Will work for bike

I’m a cheapskate. Sorry to blurt that out to all of creation, but I am. Step 5 of a 12 step program is to admit the situation. Actually, it’s not entirely my fault. I come from a long, long line of cheapskates; though, back in the day they were called other nasty names like ‘Frugal’ and ‘Living within your means.’ It’s in my blood.

We keep our eyes out for various things we need which are cheap or sub-cheap. Of course we hit garage sales, yard sales, estate sales, and the like, but we don’t feel like we have to pay for stuff either in order to realize value in it. You may have seen our previous post about the windows (HERE) we picked up on the side of the road (which also keeps them out of the landfill.) We’ve acquired so many things offered for free or extremely cheap from a mother’s group with 300 families in it, and Craigslist.org & Freecycle.org continue to be great places to find free items from like minded people who see the value of giving things a second life.

Recently added to our inventory are two bicycles which were advertised for sale which I acquired without monetary transfer. I did this by asking the simple question, “Are you open to bartering?” In both situations, I used my skills as a landscape contractor and designer to take care of problems which they had. They got what they wanted, I got what I wanted, and my bank account was no worse for it. One word of caution, based on experience… before a complex barter begins, I would advise establishing the monetary value of the goods and services in case things don’t go according to plan. This falls into the ‘Better safe than sorry’ category and will help keep the trade on an equal playing field. -Jason