Swap til You Drop!

The Newest Trend, that I just came up with, but you should totally get into… SWAP PARTIES!

You ever want new stuff, but not want to pay for new stuff? Or see really cool stuff at your BFFs apartment and think… she needs to let me have that? This is me, ALL THE TIME. When we moved into our new home two things happened. We got rid of things and we bought new things. When we were purging our first apartment and preparing for a new, larger space we decided to get a mostly fresh start. While there were some pieces that definitely had seen much better days, there were many items that were still awesome, but didn’t fit into our new life. You know what I did with them? Gave them away. Mostly to my Momma because she helped with packing, and thus had first dibs, but before I knew it chairs, knick-knacks and accessories had found a new loving home.

At my new home as the new furniture pieces mingled with the older ones, things started to feel… empty. We had something to sit on, with had something to watch, we had somewhere to lay, but we were missing all the things that made it feel like home. So, I did what any normal person would do. I went shopping, at my Momma’s house. One thing my Momma knows how to do is make a house feel like home. She also enjoys changing her décor with the season. She is always on the hunt for new things all year long. Her garage is filled with tote after tote of decoration from “Winter” to “Christmas”, because those are two completely different looks in her home. I could think of no other place for inspiration and starter items. I mean I had just given her some great furniture, the least she can do is do a swap. I started small. I commented on some things she had that I liked and other things I just decided to call mine. Christmas was coming up and I knew she was in the middle of a color transition with her decorations. So long traditional green and red, hello to hues of blues and creams. I politely asked her to pack up all the items she knew she would not be using that season and donate them to my “I just moved into a new house and have no extra money to make it look beautiful” efforts.

You know what happened? Swapping Magic. I spent maybe $15 dollars this year in the Target dollar section, mixed it with the stuff she gave me, added my three items that I kept from the prior year and bam! I had enough decoration to deck my halls with boughs of holly. All I could think is, what keeps us from doing this all the time? What stops us from using preowned things from our friends and family. Pride? It can’t be not wanting something used. Thrifting and consignment is such a hot thing. But shouldn’t we be catching these deals before they ever hit the racks, way before they are being marked up and snatched right from our grasp. I’m not saying go over your co-worker’s house with auction tags and claim her sconces from the wall. However, if you are helping your friend reorganize her office and she is tossing things in the trash bin that can adorn your nearly empty cubicle, don’t let your pride stop you from grabbing the goods. Start with your inner circle. Have a Swapsgiving, a Swapsmas or bring in a Happy Swap Year. Gather your crew, bring an item or two that you like, but no longer love, and hope that someone decides to give it a new home. Best case scenario, you go home with some new curtains. Do you know how expensive curtains are? That would be a steal! Worst case scenario you go home after laughing and enjoying yourself with the same item you brought because no one wants the apple shaped napkin holder you made in eight grade wood shop. Not even your mother, which is how you ended up with it after all this time.

Let’s make “Swap til you Drop” the new thing. The more you swap the less you shop. The less you shop, well, the more you shop… but for different things. I don’t know about you, but I need all the money I can save for purchasing the un-swappable things in life, like Starbucks. Lots and lots of Starbucks.