Bargain Hunting

I recently joined “Freecycle”— the local community’s network of giving and taking things that people don’t want anymore. Like an online garage sale where everything’s free. People send messages about the items they are giving away, and you e-mail back to “claim” the items you want. I was hoping to find FREE BIKES for me and the kids—and maybe some camping gear. Unfortunately, I haven’t had much luck with the bikes OR the camping gear, but I’ve seen lots of other interesting stuff. I may be getting myself a free scanner today---been wanting one of those for a long time!

So anyway, it’s been downright entertaining to read the Freecycle e-mails and see all the STUFF people are giving away! I’ve seen a WIDE RANGE of stuff—from freshly-plucked chicken feathers to a tadpole/frog habitat (which I actually could have used a few weeks ago!) to an iPod. You know what they say---“One man’s junk—another man’s treasure!” I have noticed the “good stuff” gets claimed insanely fast. I’ve also been seriously thinking of using this as a means to make a little “supplemental income”. I want to claim some of these items and then try selling them on eBay or Craig’s List! Cha-CHING!!??! What a way to make extra money!

A friend recently told me that she knew someone who went around to goodwill stores once a week, purchased items she knew she could sell for profit on eBay/Craig’s List, and she did just that. I gotta finish de-junking my own place before I THINK of selling anyone ELSE’S “junk”! But between that and the Freecycle thing---this just may work! I’ll let ya know if it pans out. ;-)

So last night I was looking on Craig’s List for a bike, and I came across one posting that made me laugh a little. It was a Unicycle for sale. Here is the picture and the description:

“This unicycle is like new. It was purchased from River City Bicycles and has only been ridden a couple times.”

Imagine that---someone bought a unicycle but only rode it a few times!? Mark and I were giggling about that---like what if we went to the home to look at it, and the man answered the door with a cast on his arm, a head dressing and crutches?

Just kind of a funny mental picture.