This Wiki provides a general overview of the formal, organized Timebanking concept.
Time is a valuable, finite resource.
We talk about time with some of the same words we use to talk about money:
we "save" time
we "spend" time
time is "precious"
we "have plenty" of time
there's "not enough" time
and so on.
Some communities set up formal, organized time exchanges where they trade time as a currency. These exchanges are called "time banks" (or Timebanks or TimeBanks).
TimeBanks connect members' needs with other people's skills, experience, and time.
Members "bank" time credits (usually as hour or partial-hour units) by providing their skills to other members. They can then spend banked time credits on their own needs, "buying" other members' skills and time.
This is a structured way to build community, create networks, meet needs, and receive help.
For example,
the Kent, Ohio, USA community describes their TimeBank this way:
Wikipedia's definition and brief history of Timebanking as of May 2026:
Timebanking is a community development tool and works by facilitating the exchange of skills and experience within a community. It aims to build the 'core economy' of family and community by valuing and rewarding the work done in it. The world's first timebank was started in Japan by Teruko Mizushima in 1973[26] with the idea that participants could earn time credits which they could spend any time during their lives. She based her bank on the simple concept that each hour of time given as services to others could earn reciprocal hours of services for the giver at some stage in the future, particularly in old age when they might need it most. In the 1940s, Mizushima had already foreseen the emerging problems of an ageing society such as seen today. In the 1990s the movement took off in the US, with Dr Edgar Cahn pioneering it there, and in the United Kingdom, with Martin Simon from Timebanking UK and David Boyle, who brought in the London-based New Economics Foundation (Nef).
To find a TimeBank near you, check out
hOurworld.org's MAP of TimeBanks
or
the TimeBanks.org Map and Directory
or
hOurworld.org's searchable directory.
Would you like to organize a TimeBank in your community?
hOurworld's First Steps guide
TimeBank Toolkit hosted on github (New Zealand-focused)
Starting a TimeBank in the UK
Further points to ponder
How does this concept fit permie priniciples?Are there any gaps a formal TimeBank might fill in existing permie communities?How might we further "permie-fy" this concept?In other words, can we be even lazier about this but get the same benefits through permaculture practices?
-when starting up new TimeBanks?
What are your experiences with TimeBanks?How different is this structured version from what we naturally end up doing in communities (trading, bartering, helping neighbors)? 
