Sydneysiders, EcoXpo is back at Moore Park for its third year, and it is promising to be bigger and better than ever. It’s a fantastic opportunity to check out everything eco friendly Australian businesses have to offer - from hybrid cars, green technology and travel to home, conservation, health and fashion. And for the first time there will be a pavilion dedicated to Fair Trade products and services.

Famous Sydney Chefs will be on hand to teach you how to prepare delicious organic food and seminars are scheduled throughout the weekend on recycling, environmental conversation, gardening, eco baby and green living. You can find the program here, so you can plan ahead!

I first meet Aymeric the Director of EcoXpo at our launch party in October last year and I love his vision for EcoXpo. We are very disappointed that we aren’t in Sydney for it this year, but hope that as many Sydney Open Shedders as possible can get along and enjoy it!

Before you go make sure you buy your ticket online and get it for the discounted price of $8. For every ticket bought online a tree will be planted. Entry is free for children under 14.

Where: Byron Kennedy Hall, Entertainment Quarter, Moore Park

When: 10am - 4pm, Saturday and Sunday

Have fun!

Are you joining the thousands of Aussies hitting the Garage Sale Trail on Saturday? With almost 7000 sales registered and over 2 million dollars worth of stuff up for sale, it is sure to be an awesome community day.

If you’ve had a good clean out in preparation for a sale, I’m sure you have rediscovered some idle assets. So now that you can actually see them in the shed why don’t snap a few pictures and get them up on Open Shed!

Need some help? Check out Bek’s guide to listing here

Listing your stuff on Open Shed can be a great way to keep Saturday’s neighbourhood spirit alive all year round.

If you already have your stuff up on Open Shed why don’t you print off some personalised flyers and spread the word about your listings as you mosey around your local trail.

So what are your picks for tomorrow? Where are you heading?

A couple of our friends are having sales, so if you are in the area you should head along to:

• All Hail the Chelsea Garage Sale - there will be a big selection of donated goods - something for everyone. It will be on rain or shine and all proceedings will go to Chelsea Community Occasional Childcare. If you see I Love to Op Shop there volunteering, say hi from Open Shed

• The Sharehood is also hosting three sales around Melbourne - Reservoir, Northcote, Carlton

Have fun getting your haggle on!

We would love for you to share your trail stories and bargains here and on Facebook - go on, take the opportunity to brag about the bargains you bagged!

We recently conducted a survey to find out what you loved, liked and weren’t so warm and fuzzy during your Open Shed experience. We were surprised and very grateful for the responses! The passion you showed for collaborative consumption and also how genuinely interested in Open Shed people are was very heart warming- so thank you very much!

We have taken some time to distil all your awesome feedback- and here it is in overview.

How did you first hear about Open Shed?

Friend power is driving the Open Shed word about town with 26% of respondents being friends of co-founders Duncan and Lisa and just over 18% found out through a friend due to the survey, or through general conversation. Couple this with social media like Facebook and Twitter accounting for almost 20% and we can see word of mouth certainly is certainly our ally! Thanks for being so vocal about Open Shed- we really appreciate it! If at any time we can help you spread the word further, just give us a shout!

What sorts of Open Shed services have you made use of over time?

Considering quite a few of you have discovered us via social media, it comes at no surprise that just over 39% of respondents track us through social media. From our sample, 26% of you have taken the plunge and already listing your items- Yay! Interestingly, 26% of people have checked out the Open Shed site but haven’t popped their hand up to join, list or even follow the journey on social media or the blog. Don’t be shy- we’re a pretty friendly bunch! The more the merrier and we’d dearly love to have you join in on our journey in some way!

Have you used any of the following collaborative consumption businesses?

55% of you have not used a collaborative consumption business- whoa Nelly do we feel privileged that you are popping by to check us out! If we have whetted your appetite for collaborative consumption and you haven’t checked them out, please see Lisa’s blog posts on her picks here.

It’s great to see the original re-use artists Reverse Garbage have seen over almost 23% of you finding something to re-use and 18% have been riding the couch surfing travel wave through AirBnB - and that the collaborative consumption message is catching on with car share, LETS and all kinds of great ideas.

Why are you interested in Open Shed? (What is it that interests you about Open Shed?)

We asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here. Just under 83% of you like the idea of sharing with other people! This is great news because this is the true heart of collaborative consumption- bringing people together to share what we all have so everyone can benefit!

52% of you want to lessen your environmental impact and 40% are truly passionate about your being active and supportive in your local community.

Contrary to what we had been lead to believe (sometimes by naysayers admittedly), we found 29% of you were interested in the cash side of things, but helping others, not being wasteful, sharing and community were much more important than cold, hard, folding notes. It’s moments like this that make Open Shed even more awesome- because we can now say our members and our Open Shed friends choose us because they care about people, the planet and making their community a positive one in which to exist!

What kinds of items interest you the most?

Attracting the handy, well travelled, rugged outdoorsy type is an Open Shed speciality - or so says our survey results with 65% of you being interested in DIY, a further 40% being interested in gardening, 36% interested in sharing travel and holiday equipment and 33% wanting to pump up the exercise regime. However everyone is willing to share loads and loads- books, cooking stuff, the latest IT, kid’s toys- hell, we even had a request for power boats and sheds! Again, we asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here.

What kinds of situations would prompt you to rent an item?

Once again, we asked you to give us all the reasons you might be interested in Open Shed here. Short life tasks around the home and a bit of the old fashioned DIY is what 70% and 69% respectively say interest you the most.

53% closely follow on the heels with their party hats on for those one day hires for one off special events.

You also want to try new things, have cool stuff for your holidays, use things for creative endeavours and try before you buy. Is it safe to say almost anything goes?

Why would you list an item?

We’ve heard a lot of theories about why you might want to list an item, so we wanted to make sure we also captured each motivation for listing in this question too. Getting a bit of extra pocket money tickles 55% of you when it comes to listing an item, 49% of you just want to help other people out and 32% just want to share the joy their things give them with others (you sweet little things), and 42% would just like to feel a little less guilty about how much stuff you have accumulated. All things that are extremely valid and all things we can relate to 100% of the time.

Why haven’t you listed an item/more items?

Topping the list of reasons why you haven’t listed are being unsure what people would rent from you, you haven’t got the time to tackle the task of listing, you don’t know the value of your items in terms of bond and rental and you’ve only just discovered Open Shed and need a little more time. We get it and we are here to help!

Couple of tips for you-

• If you are worried about what you should and shouldn’t rent, check out what other people have listed, check what sorts of things people are looking for in these survey results, share things your friends often borrow from you already, and ask us for help and advice!

• Time is a big thing for most people, but your commitment to Open Shed can be as big or as small as you want it to be. Just try listing one item and see how you go. Or you can get ideas from Bek’s quick and dirty guide to renting.

When working out the value equation behind a listing, follow the calculator on this page. Keep in mind when you are renting from someone else, whilst a price may look expensive compared to retail, you are gaining easy access, not having to worry about extra space for a new item, the ability to find something near you for a short usage and check both the daily and weekly prices as quite a few items are much cheaper for a longer rental period to discourage one day borrowing.

For those of you who have just discovered Open Shed, you take all the time you need- we’re glad to have you! Welcome aboard! Make sure you check out our blog to get the full picture!

Would you travel for a rental?

Admittedly, the Open Shed team have puzzled over this one privately for a while. However thanks to your honesty, we now have an answer. 30% of you want your Open Shed experience to be local, 26% of you would only travel if it was a rare or special item and a further 25% would as long as it wasn’t longer than half an hour.

What could we do to make Open Shed more your kind of thing?

Topping the pops for making Open Shed your kind of thing are having more stuff in your local area, having more variety of items available and concerns about not getting your items back in one piece. We get it, which is why we will be choosing some target areas to focus on to draw more people to Open Shed and looking at partners who may be able to allay those fears about items being returned in not so good condition.

We do want to remind you all though that Open Shed is run on people power. So if you want more items to rent in your local area, help us by promoting us in your community! And if you want more variety, why not lead the charge by listing things you have? Or if you are worried about people not taking care of your items, remember to set an appropriate bond to deter breakage, remember you have the right to decline a rental if you don’t feel right about the person AND if you have insurance, most of the time this will be covered.

Where do we find you and where to next?

Most of our responses came from Sydney and Melbourne - however we crossed the Nullarbor and got a holler or two from WA, ducked into Adelaide, did a small regional tour from QLD before hitting Brisbane, the Riverina and on to regional Victoria. Heck we even gained interest from Germany, Norway and South America from ex-pat Aussies who think the idea is so damn cool!

Please note: We are a national service and we certainly don’t stop people from joining or listing and sometimes there might not be other Open Shed members for you to rent from in your area. YOU can help bring Open Shed to your town or area through spreading the word amongst your friends, social groups, work places, schools and community! Not sure how? Check out here and here

We had some really clever, thoughtful and eye opening suggestions that came through from the survey on where we should advertise - so thank you ever so much! We had over 90 individual suggestions from big scale to small grass roots campaigns and are just amazed at how clever a bunch of people you are! From here, we will be tackling partnerships, editorial opportunities, checking out online directories, looking at the website and our social media and even hitting the pavement as our first ports of call! Watch this space for more details!

One more thing before we go. We want to open the Open Shed door to you if you wish to give us any further feedback, or if you need help with anything from your listing to promoting Open Shed in your local area, please feel free to contact us! You can call on 1300 953 534 or email – thank you for being so much a part of what makes Open Shed great - we appreciate your support so very much!

About the author The fabulous Bek from Unashamedly Creative is working with Duncan and I to make Open Shed the best it can be! Bek took the survey in hand and has helped us distill the results into some exciting practical actions. You can get to know Bek via twitter and Facebook.

A couple of weeks ago we road tripped it down from Hervey Bay to Melbourne to start a new house sit. Now a 24 hour drive really doesn’t sound that fun, but Duncan and I have pretty much got this travelling between house sits business down pat!

To make the trip as enjoyable as possible we always have an audio book ready to go - on the way up to Hervey Bay it was the Steve Job’s biography and on the way back down it was the first two books of the Hunger Games trilogy. And of course we didn’t do the drive in one go, we took the opportunity to catch up with old uni friends, family and put faces to names of a couple of Aussie collcons businesses.

Just after Brisbane we made a slight detour into the gorgeous Lennox Heads to meet Michelle Shearer, founder of MamaBake, “the home of group, big batch cooking”. Michelle and I had chatted on email, Facebook and twitter, but we hadn’t actually met in person! Duncan, Michelle and I had a great chat, some of which I filmed and will be up on Open Shed TV shortly.

While in Sydney Adam Haeger, the co founder of Quiverizer “the world’s first surfboard swapping site” invited us to catch up with him at Fishburners, where they are now firmly ensconced after being selected for PushStart’s startup accelerator

I also grabbed a coffee with Tia Saunders, co founder of Zookal , a textbook rental site, which is going great guns and was recently included in BRW’s 10 startups to watch!

I love catching up with others in a similar space to us - it is so useful to discuss how our respective businesses are going, our challenges, what’s worked, what hadn’t and of course, I just love a chat with other cool, passionate people!

While in Melbourne I’ll be taking the opportunity to have a couple more of these inspiring chats, given its the home of Buy Nothing New Month, Meemeep, We Teach Me, Eat with Me, Eaterprises, Swap, Shuffle and Share, Sharehood, A City with Quirk and Ziilch

Duncan and I really enjoy getting to know all you Open Shed members, and as more and more rentals occur it is great to hear about the connections that are being made. Regularly we will be doing a bit of a Q & A with members here. A big thank you to Nicole from South Australia for being the first!

We are really hoping to help Nicole with “her wanted ad for an electric cement mixer”:wanted so she can build an earth bag cubby house over Easter, if you’ve got one list it - how cool would it be to say the Open Shed community helped to build a cubby house!!

How did you first hear about Open Shed?

On Facebook, I think. I saw an article about collaborative consumption a few years ago in the AFR randomly on a plane (I rarely fly and never buy it but was reading over someone’s shoulder :-) and then asked him if he would share - which he grudgingly did - LOL! Must have been when Rachel (Botsmans) book came out. It listed a few startups. I was interested in car share initially. So it has been on my radar. I’m involved in permaculture and the transition movement and interested in the sharing economy.

Why are you on the hunt for a cement mixer?

For a building project we are doing. Its a cool thing building a structure with what is available where we live - the earth under our feet - which is essentially sand. But we do need to mix it with some clay and make a render for the outside - thus the mixer. Basically you mix sand and 20% clay, fill bags with it and build a dome like that. Then you cover it with an earth render. Then voila - a building with almost zero inputs - cool in summer, warm in winter!

So thats why we need the mixer - I don’t want to buy one - even second hand and have it clog up our shed. There is enough there already. I already feel bogged down by too much stuff…. And I know that there are possibly several sitting unused in sheds around here - though how to get them listed on Open Shed is another thing!

Why is the cubby an important project to complete?

Because there is a big hole in my backyard and piles of sand disrupting our lives :-)

What happens if you don’t find the cement mixer?

I actually have since put a call out through my personal networks and a friend has a friend who might be able to lend one. I will follow that up and try and get them to put it on open shed for next time! It’s a fine line though of having human generated genuine contact networks and the convenience of online searching.

Had you heard of collaborative consumption before you found Open Shed?

I think I answered above - also I signed up for the Sharehood and listed some things there but I have never had any requests for my stuff from there. Adelaide is also a different market - very conservative - still plenty of space so most can store their own gear, no financial need… Yet… :-)

The other thing I’d really love access to is a data projector….

If you would like to be part of our “hello member” series, please email me at “lisa@openshed.com.au”:contact. I can email you some questions or we can have a quick chat!

This year 1 Million Women want to assist you to SAVE $1000 or more through cutting pollution, reducing waste and saving energy. Each month focuses on a different lifestyle area – FOOD, DRIVE, POWER, WEAR, SHOP & INVEST. We think its an awesome practical campaign and we want to help too! So we have asked some of our friends to also give their tips each month. This month’s focus is DRIVE and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce you to Meemeep

Have you ever had one of those moments where you’ve felt powerless, insignificant and ineffective against a large and overwhelming problem? I know I have. Believing that we can ‘make a difference’ is one of the biggest challenges in this complex world of ours. I have often wondered what it would take to be able to turn this around, to become empowered and feel like something we do actually matters. Well in my case, as it turns out, all it took was ONE REALLY GOOD IDEA.

Our story begins with my husband, Rob Emmett, who was looking out his car window one day as he sat in traffic, frustrated by all those empty cars, trucks and vans choking our roads. Everyone sitting there in isolation, oblivious to each other’s needs and wants. Unaware that a small amount of goodwill and planning could reduce the amount of traffic and pollution on our roads.

He had a light bulb moment, “Wouldn’t it be great if we could harness all that commuter movement, that amazing people power and put it to good use?”, he thought. “What is stopping us from connecting the physical power of the people with the digital power of the internet?”

So Rob quickly decided to do two things: 1. buy a scooter and, 2. start MeeMeep.com. Buying a scooter went part way to solving his traffic frustration and meemeep.com is going that one step further!

So working with the idea of helping people to help each other – MeeMeep was born. A type of social moving; MeeMeep harnesses the energy of people, trucks, cars, vans and bicycles already in motion and connects them to people who need stuff moved. So for people who are on the move, they can make a little extra money and for people with things to move, they can save time and money. And it helps everyone help the environment, by reducing the number of vehicles making the same trip.

Very early on, our research indicated some specific activities contributing to our traffic and pollution issues:‐

• Courier vans and removalist trucks spend half their time on the roads empty or close to empty.

• Our daily commuter activities contribute significantly to traffic congestion and pollution with over 8% of emissions occurring at these times.

• Over 12 million cars on our roads are passenger vehicles and the average number of people per car at any given time is 1.2. This leaves a significant amount of spare capacity in each vehicle.

MeeMeep is proving to be a win:win for everyone, where a small amount of foresight and preparation, is resulting in a big win for the environment. Where the idea of Driving Miss Daisy’s stuff takes on a new meaning. Why not take Miss Daisy’s package because you’re going that way anyway and you earn some money as well.

It works by people registering online to join the movement. Once registered, the network connects people who need stuff moved to others who are already out and about. An introduction is given online, a fee negotiated between the two parties, and the goods are delivered. Costly one off trips are avoided and carbon emissions reduced.

Since it’s launch (in Beta), in October last year, MeeMeep has quickly gained traction with a over 1600+ Facebook fans, 1700+ Twitter followers. This has translated into over 800 members joining up and 300 moving jobs being undertaken to date.

MeeMeep sits squarely within the new wave of “collaborative consumption”:collcon, a movement identified by TIME magazine as one of the “‘10 ideas that will change the world’”:time. This is where emerging technologies enable the direct connection of people and in doing so disrupts outmoded ways of doing business.

So if you’re looking for another tip to add to the list of ways to save the environment whilst you drive, (as part of this month’s Save on Driving initiative on 1millionwomen.com). Can we suggest that you ‐ join meemeep.com?

With our motto ‘Saving the world, one move at a time’ our grand plan is simple. Let’s reduce the amount of traffic and pollution on our roads, by tapping into people’s movements and connecting them with someone who may need something picked up and delivered. When enough of us are doing it, the number of cars and vans WILL drop and fuel, pollution and traffic congestion WILL be reduced.

About the author: Jodie Emmett is the Meemeep’s Mover and Shaker for operations and business development. You can connect with Meemeep via their blog, Facebook or twitter

The community that you want starts at your front door

This Sunday is Australia’s 10th Neighbour Day - its a day to connect or reconnect with our neighbours and remember that our communities can only be as strong as the people who live in them. The catalyst for the first ever Neighbour Day was the sad and lonely death of an elderly Melbourne woman, who passed away in her home in 2001 but was not discovered for two years. Neighbour Day founder, Andrew Heslop, first suggested the day in a Letter to the Editor of The Age after wide spread media coverage of the death, and 10 years on the day continues to grow!

Taking part in Neighbour Day is as simple as saying ‘hello’ to a neighbour in the street, inviting them over for a cuppa or putting on a neighbourhood BBQ. There are plenty of planned activities taking place all around Australia that you can participate in and it is more than likely your local council will have organised an event, so check out their website.

One of the aims of Neighbour Day is to strengthen communities and build better relationships with the people who live around us. This is also one of the aims of Open Shed. With Open Shed Duncan and I hope to encourage communities to reconnect through sharing.

Our communities are incredibly rich with resources, skills and time, but it can be difficult to bring these all together. We think Open Shed can help with this by getting the conversation started and taking some of the friction out of sharing.

What do I mean by this?

It can seem a daunting leap to move from an occasional head nod to your neighbour in the elevator, to knocking on their door and asking whether they have a drill you can borrow for a couple odd jobs. But if your neighbour is on Open Shed you can already tell that they (1) have a drill (2) are open to other people using it. You can simply send them a message and rental requests via the site, rather than worrying what is the best time to knock on their door. AND then you can meet up in person and collect the drill.

When I talk about “friction” I mean the concerns that can arise when we think about sharing our stuff. Common ones for an owner can be what if they break it? Will I ever see it again? While a borrower can be uncertain about reciprocity issues - does this mean next time they ask to borrow something of mine I have to lend it to them? Do I need to buy them a thank you present? Is this worth a 6 pack or a case in the beer economy? Start thinking about all this and it can seem easier just to go and buy it yourself!

Through Open Shed the fuzzy bits of sharing, which can make us a little uncertain about participating, are made clearer. For example, an Owner sets out their expectations of how an item is to returned and what is to be paid if the item is broken (by listing a bond). And a potential borrower can see what rental fee the owner has listed (its probably a lot less than the beer economy dictates anyway!). They request the item for a certain period of time and once that comes to an end the site will remind them to return it.

Sure it may seem “transactional”, but everyone involved has a clear idea of where they stand, so the actual sharing is more likely to take place. And the above concerns don’t need to be discussed, rather the in person exchange time can be put to better use with some neighbourly chit chat!

So this weekend, take some time to think about the stuff that you have that you would be happy to lend to your neighbours - tools, ladders, vacuum cleaners etc - list on Open Shed AND then let your neighbours know!

Duncan and I hope everyone has a fabulous Neighbour Day. We would love to hear if you have anything planned or any stories that arise from the day….

This year 1 Million Women want to assist you to SAVE $1000 or more through cutting pollution, reducing waste and saving energy. Each month focuses on a different lifestyle area – FOOD, DRIVE, POWER, WEAR, SHOP & INVEST. We think its an awesome practical campaign and we want to help too! So we have asked some of our friends to also give their tips each month. This month’s focus is DRIVE and we thought it was a perfect opportunity to introduce you to Jayride.

Driving.

Lets face it. Driving doesn’t often live up to our expectations.

In our dreams, driving is on the open road, driving fast, surrounded by friends, flying past beautiful scenery with the wind streaming through our hair.

In reality, most of our time driving is in gridlock traffic, stop-go, completely alone, surrounded only by noise and air pollution in a stressful hurry to get to the office.

Growing up you probably dreamed of owning a car. Driving was to be your liberation. Freedom at last!

What you’ve got instead is a commute in traffic for up to two hours every day, that is draining, stressful, dull and expensive.

Lets be honest for a moment. Excluding the occasional awesome road trip, mostly we hate driving. It wastes our time. It wastes our money. Yet most of us own cars and believe that the only way we can get anywhere is by getting behind the wheel.

I’m here today to tell you one thing. It’s something that you might not have thought possible, but it is possible, and easy.

You can be a passenger.

That place you need to get to urgently? You don’t need to drive there, you can be a passenger. That commute you do to work? Yep, you can be a passenger. That holiday you’re taking? Yep: Passenger.

Think about traffic. Did you know that there are exactly as many vehicles on the road as there are drivers? If we want less traffic so we can drive faster, we just need more passengers.

Think about petrol. How expensive is petrol these days!? More vehicles driven means more cash spent on petrol. If we want to save cash we just need more passengers.

Think about the dream above. Fun driving was driving with friends, not alone. If we want more fun driving we just need more passengers.

You can be a passenger, and I’d recommend it.

Jayride.com.au can show you how to do it.

Get from A to B with Jayride, Australia’s marketplace for carpools, rideshares and much more!

Next time you drive, visit Jayride and list your ride for free. Jayride will find you passengers to fill your empty seats and contribute towards the cost of your trip. If you fill three empty seats you can save up to 75%, plus meet new people and have more fun on the road.

Find carpools and rideshares, plus buses, shuttles, relocation cars and much more. Visit http://www.jayride.com.au