I went to my first swap this past April. I had heard of swaps but didn’t find one in my area until a friend found this one on a MeetUp page and told me about it.
Swap July 2013
The organizer set up a few guidelines and the rest is history. She holds it once a month.
There were a few guidelines to follow:
- No money was allowed – this is all about the trade and bartering with what you have for what you want/need.
- Items should be sustainably-minded. Something you have grown in your garden, something you conned/cooked/brewed/baked/preserved/dried, etc. Something your animals made (goat milk, hen eggs, lamb wool, etc.) Something you sewed/knitted/re-purposed, etc. Items to do with sustainable interests are also good (Mother Earth News magazines, cookbooks, cooking/camping gear, etc)
- The items you should leave at home: this is not a garage sale, items should be about sustainability. Leave the knick-knacks at home.
Once we set up, we were allowed 15 minutes to walk around and check out the items other people brought so we could see what we were interested in.
Lemon pickles, Dill pickles, Homemade Teriyaki sauce
Each month I have been posting about the swap over on my personal blog. About a month ago I realized that I hadn’t posted about the July swap and I thought it would be a good topic to post here. I have known the swap and barter system is out there and alive, and I realize that there may be others out there that are interested, but don’t know were to look or even how to get started.
Here are the other swap posts I have done”
- Swap and barter without money (May 2013)
- Swap and barter without money (June 2013)
- Swap and barter without money (August 2013
- Swap and barter without money (September 2013)
Here are a few places to look to find swaps in your area: Note: I will add additional information to this post as I find it or as people comment. (updated 19 Sept 2013)
- MeetUp
- Food Swap Network
- The Hip Girls Guide to homemaking
- Mile High Swappers (Colorado)
- Article in Grist magazine about swapping (April 2012)
- Backyard Barter (Seattle, Washington area)
Would you go to a swap if you had one in your area?
Are you participating in a swap in your area?
Please use the comments to let others know about how to find a swap. If you out there participating in a swap, please comment with the general area you are in and add a link to the swap information.
Sincerely, Emily
Not Dabbling In Normal 
What a great idea! We have seed swaps and plant swaps but nothing like this. I might have to send the idea through to our local sustainable group connected to the Tamar NRM (Natural Resources Management) group. Cheers for the idea Emily 🙂
Hi Fran – Sounds like a great place to start. Grab the part of rules that I put in the post, check out the other links that have swaps and grab their rules and info and use them as a guide and adapt them to what you want the swap to be. I would think if you have some other link-minded people in your area, and it sounds like you have some in the group you mentioned, a swap/barter could really take off! One stumbling block I have seen with a few of the other swaps in our area is finding a spot to hold it (free or reasonably inexpensive – spread the cost between the participants.) weather pending, it doesn’t have to be indoors. The one I go to is outside under the shade of cedar trees. With the right permission, It could be a church, a community center and senior activity center, a park, the school gym. Many of our Home Owners Associations have parks within the neighborhoods. Some have outdoor covered pavilions, (some have indoor facilities to rent). In our neighborhood, you must reserve the outdoor pavilion, (I can’t remember if there is a cost). I would just need to make sure the swap was withing the rules of the HOA and park use.
A few of the plant swaps in our area rotate to different houses.
The Tamar NRM have their own city space where they have their swap meets so finding somewhere to have it won’t be a problem. Cheers for the rules etc. 🙂
I have just updated this post – added a few more links to some swaps/barter happening. Please comment and share a link if you have a swap/barter happening in your area.