Cheapskates Corner

[Lightcycle]

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We've furnished our house with second-hand furniture for pennies on the dollar.

Some really nice stuff as well.

There is a lot of money in the Okanagan, and apparently the richie-riches refresh their furnishings as often as they refresh their wardrobe. Good quality furniture that is maybe a year or two old, little-to-no-wear, but as comments above show, is difficult to sell, so the price reflects that. Also, we show up with a truck, so basically they are paying us to move their furniture out of their house.

 

[nakkers]

You are very brave...I would be worried about bringing bed bugs, roaches and other nasty critters into my house...gives me the shivers...

All depends on the neighbourhood! Kidding! Generally we avoid fabrics of any kind. Chairs and cabinets and the formentioned lamps and other accessories.

 

[JC99]

We used to pick up solid wood furniture and refinish it. No one wants to be bothered with stripping old varnish and sanding and restaining it etc so some stuff is cheap or free. We picked up a massive harvest table like this for cheap. Stripped the old varnish off, sanded, restained it and made a new leaf (that was missing) to match the colour. Also picked up some old classroom wooden chairs from a school that had shut down to refinish too. A lawyers office was throwing out a solid wood legal bookcase so we took that as well.

Solid wood is great, nice and easy to get looking good again.

 

[Priller]

I furnished a good chunk of our BC house with really nice old stuff I picked up via online auctions for next to nothing. Have some quartersawn oak furniture, teak shelving, and other odds and ends that were dirt cheap. I also developed a sizeable record collection for very little that way, even though that also involved the elbow grease of picking out the Herb Alpert and Burl Ives duds among the nuggets. Added some Harmon Kardon, Sansui and Sony amps, Thorens, Dual and Yamaha TTs, and JBL, Advent and Dynaco speakers, again for next to nothing. Ended up keeping what I liked and selling the rest for a profit, so at least those didn't involve trips to Value Village (who now no longer take records because of jerks like me).

The main problem was I'd be combing through the lots and would see weird stuff that would catch my eye and I'd throw down a stupid low bid just as a laugh. Then occasionally the low bid would stick, and I'd end up with a prop claymore sword, or a large model sailboat, or an oscilloscope, or a globe from the '50s, or some other equivalently useless curio. Without a quanset hut on the back of my property to stash all my junk in, I'd inevitably have to find a way to get rid, which is the opposite of saving money ..

 

[JC99]

I furnished a good chunk of our BC house with really nice old stuff I picked up via online auctions for next to nothing. Have some quartersawn oak furniture, teak shelving, and other odds and ends that were dirt cheap. I also developed a sizeable record collection for very little that way, even though that also involved the elbow grease of picking out the Herb Alpert and Burl Ives duds among the nuggets. Added some Harmon Kardon, Sansui and Sony amps, Thorens, Dual and Yamaha TTs, and JBL, Advent and Dynaco speakers, again for next to nothing. Ended up keeping what I liked and selling the rest for a profit, so at least those didn't involve trips to Value Village (who now no longer take records because of jerks like me).

The main problem was I'd be combing through the lots and would see weird stuff that would catch my eye and I'd throw down a stupid low bid just as a laugh. Then occasionally the low bid would stick, and I'd end up with a prop claymore sword, or a large model sailboat, or an oscilloscope, or a globe from the '50s, or some other equivalently useless curio. Without a quanset hut on the back of my property to stash all my junk in, I'd inevitably have to find a way to get rid, which is the opposite of saving money ..

Auctionitis!

 

[Baggsy]

I just finished flipping my tyres to winter ones. Youngest came to help and forgot to tighten the left rear nuts. Caught it in time. Two more cars to go before it snows. Saved 75-90 dollars.

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