Free Is For Me

My girlfriend Lili (not her real name) had just moved a few months ago.  She's still getting the new place together.  I have been working on the outside of the house taking care of a few things.  But there were still a few things that she needed on the inside of the house.  That's where I come in.  I like to take a peek at Craigslist to see what is for sale, and what is being given away for free. 

Something kind of wild happened.  A couple who lived about three miles from me were moving to Baltimore, and decided to give away the things they didn't need.  So I managed to snag a few things.

First up, a book cabinet.

I had to use some glue and screws to get it to hold together properly, but it's as good as new right now. 

Next up is something all of us in Florida can use.  A box fan.  Seriously, they are worth their weight in gold.  Also in this picture you can see the extension cord I also got for free.

It's one of the old timey metal ones that you can't kill.  Not like the new all plastic ones.

I also scored a bathroom rug.  It was new and unused. 

And speaking of rugs, here's another free rug story.  Lili's place could really use a rug.  Since she likes purple I started searching for a purple rug.  But then it occurred to me, I was certain I had seen a purple rug somewhere before.  Then it hit me.  When I had a small business back in 2001, I had a purple rug for my shop so my feet wouldn't hurt when I stood there working on things.

But then I had to think.  Where did I put that rug.  I mean, rugs just don't disappear.  Then it hit me... again.  It was underneath my work bench with all sorts of things sitting on top of it.  I found it, pulled it out from underneath all my junk, and gave it a good cleaning.  I took it up to Lili's place, and it fit in the main living room perfectly.  I didn't have to cut or alter it at all.

This is a picture of only the corner of the rug.  I don't think she would like it if I took a picture of the inside of her house.

The one thing I forgot to take a picture of might have been my greatest (free) score.  I asked the lady who was giving away free stuff if she had any old paint.  She said yes.  In fact, she had quite a bit.  I grabbed 12 one gallon cans and 2 five gallon buckets of paint.  After I checked out which paint was good, and which was bad, I had about 5 gallons of white paint, 4 gallons of red paint, and one gallon of blue paint. 

Since Lili has been making over the house in red and white, I was ecstatic to get that much red and white paint.  Soon we will be painting the front and back steps, so all we need to get right now is the primer. 

So that was a great haul for one day.  Even though the people who were moving were giving away a lot of stuff, I only took what I needed.  Or should I say, what Lili needed. 

I will keep a look out for good things, and hopefully get to write a blog about it.