I used a lending library to borrow power tools – it saved me £318 and a lot of time on DIY
DO you have a garage, loft or spare room clogged up with items you only get out once a year?
Whether it’s power tools, party decorations or camping gear, these items are expensive to buy and rarely used.
But have you ever considered paying to loan such equipment, instead of buying it?
Lending libraries allow you to do just that – and, here, Rosie Taylor reveals how they can save lots of money.
LIBRARY OF THINGS
THERE are more than 100 “things libraries” in the UK, run by private companies, charity volunteers or councils.
You normally have to become a member for a fee and then may have to pay additional costs to borrow each item — but each library has different rules.
For example, the London-based Library Of Things (which has 17 sites) charges per item, per day, not for membership.
A pressure washer is £17.50 a day, so costs would quickly add up if you need it for a week.
Share Bristol’s library of things charges £50 for a standard annual membership (it says this is about the same as buying one power tool per year) and £20 for concessions. And then there are no charges for borrowing most items.
In Hull, members can join the Library Of Stuff for just £1 and then pay a small weekly fee for each item they borrow, such as £1.50 for a telescopic camera for seven days.
Some are run or supported by local councils, such as Guildford Library Of Things.
You can find your local service by viewing the directory at ethicalconsumer.org.
WHAT CAN I BORROW?
EACH library of things stocks different types of items, but most offer DIY tools and household equipment.
Others have a much wider range of items, including bikes, office equipment, gardening tools, board games, suitcases and sports equipment.
Items may have been donated by the community or bought new.
In London’s Library Of Things, you can borrow a sewing machine for £5.50 a day or £20 a week. A speaker and PA system for events is £11 a day.
At Share Bristol, free items include camping gear, party crockery, high chairs and bed guards.
Hull’s Library Of Stuff offers a Brother laserjet printer (£5.50 a week), ten metres of bunting (£3 a week), ski goggles (£6.50 a week) and a smoke machine (£5.50 a week).
It also loans health and wellbeing equipment, such as a Nintendo Wii Fit Plus with balance board (£6.50 per month), family litter-picking kits (free) and a light box to treat seasonal affective disorder (free).
HOW DOES IT WORK?
I TESTED Brighton Tool Library as I wanted to strip a wooden floor and clean a patio with a pressure washer. There was a choice of paying per item or signing up to be a member.
An annual membership costs £20 to £50 (depending on income), or there is a pay-as-you-go option for £5 to £25.
I signed up for the £10 monthly membership, which meant there were no additional fees to hire the items.
But I did have to buy my own safety goggles, gloves and sandpaper sheets.
I reserved my items around a week in advance to ensure they were available for the day I needed.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
STAFF can help you find the right tool for the job.
A volunteer suggested I swap the handsaw that I had reserved for an electric multitool, which he explained would be better for cutting some wood out of an awkward corner.
He showed me how to use it and how to load the sander with sandpaper. His advice saved me lots of time I would have wasted watching YouTube videos.
It was also reassuring to know each piece of equipment had been tested.
But the biggest benefit was saving money. I borrowed a Bosch sander and multitool, which cost around £70 and £85 each new, as well as a V-TUF pressure washer, which would have been £173 new.
In total, it would have cost £328 to buy the items. Even second-hand, it costs around £40 to £60 to buy a Bosch multitool, around £25 to buy a Bosch sander and between £80 to £120 to buy the pressure washer.
It’s a great way to try before you buy and save on storage space. And only having the tools for a week was a great incentive to get the tasks done fast.
WHAT ARE DOWNSIDES?
ITEMS in a library of things will have been used previously, so they probably won’t be the latest models and may have signs of wear and tear.
Some of the blades on the multitool I borrowed were rusty (although they still worked) and I struggled to put together the pressure washer as none of the parts had been left where the instructions said they would be. Having a short timeframe to use the items is also not always convenient. It was raining most of the week I had the pressure washer, so I ended up having to rush to use it on the one clear morning.
Many libraries are staffed by volunteers so the opening times for collection and drop-off are often limited to a couple of hours on a few days per week.
This can be difficult to fit around your work and other commitments.
But overall the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
I was able to use tools worth £328 to do the jobs I needed — and it only cost me a tenner.
SKY’S PLAYING LONG GAME ON WIFI
SKY has quietly changed the minimum term on its broadband contracts from 18 months to 24 months.
The telecoms firm brought in the change on June 20, with all new and renewed contracts extended.
Alex Tofts, from Broadband Genie, said: “Sky is delaying customers from shopping around and moving to a cheaper deal, while they cash in for longer.”
Ernest Doku, from price comparison website Uswitch, said the change could have its benefits. He added: “Longer contracts mean less flexibility, but they do allow for customers to lock in a good price for longer.”
If you’re a Sky customer outside the minimum term of your contract then you can ditch the provider and switch to another firm offering a shorter-term contract. Vodafone offers 12-month deals, while Virgin Media’s standard contract length is 18 months.
A Sky spokesperson said the move would mean “extending the in-contract benefits we know our customers value”.
OFGEM LOBBIED ON DISCOUNT DEALS
ENERGY regulator Ofgem is being urged to keep in place a ban on discounted tariffs.
A coalition of power suppliers Octopus, So Energy, E.ON and Rebel Energy, as well as consumer groups Which?, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, Citizens Advice and Fair by Design have written to the regulator to warn that relaxing the ruling could lead to loyal customers being ripped off.
The Sun campaigned for the ban before it was imposed in April 2022.
It means energy firms are not allowed to offer cheap prices to switchers unless they also offer those same deals to their existing customers.
Rocio Concha, Which? director of policy and advocacy, said:
“Our research has shown consumers overwhelmingly believe that cheaper energy deals only available to new customers are unfair – even when they might stand to benefit.
“That’s why Which? and a coalition of energy firms and consumer organisations have written to Ofgem warning them not to lift the ban on discounted tariffs.”