This is how it works

Anne pays John 20 BRICKS for an hours Maths tuition for her son, John uses those BRICKS plus some from his account to give Tom for decorating his hall, Tom uses some of those BRICKS to give Helen for free range eggs & Helen wants to buy a compost bin from Anne using BRICKS…and so on.

Members pay in BRICKS but if costs are incurred, this is paid in cash e.g. if you have trousers shortened, you will need to pay for or provide the cotton. Unlike normal bartering you don’t have to do a direct swap & can start trading even before you have any bricks. A small annual subscription covers hire of meeting room, postage & printing costs. LETS is open to all – individuals, families, skilled, unskilled, waged & unwaged. Groups meet regularly to exchange ideas & trade with each other. LETS is a very social & mutually rewarding enterprise.

Your offerings  - these are usually things you like doing, things you don’t mind doing to help someone out, or items you don’t want or need.

Your needs – these can be split into 2 categories, necessities (food, clothes etc)& luxuries (things that would improve your living conditions – or ideally, you would like someone to do for you e.g. mowing lawn, learning violin, computer tuition, cleaning out the guttering etc).