Art of Barter

02/15/2021

Excellent article on bartering basics.

The IRS considers barter income taxable.

08/08/2020

Our hearts go out to the parents of young children who are trying to juggle childcare and work without daycare or onsite school. But bartering can help! We recommend that you create a tutoring or babysitting "time bank." You can form the bank with other parents in your pandemic "bubble" of families that you trust to be socially distant or observing good pandemic hygiene. Each family agrees to invest a certain number of hours into the time bank. Set up a schedule on a shared spreadsheet such as a Google document. For preschool age kids, parents can take a shift of babysitting for the group's children. If one parent is a musician, he can teach a music lesson during a shift. Other possibilities are art lessons, crafts, cooking, basic school subjects such as math etc. If your pandemic bubble family is comfortable with holding in-person meetings, then working parents can grab a couple of hours of work time while another parent is babysitting or teaching. Make sure you decide in advance logistics and the minimum each family will pay into the time bank. Let us know if you give it a go and what you learned in the process.

06/25/2020

Amid a pandemic, you might think it's nearly impossible to barter. But we think it's more than doable...with caution. Bartering is certainly easier when you can be face to face. But getting to know someone standing six feet apart or even over the phone still makes working through a trade easy to accomplish. (Don't forget your mask.) And now that you've cleaned out all your closets since you've been on lockdown, you've got a ton of stuff to trade. Make your inventory of what you have, and then start putting it out there. Maybe Nextdoor is your next easy place to offer up a few items. See what happens and let us know how it goes. What have you traded lately?

12/25/2019

Did you get some Christmas or Hanukkah gifts that you’re not in love with? You can trade them for things you do love. Try posting them on Craigslist.com. (Make sure you meet in a public place to make the trade.) Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and joyful trading!

11/22/2019

Image by Hippie Souls ❤️

10/15/2019

We're tipsy with excitement over this clever promotion of bartering and bourbon. Comedian Adam Corolla is going to wend his way through the bourbon trail of KY with no $$ -- just bourbon to trade for whatever he needs. LOVE THIS!

The comedian will have three days and only bourbon to barter for everything from food and shelter to other items while doing the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for a new original series “Bourbon Barter” on the Spirits Network.

10/05/2019

Love Betsy Reznicek and her organization, Home Sweet Home. Ellen Alvey, this is the organization I told you about.

Shopping at furniture bank is part of healing process, volunteer says

04/12/2019

It's that time of year when people are getting their gardens ready for planting. If you have a bit of extra room, plant some additional produce or herbs. They make great opportunities to barter for other goods or services you don't have! For more bartering ideas, check out The Art of Barter.

02/19/2019

We often get asked "how do you handle barter deals that are of unequal value?" I've certainly been asked, and sometimes I do those deals if it really helps the other person and I can tolerate the discrepancy. Bartering is often about more than just trading things and activities; it's about community. Karen Hoffman, what's your thought on this?

02/14/2019

Love that this social studies teacher in NJ is teaching his kids about international barter.

02/09/2019

Thanks for all our new followers! Glad to share the bartering ride with you.🥰