These 6 Things Can End Up Wasting Your Money—So Rent Them Instead

published Aug 20, 2019

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Moving is one of life’s most stressful—and expensive—events. Between down payments, closing costs for homeowners, first months’ rent for renters, boxes, movers (or at least a truck), furniture, appliances, and lots and lots of coffee, experts say that switching places can cost up to four or five months of your rent/mortgage. Yikes!

But before you blow all your cash on anything and everything you might need for your new home, you should know that that there are many things that you can rent instead of buy outright. Though you have to give the items back at the end of the leasing term, it may make it more affordable to get everything you need all at once—even if you end up paying a bit more over time (kind of like how mortgages and no-fee rentals work.) Additionally, if you’re planning on making a big move in the near future or just need a couple of things to tide you over until your bank account doesn’t look as lean, renting may even end up being not only the more convenient option—but also the more cost-effective one, too. Trying to split things with roommates? This prevents the “I bought that, you bought this” divvying come move-out day.

But what exactly can you make a temporary commitment to? Probably more than you think. Here, six things for your home you probably didn’t realize were rentable.

Moving boxes

Hate feeling wasteful buying (or collecting) a bunch of cardboard boxes, and then putting most of them out to the curb after move-in day? Well, you can opt to rent extra-sturdy totes that sometimes even cost-less than their cardboard countertops for a week or so. To name a few, there’s Zippgo in San Francisco, Redi-Box in Chicago and Portland, BoxUp in New York, and Leafy in Los Angeles. Use them to move and once you’re all settled in, each company will come and pick up the boxes.

Furniture

You’ve probably been here before, especially in your first apartment: You don’t have a ton of money (or cash upfront) to invest in furniture, so you buy all the basic stuff—you don’t love it, but it’s just for right now. Then, come lease-end, you move and decide you want to decorate differently or invest in better quality furniture and all that basic stuff goes to the curb. It’s a very common situation and the 9.7 million tons of excess unrecyclable furniture that ends up in landfills each year is proof of its ubiquity.
A better and just as affordable option as you’re figuring out domestic life? Furniture rentals. While you may think you’re limited only to your neighborhood Rent-a-Center, there’s actually a new set of online-based companies giving the idea of rented-furniture a makeover. Catering specifically to style-minded but commitment-phobic Millennials, many of these brands offer quick shipping times, easy-to-coordinate deliveries/pick-ups, and flexible rental terms. Some of our favorites? Feather, CasaOne, The Ever Set, and CORT. (Rent the Runway just partnered with West Elm, too, for decor items and bedding!)

Power tools

Becoming a homeowner is exciting, so you might have fantasies about all the fix-it projects you’re going to take on. But before you invest in expensive power tools, be realistic about how much you’re going to use them. If you just have a few one-and-done DIY projects, you can rent out the needed tools hourly or daily from a hardware store, like Home Depot. Your neighborhood or local library may even have a (often free!) tool-lending service, too.

If you’re not handy, you can even rent a handyman (via a service like TaskRabbit, Thumbtack or Handy) for a couple of hours—which might actually be cheaper than getting all the tools for yourself.

Your neighbor’s basement

If you failed to properly Marie Kondo when moving and don’t have enough storage in your new home, there’s always a storage unit. And while you may know that’s a (sometimes pricey) option for renting, did you know you can rent someone’s spare storage through Neighbor? It typically costs less than half of what you’d pay for a traditional unit—and you can find someone right down the street for easy access.

Garden space

Love the idea of homegrown veggies but don’t have the space, time, or money to commit to your own backyard garden? Consider renting a plot from a community garden. It’s a great way to get to know your neighbors and exchange recipes as well.

Pool access

A backyard pool sounds great, but they’re super-expensive and require a ton of maintenance. Wish you could take a dip on demand? Just rent access to your neighbor’s through Swimply, an app that’s like Uber for private pools. Starting at about $30 an hour, depending on the market, you can throw an epic pool party without the commitment of actually owning a pool.