Sunday, February 1, 2009

Bartering


I am a big fan of bartering, and I wonder what the world would be like if we all had talents we could swap with one another instead of paying a professional we don't know well to do the work. I mean, imagine what the world would be like without money: no credit problems, no economic crisis?

Okay, so maybe in this global economy there are some very necessary reasons for having money, but yada yada, I'm still determined to revive the practice of bartering in my life.

Bartering event #4: Teeth Cleaning in exchange for Computer Fix

Last week Marcos and I visited our friends for dinner and a night of non-stop bartering excitement. M**** is a dental hygienist, and has a fold-up dental chair at home, along with the basic equipment (thankfully, no gritty toothpaste). While Marcos diagnosed her computer and ordered the missing pieces online, M**** was busy at work inside my mouth, prettying my pearly whites and telling me everything about taking care of teeth. It was educational, and relieving to hear that my daily care for the past four years has been enough to keep up a healthy set of chompers. Someday I'll have dental insurance, but for now I'll barter.

P.S. Let me know if you know any massage therapists with broken computers.

3 comments:

Prouses said...

You're so funny. My sister-in-law LOVES to barter. She is a hairdresser, so she has gotten so many things, and been the recipient of so many services by bartering with others. She swears by it! Gosh! I need a skill :D

Darshan P. Mundada said...

I need a skill too.. :(

Damaris @Kitchen Corners said...

I'm all about Bartering (and Freecycle).

I barter for Enzo's music classes. I clean the classroom and bathrooms once a week and he gets to have one music class once a week. It's awesome. It's awesome because I don't have to pay their absurd tuition and Enzo gets to watch me clean the school which teaches him about bartering as well.

I also created a babysitting co-op where we live and it's been very successful. We all swap babysitting it's awesome.

Oh and Enzo goes to a co-op pre-school.

we're totally low income what can I say?