Sara Hartwin

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
the TimeBanks.org Map and Directory
hOurworld.org's searchable directory

TimeBank resources and platforms
LivingEconomies (New Zealand)
Hamlets software tool for TimeBanks (Europe)
Time2Connect (Australia)

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?

-in existing 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)?

Phil Stevens wrote:There are other software platforms that communities use for timebanking.

Thanks for the links! I added them to the wiki under TimeBank resources and platforms. Are those descriptions accurate?

Anne Miller wrote:New concept to me:  Time Banks where simple, neighborly exchanges where every hour helps someone else.

How many are there?

I put up a new wiki thread about time banks, Anne. Maybe the maps or Wikipedia article will help answer your question? It looks like there are multiple directories, and not all time banks are registered in the same place.

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
the TimeBanks.org Map and Directory
hOurworld.org's searchable directory

TimeBank resources and platforms
LivingEconomies (New Zealand)
Hamlets software tool for TimeBanks (Europe)
Time2Connect (Australia)

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?

-in existing 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)?

This video deals with how lime is used as a mortar in brick or stone buildings.
A key concept brought out here:
in general, the mortar is best mixed to be "weaker" (softer) than the brick or stone being used. The video explains why.



Stephen also helpfully compares and contrasts cement mortar with lime mortar mixes.

Jay Angler wrote: I personally, am trying to change that definition within myself, but I admit, am hoping that some of my attitude rubs off on some of the people I'm in frequent contact with.

That's it!
I'm hoping by exploring weird, unconventional permaculture stuff which satisfies and sustains me (feelings and reality) I become an example of unconventional prosperity.

Jay also wrote:even though they are gardening out of necessity, that they are enjoying the plants they grow.

(emphasis mine)
Oh, this distills it even further, thank you Jay! I want to explore how we can meld "pursuit of wealth" with "joy".
(Because many modern "pursuit of wealth" methods seem joyless to me.)

And I happen to think permaculture ways of living get us bigger "joyful wealth" returns.

I view money as a valuable resource. I just don't think it's the only resource that can be used as currency (Time banks, anyone?).But it seems to me our society is focused on it nearly exclusively.

What have you done this week that makes you feel richer?

My husband and I are trying to help a neighbor. As a result I reconnected with some old friends. My community just got bigger! I definitely feel... richer? Expanded, fuller, more satisfied - yeah! Richer!

Jay Angler wrote:Yesterday I made someone very happy and I feel richer for it. What have you done this week that makes you feel richer?

I've had a pair of pants put up in a drawer for I don't know how many years. I finally hemmed them this week, and now they're in regular rotation with the rest of my work pants. I chose to sew them by hand, and that makes wearing them extra-satisfying. They're comfy and lightweight, and I'll appreciate them this summer.

I think I am after a similar thing, Jay, or maybe the same thing?
It's not a fully-formed concept for me - it's all still swirling. But here's a bit of it....

I want to literally grow a wealth of abundance. Whatever the land might produce, might do well on our (my husband's and my) future land, I dream of fabulous fertile production. I envision sharing that abundance in my community. Maybe some of that abundance will even be exchanged for money (higher numbers in a bank account). But maybe it won't. Maybe it will be traded or gifted or reinvested or used up. Or like you did - put to use to enrichen someone else.

I have this idealized version of ancient traditional peoples, nomads whose wealth was counted in flocks and herds and access to wells (water), or more stationary people later on who had vineyards. Yes, it was their possessions. But it was also that their abundance fit their lifestyle and their community. And it was abundance that actually sustained them.

I think I'm trying to connect "prosperity" to "experiences" (versus "possessions"), as well. I'm not really interested in measuring the wealth. I'm really after a diversity of wealth. And I think the diversity includes using knowledge, skills, lived experience (another area I can get wealthy in? be prosperous in?) to expand experiences for me and others around me.

So for me it's a mix of redefining literal wealth (things that actually enrichen us, like 3 years' worth of stored grain in a multi-year drought), and stretching the "wealth" concept to include community connections and outreach gestures and kindnesses that fill us up.
Oh! and also removing shame from the equation - whether shame around prosperity or shame around poverty.

I think there is a connection between accruing this kind of wealth and refilling spoons.

Lime Mortar Types Explained: Essential knowledge for older UK buildings
Part 2 of Talking Conservation's Lime Series

By this video I was deep in the rabbit hole. They discuss air lime, natural hydraulic lime, pozzolans, and hybrid lime mixes. With bonus fermentation analogy!

Lime Mortar for Old Homes -- Chemistry, Conservation, and Why It Still Works

This illustrates the lime cycle so clearly!