Barter--Money

hotzcatz · #21 01/24/08, 11:54 AM

From what I've noticed the folks who have the stuff I'd want to barter for have pretty much the same skill set I do but we still manage a few trades here and there. Getting a cut of the produce for processing something of theirs (such as slaughtering for a portion of the lamb) or swapping our excess for their excess. Honey for milk might be a swap for later. We go in together to buy stuff in bulk and share shipping from the co-op so even if we don't trade much directly we help each other by being part of a group.

For what I do, which is drafting, I've swapped out drawings for a whole variety of things over the years - including brand new garden carts and reel mowers. My DH gets junker cars out of folks yards since generally they just want the cars removed and he can get them either for just removing them or in exchange for some sort of minor work on their daily drivers. On one of them, in exchange for a tune up on their working car, he got an old jeep which needed a head gasket. That jeep was repaired and swapped for a brand new high efficiency refrigerator which works on our photovoltaic system. So for the price of tune up parts and a head gasket (about $40 total - he gets a deep discount at the auto parts place) we now have a new refrigerator which replaced the old propane refrigerator so we no longer have to buy the 5 gallons of propane it took to keep the old refrigerator running.

Should things get really dire, we can swap herbal remedies for things as well as excess garden produce, honey and sausages made from feral pigs. At the moment, we are a neighborhood resource for minor auto repair and acquisition skills of finding things at garage sales. Currently one neighbor wants baby clothes for their new grandbaby and another is looking for a cast iron tub. We will see what Saturday brings - the baby clothes are easy the tub will take a bit of searching.

QuiltingLady2 · #22 01/24/08, 12:00 PM

OK so we all have skills/things to barter and/or trade.

Have any of you practiced this skill lately?

We do all the time in our imediate family and with friends.

I got 10 pedicures from my friend who owns her own business by making her curtains. She bought the matterial.
We are growing a very large garden this year for the whole family to gather from. In exchange the younger men have built a large fence all around, 28 raised beds, hauled dirt and sawdust and have done other work around the place in exchange for fresh veggies, fruilt and canned goods.
Uncle heard that we are growing a garden and in exchange for veggies/box once a month bought us many fruilt bushes to plant in the fruilt orchard.
Making a quilt for a neighbor who will be taking a few payments off our tractor payment in exchange. This was a group purchase.

marinemomtatt · #23 01/24/08, 12:24 PM

DH is a licensed Journeyman/Master Plumber, darn good carpenter, middlin' electrician, hard working fieldhand, woodsman, good pre-80's mechanic...actually I don't know if there is anything he can't do...He's my Hero!
Myself, I can barter my Cooking/baking, canning, gardening, eggs, crocheting, spinning, sewing, homecare for the terminal, herbs and herbalist skills.

DH and I have traded our skills for our rent for the last 20 years!

My youngest son (22) will do well, what we didn't teach him the Marine Corps did.
My oldest and his wife worry me.....

silentcrow · #24 01/24/08, 12:41 PM

I'd end up a casualty. I don't think I have any tradeable skills

Simpler Times · #25 01/24/08, 01:20 PM

I have many of the same skills/goods that you guys have mentioned as barterable skills/goods. As far as skills required to produce consumer items like clothing, pots and pans, furniture, etc. being in very high demand though I just don't think that will be the case. I believe there is already enough of that stuff floating around in the world to last us generations if we really hit bad times. Just how many pairs of jeans, tennis shoes, and t-shirts could one person need if we all of a sudden were transported back to a subsistence lifestyle? Now stuff like hand tools would be another situation. They aren't owned by the common citizen and all of a sudden would have value.

michiganfarmer · #26 01/24/08, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silentcrow

I'd end up a casualty. I don't think I have any tradeable skills

if you are willing to learn, and work, that is enough for some people to take you in. Labor will be a necessity

michiganfarmer · #27 01/24/08, 03:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marinemomtatt

good pre-80's mechanic...

Pre 80s...

thats the easy part.

fix my 03 cavalier, LOL

DQ · #28 01/24/08, 04:36 PM

alot of yard ornament horses out in the fields that have had little handling that some would want to be usable in a hurry. I can make that happen.

lamar5292 · #29 01/24/08, 04:44 PM

I habe eggs, rabbits, training and my simple solar homesteading plans to trade or barter.
LaMar
http://www.freewebs.com/simplesolarhomesteading

Queen Bee · #30 01/24/08, 05:06 PM

Dh is another 'handy' man. He can: do plumbing, electricial, building, can tear down and repair almost any motor, he can cut down a huge tree, cut it up, split it and stack it quicker than three other men (I have seen it more than once), he also can repair and sharpen his chain saws and port. lumber mill. (he keeps a stock pile of these items), he has knife sharping skills and reloading equipment.

I can sew anything and have several machines, hordes of fabrics, zippers, buttons, thread, needles, belts and other acc. for my machines. I can make patterns from just a picture or a descriptions. I can remake clothes. I quilt, knit, (learning to) spin.

On our farm:
We have apples, pears, figs, blueberries, blackberries, grapes, plums. There are two ponds with nice fish in them--we have LOTS of nets, rods/reels, tackle. We have turkey, deer, squirrel, rabbit, dove, quail, etc.. and we have lots of guns and ammo. Heritage veggie seeds, we keep 100lbs of peas, corn for seeds at all times. I have 30-40 nice herb plants.

I have lots of food preserved, stored.

The thing I would miss more than anything would be my contacts! I have a really strange prescription and glasses are not an option for me!

ozarkcat · #31 01/25/08, 10:58 AM

Michiganfarmer (or anyone else who likes to barter) - Yes, we do a lot of work in trade. PM me if you're interested & I'll give you some more details.

Someone mentioned bartering for splits - we do some fiber processing that way - we've done trades of raw fleece for yarn or finished goods before, where we keep a portion of the fleece.

Barter usually seems to work out well for all involved - you do something easy for you, they do something easy for them, everyone's happy.

JanetJ · #32 01/25/08, 07:10 PM

This is something we hqave given a lot of thought to. Among other things we have for barter, we have dairy goats, so we have lots of milk. We have chickens, so we have eggs for barter. We have worked on our garden for the last several years, so we expect to have some veggies for barter, and we expect to have some fruit as well.

The trick here, though, is what we want in trade. I plan to put a small shed up in the driveway and put a fridge in it for milk and eggs. I will put up a price list for my items, but I want to put up my desired barter items as well. Depending on the time of year, I expect a bale of hay for 1/2 gallon of milk or 1 1/2 to 2 dozen eggs. DH will make a box for firewood and filling that box will buy a certain amount of milk or eggs. I expect to need feed grains for my critters, so I will be willing to barter for that. There may be a few skills that I will be willing to barter for, but not necessarily a lot. I may, on occassion, need labor, skilled or unskilled. Also, probably not a lot. I'm sure to need flour (or wheat), oil, and other items like that, but again, only so much. I know I will need firewood, hay, and grain. If, somehow, I get an excess of those items, then I can barter them back out again. Also, taking firewood for trade allows those with nothing to go out and do some work for tradeable items.

Other than that, we have a few boughten items for barter, silver coins, .22 bullets, etc. Those will last for a while, but not all that long. I think that those things that I can produce on an ongoing basis are going to be what works for us.

Jenn · #33 01/27/08, 12:02 PM

Didn't read all. Our skills doctoring (would be rustic without the usual aids though!) and mechanical and gardening. Pre Y2K we stocked up on coffee, alcohol, some meds, and chocolate. Figured if the rellies came to visit we'd not want them going through caffeine withdrawal in our home, could use those as barter and the alcohol also as disinfectant for surgeries, omitted tobacco as against our principles but probably worht more than coffee or chocolate!, and a neighbor planned to bring me a horse to get around to doctor folks (she was going to desert her home taking a horse and a rifle and head for some springs in the wilderness if it went south).

RedTartan · #34 01/27/08, 12:16 PM

I could be a midwife if the situation warranted. I have had 4 homebirths of very large babies and know a great deal about the process since you can never be sure the midwife will get there in time. I know how to check for pelvic disproportion, that squatting widens the pelvis by 30% if a baby gets "stuck", what to do if a woman begins hemorrhaging after birth, etc.

But it's not like I could refuse to do it if they didn't have anything to barter! LOL!

RedTartan

simplefarmgirl · #35 01/27/08, 01:31 PM

Dh knows how to weld,fabricate, mechanic can fix just about anything. Farming barter, we have milk,rabbit, pork,beef. Canned vegetables, fresh in summer,
i know how to sew, make clothes, knit, crochet,cook,bake, can.soap,candles,honey.
we can barter just about anything needed in our area for anything we might need.

just_sawing · #36 01/27/08, 08:05 PM

The point is do it don"t talk. I have found out that there is rules and methods that you will learn. Why learn the hard way when you can't afford dumb tax

#37 01/27/08, 09:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texican

Them's that's just trying to survive (if they're like 99.9% of the population, those that have never conceptualized the concept of prepping) will probably be unsalvageable, and will meet their makers in the first few months. Odds are, they'd have nothing that I'd want to barter for.

Those that planned on surviving, will be the ones I'd be dealing with... I've got skills to fix or build just about anything (except a/c and icebox type compressors..... luckily for me that skill won't have much use, once the electric grid goes down forever). About the only skill I need to get better on, is cobbler'in... making my own shoes. I could make moccasins, but it's hard to use a shovel with moccasins. We actually have an old time cobbler, in Carthage. Son of one of my local neighbors.

Texican, I remember seeing/reading somewhere of tires being used for the soles of sandles and moccasins. I've been wanting to try making me a pair as I an abundant supply of used tires on my property. The creek washed out and I guess upstream there must have been a used tire shop that got washed away.

Being a electrician myself I just don't believe that if money is short or no good that my profession, nor plumbing and other professions of such, would be worth anything. If people don't have money or not enough money then they are not gonna have the money to pay their water or electric bill. Therefore they will not have any use for electricians and plumbers.

So I think the best trade/barter items would be something like cheap guns(22's and single shot shotguns), tobacco, and cheap alcohol. When people have nothing, they get depressed and look for substitutes.

texican · #38 01/27/08, 10:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by silentcrow

I'd end up a casualty. I don't think I have any tradeable skills

As long as you've still got arms and legs, and most of your wits about you, you'll always have value! Like Michiganfarmer mentioned, as long as a person isn't allergic to hard work, there'll always be something to do... Plowing, weeding, general gardening and harvesting, guard duty, etc. If you can sing, that'd be helpful, too! Just imagine what one of the current popular singing artists would be doing back in the middle ages?! Probably be a cook, a servant, or just plain ol serf... getting to sing at festivals or for the Lord, for meals would be a high point of their existence.

If I were forced into becoming a refugee, I'd work my bum off for a meal, and a place to lay my sleeping bag, out of the weather. I've worked for less. My 'higher skills' might not come into play... but as long as there are humans, there'll be a need for farmers, and those who know how to hunt/gather...

Junkman · #39 01/27/08, 10:35 PM

Years ago a friend advised we buy a case of 1/2 pint whiskey. We traded bottles of it for dumping at the land fill. (don't tell the guys boss) But, we had so many truckloads of debris from this place they felt sorry for us. Also, we have cut up trees that fell in a bad wind storm for the wood. (old folks could not clean up their yard) And we have traded our eggs for things. Everyone has a skill. If it is to take someone someplace or move something for whatever they have to barter. And we women can always do some housework for food or garden produce. Jklady