Totally possible. Done it for many years before I got my life totally straightened out, and only because my job begged me to. For years I was the only person being cut a live check.

My biggest issue with it is security. Last thing I need in my life is for the wife to invite over the family scumbags while I'm gone, who decides today is the day they're going to rob us blind, and finds the cash stash.

Happened to me once. The nigger I grew up with did that to me, after 20 or so years of friendship (since we first kicked around a soccer ball when we were 10). Never trust a nigger, even if that nigger is supposed to be "gud boi." I wasn't racist until that happened.

Yeah the illegals do it all the time. Work for cash under the table mail in cashiers checks for whatever bills you have.

Not technically out of the banking system, but definitely 'under the radar' of the tax man:

Knew a handyman guy who owed back taxes, etc. He always showed zero income, but his elderly mother made good money.

He lived with and cared for his elderly mother, so wasn't completely odd. When working a job he would say "Hey, I owe my mom that much money, just make the check out to her please."

In Denmark the short answer is no; a income must be transferred to a account in a bank, whether your employer is the state or private.

Every citizen is obliged to have a bank account and even hobos and homeless do, if they want their government gibs.

There's still widespread cash based transactions people in between, but any transaction with for instance a store, exceeding DKr. 10.000 (~$ 1.555) requires showing ID and is likely to be refused on grounds of the administrative burden, because of strict laws on whitewashing and it will be reported to authorities..

Bonus: because of the current national bank negative interest rates, you must now pay a 0.7% interest rate on cash deposits exceeding DKr. 100.000 (~$15.555)..

Did anyone say jewry?!

Credit Unions are nice, though I don't know if you consider that outside the system.

This is what people with bad credit do. (20 to 25% of the US population?) Your employer cannot require you to use direct deposit so you cash your check with at your employers bank where the check is drawn. You pay all your bills with money orders from the gas station. (and pay a few percent for every one)

Stacking cash gets difficult because any cash you hold onto is instantly devalued due to inflation (this also happens if you keep your money in a non-interest-bearing checking account.) You have to invest that cash in something that will hold it’s value or gain value. Most people living like this are using their excess cash to save up to buy a used vehicle or they’re just trying to establish a couple thousand dollars on hand to cover emergency expenses. If you have those things covered you can purchase small amounts of silver and gold online and have it delivered. If you’re lucky you live near a coin shop or jewelry shop where you can purchase it in person with no paper trail. Having a local business you deal with like that makes it a lot easier to sell the metals if you have a good relationship with the folks. That makes the precious metals a fairly liquid asset.

If you’re pulling 500 a week take-home and need about 350 of that to cover basic expenses that leaves about 600/month for savings. With the way precious metals look now I would probably spend 500 of that on silver and 100 on gold. (Be aware of federal laws requiring disclosure of large precious metal transactions if, for some reason, you need to be paranoid. If you were working legally and paying taxes this shouldn’t be a problem. The algorithms will think you are spending your excess cash on booze and alcohol like everybody else while you are quietly stacking physical coins.)

What is Decentralized Finance? I might answer some questions if you have them. Gotta do your own research though.

Move to a cash based country

For many years I used a reloadable debit card. Cashed my paycheck at the bank where it was drawn and loaded only enough on the card to pay some bills. It was inconvenient at times but the only reason I stopped is because some companies quit accepting reloadables, even for the one time payments.