I was watching this show today that had a clip about a town where for the most part people get their daily goods and services mostly from bartering. This was everything from daily food needs as well as even services like dentistry. Just has to make you think where if someone is always complaining that they don’t have enough money to buy something on whether or not the notion of bartering for items is just missing from their vocabulary.
That made me think of why one would not even consider it. I guess for many it’s hard to put a dollar value on whatever it is that they are offering to the other person. Therefore, the simple answer I think is to not see it so much as “How much money is it worth†but rather how much the person needs or wants what you are offering. As well, the amount of time it takes you to do something. Example, if it takes one guy one minute to fix a plumbing problem and another person one minute to fix a computer related one then that would be a good trade.
Trying to think of examples like that with a mindset of trying to put a dollar value to the services to see if it is an equal trade makes it more complicated and intimidating than it really is, in my opinion. Almost like trading fruit from a tree. If one grows apples and the other grows like pears at the exact same time and quantity then a simple one for one trade should be as easy as that.
You can then start debating about which one is more in demand, tastes better and so fourth. However, that just complicates it and makes it more intimidating. Simply let the other person decide if it is a good trade based on what they want and don’t want I say.