Time Trader Spotlight: Brittany Bakes (and more!)

 Time Traders often ask to see photographs of the work people offer in Community Weaver. It makes sense -- if someone is offering to make something, seeing a photo of their past work can help you decide if they are the right person for the job.

Periodically we will feature Time Traders here, offering descriptions of their Service Offers along with photos of their past creations. If you are a Time Trader with a talent you'd like to see in the Spotlight, email your photos to timetrader@familyservicerochester.org along with any descriptive information you'd like included. If you have been happy with a service provided by a Time Trader, please feel free to email the same address and any photos you may have along with a request that they be Spotlighted. We will be happy to post these items to encourage the community to take advantage of all the amazing talent Time Trader has to offer!

Today we are going to look at Time Trader Brittany, who has been a member since May 2012. She is unfailingly positive and enthusiastic, and has been a great addition to our community. Here, in Brittany's words, is a description of her experience as a Time Trader:

As far as what inspired me [to join], I was a new member to the area, wanted a way to meet more people. I have always volunteered in different facets and thought this was a great way to continue that, but also got a reward for volunteering.

Trades I've done:

- made frozen meals

- made thank you cards/every day cards

- pet sitting

- watered plants

- cleaned a garage

- made treats for parties, baked a cake

- called inactive members

- Family Service Rochester 2012 Father's Day celebration help

- helped pack up things for someone selling house

- helping someone place a Craigslist ad

- dining group

I have spent Time Credits on scrapbooking, graphic design, having my closet organized, and mending, to name a few.

Time Trader feels like a reward system to me. I can do things I like and in exchange have others help me with things I don't like so much or help accomplish tasks I've been meaning to get too. Especially when I can make treats and cakes, because I enjoy making them, but don't want to eat them all myself. It's been a great way to also get out in the community and meet all kinds of individuals.

Brittany has traded several times with Time Traders John and Sandy, and they have wonderful things to say about her:

We met Brittany shortly after she joined Time Trader last spring.  She proved a wonderful resource for plant care both inside and outside while we travel.

In November 2012, we were able to request her baking skills. That resulted in a yellow cake with caramel frosting for John's 70th birthday reminiscent of his childhood birthday cakes.  Brittany added colorful balloons and his aunt's words "John you'll always be young!" to the cake.

Then in February we enjoyed Pi Pizza at the dining event she initiated - and we made another TT contact.

PS: Her boyfriend, Mike, came over and in one visit fixed a bathroom fixture problem, a computer problem and gave me a simple fix to an electrical problem.  

Here's a photo of Brittany with John's birthday cake -- be sure to say hello if you see her at a member gathering!

Searching for a member and more on affiliations

Now that the most recent changes to Community Weaver have been implemented, I want to go over the changes in how you can search for a member. You can click on the Time Trader banner above to open Community Weaver in a new window. Once you have logged in, hover your mouse over the "Give & Receive" tab and click on "View All Members."

This will bring up the active member roster, organized alphabetically by member's first name. Clicking on any of the blue column headings will change the way the information is sorted. For example, click "Name" and the arrow pointing down, and the list will start at first names beginning with Z and work backwards through the alphabet. Click "Joined" and you can see who joined first, or who has most recently joined and might be interested in an exchange to get started.

The white boxes above can also be useful in narrowing a search. Use the "Neighborhood" search if you are looking for someone in your community or neighborhood, perhaps for pet sitting or to help with a quick project.

I want to be sure to call your attention to the "Affiliations" box: in fact, you may want to log in and make sure that yours are current. Affiliations are community groups and organizations you belong to or are affiliated with, such as churches, civic groups, scouting organizations, schools, employers and charitable organizations that you may volunteer with. You can list multiple affiliations. To do this, log in and click the "My Account" tab. Though it doesn't look like it, you can click the actual words, "My Account." Looking at the box on the left (where you can upload a photo if you wish), scroll down until you see the words "Edit profile details" and click on them.

The first big white box is the Affiliations box. Scroll down and click on something you are affiliated with. If you want to be affiliated with more than one thing, you must then HOLD DOWN THE CONTROL (CTRL) KEY AS YOU CLICK. This will allow you to highlight multiple affiliations. If you would like to see additional affiliations, please let me know via email and I will add them.

Why are affiliations helpful? Well, if someone new to Time Trader is looking for a ride to church, they can search who is affiliated with that church and see who might just be going there anyway. If someone is looking to join an organization, they could look to see if any of the people they have traded with is already part of that group and perhaps could provide an introduction or answer questions.

As you scroll further down, check your availability, your birthday and year (which will not be public but helps me with demographics), your "About Me" box, add your Twitter URL or your website URL, and click "Save." Don't forget to click "Save!"

If you use Twitter, let me know. If we have enough interest we could perhaps create a unique hashtag that would let Time Traders communicate in a more immediate fashion.

Affiliations: what are they and why should I use them?

When you log in to Community Weaver (CW) at timetrader.timebanks.org there are a lot of options for you, and a lot of potential pieces of information you can share with other members of the timebank. Keep in mind that any information you put into CW is accessible only to those people who have become members of Time Trader.

Let's talk about some of that information. Click on the tab that says “My Account”. Look to the left side of the screen, in the white rectangle where your profile photo is. (Don't have a profile photo? Add one before May 15, send me an email telling me you did so, and I will credit your account 1 Time Credit!)If you scroll down to the bottom of the white rectangle you will see the words, “Edit Profile Details” in blue. Click on them.

On the next screen, if you scroll down just a bit, there is a thin gray line making a box that is titled “Networks.” Within that is a box titled “Affiliations.” These are community groups and organizations that you may have ties to – schools, churches, civic groups, etc. in alphabetical order. You may click on more than one, you just have to hold down the CONTROL key as you do so, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click “SAVE.”

Affiliations are useful in Time Trader because people can search with them. Thus, if someone needs a ride to a particular church, they can search for people who are already going there to get a ride. Similarly, you can look at affiliations to see if there are people who belong to a particular civic group or who are affiliated with a school or community activity about which you may want information or which you find trustworthy. Want information about getting your child involved with a 4H or scouting group? Trying to decide between two people who offer the same thing? You could use their affiliations (or their location, or their availability) as the tie breaker.

Affiliations are one more way for you to tell people who you are and what is important to you. The more information you share, the more likely you are to find people who wish to exchange services with you.

Questions? Comments? Want a particular affiliation added to Community Weaver? Contact the Coordinator at timetrader@familyservicerochester.org.

Turn Your To-Dos into Ta-Das!

I am a list maker. I LOVE lists. Sometimes I do something, realize it wasn't on my list, write it down, and then cross it off. I like to see the progress I am making, even if it is slow. A friend called this To-Dos and Ta-Das and I adopted it for myself. Who doesn't love saying, "Ta-da!" when they finish a task?

I challenged members to make a list of things they want or need to do. A number of members responded -- and I edited them so all were in the same basic format and grouped them according to category. The italicized titles in parentheses are where I grouped them in Community Weaver's categories. You may feel like some should be in other places -- this is why I ask everyone to look at multiple categories when looking to have an exchange -- we all file things a little differently in our own systems.

To see the categories, visit timetrader.timebanks.org and log in. Then click the tab marked "Give and Receive." Click on the white letters on the tab, not on one of the pulldown menu items. This will bring up what used to be called the Marketplace. You can view all categories and subheadings there.

These are not current offers or requests on CW, but they COULD be. If you have some items here, you could post a request to cross something off. If you look through the list and see things you could do, think about posting an offer.

ORGANIZING (Help at Home > Housekeeping/Chores)

 organize/clean out the kids room 

 organize closet with the shelves

 come up with a good system for sorting, organizing and filing our mail (crap) right away

 

SPRING CLEANING (Help at Home> Housekeeping/Chores)

 clean everything on shelves in laundry/boiler room

 clean out and organize the side room

 thoroughly clean extra room which has housed dusty cat litter box

 dust picture frames on the wall 

 wash fronts of kitchen cabinets

 wash contents of china cabinet

 purge clothes, kids'  toys/clothes & stuff from basement

PARTY PLANNING (Recreation> Events)

plan a 1st Communion

HOME IMPROVEMENT (Home > Painting)

find a painter for the house

paint upstairs family room

touch up the paint in my kitchen 

HOME DECOR (Home > Miscellaneous) 

decide on carpet to replace in entry stairway

get house ready for selling

YARD & GARDEN (Home > Garden & Yard Work)

design front landscaping

COMPUTER TASKS (Business Services > Clerical)

put left-over garage sale stuff on Craigslist

PHOTO PRESERVATION (Arts, Crafts & Music > Photo & Video)

organize my scrapbooking projects

scan all old photos into digital format

ATHLETIC GEAR (Recreation > Sports)

tune up bicycle

wax, tune up snowboard

COOKING AND BAKING (Help at Home > Cooking & Sewing)
make up 5-7 freezer meals 
create some quick fix meals (frozen)

bake banana bread

ERRANDS (Help at Home > Miscellaneous)

bring donations to Goodwill

SEWING (Help at Home > Cooking & Sewing)
get some clothes sewn
make/buy curtain for bedroom

CHILD CARE (Help at Home > Child Care)

need someone to hold a baby so I can get a few things DONE around the house

get birth announcements out

write and send thank you cards

WEIGHT LOSS (Wellness > Diet & Nutrition)

find a weight loss partner

There it is, a list of potential requests and inspiration for offers on Community Weaver. Are you a great organizer? Love to paint? Want the opportunity to hold and snuggle a baby for a few hours? Enjoy planning parties and celebrations? Have a great scanner for those precious family photos? What can you offer this community?

Don't forget, it's March Madness here at Time Trader, so any exchange completed between members in March and recorded on or before April 8 earns you DOUBLE Time Credits.

Next month, we'll talk about spending those Time Credits ...