Monday, April 10, 2006

Swapping Services

As a money saving tip, some of my more frugal friends here in the pf blogging community suggested swapping services with other people. I've 'hired' friends to do work for me. During law school, I paid a friend to move some of my stuff from Peoria to Chicago at the end of a summer internship. More recently, I asked a friend's cousin to do some major touch up work on a group photo. Afterwards, I gave her a gift certificate in the amount that I would've had to pay to a local photography center for the same services.

I get asked to help babysit, or do some research on a specific topic, or negotiate major purchases, or for rides to and from the airport or to accept delivery of a package because my building has a doorman. And last week I mentioned that I'm often times called upon to serve as tech support. And sometimes I'll lend tools or equipment to people. But that's more along the lines of doing a favor for a friend or family member.

So I'm wondering if any of you readers out there actually 'swap' services on a more frequent or regular basis? Do you have a formal arrangement with a friend to cut his or her hair if he or she will babysit your kids one night a week? Just curious.

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