By Lyn Brooks, Contributor
If you are short on cash, you might want to consider using sites and apps that make it easy to share, lend and barter to help you save money on everyday activities.
Sites My Family Uses to Get What We Need and Want While Spending Little to Nothing in Money
The age old system of bartering to exchange resources is alive and well in America, and several apps and sites make it easy for my family to get what we need or want while paying little, if any, money.
I live in a family of book lovers, and we use to spend $50 to $100 a month on books, but not anymore. We've been able to exchange books for free with other members on BookMooch and Swap.com. Swap also allows you to swap video games, and DVDs, and you just pay for shipping. Both sites have really helped us to lower our cost for entertainment.
When my son moved 500 miles away to attend college in the city, he used Zipcar to rent a car for next to nothing when he needed one for special trips a couple of times each semester.
My oldest daughter saves money on name brand or designer clothing by using Swapstyle to swap clothes with others around the world.
We also use our regional Craigslist to find used items at a low cost. When I was unemployed and our refrigerator, stove and dryer all died within 17 days of one another, we were able to find replacements for $50, $25 and $20 through this site. The appliances look and work great and we are still using them today. Most Craigslist groups also have a Free section -- which is where we scored a free upright piano that was in pristine condition when our youngest daughter wanted to learn to play.
A site that we turn to frequently to find the items that we want and need for free is Freecycle, and the most interesting item that I have ever received also came from this site. This site has literally come to my family's rescue countless times.
Most of the items that I've receive through Freecycle have been fairly straight forward exchanges, but the very first time that I participated really stands out in my mind. One poster listed several bags full of boys clothing to give away, as long as you agreed to take away a "couple of leftover moving sale items as well," as the poster was leaving that afternoon to move to a new state.
Most of the items that I've receive through Freecycle have been fairly straight forward exchanges, but the very first time that I participated really stands out in my mind. One poster listed several bags full of boys clothing to give away, as long as you agreed to take away a "couple of leftover moving sale items as well," as the poster was leaving that afternoon to move to a new state.
I readily agreed and drove into the nearby city to collect the items. I arrived literally as they were closing the doors to their moving van and getting ready to drive off. A very nice lady loaded 3 large trash bags into the trunk of my car and said, "Whatever you can't use, please pass on to someone who can, just don't let it end up in a landfill." She then drove away in the moving van, and I drove home.
Once I got home, I started to go through the bags. In the first bag, there were several pairs of brand name jeans, that were barely worn and fit my son perfectly, as well as several pullovers and hoodies. My son basically had a new wardrobe.
In the second bag there was a really nice, lined khaki jacket with multiple pockets that is perfect for my husband's hiking trips. We looked it up and found that this particular brand costs several hundreds of dollars new, and it was in pristine condition.
In the third bag we found the most surprising and unexpected item -- mixed in with the lady's unwanted plastic storage containers and kitchen gadgets was an object that I didn't recognize. I speculated that it was perhaps some sort of musical instrument -- which made my husband laugh when he corrected me -- it was a pot bong! Of course, we didn't keep that item since its illegal, but it made the experience memorable!
All of these sites have helped us to drastically reduce the amount of money that we spend.
I love receiving feedback from my readers! Have you ever used one of these sites to get a low cost or free deal on something that you wanted or needed? Why not share your favorite sites and apps with your fellow readers so that they, too, can start saving money and begin to get out of debt?
