I had an idea this morning, and I wondered if you might brainstorm with me. See, I have stacks of cookbooks, shelves of health and fitness books, piles of fitness DVDs, and bags full of fitness equipment.

And most of it is sitting unused at the moment.

Sure, I read the books and use the recipes and do the DVDs here and there, but I don’t use all of them all the time.

But they are good resources, quality equipment, things worth keeping.

This morning I realized they are also things worth sharing.

My books and DVDs about postpartum fitness would be perfect for my friend Whitney who just had her first baby.

My extra resistance bands would be great for my friend Amy to take on her trip this summer.

I get tired of the same workout videos, but would love to try a new one that another friend is growing weary of.

So why not start a health and fitness collective? We could create a private Facebook group where everyone lists the things they have to share. If you find something you want to borrow, you set up a time to grab it.

You would have to label all of your things, of course, and someone more organized than me would need to figure out a system to keep things rolling.

But wouldn’t this be great? A kind of “friend library” for all things healthy.

I’ve come up with four categories so far: Cookbooks, DVDs, Fitness Equipment, and Healthy Living Books.

Healthy Living Collective
Healthy Living Collective
Healthy Living Collective
Healthy Living Collective

To put this idea into practice, I would first have to create a private Facebook group and figure out who I want to invite (trustworthy friends who live nearby). Each person would take photos and list the things they have that they want to share.

A few things to figure out would be: Who keeps track of what has been borrowed? Individuals or a main person? How long do the items stay checked out? What happens if something is broken or lost?

Like I said, this is a new idea for me, and maybe someone out there is already doing it, but I would love to get something like this going with my friends.

What do you think – is it possible? Do you have any thoughts on how to do it right? I would love to have you brainstorm with me.