You may not know this about us, but Jared and I are craigslist crazy. There are many reasons for this. One being that we are currently in good ol' Dave Ramsey's baby step 2, which is paying off all of our debts. Two is that we get to trade and upgrade furniture, home furnishings, and baby supplies often, most times without even touching our wallets. Three, being that we love a deal and craigslist is chock full of deals. Four, being that we have a one year old and it is just less stress owning used stuff, ya know?
Yes, we do love craigslist. Buying. Selling. Flipping. We find it all to be very exciting. It also helps that our community is outstanding at craigslisting. C'ville, you old doll you.
This brings me to a story that was meant to be an email to my sisters and mom, but halfway through writing it, I realized it was lengthy and tried to scale it back, but I just couldn't. So I read it to Jared who said it'd be a good blog post and I haven't been blogging much so I thought, well! And so, now you get to have the story, too. Lucky you, eh? Hope you find it as riveting as I do. And if you are my sister or my mom, you are kind of obligated to read this now, since it was meant for you anyway. Also you should be glad I didn't email this because it is a lengthy one.
Aaaand go!
On Sunday, we arrived home from church and I laid across the sofa to scroll through the craigslist ads. I do this as sort of a mind-numbing mundane activity to come down off of listening wholeheartedly at a wonderful sermon. (These are the sentences I put in so to make my mama proud, you see.)
There I am, in my Sunday best, laying on the couch, opening my c'list app, going to the free section first because duh...
And, you guys, there! on free Craigslist is listed a distressed leather couch, matching oversized chair, and ottoman. For free,sisters and mom people!
Jared and I have been wanting a "Starbucks" couch for a while.
Sidenote: We call them Starbucks couches because there is a cool Starbucks near the university here, and it is filled with these oversized, worn leather couches. Never mind all the coffee stains and all the butts that sit in those things everyday, I have been wanting one ever since I graced it's gloriously comfortable leatheriness with my bum.
So I see the ad and email right away. Here's the thing about free craigslist. You best act fast! I waited a very long 3 minutes with no reply. Then I went back to check to see if the ad was still up. And that's when I noticed they had an address listed! Perfect! And, since we had a small window of time, and my babychild was napping, and my husband was in no way going to let me go alone, (good man), Jared volunteered to get them! While he was gone, I got an email from the owner saying they were still available and they were ours if we came quick. I assured him that my husband was already halfway there. Not 20 minutes later, Jared, the magician, surprisingly fit all of it in one trip! Yay husband with strategy and yay minivan!
There I am, in my Sunday best, laying on the couch, opening my c'list app, going to the free section first because duh...
And, you guys, there! on free Craigslist is listed a distressed leather couch, matching oversized chair, and ottoman. For free,
Jared and I have been wanting a "Starbucks" couch for a while.
Sidenote: We call them Starbucks couches because there is a cool Starbucks near the university here, and it is filled with these oversized, worn leather couches. Never mind all the coffee stains and all the butts that sit in those things everyday, I have been wanting one ever since I graced it's gloriously comfortable leatheriness with my bum.
So I see the ad and email right away. Here's the thing about free craigslist. You best act fast! I waited a very long 3 minutes with no reply. Then I went back to check to see if the ad was still up. And that's when I noticed they had an address listed! Perfect! And, since we had a small window of time, and my babychild was napping, and my husband was in no way going to let me go alone, (good man), Jared volunteered to get them! While he was gone, I got an email from the owner saying they were still available and they were ours if we came quick. I assured him that my husband was already halfway there. Not 20 minutes later, Jared, the magician, surprisingly fit all of it in one trip! Yay husband with strategy and yay minivan!
We unloaded it using Jared's muscles, my weakness, Gus' wagon, and plenty of stops so I could catch my breath. I'm weak sauce. Once it was all inside, we took turns sitting on all of it, falling in lurve with all of it, and quickly realizing it was going to be near impossible to make fit in our tiny living room. A call and picture send to my sister, Corie, to verify this tragedy. Because we all know and if you don't you should, if anyone can make it work, it is Corie. HGTV has nothing on her.
With that information, we decided the first thing to do would be to downsize. First thing to do was a no-brainer. We had to sell our original couch, a 2500 dollar duck-down couch which we got from craigslist for 30 bucks. (We are hustlers, I tell ya.) It wasn't easy to sell emotionally because it was so pretty, not to mention a STEAL. But it was easy to sell literally because we posted it on craigslist and within an hour we had lots of interest.
Sidenote: Our craigslisting expertise has taught us a few things. One being the importance of pricing. You have your "I wanna sell it sometime this month" price, which is high but room to reduce. Your "sell by the end of the week" price, which is competitive, but you are still gonna make a buck or two. And your "get this thing out of my house today or so help me" price, which is low. Tip: Always buy at the latter price. i.e. 2500 couch for 30.
The downsizer in me always wants to price things at the get this things out of my house or so help me price, but the husband I have likes to make a buck or two. I like this about him, but usually not until after the fact.
And so, we priced that lovely couch at 50. That's a 20 dollar profit for those of you, like me, who don't read blogs for the math of it. We sold it to a lovely lady who offered us 80 for the couch and delivery. My husband, the always eager, left with my brother-in-law, the always helpful, to deliver the couch! Good men!
Profit now: 50 dollars.
Back at home, we still have the Starbucks couch, the oversized chair, AND an ottoman making my tiny den appear to be even smaller. So, we reluctantly decide to list the chair and keep the ottoman and couch. The chair was large and comfortable and smelled like leather and fit Jared and I both comfortably. But it was making our house look crazy. So I used my magic craigslist wording (one of my many talents) to sell that chair off for a quick 30. And since we got it for free that's all profit, baby. Which probably makes us look bad, but whatever, we have a cute kid. And wouldn't you know it, when the lady came to pick up the couch, she saw the ottoman and asked if we would mind selling it to her, too. We eventually agreed to sell it for an additional 20, and she was thrilled. I was secretly very happy because without the ottoman, I had floorspace back. And no level of comfort in furniture can outdo my love of floorspace. August agrees. Jared agrees after the fact.
And that there is the story of how we made 130 bucks, a dream couch, and a captivating blog post happen all in a week.
Sidenote: Our craigslisting expertise has taught us a few things. One being the importance of pricing. You have your "I wanna sell it sometime this month" price, which is high but room to reduce. Your "sell by the end of the week" price, which is competitive, but you are still gonna make a buck or two. And your "get this thing out of my house today or so help me" price, which is low. Tip: Always buy at the latter price. i.e. 2500 couch for 30.
The downsizer in me always wants to price things at the get this things out of my house or so help me price, but the husband I have likes to make a buck or two. I like this about him, but usually not until after the fact.
And so, we priced that lovely couch at 50. That's a 20 dollar profit for those of you, like me, who don't read blogs for the math of it. We sold it to a lovely lady who offered us 80 for the couch and delivery. My husband, the always eager, left with my brother-in-law, the always helpful, to deliver the couch! Good men!
Profit now: 50 dollars.
Back at home, we still have the Starbucks couch, the oversized chair, AND an ottoman making my tiny den appear to be even smaller. So, we reluctantly decide to list the chair and keep the ottoman and couch. The chair was large and comfortable and smelled like leather and fit Jared and I both comfortably. But it was making our house look crazy. So I used my magic craigslist wording (one of my many talents) to sell that chair off for a quick 30. And since we got it for free that's all profit, baby. Which probably makes us look bad, but whatever, we have a cute kid. And wouldn't you know it, when the lady came to pick up the couch, she saw the ottoman and asked if we would mind selling it to her, too. We eventually agreed to sell it for an additional 20, and she was thrilled. I was secretly very happy because without the ottoman, I had floorspace back. And no level of comfort in furniture can outdo my love of floorspace. August agrees. Jared agrees after the fact.
And that there is the story of how we made 130 bucks, a dream couch, and a captivating blog post happen all in a week.
What the what? That's insane! You made $130 and got that amazing couch? I'm so jelly! And man, I want that couch (and the chair and ottoman to go with it!) So, next week when you decide to flip it, ask me first! :)
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