Suzy's Current Obsession

While we're waiting for Rob to get the AppleTV working so we can either a) watch normal tv or b) rent something on iTunes, I thought I'd write about my current obsession....Swaptree!



Like most Americans, we have tons of crap and want tons more crap all the time. It really hit me how much we had when Rob and I moved to New York into a small apartment from the spacious house in Arizona. We can't even fit half our stuff in the apartment, luckily Rob's parents are letting us store some stuff at their place. Ever since then I've been strict with what I buy, do I really need it or not.

Well, I found a website that helps you "balance" things out. Swaptree is a site where you trade your old books, dvds, cds and videos games with other people. Bought a book and hated it? See if anyone wants to trade it for a book you want. Finished playing that video game? Someone wants to trade for that cd you've always wanted for it. You're getting new things and getting rid of the old things that just cause clutter! And the only thing you pay is shipping. Sweet!

So far I've gotten a book I've been dying to read and two cds. I'm waiting to get another cd and a video game too.

Granted it's not perfect. Like you, most people aren't putting up the latest and most brand new items for trade. For me, I got things that I've been wanting to get for the past few years, not that cd that just came out. Also, you gotta have an open mind...yeah, you paid $60 for that game and someone wants to trade you a $15 cd. Seems unfair, but you have to kind of put it in the sense that that $60 game has been collecting dust for the past year. But even in the past few weeks I've been signed up on Swaptree, I see more and more up for trade. I'm expecting a book that I thought I'd never find on Swaptree nor in the bookstore by us, that's so cool.

Also, they make things easy for you. You can import your Amazon wish list (and a few others). You can print shipping labels directly through them, which means you don't have to go to the post office (although you pay about $2 more, but sometimes that's easier than finding the time to go to the post ofice).

Anyways, I kind of sound like an informercial right now, ha. I'm just excited that I'm finally getting books, cds and games that I've been wanting for awhile now just by trading in things that have been collecting dust. And I think it's a pretty green thing to do; you're not causing more waste, you're balancing it: )