Jasmine Birtles
Your money-making expert. Financial journalist, TV and radio personality.
9 things you can swap to save cash
Reading Time: 4 minutesIf you’re looking to save cash, there are lots of ways you can do so in your daily life without a huge amount of effort. Just think about all the things that you could potentially swap, to save cash for the things that really matter. From holiday homes to your “new” sofa, there’s a whole world of swapping to be done! Get inventive with your swaps, and you’ll soon find that the pounds are starting to look after themselves.
Here are a few suggestions to get you started.
- Swap your clothes
- Skill-swapping
- Cleaning vs baking
- Swap school run in the car for walks
- Swap takeaways for home-cooked “fakeaways”
- Language swap
- Holiday house-swapping
- Swap your furniture
- Swap your food
Swap your clothes
Clothes swapping has become hugely popular over the past few years. With interest in vintage clothing and sustainable fashion at a peak, this could be a great time to get in on the action. Why not organise a clothes swapping party for a future date, or look online for clothes swapping sites? This is a great way to pick up a pre-loved gem without spending anything. Learn more about clothes swapping at Fashion Revolution.
Skill-swapping
Got a skill that might be of use to someone else? We’re pretty sure you have. The skill-swapping economy is booming, with sites being set up where you can register your skills with the view to teaching them to someone else. The idea is that you can then learn a new skill in return. Whether you’re skilled in floristry, DIY, baking, digital marketing or modern dance, there’s likely to be a place for you in the online skill-swapping world. We’ve put together a more detailed guide to skill-swapping, and identified various sites that you can look at to get you started. Give it a read!
Cleaning vs baking
Great at baking, but never able to make your house as sparkly clean as you’d like it to be? You can bet that there’s someone out there who’s a dab-hand with a sponge but just cannot get their cakes to rise. Ask on local community forums or in groups whether you can swap your baking skill for their cleaning one, and you’ll save yourself a bundle on agency cleaner fees. Problem solved!
Swap school run in the car for walks
One “swap to save” scheme that you might already have considered is walking to school instead of taking the car. Of course, if you live miles away this might not be an option. But the sun is out and the streets are (hopefully) a bit quieter at the moment, making this a great time to swap your wheels for your legs. So if you’ve got kids in school at the moment, try to devise a morning routine that saves you petrol money and keeps you active at the same time.
Swap takeaways for home-cooked “fakeaways”
We won’t deny that it’s easy to order a takeaway at the moment. But you don’t need to rely on expensive fast food deliveries to fill your weekend. Look for some recipes for “fakeaways” that you can easily make at home, and then batch cook and freeze in portions so they’re always to hand. Swap your takeaways for home-cooking and you’ll cut your food bill by a third. It’s one of the top ways to save your cash, and one of the easiest swaps you can make!
Language swap
Even if you haven’t got skills in a second language, your English fluency could be of huge help to someone else. Lots of people need or want to learn English, and are looking for native speakers to help them do so. In return, they could spend time teaching you about their own language or culture. Think of it like having an adult pen-pal, who you actually spend time with. Of course, you might not save lots of cash this way – but you’ll gain a new skill in the process, and you won’t have to pay for it. You’ll be helping someone else out too, and you can’t put a price on that!
Holiday house-swapping
No, we’re not swapping your actual house forever – swapping that would be crazy! If you are lucky enough to have access to a second home, rental property or even a caravan, though, you should look into holiday house-swapping.
Holiday house-swapping has grown hugely over the past few years, with the rise of platforms like Airbnb increasingly encouraging people to seek out authentic experiences and lesser known destinations. The idea is that you swap holiday homes with someone in a destination that you want to travel to. So, if you’d rather head to the South of France than your family’s cottage on the Welsh coast one summer, look for people in France who are open to swapping the Pyrenees for Pembrokeshire. Companies set up to help you swap and save on your holidays include HomeLink, Love Home Swap, and Home Exchange.
Swap your furniture
Need to get rid of your current furniture, whilst at the same time really need something else? Instead of buying brand new, look on sites like Freecycle or Gumtree for pieces of furniture that people local to you are looking to swap. Chances are, someone somewhere is in dire need of a sofa – and the one you don’t need any more could be the perfect fit for their living room. Lots of people will be open to furniture swaps – in fact, some sites are set up exactly for this purpose!
Swap your food
Instead of celebrating by eating out at restaurants, why not encourage your friends and family to start hosting dinner parties at home instead? Use the evening as a chance to share your favourite childhood dishes and swap recipes from your culture. The following month, it’s someone else’s turn. Think of it like Come Dine With Me, but you won’t have rude strangers rifling through your wardrobe (at least, we hope you won’t!) You’ll be swapping food culture and future cooking, and saving money on expensive restaurant service charges at the same time. The best of both worlds!
Can you think of any more swaps that our readers could incorporate into their lives to save money? We want to hear about them – let us know over on the forums.
Intriguing article. I’d like to think that this kind of thing is the way forward for society.