Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Patience My Young Jedi

If you asked me what the most important quality of a thrifter is, I would say patience. You can find cool thrifted stuff everyday, but might pay too much...or you can get too eager and buy a bunch of junk you don't need, that will just end up cluttering your home, for cheap.

Case in point, my husbands man cave. It has been sitting, devoid of use, for the past year. We had been wanting to furnish it and already had a TV and coffee table, but no couches. Did we 'need' another place to watch television, no, we have a fully furnished family room upstairs. But, it would be nice to have an area for him to call his own. What I am getting at here is that we weren't in any hurry to run out to a big box store and overpay for seating...patience!

Patience paid off last weekend! I was cruising Craigslist the week before looking for a small kitchen table, when I cam across a listing of a woman who was selling a whole house of furniture in anticipation of a big move. There was a lovely set of Jonathan Lewis designer couches she had for sale but was asking far over our price range. I emailed her to inquire if she'd be willing to let them go for less and she wasn't. No problem, I can be patient! I kindly asked that she email me if she changed her mind and we'd be there with cash in hand to pick them up within 24 hours. A few days went by and she emailed me that she would accept our lower offer...WOOT!

I have purchased from Craigslist before, but never furniture, so I started to get nervous. What if we got there and the couches smelled like smoke and cat pee? What if mice were living in the bottom? Well, we showed up at her house and it was immaculate. She was single, no kids, non-smoker, and no pets! The couches were a year old and had been Scotch guarded. She was making a big move to Florida and just wanted them out of her hair.

Here's the final purchase...I mean, steal!


Sure, there are those one-in-a-million pieces that come along that us thrifters will splurge on, but in almost all scenarios, patience while thrifting really pays off.

Share a time in the comments when patience really paid off for you while thrifting. Any epic scores you can think of?

Better yet, share a picture over at the Facebook page so we can all rave over your find!
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9 comments:

  1. I couldn't agree more. Patience is SO important. Don't rush or force any purchase to work. If you are diligent, something will come along that is the right fit. You obviously proved that point with those killer sofas. What a great addition to your basement.

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  2. Patience is not my strong suit at all. When I start to redecorate, I want everything yesterday.

    Your sofas are gorgeous, and that proves that your approach definitely works.

    I will say that I've held out for a very long time for a good price on an Eames house bird, and I hope that will pay off someday soon.

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  3. Great job waiting on the right price - that can be SO hard to do in decorating! Love the sofas!

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  4. I love buying furniture off of Craigslist! I got two beautiful cognac leather club chairs for $100 each! They were putting new flooring in and these didn't go with it :-) I'm patiently waiting for a large area rug and a nice patio seating set.

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