Time Banking Members Trade Services For Free

BOSTON -- When everyone is trying to find a way to stretch their money, there are groups of people all over the country who are getting things done, not with dollars and cents, but with time.

NewsCenter 5's Liz Brunner reported that it's called time banking, and it's an old concept that is taking on a whole new meaning.

"You get things done, and you don't have to pay with money, you pay with time," member Peter Zug said.

"You can get services for free," said Dr. Katherine Ellin, of Cambridge Time Trade.

"It's a two-way street. We're helping somebody and we're being helped," member Robert Guthrie said.

The Cambridge Time Trade Circle is a local chapter of Time Banks U.S.A. About 100 members belong to the two-year-old organization where time is money.

"Literally, time is our exchange unit. So, an hour equals an hour. It doesn't matter what the service is," Ellin said.

The list of services available for exchange runs the gamete.

"Language lessons, gardening, baby/child care, all kinds of household chores. Computer help is big, haircuts. Pet care is a big one. When people go away -- bringing in the mail, watering plants, basically, anything that you can think of that people do in everyday life," Ellin said.

"I needed a bookcase kit that was much too big for my car driven over here, so I went through the time bank members until I found someone with an SUV, and they drove me over to Target and drove me back here," member Janice St. Clair said.

She spent "time" with that trip and is earning time by teaching another time bank member -- Zug -- how to sew and mend. For the time Zug "spent" learning to sew from St. Clair, he earns a time bank hour by raking Ellin's leaves.

Ellin earns time to pay Zug with all the hours she puts in as the director of the time bank.

"It's a money saver. I don't have to pay someone to take the dog for a walk all the time," Guthrie said.

"With time banking, there's a way. Everyone has something to offer. Everyone has something to give," Ellin said.

In generations past, your neighbors might help you out with these kinds of things, but Ellin said people are so busy, you may not even know your neighbors.

With Time Banking, you not only get things done, you've created a whole new community of support.