I Love A Bargain

I love a bargain.  I'm frugal, some would say cheap, like bark to a tree.  Probably true, but it's got me this far in life.  We've had a couple of lean years, what with losing my full time employment, thanks to the recession.  Needless to say, we haven't bought many frills.

However I still like to window shop.  Okay, I do most of my window shopping right on the computer, in the comfort of my own home.  I like to browse Ebay and Kijiji.  Kijiji is fun because it is local merchandise.  It really isn't regulated either, so some of the most bizarre posts crop up.  One high school girl was offering $250 for someone to finish her on-line Chemistry course.  We've taken cheating to a whole new level here in Ontario.  And you know what, I'll bet she got several offers, and is now probably happily enrolled in some university, preparing to be the doctor who will perform your open-heart surgery.

But as is usually the case, I have wandered far from the topic at hand.  Back to Kijiji.  There are usually three or four pages of new ads each day. Every day or two I quickly rip through them.  Not much usually catches my fancy.  However we have been saying ever since we moved to the new house, "gee it would be nice to get a good china cabinet if we ever see one cheap".   Again there is that word.

Friday afternoon I happened to log in to Kijiji and there it was.  Solid oak china cabinet, table and six chairs, all for the sum of.... well let's just say it was ridiculously low.  And the real clincher, from the photos the china cabinet is the same design as our kitchen cupboards.  And the table and chairs are the same as the set we already have.  Now we certainly don't need another table, but a few more chairs would be nice.  Whenever we have more than six people we have to drag out the ratty old ones that the missus uses for her art studio.

So I emailed the seller, asking for a telephone number to set up an appointment to view the merchandise.  Within an hour he called back and we agreed on a time for Saturday.

I was a little nervous Saturday morning, wondering how many other people had beat me to the punch -- maybe I was the fifth or sixth appointment and it would be long gone.  But no, apparently I was the first.  The lady met us at the door and opened with the statement "I'll tell you what all is wrong with it."  Oh great, it's probably badly damaged, hence the great price.  "There's a little black mark on the table top, from when my boys were little, with an indelible marker."  Silence.  Continue on, I'm thinking.  Well it appears that was it.  The set was in immaculate condition otherwise.  We very quickly completed the transaction and took our first truckload home.

Strike while the iron is hot, I always say.  We unloaded our old china hutch on to the table.  Yes that would be great grandmother's dishes that I posted about a few days back.  On our return trip to pick up the second load, we took the old hutch to the Goodwill store, then proceeded to pick up the rest of the cabinet and table. 

Now, as I mentioned we don't need another table.  So we took it apart and stored it in the furnace room.  Then we set the new china cabinet up in the dining room, and carefully placed all of great grandmother's dishes in it.  At last, the JHW and sons, are finally on proper display.  

 

   

From my perspective we got the china cabinet at a steal, and the table and chairs are just an added bonus.  We now have twelve chairs we can set around our table, so if you come to dinner there will certainly be lots of seating, maybe not much elbow room though!  

Did you say you need a table, well I have got a deal for you!

And that's about all I have to say for today.

Musings and meanderings from the Musical Gardener.