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The key to happiness isn’t hoarding gadgets – it’s loaning them out and buying fewer things
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Prefer the Guardian on Google Jump to What’s mine is yours How to start swapping tools with your friends Some favorites from our tool library They live under your bed and in your basement, your garage and probably in that weird cabinet above the fridge that requires a stepstool.
Alton Brown calls them unitaskers: the tools and appliances that aspire to do only one thing and do it well. Pasta makers and juicers are the classics, but they exist outside the kitchen, too. Do you really need to own a post-hole digger? Seasonal candle molds?
Well yes , sometimes. Which is why so many of us have them lurking in the recesses of our homes and apartments, gathering dust while they wait for the next dinner party that requires homemade ravioli. Local tool libraries solve this problem for home projects by filling shelves with borrowable tools instead of books. But if you don’t have one near you, or just tasks beyond DIY, I have a solution anyone can try: start a tool polycule.
For years now, half a dozen friends and I have operated an informal group here in Portland, Oregon, that swaps all the insipid items that spend 364 days a year sitting unused. It’s less a library than a group of people taking a nonmonogamous view of products instead of partners (though that type of polycule is popular in Portland, too).
We’ve saved money, waste and become better friends in the process. It turns out the key to happiness isn’t buying dumb stuff – it’s loaning it out (and sticking it to consumerism while you’re at it).
On Friday, a friend comes over to borrow my oil-change pan and oil filter wrench. He brings it back on Sunday morning, while I’m making breakfast with his waffle maker, which has lived at my house so long it feels like mine. And on Sunday evening, I’ll lend his hand-me-down KitchenAid mixer to another friend, whose oscillating multitool I’ve had in my garage for the last two weeks.
If this all sounds a little messy, consider the exceptionally low stakes: deprived of my deep fryer for a weekend, I’ll pan fry my falafel instead. This is why unitaskers are perfect for lending, compared with say your car or your kitchen knives.
View image in fullscreen A fairy house that was built with borrowed tools. Photograph: Fiona Whitton/The Guardian And if this all sounds a little inconvenient , consider it from this perspective: every time you need to borrow a tool, it’s also a chance to catch up with a friend in person. As my friends and I grow older and get pulled in different directions by responsibilities, handing off items becomes a welcome excuse to catch up for 15 minutes when there’s not enough time to grab a beer together. I guarantee there would be less of a male loneliness epidemic if every block only had one communal pressure washer.
It’s also … fun. Have you ever noticed that lots of unitaskers are novel to try and then lose their luster? Sharing them with friends means someone is always getting to make pasta for the first time or learning to use a tile saw (wear earmuffs).
My tool polycule’s system is so informal it’s impossible to trace its origins, other than to…