Mark and I are on a little getaway – an early anniversary trip while the kids are with grandparents.
We thought about driving to California to escape the heat, but ultimately decided to save the money and do a stay-cation. Mark got a $40-night Priceline deal on a great place in Fountain Hills.
Yesterday we finally went and saw Dark Knight (awesome!) and went out to dinner before coming back to the room.
One of the fun parts, at least for me, of a hotel stay is that I get to watch cable TV. We haven’t had cable in about 3 years and while I’m really fine without it, I do miss HGTV and a couple other stations.
Well last night we happened on a show on A&E called Barter Kings. Have you seen it?
Basically two friends have a business called Express Trade in which they barter goods. They’ll start out with something small, like a digital camera they bought from someone for $150, and trade it up over and over until they get something they can sell for a good amount of cash. One of the shows had this trade path – compound bow ($100 outlay) for a commercial deep fryer, which he traded for a go-cart. The $1200 go-cart was traded for Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine which they sold for $2,500.
Fifteen minutes into the first episode I could see the wheels turning in Mark’s head.
Uh-oh.
“Honey, look – they have a WAREHOUSE!”
He said not to worry, he’s just thinking maybe he can get something interesting for some of his golf clubs.
A quick glance at Craigslist barter page and it appears our options might be an outdated computer, dental implants (if we’ll travel to Vegas) or a size 6 wedding dress.
Nevertheless I’m kind of intrigued. Never know when you might get something useful.
Have you ever bartered for anything?
I barter for things all the time. Editing work for eggs. Some weeding for a shirt. The lipstick that doesn’t work on me for my friend’s help in dying my hair.
I wish we had a barter economy in fact. Would be fun . . .
I agree! I’m going to start thinking this way more I think.
i admired a necklace a friend made. she said she would give it to me in exchange for a zippered pouch i made. then, a baker friend made and took cupcakes to another friend in the hospital with cancer. when i asked how much i owed, she said she wanted one of the camera straps i make. i like bartering!