Hi! My name is Meg- and I have 3 kids - Christian 15, Milla, almost 5, and Lola 2, and one on the way. Oh... and a very supportive :) husband, Mat. The idea for peace. love. swap. came when was on my way home from the consignment store. As usual, I had brought in the maximum amount of stuff, and they kept the usual 2 or 3 items. As they went through the bag, I shopped and found about $30 worth of stuff to buy... Perfect! My credit was around $10 or so - so I left $20 in the hole!!.. So, I headed over to Salvation Army to drop the rest of my stuff off. As I approached the back door to leave my stuff, I noticed there was no one working, but I decided to leave it anyway. I noticed this other pile of kid's stuff, and thought... hmm, it would be nice to be able to just go through and see what's in there -- I am getting rid of stuff - They are getting rid of stuff -- I didn't of course. :) But, that night I went home and decided to create a local swap in Grass Valley, CA, where I live.
After I did the 1st swap in Grass Valley, I was addicted. I decided I wanted to do them regularly- that we should be available on a monthly or bi-monthly basis for moms - because that's how quickly we pile stuff up to get rid of. So, I decided to make it my goal to produce peace. love. swap. events everywhere. Why is this so important to me?? Mainly for 2 reasons:
Reason #1. I hate how out of control human consumption has gotten - I want to see more people trading & using secondhand stuff. If you have ever read my blog I mention a movement called The Compact. Where people commit to not buying anything new for a whole year. My husband I tried it, (fell of the wagon a couple times) but for the most part we abided by the rules. We still live by the same idea - we shop local, only buy what we really need, and when we do buy, we try to buy used or get things off freecycle. When I see something I want I ask myself.. do I really NEED that? Usually the answer is no. I see people snapping things up at bigbox stores by the boatloads- when I know they probably don't need these things, and if they did, they can be found secondhand for next to nothing on Craigslist, Freecycle or Thrift Stores. I think by Reducing, Reusing and Recycling we are all doing our part in our community to help cut down on what goes into our landfills. My mom was "green" before green was trendy - she sewed all of our clothes when we were little, and she was a huge fan of swaps (even opened her own swapmeet once.) We grew up being thrify - not because we had to, but because it was the smart and environmentally sound way to be... Although I didn't appreciate much when I was little, somehow - she must have rubbed off on me. She passed away in 2000, but I know she would be very proud of p.l.s.
The #2 reason. There's nothing out there like a p.l.s. event ~ and we need one in every city! Anyone that has kids knows you always have a boatload of stuff that they don't use, grow out of or don't want anymore. There are several options - but none of them fit into what I wanted to create for families & communities. I did consignment (you read how this whole thing came to be...)- time consuming, I never got good credit, and like I said, half the time they didn't take most of my stuff anyway, so I just ended up spending more than my credit while I waited for my stuff to picked through. Twice a year consignment events - again time consuming, registering, tagging, pricing your stuff and getting some $ back (which gets spent plus some at the event). Craigslist, classifieds, or garage sales - done that... sometimes people show up and sometimes they don't - and you almost never get what you are asking for your items. I have even seen weird swapping sites where you trade items for items or get weird credits for things you send in, and half the time it's too confusing to figure out - plus I really don't want to mail all the stuff I have left over from my kids - are kidding me?? How about a swap at home with some friends - doesn't really work that well unless all the kid's are perfectly spaced size/age wise so you can trade for larger items (which is what most of us want). So, you see, none of these things compare to a p.l.s. event.
I wanted something fun for the whole family, LARGE with 50-100 moms, ongoing, easy, cheap, and accessible to families everywhere. I wanted to be able to give back to communities by donating untaken items to charity. That is what peace. love. swap. is all about.
And.. there you have it... I plan to continue these on an ongoing basis - and expand into different locations. If you would like to have one in your area or if you have any questions, comments, ideas - if you want to volunteer, or just want to chat - email me! I look forward to meeting you. To follow my every move (just kidding) follow the p.l.s._blog - I post news there about changes to the site, or date changes - or anything new that might be happening.. or join the Facebook or Yahoo Group (links are also on the page) 
