Alternate Income Source - Barter!

In various forms, barter will always exist. To get a better understanding of barter and what in can and cannot do it is necessary to define it. Here is a simple definition:

“Barter is a type of trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged for other goods and/or services, without the use of money. It can be bilateral or multilateral, and usually exists parallel to monetary systems in most developed countries, though to a very limited extent. Barter usually replaces money as the method of exchange in times of monetary crisis, when the currency is unstable and devalued by hyperinflation.”

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barter_economy


Before money even came into existence, there was barter. Barter is an alternate source of generating an income opportunity to get needed goods and services. In its various forms barter has been around as long as people have existed. Today the main benefit of barter is getting you the items and services you need without spending your cash! Keep in mind that people who may need your goods or services won’t always have ready cash to spend on those items but are usually willing to work out a trade. Bartering will also allow you to save your cash for those emergencies that always pop up at the worst possible time.

Who should barter?

1.) People who are short on cash and have a need for certain goods or services need to do a little bartering.

2.) People who have an excess of an item or items should try to barter or trade those items for goods or services they do need.

3.) Anyone who sees the shrinking vaue of their money and want to increase the value received for their goods and services rise above inflation.


Barter will become more and more difficult as many people are going to be lacking the skills that may be in demand or simply do not have the means of producing items which may be in demand. For example, if money were to be severely devalued in the United States ( and the chance of this occurring seems a definite possibility), most people would have little of value to trade for food, clothing, or shelter and many would also be lacking any of the numerous skills needed to barter for those items ( with the current price of fuel increasing at an ever expanding rate your SUV will probably have limited trade value) .

Practice your barter skills at every opportunity and try to learn new skills that could be of value to others. This will increase your bartering opportunities and give you an alternate source of income that doesn't involve money.

No cash to spend? Try bartering for what you need! Barter and trade existed before money!

Staying above the water line!

Riverwalker