I love CraigsList!

[lornaschinske]

I got my shower pan for $20 this past Sunday (Crags List)! Still need wall material, insulation, stacked washer/gas dryer, dishwasher, floor decking, generator... give me time... I search 100 miles on http://www.craiglook.com

[lornaschinske]

Picked up my FREE FREE FREE Frigidaire dishwasher (it has a saniwash setting!!!!) thru Freecycle last night. First thing I got off that site (finally). It needs a couple of new parts. Looked them up... about $75 all total. But that is about what we expected. I have a dishwasher! No sticking my hands in filthy dirty dish water. I loathe washing dishes. This will do until we replace with something newer/better. Or it may work great, who knows! Still looking for the rest of my list.... The permanent-mount horizontal LP tank (40 gal) was relisted again... still $35. Still haven't decided if we want to pay that (very rusty) or just use the 20# tanks. We would end up using the 20# tanks mostly but we can't store the tanks on the bus (no room). But we have to carry the tanks anyway (food cart and mobile kitchen will transport the tanks plus also use them). We've only filled the Class C's tank (40#/9 gal) once since we bought the thing. We use the 20# tanks on a quick-connect homebrewed "extend-a-stay" set up because we can fill without moving the RV and swap the tank if its after hours and we are out of LP. Decisions, Decisions.

[lornaschinske]

Freecycle (and here in Socorro... amazing) Just picked up some 2X4's (1 was 8 ft the other was 10 ft and 6 were about 6 ft) and 2 pieces of plywood (about 4X4 each). Also picked up some of that metal lawn edging. What will we do with that?? I think the plywood will cover the two front wheel wells because I think I have some other plywood that we can use. I need two more hauls on wood like this one and we will have enough to frame in the partition walls and wheel wells. Just that much less to buy.

[newtoskool]

Lorna keep an eye out at local Lowe's stores. It not free but they have a pile of lumber they sell for half price or even less sometimes. It is usually locatedo utside of the contractor door. I bought wood over the course of 4 months and ended up with enough wood to build my garage. Got a quote for price of materials 5,000 ended up paying 3,000. I went with premade trusses or I am sure I could have been close to 2,000.

At any rate good place to watch because they have it all from 2x4 2x6 4x4 sheets of plywood. Everything ends up in that pile from time to time.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by newtoskool

Lorna keep an eye out at local Lowe's stores...

LOCAL? The closest "local" Lowes is in Albuquerque over 70 miles away! There is one that is built (and we're waiting for it to open) in Las Lunas... about 50 miles away. The new Lowes will be next door to the Home Depot (their parking lots adjoin). Home Depot also does the marked down/damaged stuff. We have bought "damaged" marked down stuff before from Lowes & Home Depot (in other states). Used to be more plentiful. Now they want to sell damaged stuff at full prices (like in Corpus Christi,TX). The local lumberyard sells JUNK for wood. My daughter bought some and it was so bad that we told her to take it back (they won't let you pick thru the lumber yourself). Sent her off the Home Depot with her sister (who knows how to choose lumber).

What is with the lumber out here? They sell boards that should be graded as #3 as #1. On the upside... redwood is CHEAP here.

[newtoskool]

HD as well as other sotres like Menards cut the scrap wood into smaller pieces then resell them at a higher price then you would have got it if it were the length it came off the truck. Crazy.

I will not buy wood at a lot I can not search for my own at. I am anal retentive when it comes to straight boards. I have spent longer choosing 10' 2x4's then it took me to complete the project.

Any rate give the Lowes a call ask them how large there pile is and see if it is worth the trip. If you buy it all they will give a bigger discount. You may not have a use for it all right away but if you got somewhere dry to keep it you'll find a way to use it.

[lornaschinske]

Picked up two RV chairs off of the Albuquerque Freecyle last night! Now I don't have to build a couch. Unfortunately the guy already got rid of the parquet flooring he had.



David also picked up 3 more computer cases... more metal!

[roach711]

I picked up an almost new Amana range/oven from a couple who wanted a dishwasher instead of an oven in their RV. The thing goes for $500 new and I paid $200. Gotta love craigslist.

[lornaschinske]

Craigslist & Freecycle... It's REAL recycling... Reduce... Reuse... Repurpose!

[Jarlaxle]

SCORE! I picked up an apartmnent-sized gas stove, being replaced because the owner said she wants a bigger oven. Cost: $50. It's 2 years old and already set up for LP.

[Stuff]

wish these worked better in canada. been trying to find a 24" washer dryer for months now!

[lornaschinske]

Try auctions for a 24" washer/dryer stack. Particularly the ones at storage units. You might have to buy a whole unit to get the few items you want though. We work an auction a couple times a month for an auctioneer up in Albuqueque (We're the food vendors). We have picked up several things that way. Yesterday, we picked up two sizes of metal ductwork used to vent gas dryers. These are the same size as two of the three heater vent hoses used in the bus. Also got three sections of chimney stack. It was two box lots... total cost was under $17. The metal ductwork will go into the front heater (means we have to buy the small hose and maybe another section of the medium sized hose), the biggest chimney pipe section (3 ft long) may be reshaped to become the plenum for the bus rear heat exhanger (to be moved and mounted, mid-ship, under the bus), the two smaller pipes (actually one double wall pipe) are about 24" long and may be used as trash cans mounted to the kitchen cabinet sink door and the bathroom vanity door. A word about auctions... they take cash and some take plastic. Don't be too eager to bid. Have a price in your head and don't go past it. Wait for the bidding to slow down before you bid. Sometimes the bids will run up too fast and you don't want to get into the bidding wars. Got to a couple of auction and LISTEN to learn how the auctioneer speaks. following a fast auctioneer can be difficult. If your hearing is bad, take some one with you. Take some one with you anyway. It's good to have someone watching for what you are planning to bid on and you will also have help loading all that stuff that you hadn't planned on buying . Keep track of what you spend. Most auction houses will charge a fee based on how much you buy (the one we work for charges 10% and no sales taxes). Estate auctions are FANTASTIC. Don' t forget you are buying AS IS, WHERE IS! There are no guarantees that anything will work. If you need reading glasses then take them with you so that you can inspect things close up... you can buy a cheap pair of reading glasses at Dollar Tree for $1. Auctioneers do not always know what they are selling. If you do end up buying a storage unit full... you can always get rid of it on CraigsList (the salable stuff) and freecycle the other stuff you can't sell. With a little luck, you should be able to sell the stuff you don't want/need on Craigs list to recoupe your buying costs and hopefully your storage costs. Ruthlessly get rid of what you can't sell within two weeks thru freecycle.

How do I know this? We used to "junk". At one point, that was what we lived on and we did pretty good at it too. Once David bought a whole building worth of junk (church Thrift store) at an auction. We made the purchase price back in the first weekend of Fleamarketing and the balance was profit. We had a place to store it at the time that cost us nothing. While we were packing up, we were selling stuff off. We used to have a little 12 ft flatbed cargo trailer that we used to haul the stuff (you take them with you to auctions). We also delivered some stuff and made a little extra that way. Actually we still have the flatbed trailer. Most folks just wouldn't recognize it now.... That's it in the avatar!