Share Rather Than Own – Tips
Think about all the things that you own that don’t get used day to day, week to week, or even year to year. Other people could use them when you’re not and vice versa. It’s a new trend called the Sharing Economy being facilitated by the internet. And it’s a great way to save money, save space in closets, basements and garages, and lighten the load on the planet, too!
Odile carpooling
SHARE
Share Your Ride
Looking to travel with a lighter footprint, save money, even meet new friends? Try ride sharing. Ride sharing programs like Carpooling.com are popping up everywhere. See Odile’s post Empty Seat’s in Your Car? Rideshare to Stop the Waste to learn more.
Thanks to internet technology, you can now even rent out your car when you’re not using it with RelayRides.com. You can also find a quick ride using an app called Uber. Using your phone’s GPS, Uber tracks down a certified driver in your area and gets you a ride. All the perks of a taxi without having to hail one down yourself.
And of course, you can always buddy up on your own at the line at the airport. That’s ‘Junky’ Jacquie’s M.O. Check it out in this post entitled, Anybody Want to Share a Cab?
What a concept! What else could you share with neighbors? (Image: torbenrick.eu)
Share With Your Building Mates
Turn your apartment building into a real community by promoting socializing, sharing, and other forms of cooperation. Share the leftovers. Create a Leave a Book, Take a book in the laundry room. Read about what ‘Junky’ Jacquie shares with her neighbors here.
Share Your Extra Space
Make money for underutilized resources. Rent out space in your driveway with ParkAtMyHouse.com or rent out an underused guest room on AirBnB.com.
Take a book, leave a book. (Image: LittleFreeLibrary.org)
Share Books
Why own when you can share books and keep them moving so others can enjoy them, too? Start a Little Free Library on your own front lawn or in the breakroom at work, and encourage neighbors and co-workers to do the same.
SWAP, RENT, OR LEASE
Host A Clothing Swap
As we all learned in college, sharing clothing with your friends is the way to go when you’re on a budget and don’t have time to shop. But who says you have to stop clothes swapping when you graduate?
Rent Fancy Clothes
Going to a black-tie wedding or formal event, but you’re short on cash, closet space, or time to go shopping? Or perhaps you’d rather not contribute to the consumption of additional resources and energy by buying a new outfit? Enter Rent the Runway, the fast-growing start-up that’s like your best friend who always lets you borrow clothes, but now she has a much bigger closet and it’s filled with all the latest styles and accessories hot off the runway.
Rent Your Grad Gown
Seth Yon, founder of Greener Grads, helps grads reuse their graduation gowns, instead of trashing them in landfills.
Instead of ditching it in a landfill or even recycling it. The greenest gown is the one that already exists. Why recycle when you can rent once and pass it along. Learn more at Greener Grads Biz Takes Graduation Gowns Back for Reuse.
Lease a Jean
Photo Credit: Lease A Jeans
Rather than shelling out $120 for a pair of jeans from the department store, you can now “lease” them from the new service, Lease a Jeans. The latest addition to the Sharing Economy, Lease a Jeans rents the jeans – which are always made from organic materials and produced by FairTrade companies – to you until you’ve had your fill, at which point you can return them and they’ll be re-leased or upcycled into other products. Repairs are provided for free and customers can keep the jeans for as long as they want or swap for a new pair.
Michelle Obama bringing a ‘regift’ to Laura Bush at the White House? (Photo edited by WeHatetoWaste.com, original image from Emily Mock)
Re-gift
Think outside that gift box and openly re-gift items to friends and family in the name of resourcefulness and frugality. We’re starting a new re-gifting tradition, by turning a rendezvous with old friends into a special occasion.Read Jacquie’s post, ‘Gift a Gift, Instead of a Re-gift.’ and Alison’s post, Regifting: The Perfect Excuse for a Post-holiday Party.
SELL OR DONATE
Sell Things Directly
Make some extra cash on eBay or Craigslist by selling your old or unwanted stuff to someone who might really love it.
If you don’t need it or don’t use it, give to someone who will! (Image: Freecycle.org)
Pass Things Along
Give your old possessions to others directly or indirectly, by taking things to the thrift store, consignment store, putting it in the Freebox, or on Freecycle.
Start your own Free Box in your neighborhood or apartment building like the one in Telluride, CO and be amazed at the treasures you can find — and feel good knowing that your own stuff will be put to good use.
Vintage Styles: Now & Then (Image: fashionmagazine.com)
BUY USED
Change the Way You Think of ‘New’
The next time you get the urge to buy something new, satisfy it by thinking ‘new to me’ instead of ‘newly bought’— and save a lot of money in the process. Vintage is in, so start shopping at thrift stores or shop at sites like Freestyleclothing.com.
‘Shop’ On the Curb
One woman’s trash is another gal’s treasure! Harvest furniture, kitchen pots and pans — just about anything — from curbsides. Start a ‘Curb Alert’ in your neighborhood like the one that exists at Brooklynian.com and really kick clutter to the curb!
Give Thrift Shops Another Chance
Shopping at kids thrift stores can relieve your wallet and please your children (Photo Credit: justbetweenkids.com)
We know shopping for your kids can be frustrating at retail stores, let alone adding the extra challenge of shopping at a chaotic thrift store. But with Waste Watcher Sue Carr’s tips, you’ll be saving money and pleasing your kids all at once. Give thrift stores another chance and check out Sue’s article here.
Every one of these tips just makes me feel like we are on to a better and brighter future!! Consumerism is destroying us and the results of our over consumption is becoming pretty obvious to all. So, thanks for all these tips and I would also like to add another where swapping has taken on a new and different twist!! Swapping in circles! Making swapping even more efficient than ever before. Take a look at a new startup in the Bay area http://www.swapdom.com. A far-reaching technology that will get the message out there!! Exciting times, folks! Let’s share!
Lease a jean really caught my eye! Especially because I need some new shorts.The site is in euros though. Do they do this in America yet?