Sassy Condiments!

Local Money

27 Mar 2011 1 Comment

by sassycondiments in Life, Local Money Tags: barter, bartering, currency, legal currency, local money, video

Have you ever heard of

“Local Money”?

Until recently, the term was familiar but I hadn’t taken the time to understand it.

Local Money is tender that is often used in both hour and dollar increments.  Ithaca, New York has been using “Ithaca Hours” since about 1991.  Evidently it is the longest running system that encourages bartering using an accountability system.

As with any type of bartering, you trade goods and services.   To keep things simple,  Local Money will help you with a system that will keep your trades simple for you.  Nothing will stop you from bartering the traditional way of swapping goods and services.  With Local Money, you have an option.  Local Money will pay for things like haircuts, birthday cakes, lawn mowing, printing, auto repair and a million other goods and services.  Start out with a small group of a dozen people.  Talk to the neighbors and local businesses.  Ask them if they would be willing to use “Local Money”. 

This is legal!  Just remember, if this is income, you will still need to pay taxes on this money to keep Uncle Sam happy!  Also, in creating your Local Money, you don’t want to make it look anything like the Federal currency in size or color.

Check out this video regarding Ithaca and how they use Local Money, it will only take about 10 minutes of your time but it may inspire you to help your community to survive the tough times we are all experiencing.