Meet my NEW bread machine. Its NEW, like as in the box was Never even OPENED!!! How awesome is that???? Best part--I got it for FREE from a Freecycle member!!!!!!! FREE, PEOPLE, FREE! Freecycle members strive to keep stuff out of landfills and match with other people in your area who might need, want or have something you need. I meet up with Christine today after posting an ad asking for a bread machine. Thinking my chances were slim, but I knew that many people have this just collecting dust as the fad has moved on. When she opened her trunk I was like, "Oh you have the original box even!" And she's like, "yeah..I've had it for awhile." She also gave me a book on Sourdough bread, my favorite by the way. I get home, open the box and low and behold its still all wrapped it and had the manual--literally EXACTLY what I wanted! I was floored!! I mean, I got a brand new machine for FREE and it hasn't even been plugged in before. Talk about a blessing.
For your local chapter of Freecycle members please visit their website at Freecycle.com. You never know what you might be blessed with!
My other great find is courtesy of Craigslist or CL as its most commonly known as. This is my new front door and screen door. We've been shopping for a new front door since we've moved into our home about 4 years ago. Our old front door was peeling and nasty looking so we made it easier to look at by painting it, but even that doesn't last forever. I've wanted something with a window because our entry way always seemed so dark and it had no peephole on our old door.
So I was browsing thru CL 2 weekends ago in the Garage Sale section and came across a Trim business going out of business. For those of you who know us, you know James does trim on the side for extra $$. I figured we could find something for our windows are are wrapping. It was down in Tacoma near the water in a huge warehouse and although the trim selection was poor and overpriced, we found this door just collecting dust in the back. The guy selling the stuff still did doors as his other job and offered to sell it to us and then he also offered to drill for the handle and the hinges. (because FYI: doors don't come with that stuff ready to go) All this for only $125. Which is a steal because most doors don't even SELL w/ out the holes for less then $300+ for a good quality door. We took him up on his offer. Eventually we are going to paint the front door probably white (right now its not a very pretty color) or maybe stain it, but its been too cold to have the door off for long periods of time.
Then after we hit that place up we went to another yard sale down the street from us I found on CL and I found that screen door which might I add is a Pella (a fancy name brand window/door manufacturer) for only $5. It was missing a few parts, but will cost us less then $30 to replace, but most pieces still work. Might I mention its a glass screen door that when you push a hinge opens and rolls down a screen for ventilation. I was SO STOKED! Screen doors like this are NOT cheap. Its a very heavy screen door as well so I don't have to worry about the dogs bending it open or something.
So for all our efforts and one Saturday afternoon we got a brand new front door and screen door (used, but worth it) for only $130. It doesn't get any better then that people.
Never under estimate the power of CL or Freecycle. You might find a treasure right under your nose for a STEAL of a price. I'll let you know how my bread machine does when it comes to baking. Since bread has gone up in price I'm hoping this will help us offset some costs on food.
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