Looking for Bargains Outside of the Internet

I’m so excited! Ever since the Surfers for Autism event we attended the other weekend my husband has been on the lookout for an affordable surf board for my son. The kids had some leftover birthday money from grandparents/great-grandparents so we didn’t have to take it out of our budget. The last two weeks he has looked at Craigslist for surfboards for sale, but every time he tried to meet with one they were either sold or unavailable. He decided to put a “WANTED” ad on Craigslist (for free!) saying that he was looking for a surfboard for $50 or less. I know, $50 is a lot of money- but when you’re talking surfboards- that’s actually a steal! We quickly found out that surfboards cost $200-500 and there was no way I was dropping that kind of money on my 4 year old! No matter how good he can surf! Within a day someone had written us offering his vintage surfboard for $50!

It was actually really neat because it’s perfect for my son’s first board, and I was able to research the history behind the man who made this board online! The board is about 20 years old and hand-made by a man in Hawaii- who sells them for WAY more than we boughts ours for!! 🙂 Although you do have to be careful on Craigslist- we have been able to pick things up for free (diapers, formula, toys, wood, etc.) and dirt cheap! Whenever we are looking for a bigger item to purchase we immediately turn to Craigslist and local classified ads. Although Craigslist has become a spammy-location, we still get enough good finds out of it to make it worth working on.

Aside from Craigslist and eBay, we love checking our local flea markets, yard sales, secondhand stores, even the pawn shops! Our pawn shops sell everything from bikes, pressure washers, movies, bowling gear, and just about anything else they can squeeze in their shop! Another idea is to put the word out through your neighbors! All of our neighbors run in a very different circle of friends that we do, and networking through them and their friends is bound to turn up some interesting finds! If you know someone who does a lot of traveling around make sure you ask them too! My mom’s husband goes to everything from police impounds to repossession sales, antique sales, estate sales, and knows just about everything under the sun! Anytime we need something we always make sure to call him and tell him to keep an eye out for whatever we’re looking for. Friends that hunt around for bargains love it, and they won’t mind if you ask them to look for you too!