New to Us Finds!

The hub and I have been on the look out for a new to us dryer. I'm sure I've mentioned that the last set we had was purchased for $100 from another soldier's wife. The set was pretty old but for $100 they definitely served us well! Although the last year, the dryer suffered from an extreme shriek and eventually the door was held shut by applications of duct tape. ;) We attempted to "door prize" purchase a new energy efficient set via the after Christmas sales, but didn't make it in time to Sears (apparently 4am wasn't early enough!!). So we've soldiered through with the old set and decided we'd keep our eye out on craigslist for a new dryer once we'd returned.

Well, the hub was talking about craigslist as we laid in bed waking up yesterday morning, so for the first time I set up and searched using the craigslist app on my Iphone....and what do you know....an unmatched but fairly new washer and dryer set for sale $350 for the both and within a 10 minute drive of our home. Hub put in the phone call and within an hour we drove over to check them out! The gentleman selling them had several other appliances for sale and is an appliance repair man by trade....he guarantees his used appliances for up to two months, switched out the plug on the dryer to the one we'd need for this older home (for free), taught us a few basic fixes that he gets a lot of calls on, AND told us where we can drop off (and get paid for) the old washer and dryer set.  A deal or what?! Needless to say, our new washer and dryer are amazing....and I don't know that we've ever enjoyed catching up on laundry as much as we have the last two days! Did I mention they both have increased energy efficiency features as well?!

Our second awesome find so far happened when we stopped off at Goodwill to look for some used furniture (we're in the market for a buffet/liquor cabinet option, a solid desk, and an entry way table......). One of the things I always used to look at in thrift stores/Goodwill was the art selection....and in this particular store we happened upon two faux paintings of Italy (which was where hub was stationed originally when he joined the Army). $11 later and we now have two decent pieces of "art" that hold meaning for the hub. LOVE IT!

Between craigslist and the major availability of Goodwill and thrift stores around here I have no doubt that we'll score some more great deals on the other items on the list.

The other awesomeness about the visit to Goodwill was that I asked the gentleman at the front door to verify that Goodwill accepts functioning and broken electronics for re-use/recycling. His response was that indeed they do and in fact, it's a necessity to keep electronics out of the landfill as harmful chemicals can easily leach into the environment.....SO GOOD TO BE BACK IN OREGON!!!!!