Valuing Sweat Equity: A Guide to the Ledger

Invisible labor destroys trust. The Ledger exists to make work visible.

What counts as hours?

This is for your community to decide, but we recommend valuing:

• Physical Labor: Gardening, building, cleaning.
• Emotional Labor: Conflict mediation, hosting meetings, onboarding new members.
• Administrative Labor: Accounting, software management, email coordination.

Hourly Rate vs. Credits

ARA allows you to set an "Hourly Value" (e.g., $20/hr) or use a "Timebank" model (1 hour = 1 credit). This helps you balance contributions. If someone pays less rent, they might contribute more hours to balance the ledger.