Successful Swaps

Once—quite unbelievably—he asked me if I'd be willing to "bother" myself with wrapping the coins and carting them off to the bank . . . in exchange for half the total amount-of the savings. Needless to say, I jumped at the chance.

What a fun way to make money! Our two—and four-year-old daughters, my husband, and I turned the task into a game: While sorting the mounds of loose coins, we'd all try to guess what the grand tally would be.

Amazingly, my brother's "leftover change" totaled $156. We happily sent him a $78 check for his share . . . and used our half for a much needed yard shed.

And what was so neat about this whole transaction was that both parties viewed the swap as sure-fire "easy money".

D.E. LeSage Manahawkin, N.J.

I used to have many thousands of postage stamps, but when my husband died I discovered I needed other things more. If I had sold my collection outright, I would have realized only a fraction of the stamps' value . . . so I decided to trade them for items I could either use myself or give away as gifts.

As a result of an ad I ran in the "exchange column" of a few women's magazines, I swapped off my entire assortment to several ladies. In return, I received handcrafts, needlework, cash refund coupons, discount coupons (which I can exchange again), and other similar goods.

Now I own many beautiful articles I otherwise couldn't afford to buy . . . and the folks with whom I swapped have acquired valuable additions to their stamp collections without having to pay top prices.

Margaret C. Nellans Rochester, Ind.

Here on Nantucket Island we enjoy the relaxed pace of small-town living . . . for nine months of the year. Then comes Memorial Day weekend and—with it—chaos! Boatloads of tourists and "summer people" from the mainland swell our population from 4,500 to over 20,000 (where it remains until around Labor Day when the wave finally subsides).

As you can imagine, we year-round residents who truly love the solitude and beauty of our island resent the pressures caused by this seasonal boom. So last summer I was overjoyed when I discovered a way to escape (temporarily, of course) . . . by swapping labor at haying time on a rural Maine farm for room and board and all the incidental pleasures of simple country living.

Besides haying, I helped harvest honey from a hive, trap native brook trout to be used in stocking a pond, plow and disc the fields, feed the sheep, and do a variety of other "chores" that to me were welcome relief from the hectic summer scene I had left behind in Nantucket.

In addition to all that, I was regularly fed good home-style cooking and met several fascinating old-timers from "down east". And—most important-I solidified my friendship with the farmer and his family (an act which, I hope, will lead to even more successful swaps in the future).