LIFESTYLE : Travelers Trading Places : Families save by swapping a Craftsman for a villa or <i> pied-a-terre</i> . Flexibility is key to home exchanges.

Traveling abroad is romantic, exciting and, unfortunately, expensive. Never mind the air fare. Hotel rooms, restaurants and car rentals can quickly add up to a budget-busting extravaganza.

A growing number of families, in Southern California and throughout the world, are discovering a less expensive way to travel. They’re swapping homes, cars and--in many respects--lives.

“The first night you sleep in someone else’s bed, it’s like being Goldilocks,” says Ilene Crouppen, an interior decorator from Woodland Hills, who has swapped homes three times in the past five years. After a while, she adds, you start to think of their home as your home.

In fact, the home you get may be even more ideal than an expensive suite in a ritzy hotel. Their first time out, the Crouppens exchanged their thoroughly modern California home for a 350-year-old thatched-roof house in the British countryside.

With home swapping, the possibilities could include a villa in the south of France, a seaside apartment off the coast of Italy or a pied-a-terre in Brazil. Home exchanges also can be arranged within the United States. A California home in the winter, for example, might intrigue a Colorado family with a home near the ski slopes.

Home swapping appeals to a wide variety of people, from families with children to retirees with a month or so to spend away.

“I’ve gotten to the age when I don’t want to go touring on a bus,” says Hal Freed, a retired financial executive from Woodland Hills. “I want to have a home base, where you get to know your grocery store, your patisserie.”

With a little imagination and a lot of time for planning, swapping your home with another family can open up an exciting new world. “You need a little sense of adventure to do this,” says Freed, who last summer traded his townhouse for an apartment in Paris.

Home swappers also must be flexible. “There’s a common thread for most of the people who do this,” says Karl Costabel, owner of the Vacation Exchange Club, which publishes lists of available homes. “They’re easygoing people. That kind of goes with the territory of giving up your home to another family.”

For those who exchange homes, turning over personal possessions to a stranger is not a problem.

“I feel that they’re in your house but you’re [also] in theirs,” Crouppen says. “That’s the greatest security you can have. You either like the idea or can’t imagine someone in your home.”

Freed’s wife, Patti, agrees. “If you have any hang-ups about ‘stuff,’ your belongings, you might think twice,” she says. “But, if there’s anything that is so important to you, just take it out of the house. Remove it.”

If you are willing to turn your home over to strangers, the time to start planning for next summer’s vacation is now. The best way to begin is to subscribe to a home listing service such as the Vacation Exchange Club or INTERVAC U.S. You can list your home and, at the same time, consider making your own contacts. A year’s membership in one of these groups can range from $50 to $78.

The key to the success of any home exchange, according to those who have done it, is communication.

“Set the ground rules early on,” says Patti Freed, who arranged her home swap through INTERVAC. “Get to know each other. Have as much communication as you can so you don’t have any misunderstandings.”

“You really learn about the people before you go,” adds Hal Freed. “You develop a sense of trust and understanding. That’s essential.”

Through letters and phone conversations, home swappers arrange such details as housekeepers, nannies, cars, money, insurance, pets and appliances. Many home swappers also act as tour guides for their guests, leaving maps, guidebooks and lists of restaurant recommendations. Some arrange for friends and family to entertain their visitors.

Those who have swapped homes rave about the experience.

“I can’t imagine, even if I had unlimited funds, spending a month in a hotel,” Patti Freed says.

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WHERE AND WHEN

What: Home exchange clubs.

Price: Subscription prices and number of publications issued each year varies.

Location: INTERVAC U.S. International & Domestic Home Exchange, P.O. Box 590504, San Francisco 94159.

Call: (415) 435-3497.

Location: Vacation Exchange Club, P.O. Box 650, Key West, Fla. 33041.

Call: (800) 638-3841.

Location: The Invented City, 41 Sutter St., Suite 1090, San Francisco, 94109.

Call: (800) 788-2489.

Location: Trading Homes International, P.O. Box 787, Hermosa Beach, 90254.

Call: (800) 877-8723.