What’s mine is yours…?

At the moment I’m staying in a flat in west London in a spacious room with a comfortable bed made up with crisp white linen, a TV, free wifi and access to a kitchen. The Hammersmith & City line is at the end of the road and the Central line an easy walk away. The new Westfield shopping centre is literally round the corner.

How much am I paying for this? £33 a night. I don’t want to sound like an advert for Crashpadding (Now airbnb) and I’m not on commission, but renting a room in someone’s house is such a good idea I can’t stop talking about it!

It’s all part of what the website Collaborative Consumption calls ‘the rapid explosion in swapping, sharing, bartering, trading and renting being reinvented through the latest technologies and peer-to-peer marketplaces’.

Car clubs are part of this, as are Freecycle, Jelly and Central – in fact some of the most exciting free services and businesses around. I’d really like to read What’s Mine Is Yours by Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers of the Collaborative Consumption site, but currently my library doesn’t stock it and it just doesn’t seem right to buy a copy!