Tips for sustainable living from cash-strapped Parisians

Many Parisians are adapting to the spiraling cost of food, gas and housing with resourcefulness and creativity. Le Nouvel Obs Paris has a great round-up of all the latest trends in sustainable living which have evolved in response to the purchasing power deficit.

1.   House sharing – no longer restricted to rent-sharing among students and single young professionals, the trend has spread to familie  and often encompasses the communal house purchase. The trend is documented in a film to be released in July, called “Mes Amis, mes amours”, based on a novel by Marc Levy.

2.   Office-sharing – Consultants, free-lance artistic types, coaches etc are increasingly turning to space-sharing schemes like La Cantine, Bureaux Equipes and Multiburo.

3.   Networked shopping – In Paris and two suburbs, a fast-expanding group of some 300 families source their meat through an ex-Parisian based in the Mayenne who buys in bulk direct from breeders and redistributes through informal drop-off points in Paris. This kind of network often starts out among friends and then quickly spreads through word of mouth.

4.   Car-sharing – Caisse Commune, Mobizen and Okigo. 

5.   Car-pooling – 123envoiture. 

6.   Appliance repair shops – Business prospects look good for the diehards who retained their skills. Sovdam, 192-194 rue La Fayette, 75010. Mintode 19 rue de Pajol 75018. Aspi-Clinic 43, rue du Colisée 75008.

7. Used-clothing swaps – “Viens dans mon dressing” is a quarterly rendez-vous among fashionistas who get together to swap the treasures they have tired of. Myspace.com/viensdansmondressing or info@wishyouwill.biz.

“Soirées troc” are run by fashion bloggers out of private homes. See Charly, Mots De Mode and Caroline Daily.

8.  Cash-free economy – The SEL of Paris was first set up in 1996 as a neighbourhood association to enable the exchange of goods and services and promote solidarity. Each geographical unit is known as a “piaf” and the exchanges are organized through an accounting system which allows you to accumulate credits and debts up to a certain threshold. 

 

via Le SEL de Paris and  Le Nouvel Obs Paris