Frugal February #18: Share and Share Alike

Here's an old frugal concept: share your belongings.  Kids are expected to do this.  At least, I hope they still are.  Mine have always shared.  We expected them to, and saw it as a life lesson.  Mine shared bedrooms, and toys, and as they got older, sports gear and cars.  Sometimes they even shared clothes and friends. 

There was no such thing as a TV in each bedroom.  Until things went digital, we had only one TV, and it was in the living room.  Talk about sharing!  You had to coordinate who got to use it when for TV viewing, movie watching, or video game playing.  We bought a digital TV in late 2007, and the old analog one went into the basement. . .without rabbit ears, so it did not get any stations.  It was (and still is) strictly for movies and video games. 

Same with computers.  My two sons have computers of their own. . .which they bought for themselves after they graduated high school and moved away from home.  The rest of us at this little place here share one laptop.  Gets a little complicated sometimes, when someone has research to do or a large paper to write for school, but we work it out.  Much cheaper to share than to shell out $$ for each person to have their own computer at this point.  DD1 is planning to use some of the money she will receive as graduation gifts this coming June toward purchasing her own computer when she heads off to college in August.  She is all ready researching what she needs in a computer, and looking for the best deal possible.

Adults can share too.  Just because you're a grown up doesn't mean you can't share.  Adults can share not just with their spouse and children (in the case of our TV and computer), but also with friends, neighbors, and extended family members.

As an example, we have several items that we share with friends or other family members.  Tools.  Our pig  roaster.  A smoker.  A commercial grade meat grinder.  Our 16' utility trailer.  Our Suburban, from time to time.

And those friends and family members have shared their things with us, when we needed them, and asked.  A laser transit.  A utility trailer before we purchased our own larger one.  A toddler sized bed.  A PTO powered post-hole digger.  DS1 even got to borrow a restored 1969 GTO to drive his date to the senior prom.  That was one awesome case of sharing!!

Sharing is frugal.  Sharing helps you, or your friend or relative you are sharing with, save money by borrowing an item for a short while rather than having to go buy or rent an identical one.  If you are only going to use it once, or for a few weeks or months, why purchase one when someone you know and trust (and who trusts you) all ready owns one.

Share and share alike.  It's frugal.  It's friendly.