It's About TIME

The timebanking community has used the term Time Dollars (TD$) ever since the term was coined by Dr. Edgar Cahn.

In the beginning it was an easy way to convey the idea that one hour of time was equal to one Time Dollar, and that Time Dollars were the unit of currency in our economy.

It seems, however, that some confusion has arisen over the term. Sometimes people misunderstand it and confuse timebanking's Time Dollars (TD$) with actual dollars ($).

In order to reduce the confusion for regular people and the IRS, which has ruled that time cannot be taxed in a number of cases, we are changing the name of our unit of currency.

From now on, one hour is equal to one Time Credit. Nothing else changes: when members record transactions, they will do it in exactly the same way as before, recording the amount of time that was spent in providing a service to another member. Any TD$ that you had in your account are still there; they simply have a new name.

Using the term Time Credit will move the timebank currency away from the regular, or dollar, economy. It is a move that has happened in a number of timebanks, and I believe it will help the timebanking community to be more clear about how timebanking works; it's about TIME.

If you have any questions or concerns about this change, please let me know.

What's this I hear about a bonus?

A few of our members got a bonus this holiday season.

In mid-December, I posted an announcement on the Community Weaver home page. It was titled, "Earn a Holiday TD$!" and in it, I asked members to send an email to me with one idea for a community event they would attend.

In return, they received a Time Dollar.

The ideas submitted were excellent -- a good mix of things we have done with some success and some new things. Check them out:

• family friendly event (like a game night)
• potluck
• classes on DIY projects (scrape popcorn ceiling, lay wood flooring, refinish furniture, painting)
• trying out a new restaurant as a group
• attending a community event as a group (Ice Hawks hockey game,  theater or orchestra performance, perhaps even an outing to the Ice Bar in February)

See anything you like?  I hope so, as we will try to incorporate things like this into our calendar for 2013. If you like these ideas or have others, I am always interested in hearing from you at timetrader@familyservicerochester.org.

Keep your eyes peeled (always in the Announcements section of the home page) for new ways to earn Time Credits (more on that in a blog post soon) in 2013, and if you  see an opportunity, be sure to share it with your friends!