Be Green Borrow From Your Neighbors

Get To Know Your Neighbors

     I know in this day and age it seems that no one I mean no one actually knows the people they live around or the lady that lives at the end of the block. I wonder why that it? I think maybe it has to do with how busy everyone is now and the fact that in a couple, both people have to work just to support the family. So consequently you don't get to know the people around your home and down your street. Remember when you were a kid your family knew everyone on the street and around the block and since that was the case as a kid you actually had a lot more freedom. So why should you get to know the neighbors? Well, if you think of the three R's of living a greener life Reduce, Reuse, Recycle knowing your neighbors will go a long way to help you in accomplishing that greener lifestyle you want. Not to mention saving you a ton of green dollars in your pocket and a lot of space in your garage. 

Live Green By Borrowing From The Neighbors

     So like above your family knew everyone on the block. But what they also knew was who on the block had a rototiller, or a bike rack, or a kayak that sat in their garage all year waiting for that one or two times a year when they actually took that item out and used it. So, if your dad needed to use a rototiller chances are he would walk down the street and knock on the door of the rototiller owner and ask to borrow it. The owner would agree saying that as long as your dad repaired any damage etc. Now why would this guy loan your dad something that could cost up to $400.00 at the time which was a lot of money? Well, this guy always borrowed your dads roof rack every year when his family went camping so what goes around comes around. So in this neighborhood not everyone has to own a rototiller or a bike rack or all those things that we all use a few times a year. Just someone in the neighborhood has to own it. That way our garages don't get filled up with stuff that we never use and the money that we save can stay in our bank accounts. 

Peer To Peer Borrowing

     Now in this modern time this would be called peer to peer borrowing and I'm sure if I was a Java Developer I could write some nifty code with the Google maps API and you could put in your neighborhood and it would show who had what and what they were willing to lend out etc. Or on the other hand you could just get to know your neighbors and when they ask to borrow your good pruning shears let them because you never know when you might want to borrow that extra bike that their daughter grew out of. Besides it's nice to know your neighbors.