I know a guy who lives in the woods of Eastern Finland. He lives almost completely outside the money-based exchange, and he practices a lot of the old skills. With his self-sufficiency, he went even that far that he grew linen, made cords out of linen, and wove fish traps of that cord - only to find out that his local waters aren't that rich of fish... Well, but he has trousers made of squirrel leather - I don't remember how many animals he needed to make the trousers, he used his own urine to tan the leather =)

Maybe after ten years, when I have my mortgage loan paid and the house renovated, I could live on radically smaller monthly income, but I doubt if I will ever be as hardcore as that friend of mine =)