Sell, Barter and Give…oh my!

Odd, how a twist in the economic ’style’ of this country has brought back some age old thought and wisdom. When it comes to ’stuff’ and ‘things’ we really evaluate what we ‘need’ vs. the, ‘eh, I could do without’, when times get a bit ‘uncomfortable’.

As we prepare to make our big move, we are finding that there are things we have here at this location, that we have no use for in our soon to be location. As we ‘look around’ and see things we have, but truly do not need, or want to move— because hey, let’s be honest, it’s nice to have things that make life easier! It’s nice to have ’the latest model’. Question IS…Will we ‘need’ these things in our new homestead? We see opportunity, to barter or sell those things, to get the things we will really need and use at our new place. Or do we know someone who could really use something we have, but really never use? BLESS THEM!!! Give it away!

Anyhow, that leads me to my point of this post (really!) I have found lately that folks are A LOT more apt to sell for cheap (or somewhat reasonable), barter (whatever happened to this GREAT idea!?), or even GIVE things away! I have also found that there are a variety of places to find what we do need on the cheap or even FREE.

Let me give you an example. A few months back as we were planning for this big change in our lives, we knew we’d better start shopping around for a few things. We also knew we’d better start planning on getting rid of a few things. So, to Craigslist I go. I start checking daily on a few key items we are hunting for. Sure enough, within a few days I found the fuel tanks that my husband was looking for! Best part? The seller was open to bartering! (I find this a LOT these days on Craigslist) Anyhew…for a truckload of wood (that we wouldn’t be able to take with us anyway) and an air conditioner, (that we would not want to be running and sucking up our off grid power!) we got the two huge fuel tanks we needed. Voila!

Just yesterday I stopped by the Salvation Army and gave away a bunch of very nice clothing. Many nice things the children have outgrown, never worn or had been given that they just didn’t care for. We had a bunch of baby clothes that our son never even wore (folks give babies FAR too many clothes! lol), some clothing that I had that was very nice, from when I worked outside the home… many moons ago, that hadn’t been worn since the day I left the cubicle behind! I am sure all these items could bless someone else though, and help empty my closet, clutter and moving load! Searching Craigslist is a great blessing!

We’ve sold goats, refrigerators, given away a piano to another homeschool family….bartered for equipment, bought some spendy tire chains for the truck that were less than 1/3rd the price new, bought some “impossible to come by–sold out games” — baseball tickets, for a special outing for one of the children and daddy’s ‘day out’….we even acquired one of our Livestock Guardian Dogs through Craigslist!!! Check out their “FREE” section too!

Now my REAL find. We homeschool, we love books…. and I have a myriad of options and know of TONS of places and vendors to buy from , when it comes to buying books and materials. TONS. I found this place (via Craigslist too!) that is a couple hours from me, geographically, and I’d heard of it before–just never drove the distance to go check it out. Well, come to find out, (this is SUCH A HUGE BLESSING!!) this is a GOLDMINE of a gently used local homeschool bookstore/curriculum shop!

The best part? I email them with my list of book titles, or curriculum wants–they shop for me, pull my choices right from my list–and UPS it to me! This is homeschool heaven, folks!!!!! I will share–because you can email Jessica your list and since they ship UPS, you can have your order shipped direct to you too! They are professional, carry a HUGE variety, have NICE stuff, and make finding titles EASY. I love em! The shop, for any Northwest Washington locals, is “Homeschool Potpourri” in Kirkland.

Next idea for maybe getting rid of things that you’ve got that you just don’t truly need and are cluttering your home and life, is FreeCycle! You can not only get rid of things you don’t need any longer and that will bless someone else–but you can find things you do need, for FREE! FreeCycle is non-profit, staffed by volunteers, and is a great way to ‘recycle’ and GIVE to others who may need something, that you no longer have need for-it’s a win-win! Check out their site for specifics at www.FreeCycle.org

When we buy, sell, barter and giveaway with one another–we are helping out neighbors, and ourselves…saving time, money, reusing, recycling…sounds like a winning combination to me!

~Lisa

Lisa is blessed to be a Wife to Marc, a Mama to 4 blessings, and a Keeper at Home! They live a God centered, family centered, homesteading lifestyle of learning in the mountains of the Northwest. They operate their family run business Homestead Originals where they specialize in handcrafted candles, soap, and gifts for the Homestead. She is also the author of the Homestead Simplicity E-book series that focuses on Encouragement for the Homekeeper, Simple Family Living, Natural Cleaners, and Making Everything from Scratch! Come on by and visit Lisa’s Blog for great ideas, tips, freebies and contests too! To contact Lisa, email Lisa@HomesteadOriginals.com