Adventures!

Yesterday, I discovered Craigslist. Okay, so I'd heard so many rave reviews for Craigslist, but I had never actually searched through the site myself. In my current financial punch, I have decided to furnish my entire (half) of the apartment via Craigslist. It's been quite the adventure!!

The first on-site listing was for a NEW Simmons Queen Size Mattress. Price: $300. The seller's name was Scott, and his voicemail sounded professional and friendly. One of his friends is a furniture distributer, and so Scott sells the leftover items from his warehouse. An added bonus: he accepted cash, credit card, or check. I decided to go for an on-site visit, and I took my 15 year old brother with me for protection. We drove 10-minutes to Cranberry, then turned onto a rural street with lots of grungy warehouses with unmarked white trucks making deliveries. On the left, there a little office with a rudimentary brown door. There was a sign: This is a private direct sale furniture warehouse. Viewings by appointment only. We walked in and were greeted by a guy with long blonde hair, utility boots, and a wife beater. He told us to sit down and Scott would be with us soon. The waiting area was a tiny little place, and there were two doors that led to the "warehouse". There was a sign posted, "Viewings by appointment only. Only one customer is allowed into the warehouse at a time. Each customer will be given half an hour." SKETCHY. Luckily, I had my lil brother who promised that he'd bring his knife next time I took him on a Craigslist adventure. After Scott came out, he even shook my hand and gave me his business card. I was taken back to the secret warehouse section, which had an extraordinary amount of quality furniture. Mattresses, bedroom sets, dinette sets -- this guy had everything. Unfortunately, the mattress advertised was flimsy, so I didn't end up getting it. But it was totally worth the adventure.

Then at 6:30, I had an appointment to look at a sofa. The lady I talked to had a high pitched voice, and she gave me directions to her house in the suburbs. I don't know if ya'll are familiar with the area that I live, but just imagine the suburban streets of Desperate Housewives multipled 100 times for each housing plan. Yes, housing plans! Apparently no respectable person in Masshole lives in housing plans, and I hope I never end up settling down in one of these plans either. Anyways, I met Judy, who seemed to have made a career of playing housewife. She even re-holpostered (sp?) this couch. What I love about Craigslist buying is that everybody feels the need to tell you the life story of thier furniture. They bought the couch 10 years ago and barely used it as it was in the living room. Now, they are moving out of their 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house into a smaller place to start the empty nest. Their new place had a "great room" instead of the seperate family/living room, so they needed to get rid of this couch. Please shoot me if I ever know what the difference between a great room versus family room is. Anyways, it was a beautiful piece of furniture, and I will probably buy it.

Tomorrow: 3 more viewings! I am excited, and I hope you readers are, too!!!