Free Money Finance: Save Money by Teaming with Your Neighbors

US News lists 10 unusual ways to save money. Tip #1 is as follows:

Share With Your Neighbors. When it comes to buying food or paying for things such as the Internet or Netflix, rally the troops (aka your neighbors) to save some money. Split the cost of Internet and Netflix with a few neighbors, buy food items in bulk then divide the food and bill, or rotate dinner-making responsibilities between different houses to save money on food expenses.

We recently benefitted (again) from this tip.

Several years ago the homeowners in our development banded together and bid out our garbage pick-up services. Waste Management was the winner, so we went with them and each homeowner saved somewhere around $75 a year versus the list price. But it was a never-ending fight to keep the prices down as WM tried and tried again to raise them (we had to call several times to remind them that we were part of the group "deal" and that our prices should not be going up.) Finally the homeowners got tired of this back-and-forth, and we recently re-bid out the services. A new, local player has emerged since we last priced out the competition and they came in $100 lower than Waste Management. So we all made the switch in June.

There are a TON of products and services that you can save on if you team up with your neighbors. A few ideas:

• Snow removal (for those of us living in the tundra)
• Landscaping
• Pest control
• Home repairs
• Yard equipment (borrow from each other)
• Bulk buys (good deals at Costco can be split among neighbors)

You get the idea. Anytime buying in bulk/as a group can save some money (which is often), teaming with your neighbors can ring up some big discounts.

I'm sure you can name many more. If you have something to add, please leave them in the comments below.

Source: http://www.freemoneyfinance.com/2011/08/save-money-by-teaming-with-your-neighbors.html

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