Written by Jill Ettinger.

The Echo Park Time Bank doesn’t offer free checking or ATM cards. Rather, it connects members in the community for trades in goods, skills and time. In other words, I shine your shoes and you’ll shine my windows? Yep. Transaction complete.

By becoming a member at EPTB, you offer your services and skills and earn credit hours, which can be spent on services provided by other members.  Over 200 people have joined since its inception in 2008 and the EPTB receives nearly a dozen new members each month.

EPTB is just one of dozens of time banks around the country providing communities with ways to not only get to know each other, but to be able to afford a variety of services from dog walking and preparing meals to Web design, acupuncture, massage and crafts.

Time banks can be just amongst friends or grow to thousands of people like the Madison, WI time bank, which has over 1500 members throughout several communities. Not without challenges, learning to honor a new currency can lead to communication breakdowns and some members reneging on services, but those cases tend to occur less frequently the longer someone’s been involved.

In addition to saving money, which EPTB member Sarah McGowan, a copywriter and photographer in Silver Lake claims to be one of the greatest benefits of the Time Bank, she also praises the community and networking opportunities, “I’ve had a hugely better quality of life because of the Time Bank,” says McGowan. “You just can’t put a price on that.”

Learn how you can become a member or start your own time bank here!

Jill Ettinger is a Los Angeles based writer and photographer focused on wellness and world cultures. She is regularly featured on Reality Sandwich, Organic Authority, We Are Goodkin, She Knows, Modern Mystery, The Daily Glow, MTV and The Village Voice. Jill was published in the anthologies “Toward 2012: Perspectives on the Next Age” and “What Do You Believe?” jillettinger.com.

Images via Flickr user artwolf2009.