Travel Bargain: Couchsurfing = Free Lodging on Vacation

I'm off to the Jayson warehouse sale (I figured if it's too intense or we can't park, the hubs and I can at least take advantage of the fact that our kids are at the neighbors' house for the morning to go out to brunch). But while I'm gone, take a look at this post introducing the concept of Couchsurfing over at Chicago Now's travel blog, Chicago Outbound.

As a cheapskate, I love the notion of couchsurfing, which means staying on other peoples' couches or in their spare bedrooms for free. Sure, that's something backpackers have always done, but nowadays they have a Web site so you can find your couches to sleep on or offer up your own.

I haven't actually joined up with Couchsurfing, though, because we have small kids in the house and I feel like I'd have to know someone pretty well to have them spend the night under our roof. I could change my mind, though.

I would really love to try a house swap vacation sometime. What I love about ideas like this isn't just the saving money, but the tapping of unused resources. After all, your house is sitting empty when you go on vacation -- why NOT have someone make use of it?