Why you should swap houses

Here’s why you should swap houses!

When we told people that we were doing a House Exchange, the first reaction was one of surprise. “Aren’t you worried that they will steal things?” “Don’t you worry about other people rummaging through your things?” “I don’t know how you could have someone stay in your home: they won’t put things back where they found them.” Of course, DH and I would have reacted in the same way had we been in their shoes, but those fears are easy to allay.

They, our exchangees, could have stolen things, but we have house insurance. We checked with them before we did the exchange and were confident that we had coverage. Added to which, the exchange was arranged through a website which required an annual subscription. This website has procedures in place for dealing with complaints of any kind. And our exchangees had over ten years and dozens of exchanges under their belts so we had every confidence in them.

Of course they could rummage through our things, just as we could have rummaged through theirs. But we have two small children so nothing is precious at DG Manor. Those few expensive and important things were stored away in a no-go area and frankly, if they got their rocks off by searching through my smalls drawer, then so be it: I was having too much fun to care about the state of their underwear.

Then there is the not-putting-things-back-in-the-right-place thing. Our possessions did need to be rearranged slightly on our return. But I imagine theirs did too. And frankly we had to do all the unpacking and sorting out so a few extra minutes of arranging was no big deal.

DH and I had an epic discussion one evening about this blog post. Never having done an exchange before, we were keen to present an objective view. And we have very little to say about our experience that is bad. If anything, I would say that the trickiest part of the whole exchange was leaving our house: changing the beds before we left and emptying drawers/making wardrobe space.

The primary negative was the organising. I say that like I had any part in it. DH did it all, from starting the House-Swap ball rolling, liasing with would-be exchangees, to contacting the insurance company to check we were covered. So actually that stage was fairly pain free!

The positives were many. We loved having the space of a whole house (in this instance a six-bedroomed town house in the centre of Brussels), particularly because of the Girls. We could never have had that much space in a hotel, ginormous suites aside. There was lots of room to run and play and dance and giggle and roll on the floor. There was a fully stocked kitchen, a laundry, even a well-stocked wine-cellar. We had home-cooked meals when it suited us, and ate out if we didn’t feel like it. It was lovely to have a proper home environment to come back to after a busy day rather than an impersonal hotel.

Our exchangee family were seasoned exchangers and had left piles of guide books, along with personalised information about the local area which really helped us find our way around when we arrived. It was like Lonely Planet had written a book just for us. They were also in regular email contact in advance of our trip with other bits and pieces that you think of as you go.

The costs were the main advantage, and there were very few beyond the travel costs we had. Obviously, being tourists, we had expenses of lunches out and travel and entry fees, but no more than the kind of days out that we have in the UK. They used our food, we used theirs, replacing as we went. There were a few breakages, but nothing significantly costly to replace. And, as DH points out, because we were exchanging with another family, we could exchange during the school holidays without the associated price hike that comes with tour operators.

DH also points out that a very big plus is the fact that someone is in your home whilst you are away, which saves having to cancel the mail and milk. If you have pets, some exchangees are happy to look after them so that cuts out the need for getting Aunty Ethel to come in and feed the cats every day.

And you get to go to places that you perhaps might not have considered. Like Arizona. Bring on the summer. We can’t wait.