Ways to Save Money, Share, Borrow or Rent

As I was thinking about different ways to save money, this post came to mind. Growing up we always knew all of our immediate neighbors. We would visit, help one another and share the labor in many projects. In our current neighborhood we have wonderful neighbors.

Having good neighbors who you know can really save you money. Now you might be asking how could that be? How will that save me any money?

Borrow

We have great neighbors, who will let us borrow a tool we need. We can’t own every tool we need to work around the house. Our neighbors are the same. So we will always check with our neighbors to see if they have an item before we go out to purchase it or rent it.

Recently we needed to rototill up the grass in our backyard. We have a small rototiller. My husband tried to use it but it didn’t work. It was too underpowered and it broke. 🙁 But one of our neighbors has a much bigger garden than us and a large rototiller. We were able to borrow it to break up the sod and turn over the soil. It saved us from having to rent the rototiller.

We own a chainsaw on a pole. It’s great for trimming lower hanging branches from trees. We have loaned it out to our neighbors to use when they need it. They know we own one and that they can use it, when they need one.

A few things to consider if you borrow an item. Always return it promptly. Don’t make the owner come looking for it when they are needing to use it. Always treat the borrowed item better than your own. Take good care to store it properly and service it if needed. Our neighbors root-tiller needed the oil changed and a good servicing. My husband did this before using it. Also, if you break an item, repair or replace it.

Share

Some tools are only needed once in a while. For those higher priced items, it’s nice to share the expense with someone. I know we recently wanted to purchase a pressure washer to wash the moss off the sidewalk and clean around the house.

Our neighbor had an electric pressure washer but was wanting to get a gas powered one for more efficient cleaning. We decided to share the expense on that item. We were able to get a better quality one by sharing the expense with our neighbors and now we both have one to use.

Rent

There are those items that are needed so rarely, it just doesn’t make sense to purchase them. So renting the items for a certain job is a great alternative.

A few years back we were able to get free firewood in logs. We got together with a few friends to saw and split the wood. We each owned a chainsaw but no wood splitter. We were able to rent one for a couple of days and split all the wood. By sharing the cost of the splitter and renting it instead of purchasing it we all saved money.

Renting a large ticket item is often a good way to get the job done without so much expense.

What are some items you rent or borrow instead of purchasing them?

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