Skip to main content

The World of Bartering

By Terri Rimmer

Bartering has been around since way before technology when people used to trade metals for other materials they needed.

How to barter successfully can be an acquired art.

Nowadays bartering has gotten more sophisticated from business bartering to online mom groups where you can find everything from letter writers to resume software.

I learned the craft of bartering from my best friend Stephanie, my sister Cindy, my mom, and others around me who had jumped on the wagon.

I have pet sat for my sister in exchange for her letting me live with her at different times and regularly pet and house sit for Stephanie and she has done the same for me when I’ve been in the hospital. Last year I pet sat for my friend while she was in Colorado and she did the same for me when I went to Florida. I have done laundry for a friend in exchange for him putting gas in my car.

Cindy has donated her time to volunteer groups sometimes in exchange for them helping out her business.

Stephanie has cleaned people’s houses for pay but also in exchange for them doing a favor for her.

I have typed people’s school papers in exchange for using their washer and dryer when I didn’t have money to go to the Laundromat.

A friend of mine worked on my computer in exchange for me giving him some software.

I got a free weekend in a friend of mine’s hotel she managed in exchange for taking care of her place while she was out of town.

A friend of mine stayed with me for a month this summer in exchange for helping put gas in my car and helping out with some toiletries, plus she gave me a little money every week.

One woman barters candles for jewelry, food, and more.

One masseuse got free advertising when she gave free massages to a man’s employees at a party.

One lady bartered with a bill collector to pay off a bill by doing office work for him.

When my husband and I were traveling for his job and living out of motels we once bartered and got the rent reduced in exchange for me cleaning the room daily so the maid didn’t have to.

I know a guy who eats for free at his friend’s restaurant often in exchange for him solving his computer glitches on a regular basis.

Popular posts from this blog

Merged Life

By Terri Rimmer Born into an alcoholic family as the youngest of four girls I had no idea of the abuse that would come to torment my life for 14 years. Both my mother and father were harsh abusers, my father sexually, my mom physically. How can a young girl possibly grow into a health adolescent when what she knows about life is taught by the hands of a sick man and mother intent to poison? I may not ever understand, but perhaps that is my journey. I always knew I wanted to be a writer when in the third grade I got an A plus on a short story I wrote. I loved it and wrote every chance I got at my dadÂ’s encouragement and the feeling and dream reverberated in my soul, refusing to leave me ever. When I was 8 I was devastated to learn of my parents divorcing and to add insult to injury my mom left my sisters and me with our dad. My older sister, Cindy became my hero. She fluffed my pajamas in the dryer before bed, sewed my Girl Scout badges on my uniform, comforted me when the ...
Read more

My sister wrote this in 2003

“How My Cat Taught Me About A Higher Power” By Cindy Persico Like most of us I struggle with the concept of “Higher Power” or H.P. and my understanding has grown thankfully over the years that on most days I can feel centered and well-cared for by this Higher Power thanks to Alanon. That isn’t always the case. In 2003 my brother-in-law was killed in a car accident. Watching my sister, Joy, struggle with her grief has been particularly painful and has called into question again how to make sense out of things that seem so senseless. What good can come from this? Hello, God, Are you still there? Will you take care of Joy? She’s so scared and sure this isn’t what should be happening at all. One day I had to take Eunice, my cat, to the vet. She shivered, and shook, and cried, certain this couldn’t possibly be what should be happening at all. I reassured her as best I could; yet again had a flash that this is exactly how life feels sometimes. I’m sure that whatever is happening is all wrong...
Read more

Shelter From The Sprawl

By Terri Rimmer Once a 1960s trend, co-housing communities offer an eco-friendly alternative to suburbia and are making a comeback. According to co-housing.org, Vermont has a long tradition of village settlements – close-knit communities shaped by a shared sense of destiny and geography. The site states that during the back-to-the-land movement of the 1960s the state was home to a number of well-known, if not infamous, communes. “The long-term impact of that influx is still being debated, but the newcomers of 30 years ago brought with them a set of ideals that has helped to shape a growing sentiment among native Vermonters that is farmland, ridgelines, and basic way of life,” the site states. Today, this communard ideal is echoed by the co-housing movement that has slowly taken root in three Vermont communities with at least two more on the way. Billed as the eco-friendly alternative to the traditional suburban development, co-housing units are generally constructed with green building...
Read more