I’m stretched out in a hammock in my PJ’s. It’s midday and this is the most relaxed I’ve been in ages. I am in the sun in my friend’s garden.

I can hear birds and my friend’s whippet coughing up God knows what. Some big fat chooks are going about their chooky business near by. I wonder why life is never this peaceful at home?

At our place my friend has covered the dining room table with a scrap book project she has wanted to start for ages. She is chatting with our daughter and they might go to a movie later.

My friend and I have invented a solution to our exhausting lives. Every few months we swap everything except our husbands.  We take our partners with us and we go and live in each others houses for a few days.

She minds my kids, pets, garden and life and I mind hers.    My friend lives in the country and I live in the city.  Even the three hour drive is a wonderful time to catch up with my partner.

At first we weren’t sure just how household swapping was going to work. Let me tell you it works really well. Here is why I love it.

• I don’t have to talk my kids into going somewhere they don’t want to go.
• I don’t have to have my pets minded.
• I don’t have to pay for expensive accommodation.
• I don’t have to clean and tidy my house because it is my friend staying and she is a Mum like me not a house inspector.
• I relax here because it is not my house – I don’t see jobs everywhere like I do at home. My friend says she feels the same.
• Both of us have found that we have had time to relax and enjoy our partners. We have had fun together away from our usual family worries and pressures.
• The kids love the parent swap too.  They have a enjoy the break from all the parent business.

This might not work for everyone but it has certainly worked for us. Do you have a close friend you could do a household swap with?