These people can support us in one way or another to realize our financial goals.

Before you enlist the help of your network, you first need to have a clear goal of what you intend to attain. You need to plan why and how you will accumulate wealth and build a firm financial foundation. Our study shows that the true meaning of accumulated wealth is approximately 11x your income.

Set a plan of action with details of how you are going to generate income. Find out how you can diversify your income sources. Perform a research on different investments available to you. Read different resources to discover more information about the types, the advantages, and disadvantages of different investments. Get the opinions of diverse financial advisors and join their networks. Consider different investments that you can involve in. Engage in active, passive and portfolio income ideas. Consider getting a part-time job or try to obtain online jobs. Check out this list of over 23 proven online jobs without investment.

Whatever your financial targets are, they need to be clear and achievable. Define your deliverables, set quantifiable goals and gauge the level of risk appropriate for you. Set a timeframe on when to achieve every milestone. Be disciplined and avoid that which can distract you from your vision. If you set realistic goals, you are more likely to attract people with similar financial ambitions and resolutions.

Here are 4 surefire ways in which you can use your network to achieve your financial freedom goals:

  1. Foster quality connections

Your networks can be a great resource that will connect you to your dream job or an amazing opportunity that will change your financial situation. You can find potential partners to strike profitable business deals with that will take your business to another level. Your connections can also become your clients if you can offer valuable products to them. All you need is just to be outstanding in what you do.

These prospects this can be obtained without necessarily spamming your connections but by presenting and positioning yourself in such a way that opportunities find you. In one way or another, it will help raise your financial position and ultimately reach your financial goal.

With recent developments in technology, it is easier today to make more connections with friends, bosses, classmates, customers etc over social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Whatsapp and Twitter among others.  Take advantage of these platforms to expand your circle of influence. Reach out to potential employers and be ready to grab every opportunity that may come your way. Be ready to deliver value and to produce exceptional results in your work so at to get referrals. When you are outstanding in what you do, you are more likely to attract and maintain quality connections that will thrust you to your financial destiny.

  1. Start a financial challenge

A challenge helps to keep the participants on their toes until they achieve their objectives. Start a financial challenge, for example, a challenge that can help to fix bad financial habits that can ruin your dream.

You can start a challenge to clear all your debts within the shortest time possible and enlist your networks to become part of it. Get and share resources to motivate and inspire each other to pay off debts.

It could also be a challenge to live frugally and to save as much as possible. Start a savings challenge. Find ways to help save and reduce expenses. Share discounted products, items on sale, and couponing ideas among other saving tips. You can also incorporate the use of different financial apps. Some apps like Spendee, Dollar bird, etc help you to track your expenses, manage budgets and track purchases among other great features.

You can form a group of friends or create a savings group through social media and start the challenge. It can be a year-long or a few months challenge. Make clear the rules and the governing the group, set milestones and track the progress.

For each month, week or day try to set-up or create a task to accomplish, the tools that you will need and the timeframe to do it. At the end of the challenge, gauge the outcome and see if there were any changes in your financial position. Create a new challenge and continue with the cycle.

When you create a group of people who are up to the challenge, it helps you to remain committed to the main agenda of the group and to be accountable to each other.  A financial challenge can help to keep you on the check and help you to avoid bad financial habits that are not aligned to your ultimate objectives.

  1. Keep learning from the best

Ensure that you have connections with people who have similar interests and learn from them. They may be resourceful especially if they have done something or have similar goals that you intend to achieve. They can also share with you different tips and tricks, what to do and mistakes to avoid achieving the specific goals.

  1. Share your interest

Share your financial objectives with people in your networks. You can use the social network platforms to engage with other professionals, join groups and forums that discuss financial matters and opportunities. Share content, create and post blog posts and online profiles with an aim to connect with other people with similar interests.

You are more likely to get tips and tricks from people you share related interests with. They can also encourage and motivate you to remain focused on your financial goals.

Bottom line

Financial freedom cannot be achieved in isolation. You must have and nurture your connections and be committed to making it possible. You should make it a priority to prepare and set clear financial goals before you enlist your networks. The financial objectives will also help you find people with common interests who will inspire you along the journey towards financial freedom.

What is Financial Independence

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In my post “Are we Doing Personal Finance Wrong“, I talked a little bit about “Financial Freedom”.  Of all the comments that the post got, that was the one thing that was mentioned most of all.  Which, to me, means it bears some further discussion.

Financial freedom, or financial independence, can be defined a little bit differently depending on the person doing the defining.  Like most personal finance, it’s highly dependent on the values of the person.  What I define financial independence as might be a whole lot different from what you define it as.  I think, no matter who is defining it, the real keystone is the word freedom or independence.  We all want freedom and independence.  Some autonomy from the rat race.  The idea of having the financial ability to declare our independence is alluring.

What is Financial Independence, for me.

Financial IndependenceMy definition of financial independence is likely pretty similar to most.  In it’s most broad sense, I define it as the ability to not be swayed by financial needs.  Breaking it down a bit more, it means not “needing” a job just to make ends meet.  It means not “needing” a job to keep a roof over my head.  It also means having the ability to take advantage of opportunities to improve my situation.  Whether that means having the cash on hand to be able to buy or start a business, buy a rental property, or just take a month off to travel or learn something new isn’t all that relevant.  It’s that I have that ability.

Something that needs to be said here is that at one point, not that very long ago, I thought of it as being synonymous with “independently wealthy”.  Which may or may not be true depending on your definition of independently wealthy.  For sure, I don’t believe that it matches up with the definition I had back then.  Back then, I would have told you that independently wealthy meant retirement and not doing a dang thing.  Sitting on the beach all day, every day, being utterly non-productive.  That definition has changed.  A lot.  Financial independence, if it’s synonymous with independently wealthy, doesn’t mean that you don’t work, but that you have the financial freedom to do the work you want to do.  Because you are free from the “need” part of the financial equation, you have the ability to do the work that you feel called to do without regard for how much it pays, whether it’s part-time or full-time, or whether it’s a short term project or not.

What is Financial Independence, for you.

As I mentioned above, your definition might differ slightly (or a lot) from mine.  Maybe, for you, it really does mean sitting on a beach somewhere, doing nothing.  Maybe it means not having to work and spending all your time volunteering instead.

However our definitions might differ is somewhat irrelevant.  Our personal definitions still mean that it’s something worth pursuing to each of us.  And, if our end-game is to be financially independent, I still don’t think we’re doing personal finance right.  I still don’t think we’re even close.  I think we need to break away from the systems we have, find the ones that work for our personal finances, and then achieve our financial independence.

Achieving your Financial Independence.

Breaking away from the systems we have for personal finance won’t be easy.  Heck, our definition of financial independence will probably change along the way and require a new system again.  But, achieving that financial independence should be our primary goal.  Not retirement.  Not our childrens’ college education.  And certainly not saving up cash to pay for that big SUV.  Our primary goal in our personal finance should be achieving financial independence.  Once we’ve achieved that, retirement, education, and big trucks will come.  And they’ll come without sacrificing anything.

The Path to Financial Independence.

Much like our definitions differ, so too will our path to financial independence differ.  Undeniably, I think that the first landmark on that path has to be the complete and utter destruction of all debt.  Before we worry about anything else, we have to be free of the yoke of debt.  Joan Otto, the community manager at Man Vs. Debt, wrote about this recently specifically referencing retirement accounts.  Take a minute or two and read it.  Then, pay special attention to the comments.  Aside from a few people, almost all of the comments are people who think she’s off her rocker.

Is she off her rocker?  Or is she just developing a new system for her personal finance that leads towards her financial independence?  It takes a certain amount of courage to admit to the thoughts and ideas that she does in that post.  (I should know, see: Why I’m Withdrawing from an IRA)  But, then try and remove what you’ve been taught about retirement and saving from your mind for a minute and re-read section 4 of her post.  She’s not being irrational.  In fact, I’d argue that she’s being overly rational.  I think I’ll have to write more about that in another post, but the Vulcan, logic loving, part of me thinks she is right.

Our paths to financial independence will vary.  Some of those people in the comments of Joan’s article will achieve it using the current system.  Many of them will have started saving early, and found ways to drastically save.  But, will they have the liquidity available to make a move on an opportunity in the 30’s, 40’s, or even 50’s?  Or will it have to wait until they’re past “retirement” age and have penalty free access to their nest eggs?

Find your path.  Start the journey, and achieve your financial independence.

Have you already started on your journey?  Have you found your path?  Have you achieved your financial independence?  There are many of us here, including myself, that are new to the journey or haven’t even begun yet that could benefit greatly from your story.  Will you share it with us?

img background credit:Fireworks at Swindon by Stephen_Gunby, on Flickr