NOW PLAYING: Making Swap Parties Work for You

We love to trade advice, online links, anything to help make each others' lives easier, so of course why not swap clothes? While some may consider this to be a form of dumpster-diving in each other’s closets, or a way of unloading a lot of junk, I say you just don’t know how to do a swap party properly. Done right swap parties are a viable solution to looking great without paying pre-economy-slump prices.

We got some wonderful advice from BlogHer Fashion Contributing Editor Trisha Okubo, who also covers the style beat on her blog, Omiru. She offers up more than the obvious things to avoid and things to play up at swap parties that can make them fun and fruitful. Swap parties should feel like private shopping sprees in your favorite boutique, she says. I hadn’t quite made that connection before.

And thanks to Heather at Rookie Moms , Amber at Painfully Hip, and this week’s Trop 50 Spotlight from Mamabird, whose post inspired our episode.

Next week: What's your "Core" competency? We talk to a fitness expert who reminds us of what our core is and how we can work it without even noticing.