Daniel James Shellabarger (known as Daniel Suelo, or simply Suelo, and The Man Who Quit Money, born 1961) is an American
simple living
Simple living refers to practices that promote simplicity in one's lifestyle. Common practices of simple living include reducing the number of possessions one owns, depending less on technology and services, and spending less money. In addition t ...
adherent who stopped using
money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: m ...
in the autumn of 2000.
He was born in
Arvada, Colorado, a suburb of
Denver
Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...
, and lives part-time in a cave near
Moab, Utah
Moab () is the largest city in and the county seat of Grand County in eastern Utah in the western United States, known for its dramatic scenery. The population was 5,366 at the 2020 census. Moab attracts many tourists annually, mostly visitor ...
when he is not wandering the country.
Suelo gained fame in October 2009 when his profile appeared in the US men's style print magazine ''
Details''. This story was picked up by websites such as ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' in the UK, ''
The Huffington Post
''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...
'', and
Matador Change. He was also interviewed for the BBC in September 2009, by ''
The Denver Post'' in November 2009, and the Brazilian INFO in November 2009. His story has since been repeated by many websites and news agencies around the world. Suelo was the subject of a 2006 video profile entitled ''Moneyless in Moab'' (2006), by Gordon Stevenson and a 2009 video profile entitled ''Zero Currency'' (2009), by Brad Barber as well as being featured on KBYU's ''Beehive Stories'' (2010), also by Brad Barber.
Penguin approached Suelo about writing an autobiography, but he said that he would not accept payment for telling his story and he would be interested to do so only if the book was given away for free. Penguin was not interested in this approach, but asked a friend of his,
Mark Sundeen, about writing a biography. Sundeen wrote ''The Man Who Quit Money'', which was published by Riverhead/Penguin in 2012, and Suelo did not accept any money from his book but requested that the publishers give away a number of copies to people for free, which they did at promotional book tours.
A short film about Suelo, narrated by Mark Sundeen, is on
BBC News Online
BBC News Online is the website of BBC News, the division of the BBC responsible for newsgathering and production. It is one of the most popular news websites, with 1.2 billion website visits in April 2021, as well as being used by 60% of the U ...
.
In 2016 Suelo moved back to his hometown to care for his aging parents, and has been using money in this capacity while still caring for his mother, who is in her nineties as of 2017.
Suelo is one of a number of individuals who voluntarily live without money. These include
Mark Boyle, , the late (1942–2016) and Jo Nemeth. Suelo appeared as a guest writer on Mark Boyle's blog in January 2011.
See also
*
Gift economy
References
External links
Official website - Living Without Money
{{DEFAULTSORT:Suelo, Daniel
People from Moab, Utah
1961 births
Living people
Simple living advocates
People from Arvada, Colorado