Shopping during a credit crunch

So the 'R' word has been bandied around for a few months now and most people have been tightening their money belts and saving their pennies in the hopes that the pounds would accumulate. However, as all women know, clothes are an absolute necessity, but shelling out a lot of money on clothes might not be the best option for one's savings. Frugality is no longer a bad word in times like these, it's a way of life.

So how can you get new clothes without spending money? It's easy. You swap them! We've all got clothes in our wardrobe that we don't wear anymore. They're either sooo last season, or the button doesn't quite do up as comfortably as we like (although we promise ourselves that we'll fit into them by the time we need to wear them) or they're just those 'OMG what was I thinking?' purchases. What may no longer be worn by you, would be very interesting to someone else - and you might think that you have nothing that anyone else would like, but as long as they are in good condition (not torn/stained) then you'd be surprised at what people like.

I use 2 swap sites that mainly cater for the UK but most people are willing to post to Malta so that's a plus for me; however, there are plenty of US swap sites too. A simple search will probably give you several options.

It's a simple system -

• You take photos of the clothes that you want to swap
• Upload them to the site and describe them as accurately as possible giving them a value, usually based on their condition and age.
  
• Either wait for people to ask you to swap or see what other people have and make contact yourself
• If someone has something that you like, and vice versa then you can arrange to swap those items
• You only pay your own P&P to send your item, and wait for your new item of clothing to arrive.
  
• You can rate the swapper once the item has arrived so that other swappers will know whether they are reliable swappers

It's a great way to get rid of old clothes and replacing them with others. I currently have 70 items up for swap on one site. And I have 3 parcels to send out. I keep a spreadsheet of all my swaps and I've sent out over 100 items! These include clothes, bags, accessories.

So if you want to revamp your wardrobe I honestly recommend trying your hand at swapping. It's fun and it's frugal ;)