I wish I had a big expensive lawnmower, one that cut the grass in two minutes, and I got to ride on it, and it was fun in the sun. But no, I’m not going to invent an impossible lawnmower today. If I invented an impossible, two minute, fun, grass-cutting device, I’m pretty sure I couldn’t afford to buy it.
But I am going to invent a way for people to buy things together, then share them fairly when they own them. It would involve people describing what they want to own and how much they could afford, with others able to chip in with how much they’d contribute, with everyone discussing how they’d share the item, until all were good and the thing got bought.
This wouldn’t only work for lawnmowers by the way. It would work for an art lover who longed to own a painting by Lowry. Or a couple who wanted a beach hut. Or someone who wanted a classic car to drive at weekends. Or a wedding dress, or a designer bag. It would work for any big aspirational thing, where you’d love to own a piece of it but can’t justify the expense.
It might be simplest for sharing local things, or else buying with friends (and my quick Google showed up a neighbourhood sharing site for borrowing small stuff like ladders and tools) but I do like the idea of a way for complete strangers to help each other part-own some ’want it, can’t afford it’ stuff. It would only take a few pledges of ‘I’ll buy 20%, I’ll take 10%’ with just a sprinkling of eBay style trust, plus an online calendar of who borrows it when.
As with most invention-a-day ideas this is a broad sweep not the full working model. But when someone gets this off the ground do let me know, because I want 10% of the all singing, all-dancing ride-on lawnmower.
