Jo Nemeth

I am Jo Nemeth.

I have been living in Australia.

I've been living without money by choice for about ten and a half years now.

At the time, I had been feeling so sad and guilty and horrible about the state of the world and the fact that I was complicit in this giant economic system that was damaging people and places around the world.

I was absolutely gobsmacked.

As soon as I read that, I knew that that was the answer for me.

I had to try this thing.

So I went away and did some research and I was exhilarated.

I was so excited.

My life before I decided to do this experiment was a fairly regular middle class life in Australia here.

I was working in a great job, 20 hours a week, really well paid as a community development worker for a local NGO.

The hourly rate was good back then, but because it was 20 hours a week, the annual salary was only barely enough to make ends meet.

I was living in a rural old timber farmhouse, and the rent even 10 years ago was quite a lot, and I was barely able to pay all of the bills.

So I was stressed.

Did you have a family?

No.

At the time, I was living with my partner and my daughter.

And my daughter was just finishing high school.

So I decided to do this experiment once she had finished high school and she was set up safely in her own life.

I knew that it would not go down well with my partner.