By Shannon Simmons

Stuff, stuff, stuff and more stuff! Is anyone else tuning into home decor shows for neat ways to hide and deal with their stuff? I know I am.

We live in a consumer-based economy and it shows in our drawers, shelves and closets. If you’re anything like me, spring cleaning is not just about making the house ready for summer—it’s also about de-cluttering, or, as I like to call it, “de-stuffing.”

Barter is the perfect tool to make the most of your spring cleaning this year.

Go through your house and put your stuff into these piles:


1.    Items that stay
2.    Items to sell
3.    Unknown items (items that you’re just not sure what to do with)

Chances are, everything in the “sell” and “unknown” piles can be swapped. This is where the real fun begins. Generally, if we can’t sell something directly for a profit, we don’t see the value in the item and it ends up at Goodwill or in the garbage. With barter, we can bring those items to a swap meet, post them online or trade with our neighbours. Barter gives your pre-loved items a brand new value and allows all the items in your house to be used as currency.  

Try swapping items for health and fitness services, business advice, beauty services—whatever you need! As long as you don’t end up bringing another unneeded item home with you, you’ve de-cluttered and saved yourself money down the road. Does it get any better?

Once you’re free and clear of your clutter, take a deep breath and enjoy the peace that it brings. Make it a goal to be mindful in the upcoming year of things that you need and things that you simply want.

We have access to credit cards, which allow us instantly to have more stuff. We are able to purchase on impulses and we wind up carting home things that we don’t need at all. Things that we may not even really want.

Barter helps to keep our clutter in check. Since bartering takes a bit of time and effort, we can’t instantly have items or services, like with credit. This is healthy. With barter, we only end up setting up trades for the items and services that are really important to us, that have a lot of value. It’s a wonderful way of sorting out our wants vs. our needs so we can live within our means easily. If we make an effort to barter more, we will discover that we are not only saving more money, we will want less stuff. It’s a double financial positive.

So, during your spring cleaning/de-cluttering, use your pre-loved goods as currency to save your money and barter more. Get clear about what your stuff really means to you.