Hi all, I just signed up and want to introduce myself to the members of this
group. A bit about me: My name is Annette - I'm a wife and mother and at times a
bit of an activist. I admit to being a newbie in all things internet, but better
late than never, right? I'm passionate about family, friends and community. I'm
a big believer that community can do far more, in terms of reducing family
expenses and reducing our impact on the environment, than the individuals
separately.

Why do I believe this? Because for the last few years we have been cooperating
in interesting ways that have resulted in a significant reduction in expenses
and also a reduction in clutter and waste. For almost everything we need we pool
our money and buy goods in huge bulk and get a very nice discount. There are no
storage issues because we are splitting up the shipment as soon as it arrives,
and there is far less packaging, spoilage and waste. We also split the costs of
many durable items with friends and neighbors who need the same things. Often
items are necessary but used only once a week or less. Why should everybody own
the same things that they rarely use? We use a kind of checkout system that
works very well. Oh, and talk about collective bargaining power!

Consider doing these things yourself - you don't even have to have a tight
community. There are easy ways of finding people in your community interested in
similar things. It's easy if you know how. I just started a blog about it if
anybody wants to know more. http://splitting-expenses.blogspot.com/

Annette