Sunday, March 6, 2011

Weird Barter Items

As I've mentioned, I try to keep my money needs pretty minimal. But sometimes I need - you know - stuff. Stuff I don't have. Stuff my neighbors have, or at least have better access to than me. So I keep my eyes open for stuff they need, in hopes we can work a trade. Two things I've got lots of are time and horse shit. Hm - maybe I should be a politician.

Naw. I've also got morals. Oh, well.

Anyway, I've been thinking about this quite a lot lately. Recently I traded two trailer loads of horse shit for a can of good coffee, and I thought that was pretty funny. I frequently swap extra chores for rides to town. Of late laundry has become an issue, because I've got a washing machine but no running water. So while finishing up weed-whacking at D&L's today, I suggested to L that rather than paying me the full freight, I'd swap her an hour of that work for the chance to use her washing machine once. She thought that was a fine idea, but we couldn't do it today because there's no sun and they're having to ration electricity. So we set a date, and I'll bring a load over on Tuesday morning.

She apparently mulled that over for a while while I was whacking walls, and when I came in to get paid she said she had some other chores that neither of them enjoy, and would I be willing to make this a semi-regular thing until I get my water back? I said, sure!

So now I've got my laundry problem solved for a while. No more hand washing! I'd much rather chop wood than do that.

1 comment:

Rachel Ailin said...

I did a lot of hand washing when we lived in the apartment and couldn't afford things like laundromats or food. I was more thrilled than a person should ever be (by laundry, anyway) when I could spare $2 for a load of laundry.