Building on the idea of [why money is un/needed](https://steemit.com/money/@indigoocean/the-value-of-money) I'd like to dive in a bit more to look at the scenario in which money is not needed.

Basically, money is needed when either there is not enough trust that fairness will occur or when there is too much complexity to manage fairness without some way of formally keeping score. 

*So where in your life do you never use money?*

**Well if you're like most people, the answer is within your family.**

I'm sure there are some exceptions to this out there, but most of us grew up in a household in which money never changed hands among members. We may have been given an allowance at some age, but that was for buying things outside the household.

Our parents didn't charge us rent. We weren't denied an extra helping of mashed potatoes until we coughed up a dime. We were clothed, housed and fed for free and our parents even tried their best to delight us with entertainment and fun experiences whenever they could too. 

![childrens-drawings-716340_1280.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmULBxGRfJMC4pMiN7tLaWTLnFPkn9CMXHzipGHkFRiJPb)
*[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/children-s-drawings-coloring-village-716340/)*

Now many of us had chores, so you might say we were working to earn these things as payment. Even if you look at it that way, still there was no money. We skipped the money part and there was simply each person contributing their activity for the benefit of the family however they could, knowing that if everyone did that, all would be fed, clothed, and housed in a clean home. 

My job was washing dishes after dinner and helping clean the whole house on Saturday mornings. My older sisters had bigger jobs, but they also had bigger abilities. One sister did a lot in the garden, which was her choice. She volunteered to build up the family garden, working beside my mother sometimes but also going above and beyond. Another sister sometimes cooked. (Funny thing is that she never became a good cook but I did, though that was never my job as a kid.)

Our parents and even grandparents worked outside the home to make the money needed to bring new resources into the family unit. But once those resources were in the family unit, transaction in money ended. 

Is it random correlation that within the family there was also a free flow of love? No one was really keeping score. Well if one of us didn't do our chores, someone was sure to tattle, but mostly we knew our jobs and did them. And even when tattling, there was no need for a scoreboard. Everyone knew what contribution they made and no one thought about any scorecards. 

#### We gave and we received within an environment of togetherness and shared well-being or shared lack. We were truly all in it together.

<br>Now some people had very unhappy childhoods, so there may be no use of this metaphor that sounds like a reality they want to recreate as an adult. Or if your family was always keeping score and carrying grudges, even if they didn't actually get out a spreadsheet to manage it all, well then again, this metaphor won't evoke happy feelings. 

I suspect though that most people would love to live with the sense of security that freedom from having to track everything with money might bring in adult life.

## A Family Village

<br>What if you could live in a community made up of multiple families, with only some people going out to bring in resources from outside the community (earning money). 

Then once the resources were within the community each family drew from them as they needed to without having to keep score. And each family also did work within the community that benefited everyone, without keeping score.

![cyprus-3830735_1280.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/Qmd3ApLxQvDmtLdbGtTSbpKUTAvCS8YgzUMB6P4H1jh981)
*[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/cyprus-askas-troodos-landscape-3830735/)*

So let's say some people were very good with math, so helped all the children with learning math. Perhaps such people would also project ahead for supply utilization, so made sure there was always enough of regular supplies by ordering ahead.

Others might be particularly good with organizing, so organize activities that required a lot of people working together to get something done at once. Others had great spatial relations skills, so planned out the building of new structures. Or fixed broken gadgets. 

![learning-1782430_1280.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/Qmd8bJ5NkerWmJhCoeBxNE842QKShhQyppbu4jFyS2qezt)
*[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/learning-school-outdoor-asia-book-1782430/)*

And so on. Each person looked at where there unique talents were and built those up into skills that were at a level useful to the community. They then spent their time contributing those skills however they could see an opportunity to.

Never would they have to think:*"Am I doing enough to earn my keep? Am I about to be expelled for taking more than I give?"*

No, there would be no such insecurity. They would know that everyone was doing what they can to contribute to the well-being of all and that others knew they were doing the same. There would be love and trust, just as there is within a family. Everyone knows that we all thrive or experience lack together. 

## Why This Fails
<br>This is only possible though when people do feel that level of trust and positive regard that is found within a healthy family.

As soon as an element of suspicion, accusation, or judgment enters things start to go awry. 

Most people find that there is a limit to how large an idea of "family" they can manage. For some it isn't even their actual nuclear family. But in some places you do find villages that have been stable a long time and in which life is like this.

I met a shaman/elder from a Colombian Native American community last year who described life in his village very much as I just described above. They don't have any money moving within the village. Only recently have they even started having things that must be brought in from outside the village using money. The elder I met is traveling to raise those funds. He's the sole member of the village who must "work" outside the village to bring in resources the community cannot itself create.

They are able to manage at the size of their village without needing a system of record for keeping score, whether a ledge or actual physical money. But other old villages around the world have long used money, trading silver ingots, beads, shells, all sorts of things across the millennia.

It's not that there is no room for money in a close community. It's just that there is the option of choosing not to use it. And given the chance, having seen how both feel to live under, I think many of us would choose the system that involves no concept of "am I secure here?"

## What Do You Think?
<br>*Would you like to live in a community that had no money flowing within the community itself?*

*Would you want to be one of the ones who brings resources into the community by interacting with the outside world of money?*

*What would it take for you to trust a group of people enough to live like this with them?*

*How many people do you think would be the largest such society you could see yourself being a part of?*

*Is it fun to think about?*

![pancakes-1512834_1280.jpg](https://ipfs.busy.org/ipfs/QmbxwcnyJkd2BZ8HjN816vCWvwT59PQYxfUDeQhT5fuZns)
*[Source](https://pixabay.com/en/pancakes-cook-cakes-hash-browns-1512834/)*