I love stories of extreme personal finance. In the past I’ve written about a guy who was homeless by choice, how to pay off your mortgage in three years, and about the most fuel-efficient driver in the world. Regular readers know of my fondness for these stories and sometimes e-mail other examples.
None, however, compares to the story Dave recently sent to me: In Albuquerque, New Mexico, there’s a guy who lives on less than $10 per day. Don Schrader, a Bible major and former pastor, survives on just a few thousand dollars per year. He lives in 151 square feet of space, which he notes is just 1 square foot more than Thoreau’s cabin by Walden Pond.
A recent Albuquerque Tribune feature on Schrader included the following sidebar summarizing his personal finances:
Don Schrader lives more than halfway below the threshold for taxable income for an adult younger than 65 (which is $8,750). In 2005 his expenses were $3,885. His 2006 tally of $3,635 was his second lowest ever.
“I’m in severe poverty, and I live well. Really well,” he says. “I wouldn’t trade places with any millionaire, any billionaire on the planet.”
Schrader turns 62 on Nov. 20, and that will make him eligible to collect Social Security. (His main job over the years was as an $8-an-hour nude art model at UNM.) His monthly benefit is expected to be $357, which is about $50 more than he usually lives on, including his rent, which is $210. (His food budget is about $2 a day.) … He has bank statements that listed his balance at a local credit union at about $14,000.
Schrader doesn’t own a stove, a fridge, a television, a shower, or a sink. According to the New Mexico Daily Lobo, he hasn’t owned a car since 1979, and hasn’t ridden in one since 07 April 2001.
He’s healthy, happy, and fit.
Why does Schrader live this way? Why does he voluntarily submit to poverty? He’s an anti-war protester, and has been since 1969. In his hand-written Wikipedia entry [PDF], Schrader argues:
Nothing in life is more important than refusing to pay federal income tax for war — no matter who is president. The best way to refuse to pay federal income tax for war, with no fines and no threats from the IRS, is to live simply — below the federal income taxable level.
Schrader’s choices are too extreme for me. I could not make the sacrifices he makes. Much about his lifestyle makes me uncomfortable. If this is what it takes to live on $4,000 a year in the U.S., I’m not willing to do it.
Here are the articles I drew on for this story. But beware — Schrader’s lifestyle and philosophy will be extremely distasteful for some readers. (I’m not joking.)
- The Albuquerque Tribune: Don Schrader reveals the inner layers of his life
- New Mexico Daily Lobo: Don Schrader openly expresses life’s convictions
- Wikipedia: Don Schrader’s hand-written article
What about you? Could you live on less than $4,000 a year? What values are you compromising to maintain your current lifestyle? How wrong is it that we all make these sorts of concessions? How do we decide which principles are worth standing up for and which we’re willing to let go for a few bucks? For a few thousand?
Photograph by Kit_Z.
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There was a similar person mentioned in Judith Levine’s book Not Buying It:My Year Without Shopping. Personally I enjoy some of the benefits of having some money – living at that level of poverty is excessive – I’m amazed he can do it.
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[...] Extreme Personal Finance: America On $10 A Day [...]
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I agree that the comment from icup —
“…a tax resistor…I would feel like I was getting a handout.”
is pretty absurd. But, it is typical of human nature to want to find fault in others’ efforts, even if those efforts are somewhat Herculean.
The urine thing? Not that big a deal to me. I had a friend experiment with not bathing at all in highschool. Bathing every day — even in urine — big plus + + +
I too lived on very little in college — about $600/month, or $3600/year. My rent was $295, and I could only eat what I could buy in bulk. Sometimes I miss those days…
Whether or not anyone agrees with Don and his convictions, the fact that he actually lives them is certainly to be admired. How many people cry about the environment but drive BMWs? The world is full of well-meaning hypocrites.
I can’t imagine living without a/c now, but I lived in the tropics without it for 3 years — the healthiest of my life. Perhaps someday we’ll look back and think Don was the smart one, and we were the “mentally disturbed individual[s]“.
As for me, I’m resisting the rising price of bread by making my own…
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thanks for the comment, Missy.
also, as another commenter noted somewhere above, there are many monastic of variouus tradaitions who regularly drink urine as part of a health regime, the Golden medicine. i personally don’t practice this (yet?), but i understand the ‘juice’ first in the morning is best – after a long night’s rest.
i have had personal experience from monk friends who also use urine as a nasal wash, snortinig it up the nose, to help clean out for allergies. this does work as a nat’l antibiotic and as well given that urine is perfectly at body temerature, it doesn’t sting when inhaled throuugh the nasal passage – of couorse, you then smell pee for awhile, but for serious allergen sufferers like myslef, a much better alternative.
while i don’t see the prupose of bathing in it, i guess if you’re living ini the arid desert of NM, that may be another matter; each has to do as thie own, given differing cicumstances.
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wow. unbelievable that guy, good for him! although i def. couldn’t do it (i’d get too bored, i have A.D.H.D), i applaud and respect someone who follows his beliefs.
i tip my hat to you, sir Don Schrader.
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If you’ve met Don Schrader, (and I have) you would have to admit that he’s eccentric, but not the least bit deranged. This is a man completely committed to his ideals. I couldn’t make the kind of sacrifices that Don has, nor do I necessarily agree with him politically on things. But as a man committed to his ideals through rigid adherence, he has my deepest respect.
Until I met the guy I would have been the first to dismiss him as a crackpot, but nearly every thing he does has a clear rationale lurking behind it.
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pro-gay-sex & advocates “lowering the age of consent”?
sounds like a paid-up member of NAMBLA
pedophilia is not admirable, whether the target is same-sex or opposite-sex
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If Don Schrader is a pedophile he’s the most public pedophile in the world. It’s nice that you rely on a previous poster to put “lowering the age of consent” in nice official quotes, quotes that are hearsay by the way.
Is he gay? Yes, outspokenly so. Is he a pedophile? Just post a link for me, some shred of proof…that’s all I need.
He has a reputation in Albuquerque for being a rabble-rouser and an oddball, but not a law breaker.
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[...] thought this was a remarkable story: Extreme Personal Finance: America on $10 a Day Not the way I would live, [...]
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I went to school with Don Schrader. I have not seen him for 40 years, but from reading the articles about him, he seems to be living a much more authentic life than when he was in high school. He wore white shirts, black tie and worshipped in a conservative mennonite church. He carried his Bible everywhere and took every opportunity to talk his faith. He is a brilliant person, graduating as the valedectorian of the class of 1964. I cannot fathom his life style, but I believe he is living it from a deep personal conviction. I am sure that I (and many others) can not say the same of our lifestyles and convictions.
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If Schrader did, as Mary suggests, come from a Mennonite faith, then he has been pacifist for a long time, since that is a tenet of the Mennonite religion. It’s a brave thing to be able to live up to that belief by reducing his income. To me, though, it’s even more impressive that he was able to come out of the closet as a gay man.
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I’m divided on his philosophy. On one side, I admire his frugality and anti-war philosophy (never supported the war myself) and his insane discipline. On the other hand, his urine habits (don’t care what anyone says, but it’s filthy) homosexual views (nothing against gay people, I have multiple good gay and bi friends, but the concept bothers me as it appears to be unscientific and immoral) and his love of gay male nudity (again, the morality, or actually the lack thereof, bothers me)
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Not to sound against anybody, but a religious scholar and a Mennonite who is gay?! (Aren’t Mennonites against this?!) Who BATHES IN and DRINKS urine?! And loves gay male explicit porn?! (Something nearly every religion and/or moral belief system is against)
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“homosexual views (nothing against gay people, I have multiple good gay and bi friends, but the concept bothers me as it appears to be unscientific and immoral) and his love of gay male nudity (again, the morality, or actually the lack thereof, bothers me)”
Jenn, I wonder if your friends know that you think they are immoral because they are gay and/or bi. You cannot be serious that you are really friends with them when you think their lifestyle is abhorrent. Try telling them your true colors and see how friendly they are then. Get over yourself.
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About the urine drinking … urine, while a waste product of the human body, tends to be loaded with unused nutrients (vitamins) and hormones (dhea, etc), in addition to electrolytes & water. Your body does get rid of contaminants that way, too, though. So, if you drank nothing but urine, you run the risk of saline overdose as well as reintroducing the contaminants back into your body. However, a glass or two a day won’t kill you, and for someone who lives like he does (drinks nothing but water and eats nothing but raw foods) his urine is probably healthier to drink than your average soda (diet or otherwise). There’s still the whole “ick” factor, though.
About using urine to bathe … urine, when it’s fresh, is considered a highly concentrated cleaning agent & sanitary wash. The US Army Survival Manual states that if sanitary water is unavailable for cleaning a wound, then fresh urine is a great alternative. The contaminants that come out of your urine are usually bio-organic in nature (IE: natural byproducts of your bodily functions), and have been neutralized by your body to be safe. The low ammonia concentration and high saline content helps sterilize wounds greatly and effectively. The hormones, like DHEA, that come out as a waste leftover byproduct in urine can help speed healing in the wound. Bathing in urine, albeit smelly, is sanitary and can help fend off insects (mosquitoes especially) as well as wild animals (if you were prancing around in the woods). Again, that doesn’t help some folks with the “ick” factor.
On his religious re-birth … it sounds like he started out on a false path for his spiritual needs, becoming a preacher bound by a societal religion. Later, he freed himself from it, found his true nature and sexuality, and has become more at one with himself than most folks will ever be with themselves. Being comfortable with oneself is a path to enlightenment. I think that makes him more of a holy man and spiritual person than some of these folks that try to stick with main-stream religious doctrine. Afterall, he could have stuck with it, hiding his true self, and perhaps become a child molester later on when his true self felt un-resolved and pent up. We have sort of created these specific ways to do things in life, and when someone goes off the beaten path, they tend to get looked down upon. However, it seems by giving up lots, he’s gained more, from the personal freedom to the spiritual enlightenment. I used to live in Albuquerque, but I never heard or seen this guy. But Albuquerque would be the kind of place that would both love (due to more hippy college kids) and loathe (due to a seedier, working-class element of folks that hate their lives) for what he is and what he’s doing.
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Amazing, notice he does not eat meat, only raw nuts, fruits and vegetables, this is the best diet any one can have. I have read that urine has nutrients, hard to believe, but there are some on this planet who drink urine for health reasons.
I remember watching 60 minutes long ago, one old Indian prime minister who practiced yoga and such things drank urine. Many do not know that female hormonal drugs are made from horse urine.
I bet he is healthy than any of us, and polluting least than any of us, and consuming far less than any of us. He is doing least harm to this planet and to all creatures in this world. Every time I see a SUV, I think of what is coming out of the tail pipe in the rear end.
Cannot tell from the reading if he is gay or a supporter, except for this aspect, he is doing great.
There are many people in this world who live like this, because they have no choice. What is remarkable is, he is living in a country where he has a choice. If every one did some thing like this, we would have a healthy planet with no wars, no pollution, and only Love & Peace.
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I wonder what does he do for medical insurance? Does he have Medicaid or some other program that uses state’s tax $ to pay for it
How is his rent so low, does he receive Section 8 or something like that which is federal program sponcored by yours and mine tax $
I understand he made a choice, however, if he falls off the cliff tomorrow or any accident – whose tax dollars will pay for his care?
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I can see it all except for the bath routine.
Totally deranged.
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I met him several times as a kid and knew him when he would stop into his late grandparents lunch stand that was only open Tuesdays. He only refrained from meat and sweets back then. He gave me some advice for packing a lunch when I was heading out on a camp-out. A slice of swiss cheese between two apple slices to make a sandwich. Im so sorry to see Donny really go off the deep end now. I know his whole family. His brother Ronny is as straight laced as the come and still operates the the successful Schrader Auction Center. Terrible shame. If Donny would have stayed off the urine, he would be a millionaire and upstanding citizen of Dakota, IL. Even his nephew helps run the slaughterhouse/auction business and still has time to be the pastor of the local Mennonite church.
Dakota only has a population of 450 but has an extremely high level of homosexuals. His school has a least 4 there. It might have something to do with it.
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In Defense of Don Schrader
I am proud to call myself a friend of Don’s. Don has the human qualities that most of us have been robbed of: he has time, lots of time, to talk to people. He has a deep attention span, is not checking his watch, answering his cell phone, or interrupting you because he can’t listen. Don gives everyone he comes in contact with his full, undivided attention.
Don loves his life and wants for nothing. He eats healthy raw food, and lots of it, spends time with the large number of folks who visit him, everyday; answers letters, writes to prisoners, goes to peace demonstrations.
Don is an example of how life used to be. We think we are ‘connected’ because we have a cell phone, car, computer, DVD player. In truth, this keeps us far from people, far from nature and far from the center of life. Don is at the center. He’s closer to the heartbeat of life than any of us.
I find him to be serious, peaceful, and extremely generous.
Mother Teresa said the United States has the worst poverty of any country. It has the poverty of loneliness. Don Schrader lives in poverty and is surrounded by wonderful people. He has real wealth.
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Bathing in pee? He must stink.
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What this guy is exactly between the line of creepy and … more creepy!!
Yes it’s great that he survives in $10 a day, but it’s simply not sane just because yo want it.
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I could live on $700/month and be happy (about $8400/year without medical anything)… but not $4000 a year.
Let’s say $10,000 for me. Net.
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After reading JDs post today, it led me to this post. So that’s why the late comment.
The strangest part is drinking and bathing in urine. Got to admit, not for me either.
But we all do things that others would find strange, don’t you think?
Being a vegan, people really are perplexed that I’m a vegan. “Where do you get your protein?”, I’m sincerely asked. Though being a vegan for 20 years, not only am I considered in excellent health by current medical standards, my response is, “I’m withering away”.
For me, doing something radical, would be going to McDonald’s and eating a hamburger happy meal.
For him, radical would be to give appreciation on Memorial Day to our men who’ve died that allows him to spread his ignorance of anti-government.
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He should get a wife. A wife that could live like him. And they could adopt homeless street children. They’d make great parents because they are always around to keep an eye on the youngsters. Their kids wouldn’t get fat on junk food. Or get hooked on video games, tv, computers, and texting. They’d grow up being better people than many young Americans.
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I turned a monthly social security disability check into substantial savings, over a 20 year period, by sleeping outdoors and occasionally in an automobile eating from the supermarket or sometimes from soup kitchens and living in third world countries where it cost me and my wife $100 monthly.I was also investing in mutual funds. I now have a home , paid for in cash, a wife and 2 children and we live a comfortable middle class lifestyle.
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