Why you should never rent a washer-dryer

There's a rash of new websites offering goods for hire. Want to rent a sofa while the one you've just bought is being delivered? How about hiring a handbag for a day or two? Merryn Somerset Webb looks at some of the barking-mad rental deals on offer.

This article is taken from Money Sense, Merryn Somerset Webb's free weekly personal finance email. Sign up to Money Sense here.

Feeling a bit more cash-strapped than you were a few months ago? Not to worry. The Times has the answer: stop buying stuff and rent it instead. "Want to try an iPhone for a weekend or walk a dog for an hour for a fraction of the cost of owning either? Well now you can."

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Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.