Unplug Your Unused Appliances – A lot of people don’t realize that many appliances and chargers are still drawing power when they are not in use. From your office printer, to your bread maker and Xbox, they are all suckling at the power teat while sitting idle. By plugging these items into an energy star rated power bar, you can stop these watt sucking vampires from upping your monthly bills. While it may not seem like much, you can easily save $200/yr on your power bill.

Ditch the Bottled Water - Even though the great BPA scare made many people switch to reusable water bottles, millions of bottles of bottled water is still sold every year. Most people don’t think about all the trucks it takes to deliver all that water around the world to the grocery and convenience stores. Not only can you save a bundle buy purchasing an in house filtration system, but you are reducing the amount of bottles that go into the trash or have to be recycled. This way you can have convenient, fresh filtered water anytime you want, but you help to reduce green house gases (Sorry, it won’t help with your ’significant others’ gasses).

Buy Local, Go Organic – In the same vain as bottled water, it takes millions of gallons of gas to deliver fresh produce and other food products around the globe. By buying locally grown, organic produce you are not only supporting and investing in your local economy, but you are helping to reduce carbon emissions from large trucks barreling down the highways.

Resource Sharing – Take a look around your garage and basement. How many of these things did you ‘have to have’ at the time, and now they are collecting dust. How many items do you own that are used once or twice a year, and sit idle the rest of the time. Why can’t your friends or neighbors borrow or rent these items from you for a small fee? Why do we have this crazy idea we need to own EVERYTHING when there are surely 5-10 of them within blocks of your house. Save some money, save some space and get to know your neighbors!

Ditch the Credit Cards – While many will say that this is more money saving than reducing your carbon footprint, think again. Of course you will save money, but since credit cards make over-spending so much easier, you end up contributing more waste from all those products you bought. And as with other items in this list, they had to get to the store somehow! You will be reducing greenhouse emissions.  A few tips to keep from spending: Leave the credit cards at home unless you absolutely need them. If you have a serious credit card addiction, you might want to put your assets on ice, literally. Put yours cards in a Tupperware container filled with water and put it in the freezer, that way if you have a sudden urge to spend, you have time to walk yourself down while the cards are defrosting (Don’t try putting it in the microwave either, it will melt your cards!)!

These are just a few of the things you can do to reduce your carbon footprint and your spending. What tricks do YOU use in your day to day life? Post additional ideas to share in the comments.

With Freecycle, you have 2 options, give and receive. You can post an item for somebody to take, or post something you are looking for. That’s it. Moderators have been known to be almost militant at times when people don’t follow these strict rules. But what about the people that want to do more with their stuff? They Can BorrowMe!

Similar to the Freecycle network, BorrowMe.com allows users to post items they want, or have to give away, but with many more options and control.

So if you’re upset with Freecycle and and are looking for alternatives, come check out BorrowMe.com and take it for a spin!

This week, we talk about Wishes!

First, what is a Wish? A wish is something that you are looking to borrow, rent, receive or buy. Maybe you would like to borrow a ladder to clean your eaves over the weekend, perhaps you want to rent a pressure washer to clean off your driveway. Regardless, you stop by BorrowMe and do a quick search that returns no results. Don’t get discouraged, post a Wish!

When you post a Wish on Borrow me it not only get’s added to the site, it lurks. It watches what other people are posting to see if it will match what you are looking for. If somebody in your area posts what you’re looking for then you will receive an email from our system to let you know. How cool is that!

You can get better exposure for your Wishes by posting them to Facebook. When you finish posting your wish, we will give you the option to post it to your wall as well (Of course, you don’t have to). Most of your friends don’t know when you’re looking for something, so if they see it on Facebook they can connect to BorrowMe with a few clicks and offer to lend/rent/sell it to you.

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

BorrowMe gives you the tools to reduce spending, reduce clutter, reduce waste and bring together community. Christmas is gone and a lot of clutter has been left behind. How many of these items will you use on a regular basis?

• Put your Stuff on BorrowMe to let your friends and neighbors borrow or rent them.
• Save money by renting and borrowing little used items.
• Create a resource sharing group for your office or organization.
• Create Wish lists to help non-profits get items they require.

The sooner we start to make changes in our life, the sooner others will see the benefit and jump on board. Big changes take small steps to achieve, we may not be able to change the world, but we can make a dent!

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

Eric Seniuk | Oct 12

With the economy turning sour, people are looking for creative ways to save money. Many have turned to BorrowMe.com, an online forum where people can lend, rent or sell just about anything.

Users that are new to BorrowMe.com must begin by creating an online profile — similar to those found on Facebook or MySpace. Once the profile is created, users can then register items that they wish to lend or sell.

In addition, users can register “wishes” for items that they’re looking to rent or buy. When a wish is matched up with an item that someone else is looking to unload, users can be alerted with emails, text messages or even Facebook notifications.

Each BorrowMe.com user sets a geographic radius in which other site users are considered “neighbours.” For example, if Jane deems anyone living within a 50 km radius of her home to be a “neighbour,” then she would receive alerts when people living within this radius are looking to lend or sell something that she has requested…

Read The Full Story:

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

Posted on 23 September 2009

New website “helps students borrow, lend, or rent anything from anybody”

Amy Szybalski

“Imagine a world where you bought as little as possible, borrowed as much as possible, got as much use from what you already own as possible, and brought as little as possible – to the dump”: this is the goal of a new social networking website. BorrowMe.com helps connect people, mainly students, with others who may be willing to lend some of their possessions.

“A lot of students have just left home for the first time, and are setting up in new digs. They need everything from pots and pans to a couch, a stereo, textbooks, maybe a used car or course supplies. Money’s tight, and every penny counts,” says Sean Young, chief architect of the program.

On BorrowMe you create your own profile, a home page if you will, that keeps you up to date on your BorrowMe activities and inventory. There you can read comments, see new people in your friends list, and get updated with items of interest in your area.

Read The Full Story:

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

With the economy in a downward spiral, borrowing instead of buying seems like an ideal plan. BorrowMe.com provides a borrowing and lending service where users can share things ranging from textbooks to digital cameras.

BorrowMe.com founder Sean Young had the idea in 2005, but did not release the site until earlier this year.

“When the economy went south around a year and a half ago I got back together with some people to discuss the project,” Young said. “And a little over a year ago we started working on the site again.”

Now the site has more than 1,000 users and hundreds of opportunities for users to share, anything from textbooks to vacuum cleaners…

Read The Full Story:

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

By Eric Johnson and Ariel Cheung | The News Record

In the everlasting search to save a buck or two, more students are turning to the Internet to order textbooks.

Now, not only can books be purchased on Web sites like Amazon.com or the University of Cincinnati Bookstore’s site, but they can also be rented or exchanged.

Rental sites like Swaptree.com and BorrowMe.com let users borrow everything from textbooks to DVDs. BorrowMe.com also offers swaps for furniture and game consoles.

Other sites are created specifically with students in mind. Web sites like Chegg.com and Campusbookrentals.com both offer rentable textbooks at a discounted price.

Most rental sites offer textbooks for nearly half the price of a retail store and give students the option to rent their books for varying periods of time.

“I guess if there are no hidden fees, it would be worth it,” said Emily Schwieterman, a third-year education student. “It seems pretty cheap and efficient.”

One negative aspect of the rental sites is being able to find the textbooks required for classes in a somewhat shallow pool. Long delivery time can also be a problem….

Read The Full Story:

Don’t forget to Come be a Fan, follow us on Twitter, or consider Getting Started.

Seen here is BorrowMe CEO and Founder Sean Young working tirelessly to mount the new ‘White Board Walls’ for our meeting area. Hey Sean, I have a garage door opener that needs installing when you’re done!

BorrowMe CEO Sean Young at work

Don’t forget to join our Facebook Group, follow us on Twitter, check out Why BorrowMe or consider Getting Started.