by Martha R Gore

Created on: October 27, 2008

If you have items laying around the house or garage, skills, professional or other services, look to smart bartering to get you the things you want without spending a penny. As the recession deepens and credit become harder to get, you can still have what you need or want by finding others who cannot or do not want to spend hard cash or perhaps don't have any of it available.

The increase of barter posts to Craigslist has reached already reached 130,243 in the spring of 2008 and has increased dramatically since that time as more people find themselves short of hard cash and either don't want to or cannot use their credit cards.

Another reason for bartering is tax-avoidance because if items of equal value are bartered, no income taxes on it due to the government.

While bartering always has a following, during down times in the economy it becomes more popular. It also brings out the scam artists so caution should be used until you are certain that the person you are dealing with can provide the item, skill or service that you have bargained for. When bartering for services, there are no guarantees that the person is actually qualified to do the work.

Start out by making a list of items that you no longer need and another list of things or services you want. You can barter one thing at a time or group them together. For example:

Have an old video game that is no longer being used?

Books that haven't been read in years and and gathering dust on the shelves?

Lamps, old furniture, tools that are no longer used and other items that have been taking up room in the garage?

Bartering your services or skills

Can you do services such as mow a lawn, trim a hedge, rake leaves, use a paint brush, do errands?

Have handyman skills which enable you to make small home repairs?

Do house cleaning, washing or ironing?

Walk a dog, house sit or take care of plants?

Almost all professional skills can find bartering parties, whether it is for hair styling, manicuring nails, dentistry, bookkeeping.

Anything that includes the Internet such as Web design, editing, blog writing,

Trading Places

One of the popular bartering is the exchange of apartment and homes. For example, if someone in Tucson, AZ wants to vacation in Colorado, instead of renting out the home out and having to report the income, it becomes a like-for-like exchange. Using the Internet, it is simple to exchange photographs of each dwelling so there are no surprises.

Become a Sophisticated Barterer

Be specific about what you are

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