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Many of us have excess produce in our gardens or want to sell our organically grown fruits and vegetables for a profit. In order to have a profit you need customers and you especially need customers who have cash!
Over the years I have found to have in my possession an excess of many things and also have found an excess of many cashless buyers. Now most buyers will not say, “I don’t have the money”, they will usually say they just don’t need it right now.
However, we all need something and I discovered a little trade secret in my life and that simply stated said, “Would I rather have what I got than what I am getting?”
Would I rather have two extra bushels of tomatoes that I cannot give away to my neighbors who have the same problem? No! Would I rather have 30 jars of pickles when my family only needs 20 for the winter? No! My list could go on and on.
At this point I will share my nickname. The La Grande Dame of Barter! I earned that many, many years ago when I was in the International real estate game and as I started to specialize in Section 1031 of the IRS code which covers real estate exchanging and I really did earn that nickname from my peers.
Even though I have retired I still use the B.C method. People bartered things long before they had invented money. Money is a government invention to monitor what you are doing.
With that in mind sit down and make a list of all the things that you might buy if you had the cash. Then make a list of all the people who could use the things you have to sell or should I say trade. Am I losing you here?
An independently owned restaurant would love to have fresh produce, home made canned good, home made bread or deserts and fresh herbs and they would love to save their cash. You would love to take your family out to eat once a week. So why not trade?
Is there a way of monitoring this? Money is nothing more than scrip. Remember Confederate money? Well the restaurant, when they buy what you are selling, could pay you off in their scrip in increments of say $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 and $20.00. The night you come in to have dinner with your family you pay your bill off in their scrip. The taxes would be paid in cash and also the waiter or waitresses tip.
Say your bill before taxes and tip is $22.07. It might be in your benefit to pay that amount in $22.00 in scrip plus .07 in U.S. coin because scrip does not give change and you would not pay with $25.00 in scrip if you only had a $20.00 and $5.00 scrip note. That would be throwing money away.
You probably could not get McDonalds to do this, but your local restaurant might. Need a sign for your farm? See what the local sign painter charges and I bet you can barter it out with your goods and services. What services you say? Mow their lawn, plow up their garden.
I had a ladies diamond wrist watch that was worth about $3,800.00 and I was trying to get the jeweler to buy it from me at price that I could afford to let it go for. I never wore it. Just as I was talking to the jeweler and the watch was sitting and glistening on his black velvet pad on his counter, in walked the female owner of one of our local very good Italian restaurants. She fell in love with it, wanted it, but had no cash. Let me tell you she walked out of that jewelers wearing her new diamond watch and I and my family ate at that restaurant for over 3 years until we had used up the $3,800.00 in scrip.
I spent over 43 years bartering and trading before I retired and have the last remaining 16 years doing the same thing whenever I can. Try it! You may like it!
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Author Bio Box: Arlene Wright Correll
 For more gardening or cooking information click http://www.learn-america.com/
To see Arlene’s Gardens and to read her gardening diaries and to take a walk through her pictorial garden or click on Arlene’s Books where you can download or buy her gardening & cook books, including her new book, “The ABC’s of Wine and Beer Making”. Remember to check out her artwork, especially of her fruits and vegetables. Arlene says, “All my royalties from the sale of my books go to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and I thank you for visiting my site.”
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