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10 neighbourly ideas to beat the recession
By Charley Brinton | January 27, 2009
Recent words/expressions being bandied around the media in the last year, such as “credit crunch”, “Economic downturn” and “recession” have probably got most of us thinking about saving money, how to cut back on our outgoings, and if the worst happens and we lose our jobs, how to live on much less. We at My Neighbourhoods have come up with a few ideas for saving the pennies (and maybe even making some!) in your local community - all they need from you is a bit of friendly neighbourly behaviour.
1. Garage/front garden/car boot sale
The most obvious one - many local schools already run car boot sales - but if not, why not organise one yourself? Or perhaps go a bit American and have a garage sale, or if you don’t have a garage a front garden (or doorstep even!) sale. Get the whole street involved. Turn it into a winter street party!
2. Shared childcare/babysitting - obviously just with people you trust with your little treasures.
This can work in two ways; the first, you babysit for your friend/neighbour one night, and they return the favour another night. Particularly great for going out for local dinners or cinema and will knock at least £20 off your evenings budget. The other way is if you want to go out with your local friends, to hire one babysitter to sit all your children (within reason) at one home and share the cost. (NB this only works if the babysitter doesn’t mind looking after more than one child and won’t charge extra).
3. Jobs for the kids
It’s been a while since I received pocket money and I’m a little while off giving any so I have no idea how much kids get these days, but you could save yourself and others a few pence with this idea. Instead of pocket money, perhaps your kids could earn the money by say, valeting the car (in turn saving you the £15 on paying someone else to do it), or mowing the lawn or get rid of your cleaner and they can do certain cleaning duties instead? Radical I know but radical times call for radical measures. And they could even earn money doing odd jobs for the neighbours. Alternatively - if you don’t have kids, pay someone else’s to do jobs that you might pay other people, more money, to do.
4. Skills swap
Recently we’ve got to know a neighbour who’s a solicitor. In exchange for web/IT advice from us, he’s given us legal advice where otherwise we may have had to pay for it. Perhaps you’re a gardener and your neighbour is a builder. There’s all sorts you could be doing for each other. When you start talking it’s amazing what help you can find out there - or equally give - for free.
5. Borrow/swap/recycle things
Don’t go out and buy a chainsaw, or even rent one, for that spring time pruning - ask your neighbours if they have one you can borrow. Maybe in exchange for using your power water spray. And have you discovered www.freecyle.org yet? Not only can you give your unwanted items loving homes instead of a nasty end at the local dump, but you can also find other peoples unwanted items that actually could be quite useful to you. All for free. That’s what we like.
6. Local events
Travelling anywhere can cost money so perhaps organise some fun local events. Old film viewings in a local church hall; mum coffee mornings/afternoons in a local bar that wouldn’t usually have any customers at that time of day (and negotiate a special rate for the coffee/tea); winter sports tournaments for the kids in the local park; see idea (1) - hold a street sale to sell unwanted items and homemade goods.
7. Get fit cheaply
Drop that monthly gym membership and start a local running/swimming/aerobics/yoga group.
8. Share and Grow
Not many people in towns and cities are lucky enough to have big gardens that can be used for growing your own produce and apparently allotments are becoming harder to come by as more people demand “growing space”. Well one celebrity chef, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, in partnership with Channel4, has started a scheme called Landshare. The idea is that people who have spare land/garden that could be cultivated, can rent this out to people who don’t have land of their own and would like to, well, cultivate. Check out the website www.landshare.net for more details.
9. Rent a bed
Do you have a spare bedroom that is rarely used? Let your neighbours know, particularly the ones who don’t have a spare bedroom, and you could make a little extra cash being a type of B&B for friends and family of your neighbours. (You could go further afield and advertise on sites such as gumtree.com - but then you don’t really know who you’re getting… local is safer).
10. Work local
So the worst has happened and you’ve lost your job. Whilst you’re looking for a new one (and there will be one - don’t give up the hope!) perhaps there’s a particular skill you have that could be in demand locally. Perhaps you speak another language and could do language lessons for people? Or you have office skills and could offer typing/computer work to local business people? You know what they say, when one door closes, another opens…
We’d love to hear if you have any other money saving ideas, and don’t forget, you can organise or look for local events or groups on the My Neighbourhoods message boards.
Topics: Neighbours, Neighbourhoods, My Neighbourhoods, Community, Local community, Home |
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