ジャッキーの これ、どう思う？ While we're on the topic ...

A playful written contract between Jackie and her hair stylist friend. JACKIE HOFFART PHOTO

Since I graduated from film school a couple months ago, I have spent a significant amount of time working for free in order to meet people who might hire me in the future. I've been able to find some paid work, but it hasn't amounted to what I consider a proper income yet.

So I've had to get creative to make ends meet and I've turned to the barter system, or in-kind trades. It all started with a haircut.

I have a friend who is a hair stylist, and she offers an in-home hair-cutting service to her friends at a cheaper rate than in her salon. But recently even that has been out of my reach financially so she suggested that she would be happy to do a trade.

At first I didn't think I could provide anything that would be worth a haircut, so I asked my friend if she had ideas. She said she could really use help organizing some of the more cluttered rooms in her house. I'm really good at that kind of stuff (and also enjoy it), so I jumped at the opportunity.

Then, we had to figure out a way to measure the trade. We agreed that one haircut is roughly equal in value to three hours of "organizational good times with Jackie." It could be that I'm undervaluing my services, but being organized is just something that I have "within me," whereas cutting and styling hair is something my friend has trained for, so I think it's a fair swap.

This initial trade was a huge success. I helped my friend to reorganize her spare bedroom and set up a crafting area. It felt good to be able to hang out with my friend and help her with a skill I have, trading it for a skill she has. We've agreed to continue with this swap every month, which means I will probably receive even more haircuts than I normally would have.

I started to realize that a lot of the things I've been doing lately were actually part of the barter system. I've been trading my time for things. For example, I volunteer at a local movie theater on Monday nights and in exchange I get free tickets to that cinema (and its sister cinema a few blocks away) whenever I want. That's a really worthwhile trade for me because, again, it's only a few hours of my time (about four hours per shift, and I work with fun people), in exchange for as many $12 (¥960) movie tickets as I want.

There are things I do just as a friend that also belong to this new economy: Twice in the past month I've helped a friend move by renting a car (from the car co-op I belong to), in exchange for the price of the rental and a free brunch to thank me for my time. It's fun to help out and spend time with my friend and, even though she bears the financial burden, she gets a hand with the move from a friend, and saves on transport costs.

My hair stylist friend spoke so highly of my organizational skills that a mutual friend has requested my help to tidy her house. In exchange, she will give me advice about healthy meal-planning for one.

I often eat on the go, or I eat the same thing over and over again, and am not paying enough attention to things like vitamins in my diet. This new client/friend of mine is a very good cook and said she would be glad to make that trade.

After recently recounting to my cousin that I have been trading my organizing and cleaning skills for different things, she decided to hire me straight-up for my skills. She wants me to come to her house for 10 hours over the next couple of weeks and sort out her basement office in exchange for cash. It's tough to have to monetize myself, but I'm sure we can figure something out.

It's so funny that as I try to eke out a living outside of the formal workforce, partially in order to keep myself available for film and TV projects, that I might have accidentally fallen into a side business of, how would we call it ... domestic organizing! I was thinking about a business card I could make to suit both my film work and this new barter stuff that would simply say: "Jackie Hoffart. Organized and Creative."

Next time my topic is ... avoiding my neighbor