About six months ago I joined my local timebank. Honestly, I wasn't sure I'd use it. Time banking involves accruing hours by offering services to others, and spending those hours by "buying" a service for another person. In time banking, each person's hour is worth every other person's hour; that is, an hour of cleaning bathrooms is equal to an hour of legal services or massage. Every person's time is equally valuable.
The first hurdle was shyness about meeting people. When I attended the orientation, I did a one-on-one orientation with a board member because I was too shy to go to a big group meeting. We met at a coffee shop; she explained to me all the principles and logistics involved in our local timebank, and I earned my first hour just by drinking coffee and listening. I decided to bite the bullet and post a request right away. I didn't think I needed a personal trainer, but I sure could use someone to meet with and walk with, so I posted a request for a "walking buddy" to meet at a local park and walk. Everyone in the timebank is vetted through a legal background check so I was comfortable enough meeting a stranger. The woman who answered was delightful. She was a retired person who was extremely active in the volunteer scene and delightful to talk to. My second experience was in earning hours. I saw a request for resume editing. Because I've had so many jobs, resumes are something I've become expert in. I helped a woman with her resume and met her in person, and earned a couple of hours. I earned more hours by helping with a garage sale, and by tabling for the timebank itself at a couple of summer fairs. The greatest bit for me is that I didn't have to trade my skills one-on-one with someone who had the exact skill I was looking for. I could bank hours and then "shop" the services for a haircut, a massage, a consultation on closet organizing, and (the one I most often desired) walking buddies. There are over 300 members of my local timebank, so that's a lot of talent to tap. I found an ukulele teacher, who not only got me started on playing but also taught me how to pronounce "ukelele". I found a woman who is teaching me to sew. I found a woman who refurbishes cast iron, and a man who offers a nonjudgmental listening ear. That last I wasn't sure about, but he worked the same garage sale that I did, and I noted how peaceful he was with other people, and how much listening he did at the time. So I booked an hour, and just got to complain and kvetch to my heart's content (to be fair, I told him that's what I was going to do and gave him a chance to back out). The session wasn't much like therapy, but it was really healing for me. Being able to talk about my problems led me to seeing solutions I hadn't considered before. As I move away from a money-based economy, time banking has a real place in my life. I'm looking forward to doing more, and spending my hours on those services I used to spend money for.
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I went shopping yesterday - or rather, met a friend for coffee and walked through some thrift stores on my way back. Although I did spend money (3.00 for coffee and tip, 3.50 on thrift store items to turn around at a garage sale in the future), most of the trip ended up being a foraging trip. From two different boxes of free books, I got: a book written in 1957 on hypnosis for hysterical neuroses (and it is hysterical -- I'm going to turn it into an art book); a book of photographs of food art -- onion heads turned into faces with black-eyed pea eyes and the like; a John Grisham novel; and an old book on Katherine by Anne Sexton Chase, published sometime in the 1950s, a little water damage but otherwise in good shape, no mustiness.
I also found a desk lamp, the kind without a base and that screws into a desk, dumped in the parking strip on the street uphill from my house. I got it because it had four good-looking springs that I was sure I could do something with later, and I could take it apart for screws and interesting metal pieces. But I put a bulb into it to make sure it didn't work -- and it did! It worked fine! Since I've been needing a source of brighter light in my room, I gerried it into place between my bed and the wall for now, and now I can read in bed. Yay! One for the team! And my favorite coffee person gave me an unworking Disney Mickey Mouse watch. I'm going to experiment with trying to get it running again. Otherwise, fodder for mixed media and collage art. The thrift items I found were 50% off an already low price ($1 - $2). I picked up a votive holder and a few saucers to use in my room for now, and as garage sale filler for later. I'm already planning a garage sale this coming spring -- maybe April. I started a file for my expenditures, and another just to list impulse buys. And...that brings you up to date! My goal this month is to stay within $10/week of discretionary spending after planned purchases like a one-month subscription to the meditation app I've been using for the last 45 days.
Buy Nothing Month, Day 23. I'm getting there! It's been over three weeks now without buying anything. I wonder how long I could keep up a streak of not buying anything? Just to the end of the month? Another week or month beyond that? Maybe a whole year, as Lee Simpson did? For an unlimited period of time? I wonder what it would take for me to really take on Buy Nothing as a lifestyle, a decades-long habit, rather than a time-limited challenge?
And how could I do that living in the city? While looking presentable, or nay, even elegant? I wonder. Because a month of buying nothing -- that's an adventure. A year may be an education. But a lifetime of not buying things, other than basics, groceries, transportation...what would that look like? Would I become a run-down looking spinster with permanent worry lines and rags for clothing? Or, in a country like the United States, would stuff just keep flowing into and out of my life? I'd like to find out. But I'd also like to buy this book. Or hey -- it occurs to me that if Seattle Public Library doesn't have it, I can request it from Inter Library Loan. If I did adopt this as a lifestyle, what other kinds of resources would I need? Obviously, household sundries, the occasional cleaning supply -- I'd include those as groceries. What is it that I miss spending money on the most? Easy. Coffee, out in the world. I'm fine with not buying coffee this month. I could keep that up for awhile. But to make buying nothing a real lifestyle, I'd have to find an alternative (a) low-key go-to social activity, (b) restful place to hang out, and (c) motivation to leave the house. Low-key social activity ideas: I could meet up with people at a park at least 6 months out of the year. I could meet people downtown or on the campus of South Seattle College. I could walk with people. I could have them over for a cup of tea and conversation. There is book club. Being with a social partner means I'm often going places and meeting up with him. I also live with a rotating cast of characters who might be willing to walk out with me. A restful place to hang out (other than my home): Libraries, community centers. I could just sit in the lobby at Delridge Community Center (for that matter, I could meet someone there). I could sit in office buildings downtown. I could keep my eyes open for small, restful nooks and crannies that defy categorization. There's a rooftop garden on the 7th floor of the 4th & Madison Building for example. I could sit at the DMV without taking a number I suppose. The one near my house is pretty nice actually. Great place to people-watch. Not leaving the house has been the easiest way to not spend money this month. I love being at home, and it's been restful on my spirit as well as my budget, and I've made real headway on cooking, gardening & crafts. But it's also stagnating, and has brought about a familiar reluctance to leave the house that, if left untended, has led to phobia in the past. So, other than shopping and coffee, what would motivate me to leave the house? Getting to hang out with friends is my biggest motivation. Scouting an excellent conversation is a real treat. And there are many people all over the region whom I miss. What if I were to meet up with every local facebook friend, for example? There is walking. Once I get started walking, I love it. I could make it part of my morning routine every day, or every other day. The Chinese Garden is a block from my house. I could go there every day and not get tired of it. I could design adventures/explorations with unique themes. Spend a month riding buses just to eavesdrop and report lines of interesting conversations, for example. Go to all the DMVs and write stories about the people I see there. Take a photo every day. Visit all public libraries in alphabetical order. Visit all health club facilities in the region to get a free tour and workout. Or maybe just hang out at Seattle Center a couple of times a week and picnic by the fountain or in the Center House. These all strike me as appealing ideas. What would be the hardest thing to give up if you were to do a buy nothing month? |
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ArchivesAuthorVirginia Lore enjoys living life as an experiment and frequently steps out of her comfort zone -- when she's not hiding out in her room with the covers over her head that is. You may email her: [email protected] |