For six years, Vanessa Vaillant no longer has to spend money on her coffee, soap or even toilet paper after incorporating bartering into her lifestyle, a practice that allows her to find as many everyday items as little treasures.
“I can say with certainty that I am one of the most active barters in Quebec,” said the Lanaudière painter, who has carried out almost 1,500 barters.
Vanessa Vaillant discovered bartering quite by chance in 2013 through the Facebook group “Troquer, c’est gratos – Montréal”, of which she is now the administrator.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY VANESSA VAILLANT
“The longer things went on, the more I realized I had a lot of things that I wasn’t using, that I was keeping just in case, and that were taking up space,” she explained.
So she started taking photos of all of these items and creating an album where people can see what she has to offer and what she expects in return.
The practice is now part of his lifestyle. Before she buys anything, she turns to bartering to see if she can get what she’s looking for.
“It prevents these items from ending up in the trash and at the same time avoids spending money,” summarizes the 38-year-old.
Everything is exchanged
The thirty-year-old affirms it without hesitation: everything can be exchanged, including food, clothing, homemade products and even services.
“It’s been six years since I bought coffee, toilet paper and body soap,” she illustrated.
The exchange can sometimes be much more inappropriate. For example, she got her hands on a laptop for a Cranium board game. She also managed to get a small Nintendo games console in exchange for a Lucky Luke comic book.
While she doesn’t know exactly how much bartering saves her each year, she says, “It’s significant.” “It’s a lot of money,” she said.
No more time
More and more people are switching to bartering to save money, but some are hesitant to take the plunge because they think they don’t have time to search through groups to find what they’re looking for.
However, “it doesn’t take more time for the barter to fit into a schedule,” the woman argued.
“If you take five minutes during the day to scroll through your Facebook account, you’ll have time in the week to organize a swap,” she pointed out.
Vanessa Vaillant lives in Terrebonne and always plans the exchanges on her itinerary.
“When I go to work, I make an appointment on the way back so I can chat. It’s really built into my routine,” she said.