Going Moneyless

What do you think about moneyless living?

As you know, I love the idea of urban foraging. It's immoral that dumpster food is locked away for fear of lawsuits. I wanted to go beyond dumpster diving and freecycling, and explore this idea of moneyless living a little further. I invite you to join the conversation.

On the one hand, moneyless living is the essence of social responsibility- as it means little trash, it's the ultimate in frugality, and it requires one to really connect with back-to-basics skills. The challenge is social responsibility in context. If our context (or the way we're wired) doesn't point towards us making the leap towards absolutely no money, what then?

It seems to me Jesus was an original moneyless man, but not in a legalistic way, and not to make a statement or because he felt like money was necessarily evil. Just because money didn't have a hold on what he was doing and when, or how he related to other people. The issue wasn't tax or the poor or the system, it was our hearts and how we related to other people in the moment. Ok... I hope I didn't lose you by bringing Jesus in back there.

Sometimes it's important for me to make poverty and unfair economic systems the issue, because they provide me with a framework for relating in the moment. I don't otherwise relate in a spirit of love or generosity. But other times they're not very important, because they're so abstract in the midst of the activities of my day- wake up-go to work-pray-see people-be a parent/wife/family member/friend-eat-sleep.

So I guess my question is, how do we get away from dependence on money? I really don't have a clue. But, oh well, I'll try and muddle through: it seems to have something to do with mindset-- life is not about money--and something to do with lifestyle-- where one doesn't have more bills than money to pay them. I don't want to rely on money to give me security. And I don't want financial stresses to dictate how much I work or why I work. I want to be free from a constant striving, from complicity in destroying the earth or being involved in a system that hurts other people. For me, this ties back to Jesus, because I want to be secure in any circumstance. What do you think?

Freegan Apple Crisp in Watertown, MA

Freegans are often people thinking about how to reduce waste and live differently by making use of the waste in our society. I’m not a freegan [yet]; I’m very much part of the American Capitalist Economy. And when it comes to dumpster diving in Watertown, I’m not sure of who does it or how they get into the dumpsters. With that long preamble, there’s something beautiful about taking good food that would otherwise go to waste, and making something great (or even medium ok) to eat. If you came upon this post because you want to learn which dumpsters to go to, let me know. I’ve done a survey and am happy to share. Most are locked, so it would take a braver soul than me to tap their goodness.

But there’s one nearby dumpster that isn’t locked. And as it gets colder, the food quality just gets better. So one early Friday morning, when I saw this open, Jo height dumpster, I also saw my opportunity. Eug is worried I’ll be known as the lady carrying a baby who drives an Audi and dumpster dives. [ Aside: Yes. We were given an Audi. I know.] But the reality was that Noah and I were going for a walk and I noticed that tons of food had been thrown into a dumpster. I didn’t take nearly as much as I should could have. But I got plenty of apples. I now go for walks with my bag, just in case. So most people probably just know me as the lady with the baby and the red bag.

Imagine how good this apple crisp tasted, given that it was virtually free (this is a wonderful apple crisp recipe, regardless of whether the apples were free):
10 cups all-purpose apples, peeled, cored and sliced
1 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup water

1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour (you can substitute 1/2 cup whole wheat flour)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degree C).
Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour water evenly over all.
Combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for about 45 minutes.