From time to time I’ve featured info about bartering, such as the post here with plenty of bartering insights. Bartering should be included in your prepping strategy.

Let’s face it, preparing for every single situation you’ll encounter in an emergency or widespread cataclysm may be impossible. Bartering is inevitable especially when you need some things for survival. Discover more by clicking on the image below.

If you want an overview on bartering with some really good insights and tips, allow me to recommend an article by John Silveira in “Backwoods Home Magazine,” Issue #138 • November/December, 2012.

The declining economy in recent years has prompted the growth of alternative local currencies. We’ve also seen the rise of alternative exchange arrangements, such as bartering or credit exchanges. One of many examples is Ithaca Hours.

An article entitled “America Will Not Survive Without Alternative Markets” features a couple of videos on barter systems in Greece and Argentina.

In the BBC report from Greece, one of those interviewed notes how the poor become invisible and powerless. A time bank or barter system helps overcome that by giving people the means to get what they need and be of value to others.

The video on Argentina’s Global Barter Network mentions that the “new poor” there are comprised largely of former public service workers. Could we see such an underclass in the U.S. as money fails in city and state governments?

I’ve included the video report on Argentina below for your consideration. We may find our survival depends on alternative economic arrangements sooner than we think.

Are you involved in a barter or credit exchange program where you live? Can you see yourself being part of such a community? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Today I’ve got more questions than answers. I read an article called “We Killed the Goose that Laid the Golden Egg,” which you can view by clicking on its title, if you’re so inclined. It’s good at analyzing the problem of unemployment, but offers no solutions.

The article notes how globalization and cut-throat corporatism has led to loss of jobs, and those jobs aren’t coming back. Get used to it because this is the new norm.

A couple of times the article states that there aren’t enough jobs to go around. Who says? Are jobs a finite quantity? Only so many, and that’s it? To overuse a worn out cliché, can’t we think outside the box? Why can’t we create our own jobs? Am I being idealistic or naïve?

Like the author of the article, if I worked at it, I could also write an analytical article describing how we’re being enslaved, forced into serfdom, etc., but what good would it do?

Why complain about the state of our sick world? If you’re prepping, you’re already at some level of awareness and are taking steps to improve your own situation.

It could be you want to get prepared, but you don’t have money to get the storage food or other survival supplies we’re really like to have. Maybe you’re struggling to make ends meet. Maybe you’re out of a job already. Don’t give up. Tiptoe toward preparedness.

More and more sites are popping up about living a more frugal and self reliant lifestyle. Swapping and bartering are on the rise. I suspect the underground economy is growing.

Some communities are also doing innovative things, such as creating local money and putting their own value on goods and services. Ithaca Hours is one example.

I applaud these efforts. Why aren’t more of us doing it? Why should we believe there aren’t enough jobs to go around? Why can’t we pave the way for survival in the new norm?

Bartering used to be one of those things you didn’t hear much about. People who think they’re prosperous don’t stoop to do that sort of thing. But then things changed drastically with our economy, and bartering and swapping have become trendy.

Some barter on a regular basis to save money. Others are practicing for the day when barter will be necessary if the money system collapses.

A few days ago Karen Geiser wrote a post called “The Art of Bartering” on the Lehman’s Country Life Blog. Her farm family regularly barters things like garden produce, flowers, eggs, and computer skills in exchange for things they needed or wanted.

Geiser says she feels wealthier. Bartering helped their family appreciate their skills and resources as well as those of others. It has fostered creativity and generosity. If you want to barter, she recommends coming up with your own tally of skills and resources, as well as things you need. Assign dollar values to the items and services. Then ask a few friends to do the same.

To read “The Art of Bartering,” click here.

A Web site for bartering is BarterQuest.com.

Click here for info on starting a community treasure chest.