Swapping

If you have been following my blog for awhile now, you know I have been on a quest to get rid of all the unused excess in my house.  Each time I think I'm done, I start over a couple months later.  It's definitely not an overnight process to rid a 4 person household of everything unnecessary.  I've probably made 25 trips to Goodwill in the past 2 years, had a garage sale this past spring, and am planning another at the end of the week.  I am about 90% satisfied that we now only own things we actually use and/or enjoy.  If we (mostly me) can just keep from bringing too much into the house that is unnecessary.  My husband said to me this weekend, "Things are for utility. If it isn't something that will be used or enjoyed, it shouldn't be purchased."  That isn't rocket science, but I get so caught up in eye-catching items.  I'm a work in progress, but I think I'm finally getting to that internal point where I just don't want to spend money on things that I know I don't really need.  Plus, I'm learning that 5 minutes after I leave a store without the item, I have already forgotten it even existed.

Previously, I was never able to utilize the swap sites on Facebook because of where we lived.  I didn't want strangers to drive out to our house, but I also didn't think it made any sense to spend gas money to meet them somewhere.  Thus, everything went to Goodwill for ease. 

Now that we live in town, I have been taking advantage of the swap site.  This particular site is so crowded that the admin stopped letting anyone else into it.  I have sold about a dozen items so far and have been amazed at how easy the process is.  I'm only selling things that I can get at least $5 for, because I don't think it's worth my time for anything less. 

My favorite thing about the swap sites though, is knowing that someone else is going to use an item that has just been sitting around in my house, unused.  I sold a very nice Land's End rain coat last week.  I bought it 5-7 years ago.  It was pricey, but very well made.  Sadly, I can only recall wearing it one time.  I had been debating getting rid of it for about the past 2 years.  The first time that I decided to go ahead and get rid of it, my husband strongly encouraged me to keep it because it was so nice and was purposeful.  But, another year went by and I never wore it.  When I go out in the rain I wear a different jacket.  It's not a rain coat and doesn't really function like one at all, but it's just the one I prefer to wear.  This time I was honest with myself that I am never going to wear the rain coat and put it on the swap site.  When the lady came to buy it, I told her that I was a little sad to get rid of such a nice coat, but that I just wasn't wearing it.  When she told me, "Well, I will be wearing it a lot!  I have 4 kids who all play soccer and I sat through too many rainy games this year and got too wet," the guilt of selling it left me completely and I was overjoyed that she would be getting use out of it.

Today, I sold the lens that came with my camera.  I just don't use it, as I own 2 nicer lenses that I prefer shooting with.  I wasn't sure anyone would want it, because I figured anyone with that camera would already own the lens, since it comes with the camera.  However, when I met the gal who bought it, she told me that her lens just broke and was going to cost her 4x more to fix than the price I had it listed for.  She was extremely happy to be able to save so much money and not have to wait for her lens to get fixed.  Again, I felt that I made the right choice to sell it. 

In a world where so many prefer brand new, it's refreshing to see so many people reusing and repurposing items that others no longer want.  As a buyer, you can score a great deal.  As a seller, you get a great sense of joy knowing someone is so excited to have the item you weren't really using anyway. 

If you have something you know you should probably part with, but just feel too guilty getting rid of, try your local Facebook swap site and see how good it makes you feel to watch someone else's excitement over the item...it is working for me :)