Community Resources - Part 2 - Swap, Eat, Save

Here are 3 things you can do in your community to have a little less, meet new friends, save some money and, of course, have some fun while doing it all!


Have a Swap Meet: Have everyone bring things that they do not need or want any more to a central location and “swap.” Old things to you will become new things to someone else! We just had our 2nd Swap Meet here in our little community. It was held in the gym of a local church. Everyone was told to bring their items to donate during a set time the night before. Volunteers sorted all the donations into categories. The next morning they opened the doors for a few hours and let the community in to take what they needed. Anything leftover was donated to a local thrift store. The first time they had the Swap Meet they tried to limit the number of items taken by each individual to allow everyone to benefit, but they discovered that there was going to be a lot of leftovers and changed their policy. It went much better with the 2nd Swap Meet! They also used Freecycle.org to advertise it and let others know that they could donate.


Neighborhood Barbeques are a great way to get to know neighbors. We lived in a neighborhood once where the yards were taken care of by the HOA and so consequently no one really saw other neighbors much. During the summer months we started having BBQs in the front yard of a house and all the neighbors were invited. Everyone was asked to bring their own meat and something to share with everyone else. A neighbor or two would bring their grill out to let everyone cook their meat on. It was a lot of fun and we were able to meet some great friends.


Bountiful Baskets…Have you heard of it? Bountiful Baskets is a food co-op who has pickup locations in various cities within Wyoming, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, Idaho and Washington. You have to reserve your order online early in the week and then pickup is on Saturday. If you are looking for a great deal on fresh produce and a lot of it, you should check them out and see if there is a pick-up location near you. If they do not have a site near you, volunteer to be a Site Coordinator and bring the great deal near you and your friends!  

6 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle, Thanks for the tips! We're moving to Arizona in a couple of months and I'm so glad you posted about Bountiful Baskets! My sister used to do a co-op in Georgia and loved it, so I'm super excited to try this!

    If you ever feel like guest-posting, I'd love to have you over at my blog! thatsfamtastic.blogspot.com!

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  2. swap meets?! Now what kind of weirdo would want to put on one of those?! :)
    Neighborhood BBQs - YES! It's time to get that going again! I wish we had a big grill we could bring for everyone to use. We just have a little charcoal one. I'll talk to Lindy.

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  3. Hey girl! I'm so glad you joined up over at MMB! How have I never seen this blog before? Hmm..... Anyway, I think it's great!!!

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  4. Great ideas. Gonna have to check into the swap meets, but highly doubtful. Our city is lame.

    Thanks for your contribution to my blogfrog discussion. So nice to not feel so alone in my thoughts.

    alicia

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  5. HI,

    Thanks for entering my giveaway, and no you do not lose an entry ;)

    Love,
    Bird

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  6. What a great cause!

    Here in France we have something similar called Restos du Coeur (the heart restaurants?)

    Oh and the BBQ looks positively scrumptious!! :D

    Love,
    Bird

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