Friday, the drive to simplify became too much for me, and I FINALLY listed Andrew's old baby furniture on craigslist. I mean, posted at 6pm, had my buyer (as in, "we'll take it") by 8pm, out the door yesterday morning, and a cool stack of cash in my pocket. And an empty bedroom upstairs. Win-win situation.
And the funny part is, this morning Stop Buying Crap was talking about a similar experience.
That got the old grey-matter churning about the economy today, and how it's quickly becoming that used goods are the "new" new goods. If you don't believe me, visit a new car dealership today. The stench of desperation is palpable. Despite all forms of crazy rebates/employee pricing/etc, new cars just aren't moving (unless you're talking hybrid, but that's another post). I'll bet all those new car dealership owners were wishing they'd purchased a "buy here, pay here" right now!
My friend Christine was telling me how the other day she stopped by the local Goodwill store to pick up some pants for her husband, and turned around and left because the line to checkout was stretching to the rear of the store. Meanwhile, the department stores at the malls have to put out rack after rack of clearance items to get customers into their doors.
Would you believe frugality is coming en vogue?
Back to my point - look around your house today and see what you can list on craigslist. Push your used goods into the market to keep this ball rolling. Wouldn't it be great if we could use this movement to send a message to manufacturers that we demand quality instead of quantity? Bring our jobs back from China and make us products that will last long enough to be on future craigslist posts? Man, as a consumer, I've never felt so powerful!
wow. i loved ur post, this was very heart felt.
ReplyDeleteCraigslist is great, but BUYER BEWARE!
ReplyDeleteI agree with BEWARE! Always do transactions in person, I was emailed by a person who wanted my furniture & they said there ex-boss owed them money & he would be sending me a check & that they would have a moving co. pick up the stuff, I got a check for a little over $2,000. The furniture was only $200. They told me to cash it & that there boss must of made a mistake & that I could just send them the rest of the money. Suspicious I called the company whose name was on the check, they directed me to the FBI. They told me it is a scam. The check was a fake. I gave the FBI copies of all the e-mails & sent them the check.......so always beware of buyers & do transactions IN PERSON!
ReplyDeleteKeana, that's Horrible! Did they get your furniture?
ReplyDeleteI've been very particular to make sure I'm not alone at a pickup, like today I'm dragging something to the store for pickupm rather than have a man come to the house when Yasar won't be home. I'm accepting cash only, too. It stinks that people are always looking for their next victim. I hope they nailed those guys!
I agree, always make sure payments are in cash. Freecycle.org is another great website for getting rid of or getting unwanted things, for free!
ReplyDeleteIt always amazes me that so many people only buy brand new things, and throw away perfectly good things, when there are sites like http://www.ohsohandy.com and freecycle around.
I listed some other good free sites here:
http://www.ecojoes.com/great-websites-for-reusing-and-getting-free-mess/
Keep living the cheap life, it's great