In a medieval village stricken with famine, one wandering man finds a way to feed himself and all of the miserly villagers through colorful bartering. He has the expertise to cook an outstanding meal, and he persuades each villager to contribute an ingredient to his stone soup for a taste of it. All who offer their produce gets, through an exchange of sorts, the best meal they have eaten their entire lives. The story of Stone Soup is a timeless lesson on sharing but it also defines the bartering system. No money was exchanged.

Take the lesson from this tale, bring it up to date with the needs and wants of modern people, then make it personal to you or your business. You'll find that you might have something to offer family members, friends or other businesses in exchange for something they may have to offer you.

Think Close To Home

Your son just ran in the house, breathless, telling you he just traded his ultra-humongous-ugly monster card for a tooty-shrilly-99 noise whistle. He just bartered. Your daughter cleans out the interiors of the family's cars--her half the deal for the party food you cook this weekend. Bartering, even in the parental sense. No money changed hands.

Say your neighbor is a professional painter and she is in need of a baby-sitter for an hour a day for one week. You love children, and your living room needs painted. There is a bartering match if ever there was one.

Your garage roof needs a few shingles replaced but you are afraid of heights? Perhaps your home cooking will be the perfect payment for a neighbor who is handy with repairs such as that.

You, your family and your neighbors probably have a cornucopia of expertise or products that can be traded mutually. Those times when you have said or heard this, "I owe you one," is half of what bartering is all about.

Hobbies are great resources for bartering. For example: A newlywed couple needs curtains for their new apartment but their budget doesn't allow for the ones they want. You love to sew and you know that you can make curtains very close to the style they want. You also know the husband of that couple tinkers around with car engines and your car has been running rough lately. It just takes a phone call to set up the exchange, window treatments for a tune-up.

But what if you need dog-sitting services and all you can offer for barter is lawn care and the only person you find to care for your dogs, doesn't even have a yard? Ask the dog-sitter what service they might want then find someone who is offering that same service and ask if they will take lawn care in exchange. Sound confusing? Look at it this way:

You want dog-sitting service and will do lawn care in exchange.

Person 2 wants a kitchen painted and will dog-sit in exchange

Person 3 wants lawn care and will paint rooms.

You care for person 3's lawn; person 3 will paint person 2's kitchen; person 2 will take care of your dogs. Everyone does what he or she likes doing and everyone gets what they want. Almost a perfect world huh?

In times when cash on hand is tight, bartering in this way saves your cash for purchases where actual cash is needed.