Borrowing

Borrowing is a wonderful option for reusable things such as movies, books, and toys. You can often get lots of different things depending on who you know, but remember it is not for keeps!

The most obvious place to borrow is your local library. My eldest daughter has read all the Harry Potter books twice but we don’t own any of them. I make it a point to use the library as I tend to only read a book once so I would rather return the book than try to find somewhere in my small house to store it. What is the point of keeping something you’ve already used?

If I want to read it again I can always return to the library. Let them worry about dusting the books and the storage space. Many libraries also offer DVDs, videos, CDs, and even puzzles for loan. Some may have a small fee associated with them (our library charges $2 a week for a video) but it is minimal compared to the cost of buying the item. In fact it is cheaper than renting a video at the shop.

How about setting up a borrowing scheme with your friends and family? I suggest you keep track of the items you loan in a notebook. Be sure to put the date, name of thing you loaned, and the name and phone number of the person who borrowed it. I usually get people to sign for things I loan them. You may even want to put a time limit on the loan to make sure others have a chance to borrow it as well. Books, videos, DVDs, and PlayStation games are very good things to trade with friends as they are infinitely reusable. This saves you the cost of buying new items that you will only use for a brief period or occasionally.

Toy Libraries are popping up in a lot of places nowadays. Some are completely free while others require a small rental fee or deposit to cover their costs. It is a great way to let your kids try out toys before you make an investment in buying them. I find that many times my kids get bored very quickly with a toy they have been begging me to buy. This way you haven’t invested a lot of money (or maybe none at all) to find out that your kids don’t really like the toy.

In the past I’ve borrowed a barbecue and dishes for a party I had as well as snow clothes and gear when our family took a trip to the ski fields 5 years ago. There was no point for us to invest in our own snow gear as we were only going for a few days and didn’t intend to return to the snow anytime soon. I’ve borrowed a car, costumes, movies and books from friends. I’ve loaned my hedge trimmers to the neighbour, a ladder to a friend, shovels to the school, and paint brushes to a relative.

Just make sure you treat anything you’ve borrowed with respect as it isn’t your own property. Therefore you should return it in the same (or better) condition as you received it. You should also make a point of thanking the person you’ve borrowed from, even if you’ve got a reciprocal agreement. It’s always nice to know someone appreciates what you’ve done.

I’d love to hear stories about other borrowing schemes people have set-up. So send me an email or make a comment to let me know how borrowing has saved you.