*This is the 23rd day of the One Month Spending Freeze Challenge. Please click here to see all of the posts in this series.*
So you know how you’re only supposed to spend money on your needs in a spending freeze? Well, who’s to say you can’t spend your time, talents, or objects around your home?
Here, I’ll explain what I mean.
But first, I would like to tell you about the predicament we found ourselves in this month only to realize that we had to find another option to get what we wanted.
It’s October, which means Halloween is upon us. We have two daughters, so we would like to take them Trick-or-Treating, but we didn’t plan ahead and get Halloween costumes before the spending freeze challenge started. We had planned to do a family costume, but we quickly realized that wouldn’t pan out since we would have to buy materials to make those costumes.
We didn’t plan ahead and buy Halloween candy, either. So basically we were kind of stuck.
Our options came down to:
- Staying home on Halloween and keeping our porch light off so no trick-or-treaters will come to the door.
- Getting really creative and making Halloween costumes from things around our house, then going Trick-or-Treating in a family member’s neighborhood so we won’t have to worry about the candy.
- Bartering with someone to get the costumes and the candy.
How to Get What You Want without Spending Money
We decided to try our hands at bartering. I knew my mom could find the girls cute Halloween costumes at the thrift store, so I told her that if she would do that for us we would make her and my dad dinner sometime this month.
Turns out, that was a good enough trade for her! So we got the Halloween costumes and she gets a free dinner soon.
Bartering for Your Desires
Today you are 23 days into the spending freeze challenge. What do you want badly?
Think of something that you know someone has that you can barter for. When you pinpoint what you want and who has what you want, think of something you have that this person would willingly trade their item for.
You could even try doing this online, but it won’t be instant. You’ll have to ship what you have and wait for them to ship what they have.
Now, I’ve even heard that you can trade something small with someone, then trade that thing for something someone else has, and eventually get something bigger that you really want by continuing to trade around. It sounds like a ton of work to me, though!
However you decide to go about bartering, be creative. Ask your friends on Facebook or call up your parents and see if any of their neighbors have the thing you are in search of. It might be a really fun activity to try with your family! Just try it and see how you like it!
Have you ever bartered before?
Charlee Flaminio
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