Your friend probably has different templates and gadgets than you do. You can get together and share your supplies, giving each of you twice as many. Plus, you can share great layout ideas. The same thing applies to scrapbooking magazines and books. If you each buy a different magazine and swap when you have finished reading them, you can save money on magazine and book subscriptions.
Sharing is also a great way to try new items.
Make an agreement for each of you to buy one new item each month and try them out when you get together. You will each get to try two new items instead of one. Don't spend a lot of money on stickers, die-cuts and page toppers. Save those for special page layouts. For the majority of your layouts, try various matting techniques to add variety to your pages.