Co-ops are one of the latest ways to save money and be part of a community. There are official and unofficial co-ops that are formed for many different reasons. You can join an existing co-op or form one of your own. It can be a large co-op or a small group of friends. The size and type will all depend on your needs.
What is a co-op?
A co-op is a group of people that come together to share a resource. Often, they can purchase items more cheaply when in a group, they can share resources that they already have, or they can work together to create resources. Co-ops make a lot of sense for frugal-minded people.
What types of co-ops are there?
You could form a co-op based on practically any good or resource. Here are some ideas to get you started.
Groceries: This can take many forms, from sharing a warehouse store membership to planting a community garden and sharing the produce.
Books: Form a co-op with friends to share books. You can be very casual, such as a once a month book exchange, or make it more formal, such as voting on books to purchase and share.
Spices: Spices can loose their flavor over time, and many people simply don’t use them up quickly enough. Exotic spices can be bought in bulk from ethic markets and can be a lot of fun to try.
Meals: Form a meal co-op. Team with one, two or three friends. You can cook once a week and eat healthy varied home cooked meals all week. Look for a blog later today or tomorrow about meal co-ops.
Magazines: Chances are that your friends are purchasing the same magazines that you are. Decide that each of you subscribe to a different one and then get together once a week to exchange.
Chores: Form a neighborhood yard care group for chores that require an equipment purchase. You an blow the snow for your neighbor while he uses his wood chipper on your brush, for example.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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