Sorry I missed this one

There's a new ongoing swap and shop exchange held on the third Friday of each month at the Catalyst Community Space. The 710 Swap Party accepts clothes, books, DVDs, CDs, sports equipment and other items that are clean and in good condition. You can drop off items at the Space (430 E. First Street) at 6 pm. Or come by to shop at 7:10 pm. Everything wraps up by 9 pm.

Free Trade

Long Beach is about to join hip communities like West L.A. and Echo Park with its own Long Beach Time Exchange. Actually, time banks, community groups which enable members to earn "time dollars" for services provided to other members and then spend those "time dollars" for other services, are catching on around the country. The kickoff event for the L.B. Time Exchange will take place at the 2nd City Council District Art Gallery at 435 Alamitos on Sunday, September 12 from 1 to 4 pm. Besides learning about the time bank, people can enjoy free food, music, and comedy.

Fair Trade

In these cash-strapped times, I thought I'd put up links to some active bartering websites. There's a local group, Long Beach Barter Buddies that doesn't look very active, and of course there's Craigslist. Barterquest looks like it trades everything including the kitchen sink while Swaptree focuses on books, music, dvds, and video games. They're like eBay without Paypal.

Is this something you'd like to share?

In these cash strapped times, barter networks are popping up all over, and Long Beach has got one too. Long Beach Barter Buddies has a site on ning to trade things or services. There's lots of photos and about 20 members so far. It's great to know there's a local group like this to get involved with.