I don’t know about you but our house collects lots of stuff. Stuff we don’t use, want or even need. It is like a creeping ivy that seems to end up filling every cupboard or bit of free space there is.
Up till now our favoured method of getting rid of this “stuff” has been the local charity shop. Some years ago I did try Car Boot Sales but to be hones I found them hard work and lonely affairs as I seemed to end up holding the fort on my own,while other family disappeared off and brought even more rubbish to take home..
Recently I was speaking to a friend who lives overseas and she seems to have a much better way of dealing with unwanted goods. She and her group of friends have swapping parties. Nothing saucy you understand. Every couple of months they get together for supper at someone’s house and bring all the stuff they no longer like, need, or want.Items typically include, shoes, clothes, jewellery, ornaments, crockery, in fact anything someone wants rid of.
The thing is what is one mans junk is another mans treasure, or so my friend has found. She has acquired, shoes, jewellery a dress and a set of casserole dishes, all over a nice informal supper of "shopping swapping" where no money changes hands Anything not selected is taken straight down to the charity shop the next day. What a great idea.
This gave me another thought. Our Busy Mums Marketplace could also be a place where people not only sell or promote their own products or services, but swop or donate things they no longer need. Advertising on it is free, and you never know you might end up with something for nothing which is pretty unusual in this day and age.