Time-banking is not, as you might have momentarily hoped, some sci-fi method of re-allocating the hours of your life. Nope, it’s a rather straightforward system for giving and receiving hours of service within our community.
Time-banking is a bit different than bartering because the transaction doesn’t happen between two people directly; it happens through a neutral system. So, for example, I can help someone with blog strategy or teach them how to hula hoop*, and then I can “cash in” my time-banking dollars from a completely different person who might, for example, help me shoot a short video I want to make. Perhaps another person altogether will do the video editing in a timebanking exchange. The opportunities abound.
I use the system. I invite you to use it as well.
5 Comments
September 11, 2007 at 4:13 pm
Isn’t simpler just to use money? This concept is already done effectively by currency.
September 11, 2007 at 5:49 pm
I’m sure Jessie can speak more eloquently to your question Freemarket, but one difference that I am aware of is that in time banking your hour equals everyone elses hour.
Additionally timebanking can apply where currency exchange doesn’t traditionally happen. For instance, I put in a lot of volunteer hours in my village of Oakland Mills, and would do so timebanking or no timebanking because this work energizes me. But now I am able to bank those hours and receive services in return for them. There is no way that the village could pay me for my time spent, and again I’d do it regardless. But this adds a value to it and frankly makes my husband feel better about all the volunteer hours I put in that take time away from our household. Because now those hours not only go into bettering my community, but might also for instance, get some yardwork done as an exchange.
September 11, 2007 at 8:59 pm
Freemarket,
If I were an elderly woman living on a fixed income, I might not have the money to pay someone to rake my leaves or clean my gutters. However, I might be able to earn some time-banking dollars by babysitting, making some cupcakes, or mending some clothes that would allow me to “pay” for my yardwork.
September 11, 2007 at 9:18 pm
If the time bank program works for some people, that’s good enough for me. But personally, I would prefer to charge a market price (in dollars) for my cupcake baking, babysitting or whatever else rather than do the time bank thing.
Maybe the real value in this program is that it hooks up buyers and sellers of “odd job” services that program participants would not otherwise advertise for or seek out.
October 29, 2007 at 6:59 pm
Jessie–I was so inspired when I went to the time-banking training session that I wrote a post on my blog about it called “Banking Like Jesus Would”. You can read it here:
http://kcchurch.typepad.com/blog/2007/09/banking-like-je.html