Are you suffering from consumer fatigue?

A theme to keep an eye on this year is something I'm calling consumer fatigue. The general idea is that people are financially stressed and looking for ways to reduce the amount of money spent on buying stuff.

You can ease consumer fatigue by finding alternatives to spending money to acquire the things you need or replace items that are broken or worn out. We're talking here about trading, sharing, fixing and giving stuff away to people who will put it to better use than you.

Want to trade something you don't need for something you want? The website Bunz can help. You can sell stuff you don't need any longer on Kijiji or Craiglist, but you can also give it away using Freecycle.org. A couple of summers ago, I offered a portable basketball hoop on the Ottawa Freecycle site and had it picked up by a dad and his son within a couple of hours.

To borrow items you need for only a brief period, try The Sharing Depot. It's billed as Canada's first "library of things." Borrow camping and sports equipment, toys, board games and house party supplies. If you have other thoughts on how to sell, trade or donate things you no longer need, email us. We'll compile a list of great suggestions and share it with you.

Here's a cool idea from Sweden designed to address our tendency to throw out things that could be fixed. It's a tax break on the cost of repairs to clothes, bicycles, fridges and washing machines.

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Ask Rob
The question: "Is zero per cent financing to buy a car a good deal?"

My reply: "Yes, as long as you're still getting a decent discount off the list price. I have seen at least one case where the better deal was a big price discount with financing set at regular rates."

Do you have a question for me? Send it my way. Sorry I can't answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length.

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