There are buyers and there are sellers! Today, I was a buyer, with a great deal on a rocking chair, a deceased man’s rocker. I hope that doesn’t sound ‘insensitive’. But, a bargain is a bargain, no matter who the seller is, or was, in this case.
I looked at it as helping to settle his estate while ‘filling a need’ for my living room, killing two birds with one stone. And isn’t that what ‘buying & selling’ is about, filling a ‘need’?
Someday, I’ll resell it when my frame finds the hardwood seat and spindled back uncomfortable, but not when I’m ‘gone’. I‘ll sell it while I’m still here and put the proceeds toward another ‘need’.
Buying and selling one’s used, outdated or unneeded property is common in our American culture. Every weekend during nice weather, there are garage, yard and clothesline sales galore in homes, neighborhoods and towns across the country. Look for the lawn sign, ‘Yard Sale Here’!
Bargains are waiting. Deals are to be made. Bid and offer is the action. Negotiating is almost to be expected. Junk is unloaded and becomes ‘another man’s treasure’.
Craig’s List, estate sales, penny saver ads…stuff is everywhere. Which begs the question, why do we buy so much? And, maybe more importantly, why do we keep it so long?
But back to my bargain hunting. There’s no doubt that this small rocker was a great deal. Yesterday, I saw the same chair for sale by a live person for 4 times what I paid. I guess you might call my sale the ‘drop dead price’. So, no, it’s not insensitive and you ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’, whether it’s dead or alive.
Go through your storage boxes, attic, garage and cellars Have a yard sale and treat yourself to dinner with your earnings. Anything that you can’t sell, donate to charity. It’s cluttering your life and probably not worth what you think, but the fun you’ll have unloading it will compensate. Because it really is true, you can’t take it with you. The old fellow who had my rocker would tell you that…if he could! (Rest his soul)
As my wife reminds me, ‘less is more’!
srbottch
ps. I’m gonna sell that old putter, it never worked, anyway!!!
S'amusing 
Ahhh….yard sales. I live in a very small town and from May – mid October they are a Saturday morning ritual for most and an occasion to socialize. A chance to chat about the history of the item you’re thinking of purchasing. A chance to make a little kid’s day when you buy the lemonade or cookies they are selling. The thrill of finding the very item you’ve been looking for for weeks, brand new in the box and only $6. (retail 59.95) The waking at 7am to be out the door before 8am before all the good stuff is gone. The arriving home at 9am to wake your husband on his only day to sleep in and inform him he needs to take the truck to pick up the $15 dresser you bought and that with just a little sanding and staining, will be perfect for the kid’s room. Of course, all this yard sale shopping means you have to have your own to make room for the new-to-you stuff. Retail shopping is for the birds. I love the thrill of not knowing what you are going to find and coming home with treasures that will serve your family for years to come. (and if they don’t, meh it was only .50 lost anyway.)
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Wow, but when you squeeze in early morning ‘tee times’? And I thought a once a year sale was plenty. You could have written my ‘musing’. Funny.
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Just once a year? You miss so much good stuff that way! LOL… I’m always afraid of missing that one perfect item I didn’t know I needed. Your musing inspired mine!
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Remember, ‘why do we buy do much and why do we keep it so long’? But your neighborhood sounds like fun.
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Another nice piece, Steve. Thanks.
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Thanks, Jim. If we sell enough, I’ll have room for a putting green in my basement an I might keep that putter.
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Ah, you hit one of my idiosyncratic bits. My grandmother loved rummage sales, as she called them. And dragged me to many. I hate them! 🙂 Never had one, don’t go to them. I know I’m missing bargains but think I’m just not wired for them. And that Nana shopped enough for both of us. But good for you for scoring a bargain! That’s always a good thing:).
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Thank you. You must read the review by ‘Mrs.C’ who take the complete posited view. She is more like your Nana. I’m writing a new one on ‘gardening’. Can’t wait to see how you feel about that…
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