Renting the exact same stuff for the same period of time still gives more of one kind of freedom: flexibility. You can usually more easily get rid of that stuff, and you're usually less responsible for it if it breaks, etc. Yes, there's usually a higher financial cost for that, which is less freedom in another sense.
But the reality is that renting often means just paying for the time that you're using an item, instead of paying for it forever even if your utilization window is small. So jumping in an uber for 20 mins a day instead of owning a car 24/7, or renting a movie for 20% of the price to buy it, which might make sense if you're only going to watch it once or twice, etc.
Renting the exact same stuff for the same period of time still gives more of one kind of freedom: flexibility. You can usually more easily get rid of that stuff, and you're usually less responsible for it if it breaks, etc. Yes, there's usually a higher financial cost for that, which is less freedom in another sense.
But the reality is that renting often means just paying for the time that you're using an item, instead of paying for it forever even if your utilization window is small. So jumping in an uber for 20 mins a day instead of owning a car 24/7, or renting a movie for 20% of the price to buy it, which might make sense if you're only going to watch it once or twice, etc.