Shopping, Lifestyles and Hobbies

name="zunafish">SWAP MEET
Zunafish
Sign up here to trade DVDs, CDs, paperbacks, videogames and more. The only money that changes hands is the $1 fee you pay the site for each successful trade. Choose a screen name and you're ready to swap; it's easy to post the items you want to trade; you simply plug in identifying information, like a UPC code on the back of a CD — the site walks you through this — and the site produces the full listing. You can search for items you'd like to have, and send messages to the owner, indicating your interest. Trade offers pop up as "zunalert" messages on your personal Zunafish home page. Since the site launched in January, "thousands" of trades have been consummated, according to a spokesperson. (We received an offer for our own remaster of The Who's Live at Leeds within just a few hours of posting it — but what to select in exchange? Best of Bad Company? The Immaculate Collection...?) SwapSimple, based in Chicago, works a similar angle, but while Zunafish requires like-item trades only (a book for a book, a DVD for DVD, etc.), SwapSimple allows you to mix and match media. It's particularly popular among college students, who use it to trade expensive textbooks.

COOKING
Delicious Days
This is a blog about food, written by foodies — namely, German couple Nicole Stich and Oliver Seidel of Munich. The design is elegant and there are loads of gorgeous images of, well, food, but also folks preparing food, fresh food at the market and exotic ingredients. Recipe-related posts are archived three ways: there's sweet, savory and "everyday," and travelogues from Lisbon and other locales include tips on where to eat out. Recent posts include a piece on edible flowers, with a recipe for an elderflower cordial. Another great resource for cooks: Elise Bauer's blog, Simply Recipes .

STUFF TO BUY
Mighty Goods
Here blogger Margaret Mason of San Francisco cheerfully identifies cool things to buy and provides links to the websites that sell them — like the sheep mobile from Sparkability.net and the Hammerhead shark wallpaper-by-numbers from 2Jane. Her prose is tight and upbeat — the tagline is, appropriately, "Hooray for stuff!" While ads do appear in the margins (hey, a blogger needs to make a living too, or at least cover her expenses) Mason does not accept paid placements or postings (though she gets a share of some click-throughs — items sold at Amazon.com items for example — but this arrangement affects only a small percentage of posts, and, Mason says, does not influence her writing). Best feature: the grid-view option, which displays just the photo images from posts in a particular category, for quicker scanning. For more cool stuff to buy, check out Uncrate, a shopping blog for guys, and its sister blog, Outblush. Worried about the environment? TreeHugger blogs for consumers like you.

CRAFTS
Not Martha
There are loads of crafts-oriented blogs, so it was difficult to recommend just one, but here goes: Not Martha is written by Megan Reardon, who lives in Seattle with Scott and a clover plant ("which I might have killed last week"). The entries are frank and funny, with titles such as "adventures in making lip balm," "funny hat" and "hostess snack cake sushi." This Megan is a problem solver, creative yet practical, and considerate: she details mistakes she's made along the way so you can avoid making the same. Lately she's been writing about her various efforts to fix up a new house. For more chatter about the wide world of knitting and other pursuits, try Craftster, a community forum with an edge. Do-it-yourselfers will appreciate Instructables, with its step-by-step instructions for making things you never knew you wanted, such as a pinball coffee table, a light tent, a giant steel skeleton hand/coat rack and a wobble bike. For more techie DIY projects, go to MAKE magazine. And the collaborative How-To manual at wikiHow offers solutions to everyday problems, from How to Cut Open a Coconut to How to Call In Sick to Work.

PARENTING
Kids-In-Mind
Before you let your child watch X-Men: The Last Stand, The Shaggy Dog or any other movie — not just those openly marketed to youngsters — read about it here first. Scorecards for each flick indicate levels of sex and nudity, violence and gore, and profanity. The detailed write-ups are not reviews, but rather in-depth accounts of a film's content — non-judgmental, they simply tell it like it is. To wit: an excerpt from "Garfield: A Tale of Two Kitties," reads, "A bird is sucked up into an exhaust flue, a cat hits a dog with a turkey leg, a cat kicks a dog off a sofa, and a parrot is hit with a pillow and falls off a sofa." (The movie got a 2 out of 10 for violence and gore.) There are also handy links to the "critical consensus" provided by other sites such as Rotten Tomatoes (see 25 Sites We Can't Live Without).

CELL PHONES
Phone Scoop
Shopping for a new cell phone, but confused by all the different service plans and handsets? Or maybe you just want to get more out of your mobile — a better ring tone, perhaps, or music videos made for the tiny screen, and don't know how to get started. Whether you're a novice or enthusiast, let this site be your guide. The Phone Finder page lets you compare handsets by carrier, availability, style, weight, battery life and other distinguishing characteristics. Market and industry news is also covered, and there are forums, a blog and a glossary of terms. For more in-depth information about the different wireless carriers, visit LetsTalk.com .

FASHION
Shop Intuition
Created as a "general store for fashionistas" by shopper-for-the-stars Jaye Hersh, Shop Intuition serves as part celebrity style-watch, part upscale boutique, intent on carrying the must-have items of the moment. Categories range from Handbags & Totes to Tops & Tunics. There's even a separate "Target Couture" page. Another e-tailer for fashion-forward types, and evidence that there is a way to sell high-end labels online: Net-a-Porter.com, where items range from a Vera Wang spaghetti strap dress in black lace ($805) to a Missoni babydoll top in purple silk satin ($1,288).