hawc, are your neighbors in similar straights or are there some brats to watch, gardens to prepare, dogs to walk, cars to detail, whatever. Even in tight times mamas will spring for housecleaning (once) or a "gal friday" to do the little things around the house. I'd pay someone to paint my stairs right now because I'd pay for NOT having to wrestle the paint. I won't, probably, but that is one chore I'd farm out. how much cash do YOU need? what for? can you swap expense A for something else? If you smoke, stop now. this is the beginning of the expense it will extract from you, and that bill only climbs. A frind of mine added up al the cigarettes his dad smoked over the years, and with adjusted prices and dollars (he's a number geek) dad had smoke TWO houses. if you are looking for longer-term money generators, you have property. can you garden? maybe not for market, but grow the veggies that are expensive (not worth it to plant potatoes in small gardens, but cress and arugula, or daikon radishes, or purple potateos...well... if you pay a lot at market, why not grow your own treats? also flowers, I grow flowers for cutting because I like them, and the florist here locks the dumpster. (i used to dive for them)
we sort of do trade. we use these chits called bills and coins. we trade our life energy for them, and the chits are traded for goods and services. Some folks have an investment system whereby they bank their chits with some entity and that entity can use them, but it has to pay the first person back , plus a few more in interest. money per se is nuetral. We as humans give it whatever value it has. as the christians say, the love (or desire) for money is the root of evil. Not the chits themselves. As in the Middle ages, some rich doofus is collecting your labor (in chits) and using it to further aggrandize himself (bush/ blair's wars, for example, but cities naming parks after planning directors is the same thing) but supplying a modicom of safety (police and courts today, a sheriff and judges in the MA)
