I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Bartering instead of buying

When money is in short supply or if you just want to use less of it, think outside the box for ways to obtain a needed item or service without having to spend money for it. It is a technique I often employ in my own life – the art of bartering. Bartering is simply trading goods and services for ones of similar intrinsic value instead of paying for them with money.

I can often trade something I have and don’t need any longer for something else I do need of similar original value, instead of selling whatever it is I no longer need for pennies on the original dollar. For example, I have a friend who has two children almost the exact same ages I do, but her girl is the 3 year old and her boy is the infant. I traded piles and piles of my son’s outgrown clothes with her in exchange for her daughter’s outgrown clothes when our second children were born. This saved both of us tons of money we would otherwise have had to spend buying baby clothes, and since babies grow so fast, all of the clothes we traded were in excellent hardly worn condition. I’ve also traded my son’s outgrown shoes as well as other baby items my kids have outgrown like a Bumbo seat with friends in need of them for items my kids needed.

I also have bartered for services. I am a 3rd degree black belt in taekwondo, and I trade some of my expertise, in teaching a few classes a week at the local taekwondo studio, in exchange for my membership at the studio, including participating in the high rank classes there and use of their workout floor for practice whenever I desire. I could take advantage of the open practice time more before I had my kids, but I still participate enough to make it worthwhile and can keep up with a rather expensive hobby without spending any money, which is especially important right now while I am focused on debt reduction.

Basically, there are only two main steps to bartering, identifying what you want to barter (with and/or for), and finding someone to barter with. First, look around and take inventory of anything you have that you no longer need that could have value to someone else. You are probably not going to be able to barter with your ripped and worn out possessions that are destined for trash or recycling. But we all have something, in our accumulation of stuff, that is no longer useful to us, and we feel like has too much value (or cost us too much in the first place) to just give away, but isn’t easy to resell. Then, identify what you need that would be of similar original value to whatever you are trying to get rid of. I have traded mostly child-related items (clothes and items like baby bathtubs and seats) because having two kids in the past three years, kid stuff is what I’ve needed, but you can really trade anything you can find a taker for.

Once you’ve identified your needs and what you have to barter with, you need to find someone to barter with. My preferred method is to talk to family or friends that may be in need of the item I am bartering and see if they are interested in trading something they have for whatever I have. If you don’t have an extensive network of family and friends, you can barter online. Craigslist is a fabulous resource for me and they have a whole section to post things you want to barter with. Sometimes people might respond with odd things to trade, but with persistence you can find takers for all sorts of things.

If you know someone that is getting rid of something you need, you can also simply inquire as to what they might want in exchange for that item instead of having a set thing to trade in mind. Our neighbors got new furniture and wanted to get rid of their old, perfectly serviceable couch. We needed a couch for our family room, and they were willing to give it to us in exchange for us hauling it away so they wouldn’t have to pay to dispose of it.

The next time you need a “new” item that would serve its purpose just as well used, think outside the box and see if you can trade for it. It’ll save you money and also, give new life to items that might otherwise be headed for a trash heap.

~J