If I

hiya SWAS
I thought that too and of course I will still job search, because I doubt this would be done on a big scale. It's fairly cheap to advertise in the post office window, so I will give that a try. I will have to weigh up the pros and cons because I would have less time for Lotting too. Thanx for responding

Alice would have to be very careful if she accepted cash for the ironing. If actual money changes hands, that probably would affect whatever jobseeker allowance she gets. I can easily see people willing to trade fruits and veggies from their gardens (I've always had a surplus from mine) for ironing. Personally I HATE to iron, so it would be a no-brainer for me.

hiya Shirley
I would most probably stick to the bartering as it would be a better trade, fresher fruit and veg and as Cat has pointed out, I would have to be careful of accepting cash as that would definately affect my benefit. I normally go to the bargain sections when I go shopping and all that certainly helps. Would you do this too, or sometihng like this if you had to?

@Cat... shame we don't live by one another, that would be a terrific set up between us

Are you kidding? I barter and trade all the time. It sure does work for me. I have not paid cash for hardly anything in my mobile home. Very few items, have i actually paid cash for. I even did a barter and trade on getting my mobile home moved, and then on the porch to go on the front of it. Heck, i don't see how people make it, by laying out so much cash.

I guess I barter and trade more than I think I do, I mean I'm always swapping somebody something for something else but on a small scale. I just need to get it done on a grander scale and use my services to obtain things I want too. You did great getting your house move!

In today's world, i don't think most people will do that anymore, on moving a mobile home, i mean. I think they have to turn in time, and mileage on those trucks when they crank them up to do a job. Most movers will only accept cash to my knowledge. I traded my travel trailer in on the moving, and ... he is letting me keep the travel trailer until we get the mobile home finished. I think he is an excellent person for doing that. We are working on getting the electricity run over to the mobile home now, and i just sold all my chickens and turkeys so that i could afford to get that done. Wish me luck, sure hope we made enough. My sister has sold a lot of her chickens as well, just to help me out.

Good luck with that Shirley

Thanks very much. Just wanted to let you know the results of our sale on chickens and turkeys: 400.00

Excellent! you can get a few more bags of fruit and veg now too.

Not a chance. We sold those chickens, so that i can get my electricity run up to my mobile home. That is going to cost a bundle, and well, most electricians won't barter and trade. Has to be cash.

hiya Cat
LOL well I would be very specific about the items of clothing!
I have thought on bartering for some time now and I think that many people are beginning to see the light! I don't believe that the government or any government office can touch it as long as there is no money exchanging hands, but I would have to find out for sure.
That sounds like a perfect place to live Cat, and with hairdo's too! Thanx for the encouragement...and for responding

You are right. There is no money changing hands, therefore, no law to prohibit a barter or trade.

With the economy hurting almost everyone's pockets, I'm surprised that more people haven't turned to bartering. Maybe what communites need is to have some one start up bartering clubs, or even bartering gazettes (online). After all, everyone wants things and everyone has a skill or stuff to barter. There's an organization here called freecycle.org, where people post merchandise they will give away, as wellpeople posting for merchandise they need. It has gotten huge with chapters for individual areas all over the country. Some one should start something similar, but also include labor.

It would be good to start up a club too Cat, but it would have to think of overheads too, electricity, rental of the building etc. Maybe donations would keep it open for a while, but I can't see any reason for it not to take off. Brilliant idea!

That's using the ol' noggin!

hiya Robert
That's actually something that I've seen going on..well not emptying the glass in return, but collecting the empties. It was a local man that used to do it in the local pub and he did it for years.
I might write a letter because I don't want people listening to my business when I go to the job centre. Thanks for responding

@mykl..very clever.. a noggin is a measure as well as slang for the head

alice you beat me to it, i couldn't remember what i noggin was apart from slang for a head hence just the thumbs up.

those glass collectors are a dying trend, i used to see one in a pub here but he died, that was years ago.

good idea to write or phone, i hate discussing stuff in the jobcentre, the desks are too close together.

Yeah I think it's a fifth of a gill Rob.
If it was just a matter of discussing at the sign on then I could deal with that in a whisper lol, but to just go there for forms we have to go to the main desk which is right out in the open

You can come and be glass collector here!
There's always need for them at weekends!

me? right where's my passport...i have a job at last

Geez a job

If you're good with a fan I could throw that in too -
it's darn HOT here

Is there only one post available?

too late, i filled it:)

I'll find a job soon and I hope you're new position is rewarding and fullfilling b

hiya lamb
Excellent choice Food is always going to be a necessity and electronics will always be around too so you'd be onto a win win situation.
Just don't tell them you want lamb chops
Thanks for the advice I will check it out to make sure.

... did he say 'pizza'?

yep! he said onion rings too

hiya JB how's you?
I basically got to thinking about it due to the council tax lol. I was looking up help for info on what to do if anybody were faced with a poinding/warrant sale and came across a website called Indymedia. I signed up for the newsletter and was eventually sent an email to visit the offices where the same type of trade and barter goes on. I may actually go there for my first step forward and some sound advice.
What languages do you speak? Great idea swap for the petcare, I hope they would be willing to look after the type of pet you have!

fine now after all the break in stuff and whatnot the last few weeks- how're you? anyway it's only spanish and english with bits (and i mean bits) of some others but i teach tefl so i've often swapped english for a foreign language - although it only works really well with someone else who's a teacher. jb

Ahh of course it would be more difficult otherwise.
I am not too bad J.. up and down .. you know

well i've done it when abroad with various friends who weren't teachers and it wasn't that bad, but it's really difficult to get native speakers to correct you if they're not teachers...

Don't you think it's better to know the local lingo though?

that's what i meant - swapping english for whatever the language is where i was staying

Hiya Lori
You seem very sure of what you're saying here and I believe you
I am so excited now.. not just for myself and what I could be able to do to help myself, but to think of it on a grand scale. WOW! can you imagine if EVERYBODY started to do it? woooohoooo goodbye money grabbing politicians
OMG! another one I could trade with... I love pistachios but they are one of the most expensive nuts I think I'm living in the wrong country LOL
How big a bag is it? Thanx Lori

Hi Alice! I am so glad you are so excited about this! This is how business's get started! You could have a notebook with all kinds of things that different people could barter for! You could 'put' them together & make smething of of it for yourself also.. I'm excited for you!
Our bags of nuts are one pound each. So that is $9.00 a pound. But just reember you re getting FRESH nuts, 3 days off of the tree!! It takes a day to pick, a day to cook, & a day to package up for sale. You'll never get any fresher nuts anywhere unles you do them your self.. i'll PM u my email address.... await further instuctions..lol...LOri

A notebook.. a business plan...wey! hey! girl you're getting me off the dole queue If that were ever to happen i'd like to see their response in the furure when they ask how I've supported myself and i say.. I started believing in people

I'm so happy I had a part in this I hope you can get this off the ground! start by asking your neighbors if they have something they need done, & also ask them what would they be willingto trade for sid services. This has the potential to be BIG. I'm gonna talk it over with my fiance & see if I can start doing this also.. Who knew we would start a business so far apart from each other...Lori

Excellent! I'm sure we will be keeping in touch about it all outside of the Lot too

You can better believe we will Alice this is a great business adventure... start small think BIG..Lori

Thank you Alice for Best Response! I do hope this will work out for you....Lori

hiya lovefei welcome to MyLot
I've been called a few things in my time but never a boy!
I think that's a very important point you have made here.. we could all be winners if we found a new way, because this sytem is crumbling.

Hiya LadyM
I know that here in the UK the unemployed are allowed to earn a certain amount too (it used to be £15 per week) in cash before it affected their benefit, but have no idea on exchanging services for food. It could very well be the same over here that the goods could only total to a certain amount. I will find out and let everyone know how I get on. Thanks for the encouragement.

ROFL
Well at least you left it to the readers imagination.. I hope missybear is ok with it
Erm.. deep fried mars bars? and a bun in the oven