By Marianne Graff
Published on March 27, 2025
Photo credit: https://www.shareable.net/7-steps-to-help-you-start-time-banking-today/
What is Time Banking?
Time banking is the idea of swapping time and talents and skills instead of money. It allows people to exchange excess goods and materials as well as skills, for very little money, or for absolutely no money spent out of pocket.
This kind of trading has been around since time immemorial.
Photo credit: screenshot from the video of the interview with the founders of hOurworld, Linda Hogan and Terry Daniels
In modern times, apps and software have been developed to help track things digitally and conveniently, using cell phones and computers such as the free software for timebanks created by hOUrworld in the USA.
It’s a great way to build and strengthen community simply by sharing what you have and can do.
I think this idea would be great for single Moms. Imagine this: you could get childcare and perhaps tutoring classes once a week in exchange for something you find easy to provide, such as a homecooked meal delivered to an elderly person in the neighbourhood. It doesn’t take that much extra effort to make an extra portion when cooking a meal, and the benefits of having an hour or two of quiet time while your child is being looked after by a neighbour you trust so that you can work from home would be well worth the effort of cooking a bit extra, and far less expensive than paying out of pocket for a babysitter, if you are lucky enough to find one to hire.
Here is a short animated tutorial to explain the concept.
What are the Benefits of Time Banking?
I like how timebanking offers a way to value every member in a community, because everybody can do something to help someone else, even if that is something that isn’t often given value in mainstream economies.
Timebanking can include skills and abilities such as reading stories to children, giving extra plants from your house or the garden,knitting slippers for someone, or teaching someone how to make homemade pasta. These are not things you can readily find in Amazon.com or in a store downtown or a big box store,but they add a lot to the quality of life in a neighourhood.
In a sharing economy such as a timebank, almost anything can have value and be exchanged.
Here is how hOURBank , a UK based group, describes it:
“Here’s an example: Paul, a technology-prodigy wants to spruce up his garden, but he doesn’t know the difference between a weed and a wisteria. So Paul helps Matilda advance her computer skills, and in return Matilda helps Paul with his garden. The HOurBank treats every member equally, and encourages each person to get involved in their community. The social group increases self-confidence and employability whilst enabling cultural interchange and active citizenship.”
Some time banks operate on a 1:1 basis, as in one hour of one person’s time is worth one hour of another person’s time, meaning that one hour of a lawyer’s time is valued the same as one hour of childcare. Of course, adjustments can be made to the ration and value or merit points assigned to a particular skills if a community wishes, and participants only offer as many hours as they can spare, to keep the balance.
I really like the detailed explanation and interviews with participants in the time bank in this interview with the founders of hOurworld, which helps explain how to transition into a sharing econony and build resilience in a communities. This is a great resource for those seriously interested in exploring how to start a time bank in their area.
Here is an example of a timebank in Ireland.
What are the Downsides of Timebanking?
Below is another example of one community, Porirua East, Wellington, New Zealand, that has tried timebanking as an alternative economy in their community. However they noted they have had limited success.
Bloghttps://www.tehiko.org.nz/resource-hub/timebanking
They decided to implement timebanking because
“We believe that money isn’t the only way to measure value
We believe that time is a valuable resource which should be noticed and measured.
Everyone in a community has both something to offer and something they need in their lives – an economy is stronger when it is more inclusive of all of these things.
We also believe that interdependence helps an economy and community thrive, the time bank technology can help with interdependence, trust, and connection.“
However, the organizers of this timebank have noticed that the timebank in their community has not become as all encompassing as they had hoped, and is not becoming the primary infrastructure in their community, as has happened in other New Zealand communities. Their timebank is being primarily used to track hours on community projects rather than a way to exchange personal services and individual needs. The website notes that:
We brought our Timebank into projects where people are already contributing their time, which is where most hours are being logged. We haven’t seen many hours being logged outside of these projects for personal needs, which is how other time banks typically operate.
We’ve noticed that the community in Porirua East are more than willing to give up their time to help their community, but less willing to ask for help from others.
We still think that a Timebank is a really useful tool for thinking about alternative economies and local infrastructure. Our experience with the Timebank has reinforced our hunch that not every idea can be picked up and placed down in any community. We need to do some more work to tailor it to how our community works; what it needs, how we interact, our shared values. We are still trying to figure out how to tailor the Timebank to Porirua East for the people who are in this community.
Other timebanks in New Zealand have had a broader uptake of the idea, such as the Hutt Timebank, are thriving.https://hutttimebank.org/
“Created back in 2012, we’re now a registered charity with hundreds of members, and our passion for building connections in our community has grown as we have.
We have members all around the Hutt Valley and Wainuiomata, and while exchanging our time rather than money is a big part of what we do, in the end, it’s all about building connections in our community!”
I think that this idea has great merit, especially in times when there are disruptions of supply chains around the world and exorbitant import and export tarrifs and fees. There has never been a better time to share resources locally and help each other thrive.
How Can I Start a Time Bank in My Community?
I know a neighborhood in Vancouver that bartered and traded everything. The person I knew who lived there moved to that neighbourhood on purpose, in order to save money. She was a talented haridresser and she didn’t have to use money at all during the month, except to pay her rent, because the landlord didn’t live in the area and it was a LOT of money (rent is extremely expensive in Vancouver, Canada).
She said it started with a few neighbours who decided to trade some garden produce for services with other neighbours, and it grew from there to be all encompassing, with every household participing in an exchange of some sort.
So start with your own immediate neighbours. Maybe throw a potluck or a street BBQ and ask if anyone is interested in swapping goods and services, and what they have to offer.
Here is an article to help you get started.
If you are seriously considering this idea, here is a great interview with the founders and social architects of hOURworld, about how exactly to building a resilience in a community. They created free software to help you do this, developed in Portland Oregon, one of the strongest and most active time banks in the USA: