The joys of the informal economy

[All uphill]

Neighbour one gives us some washed out teatowels; I give her some rooted cuttings of shrubs from our garden.
Neighbour two asks me to fix her bike. They then give us free coffees in their cafe.
I use the teatowels to clean Neighbour two's bike.

I love it! No cash, no tax. Everyone wins.

How does the informal economy work for you?

 

[PeteXXX]

My daughter needed a small amount of matt white emulsion. I needed her stapler and, more importantly, the staples it contained!
Straight swap.


I'd have given her the paint anyway, but..

 

[glasgowcyclist]

I give my neighbour home made bread/cupcakes, he gives me fresh salmon or rainbow trout he catches locally. His wife and mine swap flower/shrub cuttings.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I help out my neighbour with odd jobs and she cuts the shared front lawn (more so than I do)

 

[Sterlo]

Our neighbour (and family when they visit) make a racket, we reciprocate to even things out!

 

[Gillstay]

I help a builder mate with anything horticultural esp if he has a bit of a crisis with clients, when its his turn to respond he never shows up !
Always has a good excuse though.

 

[Electric_Andy]

I have also done a lot of DIY for my mate, and he buys me flavoured cider. I've had to ask him to stop becasue I can't stand the stuff. He just buys me a drink or two on the rare occasion we go out. For me though, doing something for someone who has no clue about anything practical is payment enough knowing that you've made their life a bit easier without it costing them £50/hour

 

[All uphill]

I have also done a lot of DIY for my mate, and he buys me flavoured cider. I've had to ask him to stop becasue I can't stand the stuff. He just buys me a drink or two on the rare occasion we go out. For me though, doing something for someone who has no clue about anything practical is payment enough knowing that you've made their life a bit easier without it costing them £50/hour

Funny you say that because I do bike repairs for another neighbour who always rewards me with a bottle of red wine despite me saying repeatedly that I don't drink and I'd rather have a nice loaf of bread.

Maybe red wine is the local unit of currency and I should just return it when they lend me their jetwash

 

[fossyant]

We did have an Apple Pie Tree. It's now just an Apple Tree. Our neighbour would always ask if she could have some (most) of our apples from our tree. We were quite happy as the next day, a couple of apple pies would arrive by magic.

She passed away this year, and our tree hasn't fruited as well, coincidence ?

 

[fossyant]

Funny you say that because I do bike repairs for another neighbour who always rewards me with a bottle of red wine despite me saying repeatedly that I don't drink and I'd rather have a nice loaf of bread.

Maybe red wine is the local unit of currency and I should just return it when they lend me their jetwash

Send the wine this way !

I usually get wine for fixing friends bikes.

 

[fossyant]

Son's friend is constantly borrowing my tools (my son 'lends them' whilst he's helping said friend), but they don't come back in a timely manner. Currently been without 2 drills, mitre saw, assorted screws, jigsaw etc etc. Keep asking for them back - latest is he's just caught covid, so might see them just before Christmas. He never get's us a thank you.

 

[IanSmithCSE]

Good afternoon,

I remember a big local hospital in the 1970s doing a charity fund raise for a PET scanner, the forerunners of the MRI scanners and they were aiming for a simple 1 million pounds.

Yes, I get that governments waste money, but part of that wastage covers R&D on devices that allow the medical industry to say, You are an idiot, don't do that again or wow you have broken something important let's helicopter you to somewhere where an obscure specialist will do a few cuts and you will be fine rather than crippled for life.

Bye

Ian

 

[Time Waster]

Our son's friend's parents leave their child at ours when they need to do something without the child. Then they both go to their house and we get lots done. It's called free childminding. Although in our case they just play for up to 4 hours straight on the Nintendo Switch minecraft bedrock edition. It's so easy for us! It would be longer but his friend has a limit. Our son has no limit with minecraft given the chance.

We struggle badly with an impossible tree stump that was 1m diameter below ground level but 6 inches diameter trunk above ground. Then our neighbour blunts two husqvarna chainsaws two or three times each while he helps us. We then let him lift the resulting block of wood into his pickup to dispose of at his workplace.

I think it works well for us.

 

[BrumJim]

Funny you say that because I do bike repairs for another neighbour who always rewards me with a bottle of red wine despite me saying repeatedly that I don't drink and I'd rather have a nice loaf of bread.

Maybe red wine is the local unit of currency and I should just return it when they lend me their jetwash

Red wine keeps, so it is as good as currency. When you are invited to a party or round to someone's house, bring the bottle as a gift to the host. If they are teetotal or don't like red wine, they can do the same.

 

[T4tomo]

I fix my OH's mates bikes, she does any complicated clothes repairs / alterations that need doing!