Craigslist

Craiglist really has revolutionized the home space for people with are broke. I won't call myself poverty stricken, although things are tight. But I do recall when I got my first apartment, and I cruised the streets on garbage night. If you saw a couch--any couch--and you needed a couch, you took it, unless it had been rained on. When you found a better couch, you took that one, and put your current couch on the curb for someone else to take. There were no choices. You were destined to a period in your life where everything you owned was someone else's trash.

Does this bring back memories for anyone who is reading?

Craigslist gives people a choice. Granted, some people are asking what the furniture is worth, which puts it out of the reach of a person on a tight budget. But quite often there are folks who just want stuff to go away. If you are very very patient, and keep your eyes open, instead of being stuck with the couch at the side of the road, you can pick a couch you like.

(Nonetheless, if you are living on ramen noodles, even a $20 couch is $20 too much. That's what Freecycle helps with).

There are a couple of things I've always wanted but that I've written off as being out of my price range---forever. I simply will not spend the money on them, no matter how they strike my fancy.

When I saw one of them on Craigslist today for $25 I had to look three times, absolutely certain the price was wrong.

You do not buy a redwood burl slab coffee table with a driftwood base for $25 unless it has Elvis painted on the top.



Unless there is a couple moving to Georgia who just wants everything to go away.

And it turns out the gentleman had rented my house back in the mid-80s when he was building the beautiful log cabin he now had for sale.

I didn't think to ask him if this table had been here before.