Money Secrets of the Amish

13

BARTERING: I’LL TRADE YOU THIS COW FOR A BUNCH OF RUGS

When Martha and Abel have enough unwearable clothes gathered, they tear them into strips and weave them into charming, color-drenched rugs. “We help each other make the rugs,” said Abel. “My uncle sells them at his farm stand, but sometimes we trade them for something else. One time, we traded fifty or sixty rugs for a heifer.”

No money changed hands in that transaction, but the trade was very much in keeping with the Amish way of wealth. For Abel and Martha and their trading partner, bartering hand-woven rugs for a heifer was a way to say, “I’ve got these goods; you’ve got this good. We both have this need; how can we shake hands?”

When things are tough, you do what you can to get what you need. In this recession, bartering has become vogue again after seventy-plus years, “a social behavior left over from the 1880s to the Great Depression,” said Dr. Kraybill.

The Amish love to swap goods for goods, or goods for services, or services for services. “Within our system, if we can barter, we do,” said Bishop Jake. “If we need some trucking done, we exchange it for garden products, or shop work [the farmer makes wooden furniture of all kinds on the side]. I think we do save money through bartering. We try and make a deal where each one is happy.”

Fairness is key for the Amish, but if they do err, it’s on the side of their trading partner. “If anything, we want to make sure [the person we’re bartering with] gets a good deal.”

The Amish have a long history of living outside a cash economy. With a strong community and relationships, there has always been and still is deep trust between neighbors. Farmer Abraham routinely shares his time and muscle with farmer Gideon, and with no discussion whatsoever, Gideon will invest his own sweat equity when Abraham needs help.

When Naomi’s children were younger, they would have a single aunt, Aunt Katie, babysit for them. In exchange, Naomi would give her baked goods or mow her lawn for her. “We never paid her money, but we traded what we have to offer,” she said.

Andy the Amish boat cover maker switches out goods and services all the time. “I can’t move the boats around in the winter with a handcart,” he said. “So I’ll trade boat covers for a guy who has a truck and can help me move the boats.”

Twice, Andy’s been taken out on the Great Lakes for a charter fishing trip; he gave the charter captain a boat cover for the excursions.

“I put a top on a pontoon for this one guy, and that would have cost him $250, if he paid me,” said Andy. “But in return, he has given my family the right to go fishing on his lake with his pontoon boat anytime we want. And we go down there quite a bit.”

Sometimes a buggy just won’t cut it. More often than not, when it’s Amish exchanging with Englishers, the Plain folk need some kind of transportation or trucking. Freeman negotiated with his neighbor the use of his loader tractor. In exchange: “I had my boys go over and help him out at their farm for a day or two.”

The more I thought about the notion of bartering, the more it made sense, especially in a money crunch like this one, when disposable income is scarce. Folks want to hold on to their cash these days, and would rather trade a day of landscaping, for, say, a stay at a bed-and-breakfast, than fork over $150.

The only problem is, I’m no good at landscaping, and that is a gross understatement. The question is, what am I good at, and what could I trade for something of equal value? What are you good at, and what could you negotiate for something of worth?

What are you good at, and what could you negotiate for something of worth?

I’ve had a little experience with bartering, but not much. Last year, a friend of mine, my Pilates instructor, needed to borrow our car with a trailer hitch so she could haul her daughter’s new playhouse home from where it was crafted an hour away. She used our second car, which we weren’t using anyway that day, for a few hours, and in return she gave me a free hour-long torture, er, Pilates lesson on her stretching rack, er, Reformer machine. Usually, she charges forty dollars for the privilege of kicking my bum. Even though every muscle hurt the next day, I still got a good deal on that trade.

We had something she could use, and in return she offered me something I needed—bum kicking.

Ann exchanged her eagle-eyed editing services with a lawyer who drew up a will for her and her husband. “Basically, it was trading our expertise and time, but it’s a fair transaction, and I think we were both pleased.”

Listen to these Fancies and how they haggled their stuff and their skills:

• Catherine: “I like to ‘rent out’ my husband’s computer expertise in exchange for free meals!”

• Sasha: “My husband is a chiropractor, and that has come in handy from time to time. We trade chiropractic care for haircuts with our neighbor, and have also used it to barter dental work.”

• Laura: “I think bartering’s a great idea in this downturn. We’re currently bartering services (helping a single friend do some house projects—painting, cleaning out the garage, yard work, etc.) in exchange for a gorgeous antique 1880s Victorian oak hutch for our dining room—that we couldn’t have afforded otherwise. A win-win for both of us!”

• Shelley: “My stepfather is a chiropractor, and he does this often. One example is a guy built his deck and received chiropractic treatments; another gave a granite countertop for treatments.”

• Tara: “A friend of ours is a photographer, and he did pictures for us; in turn my husband, who’s an attorney, did their wills. I thought it was a win-win all the way around!”

• Rachel: “I bartered a box of free books [she’s an author] for some head shots. My sister-in-law is a professional photographer and she spent two days taking pictures of me for my Web site, book promotion, etc. So in exchange I sent her a box of signed books to give to friends.”

• Ellen: “In the hubster’s conservative Mennonite tradition, we barter with hard work. We’ll help you build your house, and then you show up at our house when we’re finishing our basement. I saw it in action these last few months. Mennonites are very concerned with making sure everything is fairly traded so no one feels taken advantage of.”

• Christine: “Our neighborhood is big on ‘exchanging.’

We exchange perennials, landscaping bricks/rocks, child care, and homemade jams. It’s just one big ol’ fashioned horse-trading ‘club.’”

WIN-WIN

Notice how “win-win” comes up a few times with bartering? Barterers are often gleeful when it comes to their no-money trades. Laura, who swapped some painting, cleaning, and yard work for an antique oak hutch, hit it on the nail: “We couldn’t have afforded [the ‘gorgeous’ piece of furniture] otherwise.”

Whereas in the Depression, people struck deals in tools, chickens, and milk—essential provisions and supplies—now traders will offer personal training sessions for scuba gear or a Pilates lesson for a borrowed trailer hitch. In our recession, people probably don’t have a lot of throwaway cash floating around, and even if they do, they may be a touch paranoid to part with it for something other than necessities.

Just a glance at the bartering Web site barterquest.com reveals that people are usually not trading indispensable goods and services. I checked out “Writer services,” because that’s my only real knack, and saw that many of the things being offered by or to my fellow writers were not strictly compulsory. Writers and editors were offering their services and wanting in return such things as music lessons, massages, Web design, and dental implants (the most necessary trade I spotted). On the flip side, those wanting to trade with a writer included a hypnotist, a life coach, an artisanal jewelry designer, and a publicist (who was obviously desperate for a scribe, or at least one who could spell; she posted a need for a “writier”).

The jewelry designer snagged my attention. Will Work for Jewelry? I thought I would give it a whirl, especially when I saw the links to her vivid, one-of-a-kind creations. “I will need a pitch letter targeted to fahion [she also needs a little help spelling] editors- introducing my jewelry collection. I’m also considering having this same person create a press kit.”

In our recession, people probably don’t have a lot of throwaway cash floating around.

My proficiencies are limited: I can’t sew, cook in quantity, teach a musical instrument, design a Web site, or give someone a massage, hypnosis, or dental implants. But I can probably compose a nifty pitch letter that’ll blow the Jimmy Choos off those fashion editors.

Pork for Tuition

Bartering postings on Craigslist have increased 100 percent since last year, and even if the cable company probably won’t take a couple of lasagnas for HBO and Showtime, you’d be surprised at who would.

A 2010 article in Lancaster, Pennsylvania’s Sunday News featured a fascinating bartering opportunity that’s been going on for years at a Missouri college:

In St. Charles, Mo., Lindenwood University will consider taking meat from farmers who cannot afford to pay their children’s tuition in cash. Some 20 or so students have attended the university under that deal.

“It was pure barter. Pork or beef for tuition,” said Lindenwood spokesman Scott Queen. “We gave them market value for their beef or pork, which was far more than they could have gotten selling it off—since the middlemen were taking much of the profit. It was Lindenwood’s way of honoring the hardworking farm families and helping keep kids in school.”

Queen said interest in the barter offer has tapered off in the past few years. “The door is still open, though, especially considering these difficult economic times,” he added. (Suzanne Kennedy, “‘Trade you my bike for dental work,” Sunday News [Lancaster, PA], April 26, 2009).

“We Both Got Exactly What We Wanted”

It’s no surprise that the Amish, whose lives are deeply interwoven with those of their community members, have kept bartering alive and well. For the Plain folk, nice tradeoffs aren’t a trendy way to surf the recession, but just business as usual. We who live less connected lives may find it awkward to negotiate with someone toward value for value. But in foreign countries, trading and haggling over prices are widespread practices.

“Americans can be too proud to barter,” said Angela Blyker, a writer friend who has spent lots of time overseas doing missions work. Her husband, Ben, is a pastor/carpenter/handyman/jack-of-all-trades who grew up in Mexico, and who feels completely comfortable with the notion of trading services and goods.

“Bartering actually builds relationships, as people have to engage on a deeper level when they must express need. It makes you also think of your assets first, before your needs. It is surprising how many ‘assets’ we all have been given by God to share! Trading with your neighbors builds community, and who has done this better in the States than the Amish?”

The Amish are stellar community builders, and they’ve been bartering for hundreds of years. They know better than anyone that when you’re taking something in trade, you have to be a pretty good judge. Because as Ella found out, there are good deals, and then there’s the right deal.

Years ago, when she was delivering one of her children, Ella traded a midwife’s services for a handmade appliquéd Amish quilt. “On my end, definitely it was a good deal,” she said about the barter. “And on her end it worked well too. We both got exactly what we wanted from the deal.”

Switch, Swap, Haggle, Higgle

Check out these bartering Web sites to get started:

Let’s Swap

“Swap parties,” said writer Alexandra Fix, “have made the old system of barter delightfully new.”

Last spring, she and her sewing club buddies put on an afternoon yarn swap. They each brought superfluous supplies from their hoard at home—single balls of yarn, multiple skeins, socks and scarves, knit and crochet books, old patterns, and duplicate needles.

“We arranged our goods on a kitchen island and served coffee, tea, and munchies at the nearby dining table,” she wrote. “Then we casually wandered around the yarn display, ate, drank, chatted and selected treasures from each other’s stash.”

The pals bagged the remaining yarn and supplies and donated it to a yarn shop accepting donations for a missionary group teaching knitting to women in Mozambique (“Let’s Swap by Alexandra Fix,” Women’s LifeStyle, May 2010).

Call it bartering with snacks, but the swap party has definitely arrived, bringing with it freebies in the form of clothes, prom dresses, baby wear, art materials, craft supplies, toys, and books. A swap meet is better than a garage sale, even, because you usually organize it with friends (i.e., people with similar tastes and stages of life), and everything is free. Free!

In an effort to conquer clutter and share as a community, my moms group put on a swap meet a couple of months ago. I had my doubts as to how much stuff I might get, but I liked the idea of offloading a box of clothes we had all outgrown.

Once again, I was delightfully surprised. Clothes were sorted by size and gender, from newborn onesies to men’s clothing, making it so easy to pick out what we wanted and needed. I got a pair of cute black capris, a summer tank top, a book about friendship I had always wanted, and a brand-new container of Neutrogena hand cream.

But the most remarkable swap item was bellowing Doyle’s name, not mine. It was a beautifully illustrated book about the fur trade, in great shape.

Now, let me back up a minute. My dear husband has fantasies about being a voyageur, wearing a beaver hat and paddling up some far-flung river in a canoe weighed down with pelts, on his way to a shore lunch of fish, pemmican, and rubaboo, a type of porridge featuring corn, bear grease, flour, and maple sugar.

He was tickled pink with the book, and for a time regaled me with voyageur lore: “Did you know the fur traders had to be able to carry two ninety-pound bundles of fur over portage, and more suffered from strangulated hernias than any other injury?”

That I did not know. However, I knew an extraordinary gift for Doyle when I saw one, an extraordinary free gift, which, more than any other anecdote in this tome, underscores the “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” slogan.

I estimate I got $65 worth of clothing, books, and lotion for nada! I’m now planning a book swap party for later in the summer. I’m one of those impractical people who like to own books, not borrow them from friends or the library. A book swap, I figure, will allow me to divest myself of a small pile of books I’m not attached to and gain a small pile of new-to-me reading material. My pals can do the same.

Some swap party pointers:

• The ideal number of “shoppers” is 10–15 if the event is at someone’s home. Our moms group has about 25, and that was fine.

• Suggest a ballpark number of items to bring to avoid a major imbalance in trade options. I’m inviting my book swap guests to bring five hardcover and/or five trade paperback books each.

• Hand out a poker chip or token for each item brought to the table. These chips can be “spent” on items once the sale begins, so that each participant takes home the same number of items she brought—so yin and yang, that.

• If you do a jewelry swap, say, have everyone pick a number and conduct the proceedings white elephant–style. The lucky duck who picks #1 gets first dibs on the loot, unless, of course, you incorporate stealing, which means several other people might steal and re-steal the first choice. We do a white elephant exchange every Christmas with Doyle’s cousins, and I look forward to my fiery rivalry with his cousin’s wife, Patti, more than I look forward to the item I bring home. Things can get out of hand—let’s just put it that way.

Deluxe Re-gifting

Holding on to your hard-earned money and still getting some things you want and need? Now, that’s slick.

Like the Amish, we Fancies can offer up what we know how to do and get paid in services other people know how to perform, or in stuff they have lying around. Rob, for example, knew his wife wouldn’t be too impressed with him shelling out their limited discretionary money for golf clubs and accessories. But when he found someone wanting to barter some really nice golf clubs for his skills rewiring a chandelier, he got what he wanted for an evening’s worth of work. Really, bartering is regifting taken to the next level.

My dream barter: a week on someone’s lakefront cottage, someone who needs a book proposal written, that is. We don’t have the cash lying around to pay for a cottage rental, but if there’s one thing I know how to do, it’s write a book proposal! Who was it who said everyone’s got a book in them? At the very least, everyone seems to think they have a book in them. As I keep dreaming about lapping blue waves and sand between my toes, I’ll also keep working the bartering Web sites and inviting trade propositions. It’s definitely a plan. (Please contact me on my blog if you’re interested. -wink-)