A while back I shared some bartering resources. I think we by necessity have become pretty good at getting things done or figuring out how to get things done. But sometimes things we want or need take money and that's not always in big supply.
Bartering is something we've always done - trading sandwiches at work, helping each other with house or vehicle repairs - what have you. But it has a lot more to offer us if we want to let it!
I've been exploring bartering for a while and see it as a legal, tax neutral way for us to value our time (sometimes we work for way less value in cash that we are actually worth - suppose you want a car, and work X hours to buy one - but you could work fewer hours doing something you like that is valued very highly by someone who doesn't have your skills - why would you WANT to work for money in a situation like that?)
No, I don't say don't work for money. But I do think bartering offers us a way to value our skills at the rate the rest of the world might - and if it's time we have, and we can make an equal value exchange! that is tax neutral? I think we should be looking at getting the most for our time.
Bartering won't pay all our bills but it can supplement our standard of living - and while I'm interested in organizing some informal bartering activity locally, what harm is there if we bring some value in from the outside? That could lead to work or sales of goods too.
Anyway, I'll be writing about the topic on a free blog I put up http://bartery.ning.com/forum/topics/barter-and-you and I hope other folks will enter the conversation and say what their experience with trading time or goods or services is, if they are interested in exploring it, if they'd be interested in a bartering fair! or even if students would like to do a school project on bartering economics.
It's all good.
See ya there I hope.