5 Items You Should Rent Instead of Buying

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AARP

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A new 19-foot RV will set you back $70,000 or more. Instead, rent 1 of 4 standard models from Cruise America or choose from hundreds of RV-rental listings by individual owners (available by

the day, week or month) on sites such as RVshare and Outdoorsy.

Camping gear for a family can run well over $1,000. Plan B: Have a set shipped to your destination by Outdoors Geek or Gear to Go Outfitters. Mountain Side Gear Rental offers kits that

include not only a tent and sleeping bags but extras like a cookstove and biodegradable camp soap (cost: $157 for three nights).

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Going on safari? Rent a ­super-telephoto Leica camera lens for about $100 a week from BorrowLenses.com (cost to buy: $1,600). Or capture some aerial footage of your home (and have a little

fun with a grandchild). Try out a DJI Mavic drone from Camera Lens Rentals for $151 for three days (cost to buy: about $1,000).

For really fresh eggs, rent chickens and a coop from sites such as Rent-A-Chicken or RentACoop. Two egg-laying hens from RentACoop, feed and gear cost $240 for four weeks. Expect about a

dozen eggs a week (cost to buy a high-quality coop: $500; pullets, $20 apiece).

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For your special event, rent an 18-karat white-gold chandelier necklace­, dripping with 4.31 carats of diamonds, from Adorn (cost to buy: $27,375). Have an active social calendar? A regular

supply of jewelry from Flont runs $59 to $379 per month, depending on the cost of the items you wish to borrow.

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