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 ...

Coming Soon: A Community Weaver mobile app!

NSF award supports Carroll's creation of mobile time banking app

Many people have asked me about an app for Community Weaver, and it is so exciting to announce that one is in the works. Click the link for more details, and I will keep you posted. This is another exciting way we can stay connected, interact in real time, and further strengthen our community.

Seeing Offers and Requests as soon as they are posted -- RSS Feeds

Because access to Community Weaver 2.0 (CW2.0) requires a log in, it is difficult to set up an RSS feed in a standard feed reader such as Google Reader. However, I believe Time Trader Rob has found a workaround, at least for those who use Mozilla Firefox as their web browser. (Thanks Rob, for your patience and help on this issue!)

If you use Firefox, you can download an "add-on" that allows you to receive notifications of new Service Offers and Service Requests as they are posted in CW2.0. The notifications appear as a "ticker," a scrolling bar across the bottom of your screen, and are visible as you surf the web on Firefox.

You must have Firefox open and be logged in to your CW 2.0 account at timetrader.timebanks.org
If you are using your personal computer (not a shared or public computer), I would recommend allowing Firefox to store your log in information so that you will automatically be logged in to CW2.0 whenever you open Firefox. This should enable you to move to the next step, downloading the add-on.

It is called "RSS Ticker" and here is the URL:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/rss-ticker/

On the page, click the green box that says "Add to Firefox."
Once it downloads it will prompt you to restart Firefox.

Instructions for using the add-on are located at:

http://www.chrisfinke.com/firstrun/rss-ticker.php?v=12

Once you have restarted Firefox, you should be able to go the Time Trader homepage at timetrader.timebanks.org and look in the blue bar at the top. On the right side there are a number of links. Click on "Recent Offers," then go to "Bookmarks" in your menu bar at the top and click on the RSS feed icon where it says "Subscribe to this page." Do the same thing with the link next to it that says, "Recent Requests."

If that does not work, you may have to add the URL of the feed manually. Email timetrader@familyservicerochester.org with the subject line RSS FEED and explain that you have tried to add the RSS feeds but you need the URLs. I will send them in an email along with brief instructions about how to enter them to receive the feeds.

Once the feed starts working, the request titles will scroll across the bottom of your screen. You must click on each individual offer title. This will bring up the offer or request in CW2.0 and then the title will disappear from the ticker. The first time you do this, ALL existing requests or offers will appear, so you will need to click on each one and look at the listing. After that, each new offer or request will scroll across and you will be sure that it is brand new.

I do apologize that this requires such effort on your part, but since RSS feeds were designed for publicly viewable information on the web to be shared, it is difficult to make them work within the privacy settings we have set up in Community Weaver for the safety and peace of mind of our members.

Again, right now I can recommend this as a solution only for those members who use Mozilla Firefox as their web browser. I will continue to look for other solutions for the rest of you, and if you are a member who has a solution, please let me know. I will pay you Time Credits for explaining it to me.

I do the best I can to reach members as many ways as possible and to make it as convenient as possible for members to access Community Weaver 2.0 and to remain active and engaged in the community. If you have ideas or suggestions about how I can do that more efficiently or effectively, please do let me know by emailing me at timetrader@familyservicerochester.org.

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.

Top Ten Tips for Navigating Community Weaver

1.    Sign In

• Get your username and temporary password from the email notifying you your account has been activated
• Go to www.timetrader.timebanks.org
• Enter your username and password under “User login” (upper right)
• Click the log in button.

2.    Edit your User Account and Profile

• Click the Edit User Account link in the left sidebar under your name. Change your password and upload a picture of yourself if you wish. Make sure your address and phone number appear as you wish other Time Traders to see them. Click Save.
• Click My Account above your name or in the tabs on the upper right again.
• Looking at the left sidebar under your name, scroll down until you see Edit Profile Details and click on it. Edit those portions of your profile, including your general availability and adding any links such as your personal blog, your business website, or your Twitter handle. Your phone number and email address will be made public unless you uncheck the boxes. Click Save.

3.   View Other Members’ Profiles

•  Mouse over the Give & Receive tab (upper right) and then click View All Members on the pulldown menu.
• Click anywhere in a row to see a specific member’s profile OR use the boxes (Member Name, Neighborhood, Affiliations) and click Search to sort by those values.

4.   Locate an Offer / Request

• Click on the Give & Receive tab to get to the Time Bank Marketplace.
• You can locate a service offer or request by clicking a specific category link to view those listings (i.e. Child Care, Events, Lessons, etc.). You could also click the Browse All Requests or Browse All Offers link (upper center), OR click the Search All Service Ads link to use a keyword search for service ads. 
• When you find an interesting ad, press the more… link for a fuller description.
• If you want to reply to the ad, click on Respond to this Post. That opens a draft reply message form. Use a short form of the Request or Offer title as your subject. (i.e. If the Request is “Can you make cinnamon rolls?” your subject should be “cinnamon rolls.”) Write a brief message asking for the service or offering your service, list your availability, and the best way to contact you. Include your phone number if that is your preferred form of communication.
• Click Send Message to send.
• When you reply to an ad, the other person gets an email inviting him/her to visit the TimeBank website to read the message. When he/she responds to your initial response, you’ll get a notice via email as well. This will go back-and-forth until the two of you settle on a date and time for the service.

5.   Set Up an Exchange

• All emails are sent and received via the TimeBank website. When someone responds to your ad, you will get an email inviting you to go to the TimeBank website for the response. 
• Click the link in the email to go directly to your Message Center Inbox, or go to www.timetrader.timebanks.org/ to sign in. Mouse over the My Account tab and then click My Messages.
• Each row in your Inbox contains a summary of the emails pertaining to a specific ad. Mouse over the topic you wish to see until it becomes underlined, then click on it to see all the emails about a particular service exchange.
• You’ll see all the emails you have exchanged about the ad, and a white box labeled “Message”. Type your reply in the box, and when it is ready to send, click Send Message.

6.   Record Your Hours

• Once an exchange has been completed, you need to record hours for it. The simplest way to do this is to go the Service Offer or Request itself and first make note of the category of service, found on the right under the words “See similar ads from these categories”. Just above that, click on Record Hours for this listing.
• Click the button to indicate the appropriate Service Category
• The current date is the default. If the service was performed on a different day, enter the correct date. Please enter all transactions for a month by the 7^th of the following month so that Board Numbers are correct.
• Enter the names of the Provider and Recipient of the Service in the appropriate boxes. Time Credits (TC) will go from the Recipient to the Provider.
• Enter a description of the service.
• Enter the number of whole hours in the first box next to Number of Hours. If the time includes a fraction of an hour, enter it using the pulldown menu, choosing .25, .50, or .75.
• If all information is correct, click Record an Exchange. It will subtract the TC from the person who received the service and add them to the person who provided the service. The math will work correctly regardless of who records the hours.
• This triggers an email notification to both parties to ensure accountability. Occasionally hours are recorded incorrectly. If you get billed incorrectly, send a message to the TimeBank Coordinator to dispute your bill.

7.   Place an Offer / Request

• Mouse over the My Account tab, then click on My Services.
• Select Post a new Offer of a Service or Post a new Request for a Service, depending on what you want to add (a request or an offer).
• Click on the appropriate Service Category from the menu.
• Fill in the information: Ad Title, Description, and Availability. The default expiration (3 months) will appear; if you want the ad to expire prior to that, change it now. If you prefer to be contacted by phone, include your phone number in the description. The software hides all phone numbers automatically.
• Click the Preview button to see how your ad will appear. If it looks the way you want it to, submit it by clicking Save.

8.   Edit or Stop an Offer / Request

• Mouse over the My Account tab and click on My Services.
• Click the ad you want to change, and click the edit button.
• Ads expire automatically after 3 months. In order to reactivate them, simply find them in Expired Service Ads and edit the expiration date.

9.   View Account Activity

• Mouse over the My Account tab, then click on My Hours.

10.   Exit the System

• Click the log out button (top right of main page) and that’s it!

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!

Is it OK to have a negative balance?

In a word, yes.

In our timebank, we offer the opportunity for people to earn Time Dollars (TD$) for attending an orientation, filling out an application, and completing their online profile. That means members start out with currency and, we hope, are inspired to jump right in and start trading.


As our user agreement states, we ask that members participate in both giving and receiving services on a regular basis because a healthy economy depends on circulating currency.

On occasion, though, we end up in circumstances where we come up a little short. Maybe we make arrangements for a trade that we think will use 4TD$ but it actually takes 5 hours to get the job done, and we only have 4TD$. Or perhaps we get injured and can't earn TD$ for a time, and we end up spending all we have to get help. However it happens, we can end up with a TD$ balance that is negative.

There is NO PENALTY for this. A timebank isn't like a regular bank. We are not a money-making entity. We do not charge overdraft fees.

Each timebank handles negative balances differently; in Time Trader, the Coordinator may contact you after you reach a -5TD$ balance. This would be a reminder call, perhaps with a few suggestions of how you can earn a few TD$ to move you out of negative territory. But the negative balance is not necessarily viewed as a negative thing in the timebank; in Time Trader, a negative balance is simply viewed as a commitment to the timebank. If you carry a negative balance, the timebank trusts that, since you have benefited from the collective skills and talents of the timebank, that you will share your skills and talents with the timebank and eventually bring your account into balance again.

If you find yourself in a situation where you need more TD$ than you have in your account, please contact the Coordinator. We do have a Community Fund to help people in cases like that, and it is partly filled by donations from the community. So if you have a LOT of TD$, you can donate them to the Community Fund at any time. Use the regular "Record an Exchange" feature in the "Give and Receive" tab in Community Weaver or contact the Coordinator.