Cents & Nonsense:Strangers slept in our bed last week and we slept in theirs. As the latest contestants in the Big Bedbugs reality TV show, we were experimenting with life in others' homes, writes  Margaret E. Ward.

It was our first appearance in a home exchange or house swap and thankfully none of it was recorded for television.

A growing band of holidaymakers are seeking out this cost-effective, family-friendly way to travel and I can see why. Hotel rooms are generally impersonal, expensive and separate visitors from the culture just outside their windows. Of course, sometimes that is the point.

Young families and hotels are not a great mix. Crying babies, tantrum-throwing toddlers and games of hide-and-seek in the restaurant are not generally welcomed by hotel staff or guests.

Not surprisingly, home exchange websites are full of families, retired people and those who want to live like a native.

More than 50 years ago, a few teachers decided to swap homes with one another, free of charge, during their summer holidays. Et voila! - an international movement was born.

Today, dozens of websites allow like-minded people to seek out and correspond about possible exchanges.

For less than €100 a year, you can place a listing of your property on a home exchange website.

The listing includes a photo of the home, an auctioneer-type description of its features and local amenities and its distance from the city centre and public transport.

Members from all over the world have access to the listing and your contact details. If they like the look of your listing, they send an e-mail to see if you are interested.

Since joining three years ago, we have spent many days daydreaming about where a house swap would take us.

Would we spend a romantic weekend in Barcelona, eat Chinese takeaway from those cool cartons at a loft apartment in Manhattan's west village, take the kids snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia or swimming with penguins in South Africa?

You need a hefty executive pay packet to realise these travel dreams, but as a member of a home exchange website, all these trips are within reach. Swap offers regularly pour in from all over the world.

Ireland is a very popular destination and demand, it seems, is quite high. More than an estimated 250,000 exchanges take place worldwide each year and the number is growing.

Home swaps have become so popular that newer sites can afford to specialise: sabbaticals, pensioners or holiday homes only.

Even so, we kept putting it off. "The kids are too young." "We just moved house." "So and so is getting married."

A brave friend joined last year and has already been on four exchanges with her husband and three kids.

She was a walking advertisement for the experience so we decided to give it a go and mentioned it to a few people.

Big mistake.

Some close friends were horrified at someone sleeping in their house and going through their drawers.

"What if they wear my bathrobe, paw at my favourite chocolates or steal my late mother's tea cosy?"

A British cousin even came up with a new game for our exchange: "Photograph yourself doing odd things in their home - like pretending to cook the garden statue in a cauldron - and mail them to the family after you've gone back home."

I was feeling very naive and trusting so I started doing some internet research. It was hard to find anything negative besides problems over differing views of cleanliness. One American police officer said identity theft should be a concern.

What about accidents in the home or theft? Anything that could possibly go wrong is usually covered by insurance.

Wimps that we are, we went for the safest possible exchange offer when you have two small children - a long weekend in London. Our cars were also part of the exchange so there was no need to haul car seats or buggies on the plane.

The holiday was a great success. Our hosts left us dinner, wine, chocolates, tourist information, a full fridge and a houseful of toys for the kids. Even though we were there for four days, we were not tempted to go through our hosts' dirty laundry, bills, computer or file a report on the poteen-making operation in their back shed.

We just relied on the kindness of strangers who had become friends.

• Margaret E. Ward is a journalist specialising in personal finance and consumer issues. Please write to her at: cents@clearink.ie