Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Barter and Swap
My little sister has one child and a lot of friends with little girls the same age as her daughter. They regularly get together and swap clothes. This makes it easier on all the mothers involved. They can take something their child is tired of and trade it for something else. Don't think of it as hand me downs but as "new to me." The rules are simple. Someone provides the place for the swap. The clothes must be clean and mended. Take only as many things as you brought in. Draw lots for first dibs and trading is allowed. This seems to work out for these ladies. My sister also swaps babysitting for favors like shopping trips. Since she doesn't have a car in exchange for baby sitting she gets rides back from the big supermarket. Sure beats paying for a cab. Another great source for stuff is freecycle.org. Here people list stuff that is no longer wanted. They list it on this site in order to keep it out of the landfill. I still have a gorgeous bed frame I got years ago. Craigslist is good too for finding unwanted stuff. I also use it for finding tag sales also. I may never buy new furniture again.
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You know, that's what people did years ago, before programs like welfare and WIC. Don't get me wrong, welfare and WIC are necessary, but there is something to be said for communities and people in the same situation bonding to help each other.
ReplyDeleteAlso there was a time when you could feed yourself with a kitchen garden. We may have to go back to that. I am ready to be able to do all sorts of things like that to make ends meet. I think that for the most part we have become too dependent on gas, electric and supermarkets. The lights went out up here this weekend and we had no power for a day and to be honest I didn't miss it. We spent the evening by the fire and candle light. We ate what we had and had a great time.
ReplyDeleteRight. It's like people used to actually sew buttons back on clothes when the buttons came off. Now they throw those clothes away. Heck, I've even moved buttons, imagine that.
ReplyDeletei can't tell you how many times, I have bought perfectly good stuff for pennies off its true value, because of missing buttons. Last year I bought a beautiful tweed coat that was missing a button. I paid a whole dollar There was an extra button in the lining, but I guess it was just easier to chuck it.
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