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Bartering has been around for many years. Most of us have exchanged goods and services at some point in time. The old age "helping a friend out" knowing that friend will return a favour sometime is a form of barter. You scratch my back and I'll scratch yours. However, it's not very organized and when you really need the help, quite often it's not there.
In the late 80's in my home city I became involved with a group called L.E.T.S. (Local Exchange Trading Schemes) which barters goods and services.
The term LETS was coined by Michael Linton, a Brit living in Canada in the 1970s, but the idea has been around in one form or another for about two hundred years, maybe even longer. Local people have exchanged skills using community-based currencies instead of banks and 'real money' since at least the 1830s.
In 1976 Michael Linton devised the Local Exchange Trading System to deal with the problems associated with conventional money - mainly the lack of it in small communities. Schemes usually involve a small group of people who decide to participate in a trading network by using a local currency to pay for goods and services offered by other members of the network. The group and the system itself actively encourages a sense of community.
In early 80's the small town of Comax Valley, near Vancouver, was suffering. They experienced 3 serious economic setbacks, one after the other. The logging industry halted; tourists stopped coming due to the Canadian dollar rate and the nearby Military base closed down. The town reeled in financial woes. As a result businesses closed down or went bankrupt and unemployment was at a 25% high.
In response, Michael designed a simple accounting system where account holders could purchase goods and services, in whole or in part, by transferring accounting points from their account into that of the seller. Linton called the accounting points "green dollars".
In its first four years the first LETS system recorded $350,000 of trading in green dollars that would not have taken place if these participants had relied entirely on federal currency. LETS has since spread worldwide.
Because it is a universal concept, there's no reason why it is not workable in any country. In Western Australia, where I live now, there are several LETS groups currently trading happily. I was pleased to find that the concept had taken off here as I was so used to using it in my home state.
It does take a little bit of "getting out of the square you're in" to get your head around the concept of trading when you're not in credit. That's what the group encourages when you first start out. You don't have to be in credit to begin trading.
When I first joined I found this concept difficult. I've never liked using credit cards as the idea of being in "debit" worried me; and I thought I should at least "do something" first before I could utilize someone else's services or goods; but that's not how it works. Otherwise, no-one would trade.
I know a lot of you are asking yourself, or even saying out loud: What can I offer? I don't have any special skills. Sure you do!
Can you take someone shopping; make some home cooked meals; babysitting/childminding; fix a leaky tap; mow a lawn; read out loud to someone; tutoring; give a music/singing lesson; back and neck massage; ironing; offer the use of tools/trailer etc. The list is endless. I too thought I had nothing to offer. When I first joined I thought that no-one would use my services... but in the first month I held an earring making workshop; looked after a young boy while his mother went shopping; sold some plants (for LETS currency); and for me I was able to get my car fixed for the real cash component of parts only; had a naturopath give me a once over; and bought some clothes at a Garage sale... and all this for LETS currency.
Everyone has a talent or skill, even if you don't think you do. I believe that cooking is a skill that some people struggle with. We have a person in the group that is cooking challenged. 3 days a week she is able to have home cooked meals delivered to her door for the cost of the ingredients only... and some of those ingredients came from the seller's vegetable patch and were charged in LETS currency.
It truly is a fantastic way of reducing our income-strapped outgoings. Bartering in itself is fantastic, but unless you have a community that offers bartering as a way of life, you are limited in that you can barter.
Just recently I bought some concrete paving slabs. I could have kicked myself because in my rush and eagerness to pick up a bargain, I paid hard cash for them from a friend who is not a LETS member. It was still a bargain for which I am very grateful for. However, not long after I realized I hadn't even checked if the LETS membership had any for offer... Guess what? They did... and it would have been in LETS currency.
The whole idea of the system is to check with the membership first to see what they offer rather than spending cash that is hard to come by. Facing your finances may simply be a case of finding a group near you than offers bartering services. I'm sure LETS isn't the only community that does this; but it's a system that has worked for me.
Obviously there are some goods and services that you may never want to use; and some people that are totally opposite to you in personality and ways of living; but that's the versatility of a LETS community. You choose who you trade with and vise versa.
Even if there's no LETS groups active in your area what is to stop you and others forming one yourself? A few years back some local people in the suburb I lived in wanted to start a group. Michael Linton actually came to speak to a packed auditorium of people and it was great to be able to meet the man himself. An article in the local paper, advertising this meeting spurred the initial forming of the first LETS group in my area, which, by the way, had 10% unemployment.
It's a matter of finding like-minded people who want to make some changes in the way they spend their money.
Below is a link to a worldwide contact page for LETS communities. There may be other pages but this is one I found recently. If you want to do a search, go for it.
http://www.gmlets.u-net.com/contacts/home.html
Also, below is a link to my local L.E.T.S. group, in Rockingham, Western Australia' another town with high unemployment. If only it would take off the some of our younger kids on welfare, it would be fantastic. Somehow we've got to get the message out there.
http://www.rockylets.org/
There you have it: A way of living within your means and still enjoying the better things of life without paying 'through the nose'.
Cheers
Bev Cull
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