Neighbors learn to share during downturn

CHICAGO --- Twice a year, in the spring and again in the autumn, six families on Vicki Matranga's tree-lined Oak Park block go to one neighbor's garage and bring out the $1,200 woodchipper they all pitched in to buy. Then they gather around and feed it dead branches gathered from their yards.

"We chip up our branches and make our own mulch out of it," Ms. Matranga said. "There are a couple of passionate gardeners on our block."

Financially, it was worth it for Ms. Matranga and her neighbors to pool their dollars and buy a big-ticket item that none would use regularly but all still needed yearly, she said.

"We were happy to share the cost and storage of the machine," Ms. Matranga said.

This one small example of neighbors sharing an item is part of a trend as the economy worsens, experts say. People are turning to sharing and trading -- using community toy, bicycle and tool libraries, swapping vegetables online or checking out exotic cake pans from libraries, instead of buying their own.

"With the economy tanking, there are even more people doing it now, and it's more visible," said Jeff Ferrell, a sociology professor at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas, who studies sharing networks.

Rob Anderson in Portland, Ore., launched the Web site Veggietrader.com, which allows registered users to sell, buy or trade fresh produce. Users punch in their ZIP code to find other local gardeners. More than 1,000 people have signed up since the site was launched in March.

"People are looking for ways to save money. If you have too many tomatoes and you have too many oranges, wouldn't it be great if we can meet each other?" Mr. Anderson said.

At the library in Galesburg, Ill., a dozen cake pans sit behind the counter, available for checkout. Karen Marple, the children's librarian, keeps track of the pans, which she buys on sale or at yard sales for library cardholders to share.

"They don't want to spend so much money on a cake pan that they're going to use one time," Ms. Marple said.

These types of sharing and swapping systems aren't all that different from the way society worked through the mid-20th century, when family members lived near one another, said Rosemary Hornak, a psychology professor at Meredith University in Raleigh, N.C.

"Sharing only means that you have to buy less and I have to buy less," Mr. Ferrell said. "Sharing also knits communities together. Sharing is good for social life."