Singing the praises of Craiglist!

KidKraft Vintage Kitchen ($30 w/ new door)

I am appreciating the benefits of Craigslist more and more these days.  Yesterday, I found & bought 2 things we'd been looking for: a play kitchen set for lady genevieve and a dry sink.  I paid a total of $105 for a cute retro wooden KidKraft Kitchen & an Ethan Allen dry sink & mirror!!!  The day was a little crazy as I had never bought more than one item off of craigslist in one day.  But between working in the morning, a doctor's appointment, the bank, and driving to 2 opposite ends of the city to pick up our kitchen and dry sink, I made it everywhere on-time and without getting lost.  And as I drove home after the last pick up, I was quite excited about the deals I had found.  If you have followed this blog for any time, you have often seen some of the many different things we're found on craigslist.  As I look back over the past 2 years, I am realizing I have made quite a few craigslist purchases- and I am quite pleased with this reality.

Pottery Barn storage bench & Ikea storage tower/ shelf

Dressers, chair, cabinet, cubby shelves, jogging stroller, little shelf, slide, kitchen, dry sink, baby swing, pack & play, stroller, cubby bench & tower....

Craigslist is a wonderful resource for finding some great deals, on things you may need or simply want.  I didn't start buying off of craigslist until about 2 years ago.  At that point I was in search of gently used baby gear.  Let's face it, if you're not going to use it forever you can settle for gently used items.  The sight of how much baby items cost turned me off in a huge way.  I couldn't stand the thought of people paying full price for brand new things to give as gifts, that I wasn't sure we would even use (ie... some babies don't like swings)- and that I could probably find on craigslist.  And that's what I did.  We found our B.O.B jogging stroller, pack & play, stroller with infant seat and swing on craigslist.  I was able to then register for the smaller items that I did prefer new, like our Bum Genius cloth diapers.  I loved the idea that we could get a majority of our diapers as gifts and decrease the regular expense of diapers once the baby arrived.

Craigslist might be for you!  If you enjoy garage sales, like saving money, and don't mind gently used items, then you should check it out.

1) KNOW WHAT YOU WANT-  Craigslist has many different categories.  If you don't have something specific in mind, you may end up wasting a lot of time "browsing" all the listings.  My most frequented visits are to Baby/Kids, Furniture, Antiques, and Materials.  I have ideas in mind of what I need and want.  For example: My current search list includes:  a Potbelly wood stove, kids play food & dishes, freestanding kitchen pantry, Bum Genius newborn cloth diapers, Pedestal dining table....  These are all things we plan to buy at some point in the near future, so I am scouting to see if we can find something suitable on craigslist first.

2)  BABY/KIDS-  If you're going to have a baby or already have one, you will find that baby gear, toys, items are helpful to your whole experience & transition as a parent.  You will also find that baby items are very short lived, as they grow out of everything so quickly.  You can find great barely/ gently used items for babys/ children on craigslist.  Before you go out and buy what you need/ or want, check craigslist first!  Another benefit is re-selling your gently used things back on craigslist when you are done.

Glider & Ottoman ($27)

Mini-chair ($20)

 

2 Cubby Shelves ($45)

Pottery Barn Glider & Ottoman ($75)

3)  FIRST APARTMENT OR HOME-  Moving out on your own?  Purchasing your first home?  You will find that you now need a bunch of things you always took for granted while growing up.  Furniture can be an investment, and unless you plant to live somewhere for many years, you may not want to spend the big bucks on "permanent furniture" just yet.  When the Laird & I got married, we knew that we weren't going to live in that current apartment forever, so we didn't want to invest money into furniture until we found our "future home".  That saved us the hassle of moving lots of heavy, nice furniture- and also saved nice furniture from getting damaged in the moving process.  Now that we've settled down at Redwoodshire, we are finding pieces of furniture that fit this house and that we want to have for many years.  Even so, I love craigslist so much and restoring old furniture, that we've yet to buy anything brand new.

Tall & long & large mirror ($150)

4)  PROJECTS & RESTORATIONS-  Craigslist is an awesome place to find old and unique pieces of furniture that can be restored and refurbished, and made into something new.  This is for the crafty people out there, who like projects as a hobby.  We are those people who like projects:  Check out our Current Projects.   If you have any renovations or upgrades you are making to your home, you can also find materials on Craigslist.  We will soon be giving our sole bathroom a face lift; a new vanity/sink, bead board wainscot on walls & a coat of paint.  Nothing major, however it will be much nicer in the end.  Our bathroom is tiny, and the vanity is currently a small 25" one.  There's a bit of space between the toilet and vanity, and I wanted to increase the size of our vanity and decreased the wasted space.  Standard small vanities are 25" or 30".  The space between our toilet & vanity measured exactly 29 3/4"! You can get a vanity custom made, however the one we liked cost $800!  That was a bit out of our imagined budget for the bathroom.  After some investigating I found a totally cool idea of converting a dry sink or dresser (depending on your space) into a bathroom vanity!  I loved it and knew that's what I wanted to do.  So I started searching for a dry sink/ commode on Craigslist.  After about a month of looking, and realizing <30" dry sink was as difficult to find as a modern vanity.  But since we aren't working on the bathroom yet, we had the time to continue looking (though once we find the vanity piece, we can start the bathroom upgrade).  And low and behold, I found our 27" dry sink on craigslist this week and it only cost me $75 and came with a mirror!  Now I want to find a "vessel sink" (one that sits on top of the counter).  Since we're doing lots of renovations and changes to our very old home, I always keep my eyes open in the Materials section of Craigslist.  We may just find exactly what we're looking for, for a fraction of the cost of something brand new, that has less character.

Toddler Bed & mattress ($40)

5)  CONDITION & PRICE- Decide on the condition you're looking for.  This will influence what price is acceptable to you to pay for what you find.  It's also good to price compare- check out what the item you find costs to buy brand new.  And if it's a common item on Craigslist, you should check to see what other sellers are listing their items for.

6)  CHECK OFTEN-  I check craigslist multiple times a week.  This may seem time consuming, but because I have my specific list of items I am looking for, I can search them quickly and be done in no time.  I don't generally "browse" craigslist for random things- I only look for what is on my list.

7) TAKES TIME-  Good deals come to those who wait.  The truth is: finding good deals on what you want/ need, does take time.  The deals I have found, did not happen over night.  I often look for things for a few months before I find them.  The key to this is patience.  There are very few things that we "need" right now; and if you need something immediately then craigslist may not be the avenue to take.  Immediate needs rarely come by good deals.  So when you come up with your "want" list, be sure to put things on it that you'd like to have eventually, but don't need them right now.  Finding a deal on craigslist is about waiting (as long as you can) to find what you're looking for.  And the truth is that we won't be able to find everything on craigslist.  But it's a great place to start with saving money on things we plan to eventually purchase.

Have fun!  Good luck as you find great deals on craigslist!  I am sure there will be many more deals making their debut on this blog.

We bought this beat up canoe, but I cannot remember how much we paid!