It’s not a new idea, but it’s one that needs reviving. Instead of going shopping when you feel like some new clothes, music or DVDs, why not ask your friends if they’ve got anything to give away?

Here in the depths of the French countryside, retail therapy isn’t really an option. Instead, when the acquisitive itch gets too strong, we get together and share.

Everyone we know has something they no longer need or want – something that is perfectly functional and too good to throw away, but is currently just gathering dust.

The idea of swap parties is catching on among trendy young women in the UK, I understand. But we’ve been doing it for years.

In France, they call it a bourse. It means ‘purse’ (in the British sense – ‘pocketbook’ to Americans), but the word is also used in the context of ‘exchange’ or ‘market’. The Bourse is the French stock exchange, and there are frequent ‘bourse des plantes’ or ‘bourse des vêtements’ events, which range from small, one-off markets to the equivalent of bring-and-buy sales.

In our case, bourses are even more casual affairs. We invite a bunch of friends to the house. Everyone brings stuff that’s cluttering their houses. It’s all laid out on tables and the floor and people help themselves. No money changes hands: it’s not about making cash.

Being friends – and being, mostly, British – we’re all terribly polite about it. There’s never any argument about who gets what. Most of the bourses take place during a Girls’ Night In, when all the wives and girlfriends get together to eat chocolate, drink and scream (at least, that’s what it sounds like from my hiding place in the office). Trish has described just such an evening here. It seems they spend half their time picking clothes for each other.

It’s perfect whichever way you look at it. You get something new. You get to rid yourself of some clutter. Objects get recycled in the best possible way – by simply extending their useful lives. And you get a good evening with friends into the bargain.