It is tough NOW. So how are we coping

ceridwen

mummysaver wrote: »

All this talk of bartering seems to be spreading, keep hearing all sorts of people mention it now! I think lots of people do it without thinking, for instance if they are given lots of apples they bake an apple pie as a thank you. It'd be lovely if it was more widespread though.

As for how to make it fair, perhaps a ticket system could work, we used to use tokens for our babysitting circles, ensured that nobody was allowed to take advantage of other members!

That could be one way to go - I was wondering today about the possibility of tokens a la babysitting circles as a "means of exchange" so to say. I've not been involved in that (not having any children) - but it could be one possible way forward. "Bring summat - get summat" in effect - with the token as visible proof of it being a two-way exchange. It is always possible to introduce a "charity" element if people wish - if the would-be person on the "receiving end" genuinely has nothing that they can give in exchange and would just take a fair "share" of whats available.

I recall various discussions in LETS groups re this - as there are some people who, with the best will in the world, are just too ill to be able to contribute something - but we tried to work out ways that they were able to "receive" a bit in those circumstances. A lot came down to people maybe individually deciding not to "charge" so many LETS Credits to those who werent in a good position to "earn" many Credits due to no fault of their own. I know I used to "charge" a more modest "hourly rate" for instance to someone with a progressive illness than I would have to a more ablebodied member of the Scheme.

Frugalista

My OH is currently helping a mate of his move house. He provides the muscle and the van - the friend (who has his own business manufacturing fencing) is providing us with enough new fencing to do our rather large garden :j. As OH was made redundant in January, it also gets him out from under my feet as well .

champys

ceridwen wrote: »

Re the possibility of bartering - I dont know if theres any scope for doing it via people joining Nonnymouse.??

But I confess I cant see my way round how people could send bags of apples or homemade pies via the post

Don't forget though, that a lot of invaluable virtual bartering already takes place via this Forum! Think of all the advice we exchange - we never tire of explaining to a novice how to do a 'rubber chicken'. In return, I have had some expert free advice on the sewing forum, and that is only one example of many. Cheers to all of us :-).
Thinking about it, there are probably other types of barter that could be done via the internet, but they would be quite specific; like translations, IT support, graphic design...... but not sure I would want to try to set that up, at least not until I retire!
In the tiny village in France where I live, we barter all the time without thinking about it. A neighbour cuts my and DH's hair for free, the local farmers deliver us heaps of cow manure, we have bees and give everybody honey etc. Garden produce gets swapped according everyone's specialities - our neighbour excels at lettuce, but we do very good tomatoes. One neighbour likes woodworking so will do small carpentry jobs, my DH prunes his apple trees or fixes his computer if needed. In a small community, that seems all totally natural, because other resources are often difficult to find and far away.

susank

meanmarie wrote: »

mummysaver...we 'country' people have all kinds of names for things that city folk don't seem to use....in Ireland some of it is connected with the two languages, even people who speak no Irish use the direct translation of the Irish name for something.....we called ladybirds 'god's cows' when I was young which is one such example...pity that these things should disappear so I use them whenever I can...my family think I am mad and they may not be wrong!

Sorry to go off subject, we really should try to do more bartering....would love to find someone who would give me eggs for veggies

Marie

i regularly give away eggs so would if I was closer be delighted to barter eggs for veggies and I am sure you will find someone to do it.

mardatha

thanks for the wee plug Ceridwen ...but is not just moi, we have formed a dedicated committee of brilliant mousies
Champys, send me a load of french cow manure please, in exchange for some nice scotch mist .

andan

At our local tip they salvage stuff and then sell it to the other people who are bringing stuff to the tip!! They even have their own little shop of people's salvagable goods, it can get rather busy!!

My growing my own veg is going ok and we have decided to take in a second student in order to help keep us ticking along financially. Students we get are always nice but its not exactly great being a young couple and having to share your home with two students but needs must.

Glad we have had some warm weather as that has helped with the gas and elec bills.

Thanks for the lovely recipes, looks like a job for the weekend, especially the chocolate concrete, i used to love that when i was at school!

MindaJ

Morning all. I'm about to book my car in for a service, and I'm looking at possibly have to get my engine rebuilt. Feeling a little down about that at the moment. It's a second hand car, but I've only had it a year. My friend thinks I should just get a new car, cos the one I have might not be worth the upgrades. She sort of has a point, but when I think about what I've spent on it already, if I just replace it I'm throwing a few thousand dollars away basically, with no guarantee that my next car would be problem free.

I usually don't take her advice when it comes to anything to do with money, since she has a bit of a throw away attitude; she gets rid of perfectly good stuff the minute something better comes along. And the way she said it makes me really want to hate her, actually (I wasn't asking her for advice when I mentioned the cost of the service, you know? Exaserbating my depression too, which isn't helping me see clearly). I just don't know if she's actually right this time.

I can afford the service, I've been saving for it so money's not the issue. Just don't know if it's worth it. I'm hanging onto hope that there's something minor wrong with it. Or that the problem's not that bad and I can live with it as it is for a couple more years, when I might feel okay about getting a replacement.

cw18

My DH gave me the same grief over my last car every time it needed a repair - but we'd have had to take a finance package to replace it, and I kept pointing out that each repair was less than 1 months repayment - so as long as the repairs were less than 1 a month it was cheaper to keep repairing it (it wasn't a problem if I was car-less a couple of days every month or so).

It did eventually give up the ghost - but I'd kept it on the road for 2 years, and by the time it conked we'd had some money come in (an ex-gratia payment from a life insurance company who'd floated onto the stock market) which meant we could buy a new(er) one for cash.

If the actual bodywork is sound, then I'd be tempted to see how much longer the garage think the car could last - and use that as a guideline for when you need to replace..... but I guess that depends on how much you trust your mechanics (the place I use are brilliant)

kidcat

MindaJ, I agree with cw18, if you trust your garage, then ask their opinion, my car was nearing the point of not repairing last week and the mechanics were all stumped as to what was wrong, we replaced several parts only to find that they were not at fault. Our main mechanic then said that unless someone could give us a definate answer as to what needed replacing then it was not worth carrying on, he knew I would be unhappy but he was honest, thankfully we were able to get an expert diagnosis that showed a cheap part to be at fault and its back on the road now.
YOu also need to consider whether you can actually afford a new car.

Car are always difficult, and I find it difficult knowing when to cut my losses, but at the end of the day all cars cost money to keep on the road and that is just part of the expense of having a car. Good luck

BigMummaF

No1 offspring & I have the first cuppa of the day while watching the Breakfast News on BBC1. We often end up shouting at the screen but this morning I was sooooo :mad: I actually fired off an e-mail.
Have you seen the headlines in some papers? MP pay rises of 2.3% AND 6.8% on Expenses!!! I'm going to have to be very :lipsrseal here or you will be visiting me in the Tower! Do they still hang people for Treason
All this absolute tosh on second homes has been bad enough but now this? A family member has to travel into London every day for work & it costs an absolute fortune & they don't get complete reimbursement. OK--some may say it's their choice, but surely that is also true for politicians.
Bring on the Revolution sez I! It is time these "public servants" were held accountable for the way they abuse the trust we bestow on them by election to Office, without the wages WE have to pay. If I thought it would make any difference, I would start a petition for everyone to refuse to vote at the next Election. Or how else can we make them see enough really is enough this time?