Sharing

Sharing locally is a great way to meet your neighbours, save money, and help the environment. If you need to know more please read on...

Why Share?

Share...to save money
Sharing things with people in your neighbourhood means you don't spend as much money. Most of us own stuff that we haven't used in years. Do you have a shed full of things you use perhaps only a few times each year, such as a lawnmower, a sewing machine, a ladder or a wheelbarrow? Many of these things take up a lot of space so people in small dwellings simply don't have room for them, and low income people can't afford them. Wouldn't it be great if we could all get what we needed by borrowing and lending things within our neighbourhoods?

Share... to go Green
Sharing things with people means we don't have to all go out and buy everything we may need, which could only be used a few times before it ends up in a drawer or the shed. This reduces waste, and excess items ending up in landfill. Sharing skills such as composting, seed saving, baking or making jam not only saves you money, it helps the environment too. Some Sharehoods have started community gardens in their neighbourhoods. Growing your own fruit and vegetables saves money and helps the environment by reducing the pollution associated with transportation and packaging of conventional produce.

Share..to meet your neighbours
Perhaps the best reason for sharing is to meet other people in your local area. This builds trust and that warm feeing you get when you walk down the street and people say hello. It also reduces social isolation and makes for safer streets. When you meet your neighbours with the Sharehood you immediately have a common interest – a belief in the value of sharing things!

What to Share

All sorts of things can be shared!

Household objects and garden implements and tools can be shared, such as sewing machines, books and films, your power drill, or that handy ladder.

Garden produce can be shared; when your broccoli goes crazy and takes over your garden you could offer some to your neighbours. Or if you have a lemon tree and there are only so many lemon tarts you can eat.

But not only "stuff" can be shared – skills are meant to be shared also! Maybe you need gardening help and someone in your street has the greenest thumb in town, or that darn printer is broken again and the teenager four doors down is a computer whiz. Not to mention learning languages, the tango, help with accountancy, childminding and the million other things we could share, while strengthening our communities at the same time.

For great ideas of how other people are using The Sharehood to share, see our page of your stories and our resources page and get sharing!

Starting a hood

Once you've joined the site (join here if you haven't already) you will see people who have also joined, in order of proximity to your place. To get more people involved, the first thing to do is to drop welcome letters to your neighbour's houses inviting them to get involved.

We have a draft letter which has been used with success in plenty of communities so far. Cut and paste the letter, and modify it, or write your own, to suit your hood. We suggest you leaflet all of the houses within a 5 minute walk of your house. Recruit a friend or neighbour you know, and it won't take too long.

A good way to kick off a hood is to organise a meeting or a social event to bring everyone together. There are other examples of other groups doing similar things which may give you some ideas - such as (eat with me.net). You could pick a theme for your first meeting or dinner - such as everyone has to wear a hat, or bring food starting with the first letter of their name (which can help remember all those new names.

At the first dinner or meeting, it's nice to do a round of introductions, with people talking about what motivated them to come along, what they want to get out of it, and ideas they have and what they have to offer. You can also discuss starting various projects, such as a fruit-and-vegie box co-op. At the end of the meeting, plan another social event.

To let everyone know about your event, add it on the Sharehood community noticeboard. The website sends email notifications of the latest content, so every hoodster within five minutes walk of your place will find out about it.

Most of the work involved in starting a Sharehood community is around people getting to know each other. Fun social events include picnics, garage sales, BBQs, garden working bees and so on. Picnics are the easiest – just post the event on the site and then show up on the day with food. More ideas for social events.

Anyone can post an event on the site, so your neighbours can also make things happen. Initially though, be prepared to organise a get-together of some kind every few months to keep the hood bubbling. We've found that people are more likely to share if they know each other!

Expanding your hood

When you drop off your initial letter, you'll get a number of responses, but not everyone will sign up to the website immediately, or come along to events regularly. Although neighbours will continue to contact you in dribs and drabs over the following months, it can take a while to expand your hood. This is completely normal, so don't worry – just be patient.

Here are some tips to get the word out:

  • Run regular social events such as BBQs, picnics or swaps. The more often you run events, the more people will talk with one another about what you're doing.
  • When you organise an event, make a flyer and attach it to the event posting on the website. Ask members of the hood to tell their neighbours and drop the flyer in the letterboxes near them.
  • Find a public spot in your area, such as the window of a local shop, to put up a poster or noticeboard promoting your sharehood with updates on upcoming activities.
  • Leave some information about your hood at your closest library, or community/neighbourhood house (if there is one).
  • Get an article in the local newspaper, or do an interview on your local radio station. More info on this here.
  • Take a friend and go door-knocking in your hood. We've gotten feedback that plenty of people who receive the letter think its a great idea and plan to write back or join but just leave the letter on the fridge instead.
  • When you meet a neighbour for the first time, let them know about what you and your Sharehood are up to.
  • If there's a housing co-op, or a transition town group, or any other kind of similar organisation in your area, approach them to promote your Sharehood directly to their members.
  • Print a listing of shareables available through your Sharehood community (without names or contact details), and advertise it on your noticeboard or in another letterdrop.

The Local Currency

The Sharehood has started a complementary currency called Samaras to help facilitate local exchanges. You don't ever have to use Samaras, but they're there in case you want to.

Samaras can be handy if you want something that someone else is offering, but you feel bad about asking because you don't have anything they want. It means that you can pay your neighbour in Samaras for two hours of gardening, and then you can get paid by someone else to do two hours of editing. In the end, everyone's happy: the currency allows for indirect barter to occur.

Samaras can also be useful if you ever start to feel like you are being taken advantage of. You can always just suggest that your neighbour starts paying you in samaras for whatever you're doing.

Last but not least, Samaras could help to create a vibrant local economy, which means more engagement with people you know rather than anonymous customer service workers, as well as less transportation of goods, and a greater emphasis on homemade goods.

See also: