Share, Swap, Barter: Whatever It Takes to Avoid Actually Spending Money | Moneyland

What, you’re still breaking out cash and swiping credit cards for goods and services? Many people, forced to get creative by the recession, are realizing that spending isn’t nearly as necessary as they once thought.

Some articles covering the trend:

A Washington Post story talks about how car-sharing services are growing, neighbors are more likely to borrow tools and even garden patches—and agree to help with each other’s projects too—and traffic at bartering sites like BookMooch.com and Swaptree.com is rapidly expanding. Brokelyn also named another good book-trading site, Paperback Swap.

Meanwhile, the NY Times discusses how the number and variety of barter classifieds at Craigslist has exploded, and that certain NYC tenants have managed to get discounts on rent by doing work that’s usually the domain of the building superintendent, like taking out the trash and checking on mouse traps.

This should all come as no surprise. As early as April, The Washington Times proclaimed that the barter system had been reborn. And when bartering has even returned on Long Island, who can argue with that?

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njaco

CHeck out the Seattle start-up http://www.kashless.org, everything is for free and has some great stuff. Expanding nation wide soon I think.
nanniando

http://www.favorpals.com is THE site for bartering.
Justin Hutchins

I love to barter with http://www.barterquest.com, this site is amazing!
http://cheapskate.blogs.time.com/2009/08/17/bidding-on-something-youll-probably-never-win-and-paying-for-the-privilege/ Bidding on Something You’ll Probably Never Win-and Paying for the Privilege – The Cheapskate Blog – TIME.com

[...] down cash, consumers are buying online, or bartering via sites like Swaptree, or joining clubs that share cars or other goods rather than purchase them outright. They are also bidding for goods in online auctions—and many consumers are so eager to [...]
http://cheapskate.blogs.time.com/2009/09/18/a-list-of-money-saving-lists-422-ways-to-save-in-total/ A List of Money-Saving Lists: 422 Ways to Save in Total – The Cheapskate Blog – TIME.com

[...] Old-School Savings Tricks that are making a comeback, according to SmartMoney.com, such as bartering and layaway. (Really? Not sure how that helps you save. Doesn't layaway enable you to [...]
ontariobucsfan

The ceam of the crop is http://www.u-exchange.com/
I’ve tried them all.
http://cheapskate.blogs.time.com/2009/09/22/qa-with-clothing-swap-founder-suzanne-agasi/ Q&A with Clothing Swap Founder Suzanne Agasi – The Cheapskate Blog – TIME.com

[...] in today's environmentally-conscious, recession-dampened atmosphere—similar to the way people are bartering for items and sharing things like cars, and also to the way we're buying less bottled water. It is indeed possible to be green and save [...]
http://cheapskate.blogs.time.com/2009/10/05/barter-bonanza/ Barter Bonanza – The Cheapskate Blog – TIME.com

[...] "Share, Swap, Barter: Whatever It Takes to Avoid Actually Spending Money" [...]
http://money.blogs.time.com/2009/12/15/the-year-of-living-cheaply-a-retrospective/ The Year of Living Cheaply: A Retrospective – It's Your Money – TIME.com

[...] The rise of a new barter economy can be seen all over the Internet, including sites like Swaptree and Craiglist, where the number of [...]
http://money.blogs.time.com/2010/02/08/federal-tax-myths-your-dog-can-be-claimed-as-a-dependent/ Federal Tax Myths: Your Dog Can Be Claimed as a Dependent? – It's Your Money – TIME.com

[...] an interesting tidbit for our get-by-on-the-cheap times: Bartering, a big trend lately, is supposed to be viewed as taxable income on both sides of the swap. Interesting. Also, [...]
http://money.blogs.time.com/2010/04/27/instead-of-more-shopping-try-swapping/ Instead of More Shopping, Try Swapping – It's Your Money – TIME.com

[...] what most folks who've participated in swaps have come to realize is that swapping, bartering, and other means to avoid actually spending money are easy, wholly sensible [...]