Sharing the Expense
by Linda Brown

Today I'd like to suggest that it might be to your advantage financially to become friends with some of your neighbors.  It's time to practice what our parents taught us long ago - the idea of sharing.

Take a minute to think back to the days of your childhood.  Do you remember the neighborhood you grew up in?  Chances are you played with a lot of the kids that lived near you.  Neighbors knew each other back then, and people looked out for each other.  Brings back a warm, happy feeling, doesn't it? 

Today things have changed.  Most families have two working parents.  People's lives are so much busier, and we don't always get to know the people we live with in the neighborhood.  When was the last time you just stood outside chatting with your neighbors?

Today I'd like to suggest that it might be to your advantage financially to become friends with some of those neighbors.  It's time to practice what our parents taught us long ago - the idea of sharing.

There are lots of opportunities to use this idea.  And every one of those opportunities can save you lots of money.  Let me give you a few examples to get started.

Every fall 4 or 5 families in our neighborhood get together to rent a lawn dethatcher and a lawn aerator.  The total rental cost comes to about $120 for the day.  So if my family were to rent both of these machines for the half day minimum, our cost would be $60.  Since the $120 full day cost is split among 5 families, our cost is just $24.

A few winters ago our area of the country experienced a very big snowfall.  We were snowed in for days. We struggled to dig ourselves out of our driveways. One block from us, though, a neighbor brought out his snow blower, cleared his driveway, the driveways of some of his elderly neighbors, and then shared his snowblower with some of his other neighbors.  News of that "Good Samaritan" traveled quickly throughout our neighborhood, and several other families chipped in together to purchase snowblowers for future snow storms.

A few years ago I was in the market for a rug shampooer.  With my allergies, I find it necessary to keep the carpets in my home as clean as possible.  I finally decided on the model I wanted, with a price tag of $229.  My sister-in-law and her husband had recently moved into the neighborhood, and they both suffer from allergies, too.  So we jointly purchased the shampooer, effectively cutting the price in half for each of us.  Since we live so close to each other, transporting the machine between our houses is not a problem.

One of the ladies in our neighborhood is well known for having an incredible green thumb.  Her gardens are beautiful, and you can always find her outside planning what she wants to plant next.  She's taught me a lot about gardening.  Since we've become good friends, she's been sharing cuttings from her perennials with me.  I've found this to be a great deal because:  I can see what the mature plant will look like before I plant it, the cuttings are free, and the plant is so much more special since it came  from a friend.  She likes it because she can thin out her garden without actually throwing the plants away. Plus, a true gardener always loves to share from his garden.

These are just a few of the examples of the ways you could share with your neighbors.  Sharing will always save you money, not to mention the space of storing the items.

There's another advantage of sharing that just naturally occurs from working together - friendships develop.  We've met some of our best friends during  "neighborhood work days".  And don't forget - it sets a good example for kids, too!

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