Do you do anything for someone who loaned you something?

Sweetgum
Fri, 30 Jun 2023 17:30:26 +0000

We have recently let a couple of people borrow our old skanky van for moving stuff. (She ain’t pretty, but she holds a ton of stuff). One friend just thanked us and another gave us some cookies. I thought the cookies were tasty, but totally unnecessary.

I really hesitate with food gifts these days. One of our kids is vegan and wouldn’t eat the cookies (I liked them, though) and so many people these days are gluten free. We have friends with potentially deadly allergies. It’s just hard to know what kind of food to give. We don’t drink wine so wouldn’t want a bottle of wine as a thank you. I don’t particularly want flowers. I’m worried that my cats will eat them. I don’t need any more tchotchkes in my life. I don’t even need a card. More for me to recycle.

Honestly a verbal expression of thanks is more than enough for me. If someone wants to give me some nice chocolate to go with it I wouldn’t turn that down, but it’s not necessary. I’m just happy to help.

If I go on a trip and someone takes care of our animals (I have a friend I usually trade animal care with unless we are traveling together) I often try to get a fridge magnet or tea towel from wherever we went as a thank you and then reciprocate in kind with the animal care next time they travel. And my friend often gives me a tea towel or some chocolate. That is a nice gift. We do run through the tea towels here (they get stained and worn out), etc. We both like fun and funky stuff so it’s fun to pick for each other.

I honestly can’t remember the last time I borrowed a physical item from someone. I’m probably just blanking on it, but we have so much stuff (too much) that I don’t need to borrow much of anything.