One Hundred Dollars a Month

Welcome to my 52 Ways to Save $100 a Month series. We’re serious about saving money in 2016. Sometimes it’s the little things and sometimes it’s the big things. I’m here to walk you through some little things that can add up to BIG savings. 52 little things to be exact. Every week, join me back here for another small money-saving tip or idea that might not seem like significant savings until you see the overall yearly savings. It might just blow your mind. So pop in each Tuesday and read a new tip that will help you on your way to save $100 a month!

Today we’re talking bartering. Now I’ve been an advocate of bartering for years. You can check out every last post I’ve ever done on bartering HERE and see all of the cool stuff I’ve traded and all of the awesome stuff I’ve gotten out because of it. But today we’re talking about bartering BIG.

I think any sort of bartering is awesome. It’s a lost neighborly art form that I think needs to make a come back because it just makes so much sense. You take the money out of it and offer up what you have for what you need. There will always be someone who needs what you have, and chances are, they’d be willing to trade if you just ask. But we don’t ask anymore. And that’s just sad. So I’m on a mission to bring bartering back.

The how of bartering is simple. Just ask. Whether it’s via facebook, a phone call to a neighbor or even a quick ad on Craigslist, just asking is the only way to begin your bartering banter {holy alliteration!}. The worst that could happen is someone will tell you no. But more likely than not, they’ll see the value in it as well!

Bartering can take many forms. I’ll walk you through the ones I think are awesome.

Bartering for Services

I can’t cut my own hair. I can’t repair my own car. I can’t teach piano lessons. But I know people who can do all of those things. So while those aren’t my talents, I have a lot of talents I can offer up as a trade. I don’t believe in asking friends for freebies if their talent is their livelihood {for instance, if you’re a plumber, I’m not going to ask you to come snake my toilet for free just because we’ve been neighbors for years. That’s how you put food on the table and it’s worth something}, but I do believe in trading, which is essentially what bartering is all about.

Maybe you are a math wiz and you have a friend who happens to be a carpenter whose child is struggling in math. You tutor their child, they build your cabinets for free. No money changes hands, but the savings for both of you is significant.

Everyone needs some type of services, regardless of how tight your budget is or how much you are trying to cut back.  If your heater goes out in the middle of winter, your budget might be shot to hell for months. Or you can find a repairman who is willing to barter. It might not always work, but it’s certainly worth an ask.

Bartering for Food

This one can take many forms, but it comes down to trading your excess food for what your pantry lacks. If your husband hunts, consider trading meat for food or services. If you grow a huge garden, look into bartering your over abundance of produce for pantry staples. I’ve done this so often through the years and it has saved me so much money.

You can take this a step further and prepare your harvest and barter using that, ie. make jams, breads, pies, etc. Your time-crunched neighbor might not want your strawberry haul because she has no time to do anything with it. But she might be very interested in some fresh jam!

Bartering for Splurges

With the recent remodel of a number of rooms in our house as well as our vacation home back east, I’ve become a pro at painting. Like I might rival the professionals. So when Mrs. Hillbilly asked if I’d paint her daughter’s room, I decided to barter with her for a splurge item: a Starbucks card. Did I need this? No. Would I be fine drinking tea from my own house? Absolutely. But the beauty of bartering is that it can often allow you those little extras not built into the budget. Or big extras.

I had a friend who traded dog sitting for a month for a week at their neighbor’s timeshare in Hawaii. No joke. Both parties walked away so happy and they both got what they need. I have a dentist acquaintance that traded dental work to contractors to have a cabin built. Seriously the entire cabin. He paid for the material but every penny of the labor was traded. Genius!

It might make you a little uncomfortable and you might have to crawl out of your comfort zone, but can can potentially save thousands by just offering to barter. You’ll never know if you never try!

How Much Can You Save: The sky’s the limit. Potentially thousands!!

Do you barter? What have you traded and received?

~Mavis

More Ways to Save:

52 Ways to Save $100 a Month | Clean Out Your Closet {Week 1 of 52}

52 Ways to Save $100 a Month | Break Up with Cable {Week 2 of 52}