Mark Boyle (Moneyless Man)

Mark Boyle took a degree in Business at the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, before moving to Britain in 2002.Conor Pope, [http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/pricewatch/2010/0809/1224276414794.html "Putting cash in the trash"], Irish Times, 9 August 2010Mark Boyle, [http://www.tpuc.org/content/mark-boyle-moneyless-man "Mark Boyle – The Moneyless Man"], The People's United Community, retrieved 14 February 2011

During the final year of his degree, Boyle watched the film Gandhi, about the life of Mohandas K. Gandhi. He has frequently cited this as the moment that changed his life.Mark Boyle, [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/green-living-blog/2009/oct/28/live-without-money "I live without money – and I manage just fine"], The Guardian, 28 October 2009

During his first six years in Britain, Boyle lived in Bristol and managed two organic food companies. In 2007, after a conversation with a friend during which they decided "money... creates a kind of disconnection between us and our actions", Boyle set up the Freeconomy Community.{{cite web | first=Matt | last=Ford | url=http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/05/18/eco.free.economy/index.html | title=Free and easy? One man's experiment in living without money | publisher=CNN | date=18 May 2010 | accessdate=29 September 2011}}

A few months after creating the Freeconomy Community, Boyle set out on a two-and-a-half-year trek from Bristol to Porbandar in India, the birthplace of Gandhi. Inspired by the nonviolent salt march led in India by Gandhi in 1930, and by the woman in America known as Peace Pilgrim, he set off in January 2008, carrying no money and only a small number of possessions.Kimberley Mok, [http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/freeconomy_pilgrim.php ""Freeconomy" Pilgrim Begins Walk From Britain to India"], Treehugger, 1 February 2008BBC, [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/7217788.stm "Penniless India trek is under way"], BBC News, 30 January 2008 However, he was forced to turn back only a month into the trip, as language barriers and difficulties in persuading people he would work for food and a place to stay halted his journey shortly after he arrived in Calais.Steven Morris, [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2008/mar/01/ethicalliving.travelandtransport "Passage to India curtailed in Calais as language barrier trips campaigner"], The Guardian, 1 March 2008 One of his travelling companions had travellers cheques for emergencies, which allowed them to travel back to the UK. He had not planned the trip, believing it was best to let fate take its course.

Later in the same year, Boyle developed an alternative plan: to live without money entirely. After some preparatory purchases (including a solar panel and wood-burning stove), he began his first year of "moneyless living" on Buy Nothing Day 2008.The Mirror, [https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/11/25/meet-the-man-who-lived-on-no-cash-for-a-year-115875-21847674 "Meet the man who lived on no cash for a year"], The Mirror, 25 November 2009Simon Newton, [http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Mark-Boyle-From-Bristol-To-Become-Freeconomist-As-He-Plans-To-Live-Without-Money-For-A-Year/Article/200811415164753 "Man To Go Cashless For A Year"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110429214639/http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Mark-Boyle-From-Bristol-To-Become-Freeconomist-As-He-Plans-To-Live-Without-Money-For-A-Year/Article/200811415164753 |date=29 April 2011 }}, Sky News, 29 November 2008

Boyle has received considerable positive and negative publicity for his moneyless lifestyle, appearing on television, radio and other media in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Australia, South Africa, United States and Russia. Much of the attention has focused on his day-to-day routine, including food, hygiene, and traditionally expensive aspects of life, such as Christmas.Matt Ford, [http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-18/world/eco.free.economy_1_caravan-organic-food-credit-cards?_s=PM:WORLD "Free and easy? One man's experiment in living without money"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214231106/http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-18/world/eco.free.economy_1_caravan-organic-food-credit-cards?_s=PM%3AWORLD |date=14 February 2011 }}, CNN World, 18 Many 2010Jessica Salter, [https://web.archive.org/web/20100820084055/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenerliving/7951968/The-man-who-lives-without-money.html "The man who lives without money"], The Daily Telegraph, 18 August 2010Mark Boyle, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mark-boyle/mark-boyles-moneyless-man_b_735238.html "Mark Boyle's 'Moneyless Man': Why I Live Without Money (VIDEO)"], The Huffington Post, 23 September 2010Mark Boyle, [http://www.abc.net.au/environment/articles/2010/04/12/2870334.htm "The man who lives without money"], ABC Environment, 12 April 2010Tiara Walters, [http://www.timeslive.co.za/sundaytimes/article734528.ece/Priceless-liberation "Priceless liberation"], Times Live (South Africa), 31 October 2010 The activist Robin Greenfield has cited Boyle's book The Moneyless Man as an inspiration for his activism.https://www.robgreenfield.org/markboyle/

Mark Boyle is one of a small number of individuals who have lived without money in recent times. These include {{Interlanguage link multi|Heidemarie Schwermer|de}}, {{Interlanguage link multi|Tomi Astikainen|fi}} and Daniel Suelo.[http://livingwithoutmoney.org/about-the-film/about-heidemarie/ Heidemarie Schwermer] Living without MoneyStefanie Marsh, [https://web.archive.org/web/20110811113126/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article6928744.ece "Living without money"], The Times, 24 November 2009{{Cite web |url=https://www.tomiastikainen.com/contact/bio |title=Archived copy |access-date=9 May 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331141046/http://tomiastikainen.com/contact/bio/ |url-status=dead }}Christopher Ketcham, [http://www.details.com/culture-trends/career-and-money/200907/meet-the-man-who-lives-on-zero-dollars "Meet the man who lives on zero dollars"], Details, July 2009 One woman, Jo Nemeth also lives without money and has specifically cited reading Boyle's book The Moneyless Man as the inspiration for her own choice.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2025/feb/01/meet-the-woman-who-lives-without-money-i-feel-more-secure-than-when-i-was-earning | title=Meet the woman who lives without money: 'I feel more secure than when I was earning' | work=The Guardian | date=31 January 2025 }} Nemeth was reported in 2025 as living a moneyless lifestyle since 2015, a total of ten years. However, Boyle frequently reminds his readers that a moneyless life is not a new idea; indeed it is the system of money itself that is the new development, having existed for only a small fraction of humanity's c. 200,000-year existence. Other observers note that for nearly all of recorded human history (the c. 5,000 years since the invention of writing) there has been a system of money or currency in place.David Fleming, [https://leanlogic.online/glossary/money-fallacy-argumentum-ad-crumenam/ "Money, The Fallacy of"] LeanLogic.online, retrieved 15 June 2020

Boyle gave up his moneyless lifestyle in 2011 and the first item he bought with money in three years was a pair of shoes from a charity shop.{{Cite web |date=2021-04-25 |title=Save while saving the planet: how to be eco-friendly at home |url=https://www.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/save-while-saving-the-planet-how-to-be-eco-friendly-at-home/40347627.html |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=Irish Independent |language=en}}{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/money/2015/sep/04/moneyless-man-gave-up-cash-embraced-foraging-farming | title=The Moneyless Man who gave up on cash and embraced foraging and farming | newspaper=The Guardian | date=4 September 2015 | last1=Brignall | first1=Miles }} He was so used to not using money at that time that he felt that "it felt as strange as giving it [money] up in the first place had".

Also in 2011, Boyle had a vasectomy done on himself by a doctor because he was worried about the fate of the world and did not want to bring children into a world which he claimed was an overpopulated "artificial intelligence world".{{Cite web |date=2021-02-13 |title=Irishman who had a vasectomy because of "big bad world" reveals romantic struggles |url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/irishman-vasectomy-big-bad-world-romantic-struggles |access-date=2024-09-13 |website=IrishCentral.com |language=en}} This vasectomy was voluntary and he had it done "against all sorts of advice". In 2017, Boyle noted that the trip to the doctor for the voluntary vasectomy was his only trip to a medical facility in the previous 20 years.{{Cite news |last=Boyle |first=Mark |date=2017-09-21 |title=I live a healthier life now I'm free of the trappings of modernity |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/sep/21/healthier-life-free-modernity-doctors-technology-exercise-herbs |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

In 2013, he moved back to Ireland.{{Cite web |last=Lennox |first=Graeme |date=2020-05-02 |title=How 'moneyless man' Mark Boyle has branched beyond technology |url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/ireland-world/article/how-moneyless-man-mark-boyle-has-branched-beyond-technology-86j8wqlx3 |access-date=2024-11-11 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}} In 2015, Mark Boyle opened a moneyless pub on a three-acre permaculture smallholding in County Galway, Ireland.{{Cite news |last=Pasteiner |first=Jess |date=2014-02-06 |title=The Galway pub with free beer for those who lend a hand |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/galway-pub-free-beer-food-drinks-donations-sustainable-business |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} The moneyless pub is called the "Happy Pig" as the building it's in was formerly a pigsty before Boyle bought the farm that he converted into a smallholding. The renovations needed for the Happy Pig were all done using inexpensive natural materials such as cob, cordwood as well as wattle and daub. The Happy Pig serves all food and drink there for free.

Also in 2015, Mark Boyle gave up reading newspapers, watching television and listening to radio.{{Cite news |last=Boyle |first=Mark |date=2017-07-10 |title=Life without social media has taught me the virtues of being social |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/10/social-media-24-hour-news-cycle |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Boyle notes that the exclusion of newspapers includes even The Guardian for which he was a columnist, though this didn't stop him from getting columns of his published in the paper.

Around this time, Mark Boyle reached a turning point in his thinking.{{Cite news |last=Boyle |first=Mark |date=2015-09-15 |title=Living without money: what I learned |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/15/living-without-money-what-i-learned |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Boyle decided that more radical means were needed for the environmental movement and that merely peaceful protest wasn't working to stop eco-catastrophe.

In 2016, Mark Boyle spent the summer hand-building a straw bale house at the permaculture smallholding in County Galway and had moved in there by December that year.{{Cite news |last=Boyle |first=Mark |date=2016-12-19 |title=Technology destroys people and places. I'm rejecting it |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/19/life-without-technology-rejecting-technology |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} On 19 December 2016, Boyle made an announcement in his Guardian column that starting on Wednesday 21 December 2016, he will stop using all "complex technology" which he names as computers, the internet, phones, washing machines, water from taps, gas, fridges, televisions and anything requiring electricity to run. Boyle says there are two reasons why he chose to do this, the first is because he feels happier without technology, the second is that he feels that technology is the direct cause of modern-day environmental and social problems and he rejects technology to set an example. He also announced that he will still continue to write for The Guardian by writing down his articles by hand and posting them to The Guardian. An article on The Guardian website by Sarah Marsh posted on the same day as Boyle's article announced that users can still communicate with Boyle by posting a letter to The Guardian head office address labeled "Opinion Editors" or by posting in the comments section of the article where once a month, the staff will select some comments from the page, print them off and post them to Boyle.{{Cite news |last=Marsh |first=Sarah |date=2016-12-19 |title=No fridge, no TV: send your questions to the writer ditching technology |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/19/no-fridge-no-tv-send-your-questions-to-the-writer-ditching-technology |access-date=2024-11-11 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Mark Boyle's last day of technology was on Tuesday, 20 December 2016. He stopped using it shortly before midnight when he checked his last ever e-mails and turned off his phone for the last time.

As promised, Boyle kept writing for The Guardian and his first article after the start of Boyle's renunciation of technology was published on 6 February 2017.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/life-without-technology-tech | title=No bills, so many riches: The lessons of living like a prince outside cyberia | work=The Guardian | date=6 February 2017 | last1=Boyle | first1=Mark }} In it, he wrote about what he noticed in the month since then along with further explaining his reasons for renouncing technology as well as briefly answering a question from a Guardian commenter during one of the explanations.{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/life-without-technology-tech | title=No bills, so many riches: The lessons of living like a prince outside cyberia | work=The Guardian | date=6 February 2017 | last1=Boyle | first1=Mark }} Boyle also notes his admiration for the author Henry David Thoreau who had similar views{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/feb/06/life-without-technology-tech | title=No bills, so many riches: The lessons of living like a prince outside cyberia | work=The Guardian | date=6 February 2017 | last1=Boyle | first1=Mark }}

The Freeconomy Community was created to allow people to share, moving away from exchange economies towards a pay it forward philosophy. The original www.justfortheloveofit.org site shared similarities with websites such as The Freecycle Network, Freegle and Streetbank, and in 2014 Streetbank and Freeconomy decided that "the two projects would be so much stronger if they came together" and merged.{{cite web | url=https://www.streetbank.com/blog_posts/54 | title=Streetbank and Freeconomy unite to become the one-stop shop for neighbourhood sharing | publisher=Streetbank.com | accessdate=15 June 2020}}

Alongside the online component of the Freeconomy Community, several areas including Bristol and London hold Freeskilling sessions, where freeconomists take turns to pass on their skills in free one-off evening classes. Past topics have included subjects ranging from charity fundraising and anger management to bicycle maintenance, bread-making and campaigning skills.{{fact|date=July 2025}}

Boyle has been the primary author of the Freeconomy Blog since it was launched in 2007. Guest writers have recently included fellow moneyless people Heidemarie Schwermer, Daniel Suelo and Tomi Astikainen.{{cite web|url=http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog |title=Archived copy |access-date=15 February 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110211130858/http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog |archive-date=11 February 2011 }}

Boyle is currently working with others to set up the UK's first land-based Freeconomic community. Other founding members include Shaun Chamberlin, author of The Transition Timeline (2009), and Fergus Drennan, also known as the BBC's 'Roadkill Chef'.Shaun Chamberlin, [http://www.darkoptimism.org/projects.html "Dark Optimism – Projects Page"], Dark Optimism (blog), retrieved 14 February 2011Mark Boyle, [http://wn.com/Celebrity_Short_with_Mark_Boyle "Celebrity Short With Mark Boyle"], World News, retrieved 14 February 2011

• The Moneyless Man – Boyle's first book, The Moneyless Man: A Year of Freeconomic Living, was published in June 2010 by Oneworld Publications. The book documents his first moneyless year, including many of the practical and philosophical challenges he faced. The author's proceeds go to the Freeconomy trust, towards purchasing land for the foundation of the Freeconomy Community.
• The Moneyless Manifesto: Live well, live rich, live free – a follow-up guide to beginning your own moneyless journey, which he also offers free on his [http://www.moneylessmanifesto.org/why-free/ website].
• Drinking Molotov Cocktails with Gandhi – published October 2015. In this book, Boyle argues that our political and economic systems have brought us to the brink of climate catastrophe and peaceful protest is no longer enough to bring about change.
• The Way Home: Tales from a life without technology – published June 2019.{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/the-way-home-tales-from-a-life-without-technology-review-1.3848330|title=The Way Home: Tales from a Life Without Technology review|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en|access-date=22 June 2019}}
• Ben Fogle: New Lives in the Wild Series 13, 2021{{cite web | url=https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/irishman-vasectomy-big-bad-world-romantic-struggles | title=Irishman who had a vasectomy because of "big bad world" reveals romantic struggles | date=13 February 2021 }}

• Anarcho-primitivism
• Gift economy

{{Reflist}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20110211130858/http://www.justfortheloveofit.org/blog The Freeconomy Blog]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/environment/series/moneyless-man Moneyless man Guardian column]
• [https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/series/life-without-technology Life without technology Guardian column]
• [http://www.theguardian.com/profile/mark-boyle Mark Boyle at The Guardian]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PuyYVVVkIM Video of Mark Boyle] speaking at TEDxO'Porto, June 2011

{{Simple living}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Mark}}

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