Here's an interesting read of events in the car world that you foretold years ago agnut:
What's Your Favorite "On the Ground" Recession Indicator?
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Here's an interesting read of events in the car world that you foretold years ago agnut:
What's Your Favorite "On the Ground" Recession Indicator?
Hi all. This post is in response to General Of Darkness‘ thread “Cars running at 70 mpg BANNED in the US by Fed Gvmt”.
I have a 1990 Dodge 1 ton truck with the Cummins diesel engine and 5 speed manual transmission. It just rolled over 250K miles and besides regular 3,000 mile oil changes, I have only replaced an alternator, master cylinder and universal joints. I’ve had it for about 3 years now and couldn’t be happier with the 24-26 MPG highway and 18-20 MPG city driving. It pulls my double axle trailer with 100 bales of hay like it doesn’t notice the load. Also just got over 200 bales of hay for free; they had been lightly rained on and now not good for horses but okay for cows.
Ponce says that there will be a demand in the future for someone who has a truck and trailer that can move goods from one area to another. Not necessarily long distance but from town to town. I agree with this and see having this truck and trailer as a future income potential. Down the road, of course.
Next I have a Ford 550 diesel backhoe. Haven’t used it much yet but it will come in handy for the heavy jobs.
Next I have a Lister 12K diesel generator. I have run it but don’t have it hooked up to the house and battery pack. Hopefully this summer (maybe my last chance; who knows ?). Got a deal in the works for heavy cables.
Next is the 1987 VW Scirocco. It never was offered from the factory with a diesel engine. So I asked, Why not ? I installed a 1600cc normally aspirated diesel engine from a 1984 Rabbit and a stretched out 5 speed manual transmission. I rebuilt them last year and had them in a VW Caddy pickup truck that no one would buy for a fair price so I removed them and sold the pickup truck without an engine or transmission. The transmission I rebuilt has a 3.67 ring and pinion, a .91 fourth gear and a .71 fifth gear which are the most stretched out ratios the VW factory offered in this type of transmission. This yields the lowest RPM possible on the freeway driving which everyone uses as a standard for high MPG. City driving is subject to too many traffic variables as to be reliable. Not a bad yardstick but somewhat rubbery in my opinion.
I thought I was the first to convert a Scirocco to a diesel engine but I ran across someone in Oregon who had done this. He said that he is getting 65 MPG on the freeway. And he has a stock diesel transmission which has closer gear ratios than mine. This is why I believe that I may have some chance at getting around 70 MPG. In retrospect, perhaps not worth the effort and expense to obtain the extra few miles per gallon.
About now you may be wondering how much all this costs. Although I got the VW Scirocco for free at a garage sale, a normal price may be guesstimated at $600 to $1,500, depending on condition. These are not common Vws like the Jetta or Golf but they are available to the patient buyer.
The diesel engine can be rebuilt for about $1,000 to $1,500 in parts and machining. If I were not a professional mechanic I would probably find a good running diesel engine and install it with a specific 5 speed transmission and have the 5th gear changed out to a .71 gear ratio. Only problem here is that the 4th gear would have to be a 1.03 gear ratio and not the .91 gear ratio I recommend which provides a smooth transition between the 4th gear and the 5th gear rather than a large gap in RPM. A rebuilt transmission would cost about $1,400 outright and I am recommending a good used transmission with a changed out .71 5th gear ratio. By the way, this .71 gear ratio is getting harder and harder to find.
And if you are content with getting 65 MPG, finding a stock 1983 through 1989 VW diesel car shouldn’t be too difficult. Either a rust bucket or a wreck should cost under a grand.
For about $3,000 and some elbow grease you can have a 65 MPG diesel car that carries 4 or 5 and has a rear hatch for groceries. Compare that to a new diesel car at 10 times the price. Oh, that’s right, we can only compare IN THEORY since our government won’t allow us Americans to own such a high MPG automobile.
What I am doing is building a manual fuel injected diesel auto that is light and aerodynamic. There are lighter chassis around but the VW Scirocco gas to diesel conversion is the easiest I know of.
So why am I all diesel with my equipment ? Well, diesel fuel stores better and longer than gasoline. My opinion from years of experience.
When you have seen a car on the side of the road in flames, has it ever been a diesel car ? Nope, always a gas car. My father was fuel officer on the Valley Forge aircraft carrier and he always told me that you could throw a match in diesel fuel and it would put the match out but a match in gas would blow the place up. I feel a lot better having a couple hundred gallons of diesel or veggie oil around than an equal amount of gasoline.
Diesel engines can run on a variety of fuels. Right now I am in the process of investigating converted cooking oil. I bought a diesel VW from a man nearby who does this and says that his cost is 49 cents per gallon. Right now, diesel at the pump is about $4 a gallon. Or 8 times what processed cooking oil costs. By the way, this cooking oil doesn’t have to be heated or treated differently that regular diesel fuel. Just pour it into your tank and hit the road. He has been doing just this with his 2002 Dodge diesel truck for years without a problem. Apparently his method of prepping the cooking oil is different than what I had read of in the past.
The earlier Dodge and VW diesel cars have manual fuel injection. So no problem with a solar flare or EMP. Also, the manual fuel injection system is simpler and cheaper to maintain than an electronic fuel system. Used injection pumps are available at reasonable prices. I have several spares for the future.
If fuel prices shoot through the roof or become largely unavailable I plan to have a lot stored in advance. Right now I am vulnerable to a fuel shock but hope to be ready in time (whenever that is). You see, we don’t know when or how intense the future will be affecting our lives. We can only guess and take our best shot. What I am acting upon first priority is some items that will benefit me and my family whether or not things fall apart.
This is an important point not to be lost in all of our preparing. What is the benefit to me right now ? Food preps benefit from future price increases whether a crisis happens or not. Similarly, diesel fuel preps benefit from future price increases as well as the option to make cooking oil diesel or biofuel diesel. This is true right now; it will be immensely more valuable should a fuel crisis hit in the future. Imagine fuel rationing when you have fuel stored away as well as the ability to make fuel from other sources.
I haven’t forgotten wood gasification. It is just on the back burner right now. Wouldn’t it be nice to have an electric generator that ran on wood ?
Should we be collecting plastic in anticipation of future conversion into fuel ? Maybe too soon but maybe not. What do you think ? Remember when old cooking oil used to be free out back of restaurants ?
With a probable resource war in the future, doesn’t it make sense to think of what commodities that are available now that will be sucked up in the future ? As Ponce says, “The trash dumps of today will be the gold mines of tomorrow”. Or something close to that.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Just picked up a propane cabin stove for $50. It is about 50 years old, has 4 top burners and a fair size oven. Sometimes I don’t know why I acquire something but it still seems too good an item to pass up. When looking at a dubious item I always try to imagine a future in which it would have been a wise idea to have put away for an uncertain future. And who knows; I may someday build a cabin like Ponce has and want such a small stove.
i'll add that to my Ponce quotes file . . .Quote:
As Ponce says, “The trash dumps of today will be the gold mines of tomorrow”
Hi Canadian-guerilla, good to hear from you. I also copied your two quotes from your post. I collect quotes and have literally thousands to draw from. Where my own wisdom fails me, my quotes uplift me.
Here’s something I wrote up this morning. It’s a bit crude but should show my thinking (such as it is). Anyhow, works for me. Hope you like the quotes.
Gimme Credit
I work hard and spend frugally in order to save up money so that I may buy things. I have no credit rating. Only a debit card which means that I must have the money in the bank before using it. However I also have no debt. All I have are assets which I own. Gimme credit for that.
I buy used cars instead of new since they are affordable and therefore can be purchased with cash paid in full. I have a 1 ton truck that I paid one twentieth of the new price and it has performed beautifully since I bought it three years ago. Gimme credit for that.
I read that things are becoming so tight that some folks are buying food with credit cards because they do not have the money to pay cash. I buy food on deep sales and stockpile extra for future uncertainties. Gimme credit for that.
I buy clothes and household necessities at estate and garage sales rather than paying 10 to 20 times more at the local stores. The only clothes I buy new are socks and underwear. Gimme credit for that.
I pick up free items that I may later use or trade with others. Gimme credit for that.
I also pick up items that I know or believe that others may need. Gimme credit for that.
I don’t have an ego like others that requires constant feeding in the form of enviable new purchases. My pride is in seeking the most cost efficient and practical solutions to my and others’ needs. Gimme credit for that.
I keep only a minimum amount in my bank accounts. The rest is in cash, change and bricks of nickels. Any silver I have is in physical form and in my possession. If I am robbed I want to see who is robbing me and not some distant investment broker and judge. I want to be able to get my hands around a thief’s throat and defend what is mine and for my family’s future. Gimme credit for that.
I have bought a $2 lottery ticket only once in my life and you know what ? I didn’t win. Now I spend the money on other things rather than on a one in a 50 million chance to be a millionaire. I have been a millionaire more than once and it never made me happy. Rather, it caused many problems. Now I don’t try to get rich in dollars but rich in sense. Gimme credit for that.
So now I go to the local Indian casino, give them $20 for $30 on my card and I play a particular slot machine until I win or get too close to my original $20 I laid out. Entertainment only; not gambling. Gimme credit for that.
Most importantly, I have learned what is most important to me. Family and friends. This is where I invest my time and efforts. I wasted too many years in pursuit of the brass ring. What is rich can only be determined by what is your yardstick. If your yardstick is money, most everyone will acknowledge wealth. But if it is friends and family, it may be known only to you. Gimme credit for that.
I write this bartering and horse trading thread to share my perspective on how to take control of one’s finances. I risk being called cheap and low class by buying used items. Well, what is the opposite of cheap ? Extravagant ? How is that working out for the “extravagant” Madison Avenue brainwashed masses out there ? Gimme credit for that.
Do you watch TV and buy some of the items advertised ? Or are the ads a mere distraction until the show reappears ? A commercial break to shut off the sound and converse without interference or to go to the bathroom ? Personally I cannot recollect when I ever bought something that Madison Avenue tried to tell me that I must have. A new car ? Don’t make me laugh. The only car I really wanted was the C111 Mercedes but the factory decided to not produce it. When I was at the factory museum in Stuttgart the rep said that it was going to be manufactured next year at the price of $25,000. I thought of it as an incredible investment. What other car in 1974 could go from 0-60 in 3 seconds and also go 200 MPH ? And had gullwing doors. It was decades before its time.
Most Americans never gave a thought of what stress is created by living in a world in which prices for everything are much, much higher since payment in full is not required but rather a relatively small installment payment. I deeply resent that I have had to compete all my life against all the credit whores out there who would not save first and spend later. This drives prices up to the point where a buyer asks “What is the monthly payment ?” instead of “What is the total price out the door ?”.
Americans, can’t you see the myriad of ways you have been misled ? Acknowledge that and the who, what, where, when, why and how of the deceptions may become your passionate hobby. Only then will you be afforded the opportunity to become a patriot in the spirit of our founding fathers.
Lots written on the internet about a coming revolution. It could be a peaceful one but I believe that people in general are not wise enough to pull it off. Perhaps someday. Perhaps 12/21/2012 ?
Best wishes,
Agnut
To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and to endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty; to find the best in others; to leave the world a bit better whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.*
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Tricks and treachery are the practice of fools, that don't have brains enough to be honest. -Benjamin Franklin
Sincerity makes the very least person to be of more value than the most talented hypocrite. -Charles Spurgeon
“Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” – Friedrich Nietzsche
Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world.
Daniel Webster
“The desire of gold is not for gold. It is for the means of freedom and benefit.”
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” Ron Paul
"The history of liberty is a history of resistance. The history of liberty is a history of limitations of governmental power, not the increase of it." -- Woodrow Wilson Speech in New York, September 9, 1912
Wise men are instructed by reason;
Men of less understanding, by experience;
The most ignorant, by necessity;
The beasts by nature.
Letters to Atticus[?], Marcus Tullius Cicero
“Constitutional governments and aristocracies are commonly overthrown owing to some deviation from justice…the rich, if the constitution gives them power, are apt to be insolent and avaricious… In all well-attempered governments there is nothing which should be more jealously maintained than the spirit of obedience to law, more especially in small matters; for transgression creeps in unperceived and at last ruins the state, just as the constant recurrence of small expenses in time eats up a fortune.” – Aristotle, Politics, Book V. 350 B.C.E.
"There are two ways to conquer and enslave a nation. One is by the sword.. The other is by debt."
-John Adams 1826
"It is the usurer's game to hurl the savage against the civilized opponent"--Ezra Pound
"Youth is in danger until it learns to look upon debts as furies." Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton
"I keep picturing a stranger from outer space. He lands on my farm and wants me to tell him about our world. I try to put the best face on things that I can, but he keeps going back to the monetary system: 'You use what for money?' I'm so embarrassed I want to dig a hole and crawl in." - Franklin Sanders, in The Money Changer
“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand?... The Organs would very quickly have suffered a shortage of officers and transport and, notwithstanding all of Stalin's thirst, the cursed machine would have ground to a halt! If...if...We didn't love freedom enough. And even more – we had no awareness of the real situation.... We purely and simply deserved everything that happened afterward.” -? Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago
"Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave." -- Frederick Douglass
"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change." -- Charles Darwin
at yard sales i alway look for hand tools . the way i look at it is , everyone will need a garden hoe . i have more garden stuff then my whole family will need to live off the land . here in my state there already started digging up old sink holes and removing the metals to sell . thanks agnuts and all who have posted here .
Hi Mick Silver. Yeah, tools are top priority with me too. Here is a possible money making sideline for you :Quote:
Originally Posted by mick silver
Back in the late 1980s a neighbor was acquiring old shovels, hoes and rakes that had broken wooden handles. He would clean them up and weld hollow steel tubes on them and sell them for a healthy profit. He got most of these used items for free since the owners didn’t want to bother with buying a new wooden handle and fixing it themselves. Besides, have you priced these new wooden handles at Home Depot and other places ? Almost as much as a complete shovel, rake or hoe.
This may be a good little business for the future; one in which quality and longevity will be crucial. I would still have the steel shaft tools that I had bought from this guy but lost all of them in the divorce. I miss them more than….. Well, let’s just say that some things are more breakable than others.
Anyway Mick, keep buying quality hand tools like hammers, drills, saws, wrenches, sockets, Vise Grips, pliers, pipe wrenches, and a great number of other associated items. Also, buy only quality brand used tools such as Snap-On, Proto, Stanley, Plumb, Skil Craftsman and others. You will have to be discriminating since some of the more recently manufactured are now foreign made and therefore questionable.
And don’t forget the boxes of nuts, bolts, screws and other fittings that we take for granted now. Will they be available in the future ? Don’t most of them come from overseas ? Hmmm…
Both Ponce and I have multiples of the above tools; some for backup and some for trading material. Ponce has a new machinist’s lathe for possible work income if ever needed. I would like to get a vertical mill and metal lathe for the same purpose but may have to sell some silver in order to pay for it. That’s the reason I haven’t acted yet; not sure if it is the wisest thing at this point of time in history. And make no mistake; we are in historical times which those in the future will study and make judgments about how we individuals behaved.
Gotta go for now; my son is working in the shop and wants some company while he works.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Recently went to a garage sale in a storage company’s lot. I bought a 6 piece set of sterling spoons for $14 , went home and weighed them and they are worth about $150 in silver content. Not too shabby for a few minutes scrounging around. You never know what you will find so keep an open mind and the deals will fall in. HaHa
I have not been going out to tag sales as much but went today. I was able to pick up a display case of mini-Sterling silver ingots for $50. When I got home, I weighed them up to 6.6 toz.
6.6 x .925 x $30/oz = $183 value
I was too late to another location- old woman selling coins. When I got there she only had left a bundle (maybe 60) dollar silver certificates and a box of steel pennies. I got the steel pennies for a dollar.
At another location I found a bird (chicken) watering container.
this one here--
Attachment 3580
Value: $43. My cost: $5.
Hi Spectrism; glad to hear that you are doing so well. I know that I am in the extreme minority with favoring 90% “junk” silver coins and sterling silver over silver bullion coins and silver eagles. However, the future is ever changing and we would be wise to also ever adapt in order to be at the right place at the right time. The reason I mention this is that of late, there has been even more mention of future confiscation of gold and silver if their prices were to rise dramatically. I agree, the govt. temptation would be great to either outright confiscate or heavily tax the “windfall profits”. Pathetic and quite disgusting, I will grant you, but the reality of this unfolding would be devastating to precious metal holders who hold entirely bullion.
The govt going so far as confiscating or taxing sterling silverware, jewelry and 90% coins would have to be an extreme extension of precious metal confiscation. Roosevelt did not go this far in the 1930s but this is no guarantee but only a possibility in our favor. It may be instructive to imagine such a scenario in order to appreciate the difficulty in enacting such a draconian measure. I believe that 1/3 in bullion rounds, 1/3 in sterling silver and 1/3 in 90% silver coins may be the best defensive positioning.
Having said that Spectrism, I applaud your sterling find.
Your steel penny purchase made me laugh. I have a small bag of war nickels that I must have bought many years ago and I come across them occasionally and also laugh to muse what the govt must have been thinking at that time. Your steel pennies and my partial silver war nickels were both minted in order to save the copper content for brass shell casings for the war effort.
And how times change. In WWII, brass was needed more than silver and nowadays silver is crucial for cruise missiles.
Your chicken watering container also made me laugh. I had recently also bought one for our 25 chickens but I paid $10. So you did twice as good as me. HaHa
Okay, here is a story about my last garage sale dealings.
It was a Friday and I was cruising through the ads in my local newspaper and Craig’s List when one ad jumped out and practically hit me on the head. It was someone moving and selling most everything. But the kicker was that it was so close to home that I could have ridden a bicycle over there. The sale started at 8:00 so I threw on my clothes, jumped in the truck and blasted over there. You see, I was lounging around in my jimmies, drinking milk with cookies. I had planned to lay around that day with absolutely no intention of financial raping and pillaging. But this ad had me by the throat. What could I do ? Ignore it and never know what I may find ? Yeah, right !
As I arrived at the sale, there were no other cars in front of the house. My suspicions were turning into disappointment when I saw the homeowner up the hill gesturing to me. I rolled down the window and he said that he was sick and decided to not hold the sale and that he had taken down the signs beside the road. My heart skipped a beat. But a funny thing happened next; he said to come up and look around. So I parked the truck down the hill and hiked up the steep gravel driveway. We shook hands and began conversing. He was moving far away and didn’t want to have to haul the tons of belongings.
The first thing I saw was a small Snap-On roll around tool box with a 7 drawer Mac top box. They were in sad shape so I wasn’t excited. Well, not until I opened the top box to discover that it was chock full of tools. And not just tools but brands like Proto, Snap-On, Craftsman and other American made tools. I counted 115 sockets, 7 ratchets, 20 extensions, 45 wrenches, 10 punches, over 100 small items, 3 hammers, loads of miscellaneous connectors and parts. Now that was just the top box. The bottom box had 2 C clamps, 2 trailer balls, a professional wire stripper (I didn’t have one and they are fast and efficient but not cheap), a Craftsman vernier and a T level, a hatchet, sheet metal shears, impact driver tool, 25 new hacksaw blades, 20 electrical splicers, 5 large wrenches, 50 22 caliber bullets, and several small tools.
Total price for all of the above ? Try $50 and that was what he told me he wanted for it. Sometimes it doesn’t pay either financially or morally to haggle.
Moving on to his other items was a wood burning stove with the name “Monarch Malleable” on the front. It wasn’t in very good condition with the chrome work bad and chips in some of the porcelain. But it had the water jacket on the side for heating water while cooking. This is something I was specifically looking for. Complete and functional for $50 ! Who could say no ? Only problem is that it weighs more that any two men should wrestle with.
Next were two aluminum ladders made by Werner and Gorilla. Price for both was $15.
Next was a solid oak armoire with glass mirrors. It was huge and very heavy. Owner said that he paid well over $1,000 for it. I got it for $125.
Next was a round dining room table with 4 chairs and an internal leaf for making larger. It was so unusual and in perfect condition that I had to have it. I paid $50 but don’t know if I will even use it since I already have a table and chairs. Maybe a mistake but I follow my gut feelings and may sell it in the future.
Next was a Milwaukee angle hole drill in its metal box for $20. I don’t need it right now but like the table above, I may either need it or sell it later for a profit. Quality tools at bargain prices should not be ignored but respected; they helped make this country what it is.
A 5 drawer chest; cheap material but the drawers all worked smoothly. $10
A porch glider for two with cushions for $20
And last but not least was a new 100 foot roll of 4 lead copper wire for 220 volt for my 12 K Lister diesel generator. The seller said that he had bought it many years ago before the copper price had gone sky high. It weighs a little over 40 pounds. He had paid $50 plus tax and would sell it to me for $50. No room to haggle here, especially since this wiring is exactly what I need to hook the generator to my house. All I need now is a good electrician since I am devoid of knowledge in this area (in other words, ignorant as all getout).
It took my 1 ton truck two trips, one with a trailer, to haul all of the goodies home. As the seller, my younger son and I were loading the last of the items on the trailer, a man drove up in a truck. He apparently knew the seller and began trying to buy the items I had already loaded on the trailer and truck. Funny but I didn’t notice that all the time I was buying, negotiating and loading everything, nobody showed up. This was an upscale neighborhood with “million dollar views”. It was eerily quiet. Usually there would have been 10 or 20 cars parked around the sale. Weird is all I can say.
Oh, by the way, almost forgot. There was a side by side refrigerator/freezer with ice maker and water dispenser. The owner said that he already had one upstairs in the kitchen but it was not as nice as this one in the garage but he didn’t want to expend the energy in swapping them. I asked how much and he said that I could have it for free.
Looking back, that was one sale; the only one I attended that day. This has happened to me before but it is not often. Fortunately I was ready for it with the money, time, truck and trailer, place to store it, and the knowledge of what these items were worth (both new price and resale price). Sometimes you can swoop in and clean out the seller before anyone even shows up.
Hope this helps with your deal making.
Best wishes,
Agnut
Thanks for the news Agnut!! You did very well. While I would love to have that kind of fortune, I have no place to put everything. Treasures in ugly boxes- that is what I thought about when you mentioned the tools.
Yesterday I encountered an older fellow moving to Florida. The sale was not advertised anywhere and I happened to drive by (and had to turn around) the sign by his driveway.
There I picked up a vacuum sealer for $5. He sold me a Weller soldering gun and 2 rolls of solder for $25. He had these old butcher scales- one he said was used by his grandmother.... I got 4 of them for $20. They are similar to this pic-
http://www.greatplanestrading.com/FULLER/INDY3010.jpg
This fella was an old-time prepper but was giving it all up. He had 3 big boxes of mason jars that I got for $15. He had shelves full of tomato sauce he made up. He was getting too old to do these things anymore and his children & grandchildren seemed not to care.
I spotted copper wire... not unlike your find.... but this wire was 2 AWG.... yes 2. It is a stranded wire about 9mm in diameter with black insulation over the single conducter. He said he got his stuff cleaning out an old mill. The copper wire 3 bundles of 80 ft each bundle, weighed about 50 pounds. He asked $50, but took $30. I was thinking about this for hooking up batteries for solar power.
He had much more, but I am getting filled to the gills with stuff.... and need more room.
I almost forgot one other thing I got there.... 2 tow chains for $15. One is 10 feet long , the other 20 feet. These are heavy duty welded links with hooks at either end.
If I had knowledge of things, he had a cutting torch set and bins of welding rods. Another person I ran into was selling an arc welding unit for $300..... but since I knew little aabout them, did not even pursue. When we lack knowledge - I am certain we miss out. If you know values and uses, you can drive the deal how it needs to go.
Some great deals there spectrism. Please keep sharing your good fortunes. I loved your quote :
“When we lack knowledge - I am certain we miss out. If you know values and uses, you can drive the deal how it needs to go.”
And will put it in my quote collection.
Well, well, well…. So agnut is still alive and kickin’. Who’da thunk ?
It has been a very long time since my last post. Life has been greatly accelerated around here of late. Taking care of chickens, steers, family peccadilloes, tragedies, fruits and veggies by the ton, deals, competition, business slowdown, money tightness, lots of cold and rain, mud, and much more. I thought retirement was a time in which I could sit back and suck up mint juleps on the veranda. Boy was I wrong ! I may have to go back to work to slow down.
But there have also been new friendships, new opportunities, new ways of looking at things, expansion of mind (at least I like to think).
I’ve been buying books, tools, appliances, clothes, barb wire and lots of other stuff. Since it turned cold and rainy there have been only a couple of estate/garage sales locally per week. But that hasn’t stopped me. I do have to be there before opening time. In the first place, the competition is fierce with as many as 50 cars showing up. And in the second place, it is wise to be there ½ hour early because the sellers will open earlier than their posted time. If I was only on time, most of the items would be already sold.
I attribute this high activity to the economy; everybody is looking for a deal to save more of their dwindling so called discretionary money. They are wising up to what I’ve known for years. And that is that fiat dollars are best gotten rid of in favor of real three dimensional items. Remember the hyperinflation of 1922-23 Germany. They were even trading German Marks for brass doorknobs in order to have something that would rise in price as time passed. That was at the end of the hyperinflationary period, just before the new currency was issued. Well, what we have here and now is the same thing but in slow motion. Things I bought 5 years ago have risen in price beyond inflation.
“The treasury’s bare,”
“The country’s bankrupt, they won’t admit it, and that’s why there’s so much anger and frustration, because it’s hard to divvy up loot when there’s none to divvy up.”
Ron Paul in an interview on Fox news December 17, 2012.
Now I don’t know how things will play out in that we could either experience high inflation or there being too little currency around to buy things. Or, gulp, BOTH ! Having no dollars saved could be very difficult in either case. So even though I hate having dollars around with possible high inflation looming, I cannot leave myself financially naked. I guess it is a matter of where I would be most comfortable, even with all the uncertainty. Who knows, maybe having many bricks of nickels and a bathtub full of change like the story of the lady in 1922-23 Germany would ride me through safely as it did her. Ponce is a firm believer in keeping lots of change for this possibility of a dollar devaluation. It takes little to imagine coins disappearing from the public when that happens. Gresham’s Law and all that.
Okay, here are some of my purchases which I so shamelessly present for your perusal ( don’t hate me because I am beautiful because I’m not. You could envy me because I find so many great deals) :
Near new Maytag washer and propane dryer for $250. Just what I was looking for as I’m changing from an electric dryer to propane; also the oven and hot water heater. Should cut my electric bills down as well put less strain on my backup battery and inverter system. Still haven’t hooked up the Lister 12K diesel generator because still looking for a good electrician.
Chest freezer for $50. It would cost about $400 if new.
20 pounds of insulated single strand copper wire for $5. Heavy ground wire type.
4 85 pound rolls of barb wire with 4 loose partial rolls for $20 total. The store price with tax is about $440.
I need it to fence off our property. Next I need a couple of hundred metal posts. I heard that Craig’s list has them offered, since I’m not going to spend $1,400 for new fence posts (about $7 each).
12 power saw blades $2 total. I probably have about 60 spare blades now.
Lufkin 100’ tape measure for $1.
7 round files and holder for chain saw sharpening for $1.
3 near new 13 inch tires on rims for $10 total.
Electric coffee bean grinder for $2.
3 drawer secretary, dovetailed drawers and all solid wood in excellent condition for $25. I already have one but it is considerably smaller and I am selling it to a friend for her daughter‘s room for $25. Trading up to what you really need/want can sometimes be a most satisfying side benefit of bartering and horse trading.
A box with 57 dies from 1 3/8” down to 6X20 (tiny), 95 taps from ¾” down to very small, 8 tap handles all for $10. The largest die alone is $55 new. Got the whole box for $10.
Over the last several months I must have purchased a hundred smaller items that were 5 to 10 percent of their new price. Things I need or will need as well as things others will need.
Now I know that there are two types of folks reading this; the first who are also out there buying and finding deals like me and happy for me and the second who are not and thinking just who is this SOB agnut who has the audacity to throw these deals in our face. So let’s ALL get out there and kick some financial butt !
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Tomorrow a couple of new friends are coming over to hang out for the day and dinner. Beefalo crock potted with carrots, onions and potatoes. Just melts in your mouth. I met them at a garage sale recently and they stood out as fascinating and especially nice people. Can’t think of a better benefit from bartering and horse trading.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Some great deals there spectrism. Please keep sharing your good fortunes. I loved your quote :
“When we lack knowledge - I am certain we miss out. If you know values and uses, you can drive the deal how it needs to go.”
And will put it in my quote collection.
Well, well, well…. So agnut is still alive and kickin’. Who’da thunk ?
It has been a very long time since my last post. Life has been greatly accelerated around here of late. Taking care of chickens, steers, family peccadilloes, tragedies, fruits and veggies by the ton, deals, competition, business slowdown, money tightness, lots of cold and rain, mud, and much more. I thought retirement was a time in which I could sit back and suck up mint juleps on the veranda. Boy was I wrong ! I may have to go back to work to slow down.
But there have also been new friendships, new opportunities, new ways of looking at things, expansion of mind (at least I like to think).
I’ve been buying books, tools, appliances, clothes, barb wire and lots of other stuff. Since it turned cold and rainy there have been only a couple of estate/garage sales locally per week. But that hasn’t stopped me. I do have to be there before opening time. In the first place, the competition is fierce with as many as 50 cars showing up. And in the second place, it is wise to be there ½ hour early because the sellers will open earlier than their posted time. If I was only on time, most of the items would be already sold.
I attribute this high activity to the economy; everybody is looking for a deal to save more of their dwindling so called discretionary money. They are wising up to what I’ve known for years. And that is that fiat dollars are best gotten rid of in favor of real three dimensional items. Remember the hyperinflation of 1922-23 Germany. They were even trading German Marks for brass doorknobs in order to have something that would rise in price as time passed. That was at the end of the hyperinflationary period, just before the new currency was issued. Well, what we have here and now is the same thing but in slow motion. Things I bought 5 years ago have risen in price beyond inflation.
“The treasury’s bare,”
“The country’s bankrupt, they won’t admit it, and that’s why there’s so much anger and frustration, because it’s hard to divvy up loot when there’s none to divvy up.”
Ron Paul in an interview on Fox news December 17, 2012.
Now I don’t know how things will play out in that we could either experience high inflation or there being too little currency around to buy things. Or, gulp, BOTH ! Having no dollars saved could be very difficult in either case. So even though I hate having dollars around with possible high inflation looming, I cannot leave myself financially naked. I guess it is a matter of where I would be most comfortable, even with all the uncertainty. Who knows, maybe having many bricks of nickels and a bathtub full of change like the story of the lady in 1922-23 Germany would ride me through safely as it did her. Ponce is a firm believer in keeping lots of change for this possibility of a dollar devaluation. It takes little to imagine coins disappearing from the public when that happens. Gresham’s Law and all that.
Okay, here are some of my purchases which I so shamelessly present for your perusal ( don’t hate me because I am beautiful because I’m not. You could envy me because I find so many great deals) :
Near new Maytag washer and propane dryer for $250. Just what I was looking for as I’m changing from an electric dryer to propane; also the oven and hot water heater. Should cut my electric bills down as well put less strain on my backup battery and inverter system. Still haven’t hooked up the Lister 12K diesel generator because still looking for a good electrician.
Chest freezer for $50. It would cost about $400 if new.
20 pounds of insulated single strand copper wire for $5. Heavy ground wire type.
4 85 pound rolls of barb wire with 4 loose partial rolls for $20 total. The store price with tax is about $440.
I need it to fence off our property. Next I need a couple of hundred metal posts. I heard that Craig’s list has them offered, since I’m not going to spend $1,400 for new fence posts (about $7 each).
12 power saw blades $2 total. I probably have about 60 spare blades now.
Lufkin 100’ tape measure for $1.
7 round files and holder for chain saw sharpening for $1.
3 near new 13 inch tires on rims for $10 total.
Electric coffee bean grinder for $2.
3 drawer secretary, dovetailed drawers and all solid wood in excellent condition for $25. I already have one but it is considerably smaller and I am selling it to a friend for her daughter‘s room for $25. Trading up to what you really need/want can sometimes be a most satisfying side benefit of bartering and horse trading.
A box with 57 dies from 1 3/8” down to 6X20 (tiny), 95 taps from ¾” down to very small, 8 tap handles all for $10. The largest die alone is $55 new. Got the whole box for $10.
Over the last several months I must have purchased a hundred smaller items that were 5 to 10 percent of their new price. Things I need or will need as well as things others will need.
Now I know that there are two types of folks reading this; the first who are also out there buying and finding deals like me and happy for me and the second who are not and thinking just who is this SOB agnut who has the audacity to throw these deals in our face. So let’s ALL get out there and kick some financial butt !
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Tomorrow a couple of new friends are coming over to hang out for the day and dinner. Beefalo crock potted with carrots, onions and potatoes. Just melts in your mouth. I met them at a garage sale recently and they stood out as fascinating and especially nice people. Can’t think of a better benefit from bartering and horse trading.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
old stuff is useful.
people throw away half-broken things like they have no use.
i got a large microwave oven with a broken dish-that-rotates.
great for heating water ... and you can do a LOT with hot water.
also the power supply in a microwave oven is the exact size/spec for a DC-to-AC inverter, great gift for do-it-yourself-ers.
AND most scrap places will pay scrap steel price for an used microwave. 5.5 to 10 cents a pound, depending.
Good to hear from you again Agnut. I hope life smooths out for you soon. I always enjoy this thread and the wife and I have become avid yard salers. I think I'll start posting up some of my finds on a weekly basis. The game has definantly changed in the last year or so. A lot more people have started to become aware of what some things are worth both monetarily and in the event of hard times. Still a lot of good deals to be had for literally pennies on the dollar.
A couple of techniques I'll share:
First off I tend to compare the price of things to the price of gas and the price of a budweiser in a bar. Both currently in the 3-4 dollar range depending. Remember though that both of these things are something that you consume and then no longer have. If i can find something for the price of a beer that is a quality tangible item that was built before everything came from china, its probably a good deal.
Secondly, wait to discuss prices until you're done shopping and have everything in a big pile. Most people having a sale are looking more to get rid of stuff than to make a lot of money. I'm sometimes bad about seeing something I like and asking the price and then paying it. My wife gets on me about it. She piles up the good stuff and when she's done asks the price. Some sales have prices marked and the seller will add everything up and expect the full price with little negotiation. Others willing negotiate with no problem. Some can't add and say "Uh,... I don't know, just give me 5 bucks and take it." The last one is where we really clean up getting stuff for 10-20 percent of what their price was not to mention how much off retail we saved.
Hi gunDriller, thanks for the microwave idea. A canned food or many food items can be heated in a bowl of hot water. Sounds simple but useful at times.Quote:
Originally Posted by gunDriller
You mentioned the scrap value of an old microwave oven. I wonder about the scrap value of an old washer, dryer, freezer or refrigerator. I have a friend who professionally bought and sold scrap metals for years. She is really sharp on what metals are worth and where and when to get the best prices. She said that sometimes an auction for pallets of scrap truck differentials would be bid for almost nothing. She could buy them and the same day run them across the scales for a healthy profit. Quick profits.
One time she saw pallet loads of used bricks that a company was going to throw away because they still had cement on them and were judged as too laborious to clean. She got them for free and took them to another place that paid her over $1,000.
The key is that you have to know the real value of items and what to do with these items. As encouragement, I will say that the more times you do this, the easier it gets. Also, connections increase and therefore more options avail themselves.
And lastly you mentioned DC-to-AC inverters inside the microwaves. I would have to check into their specifications and if they are suitable for a small electrical system for emergencies. If they did pan out, it may be wise to get old microwaves and strip the inverters out before scrapping them. I wonder what they would be worth in a power outage system. A good friend is an electronics genius and if I think of it, I will ask him about this.
I have a 24 battery pack with two 3000 watt inverters and am still investigating how I may want to recharge them.
Yesterday I was on eBay looking at steam engines since they can be run on a wood heated boiler. Imagine being able to heat your house and recharge your batteries at the same time. And with wood too; great if fuel prices go through the roof or are scarce. We live on 10 wooded acres too. Kinda retro thinking but sometimes unusual times beget unusual solutions. I need a steam engine that puts out about 3-5 HP. At least this is what I am shooting for.
I recently purchased a 3 HP diesel engine for hooking up to an alternator for recharging. I don’t know when I may get around to it with so much to do around here. My 12K Lister diesel is for whole household use and running the well pump and recharging the batteries at the same time. But the little 3 HP diesel would use lots less fuel than the Lister and be used only for battery charging.
Yesterday a couple of friends dropped by and brought a guest who had installed solar systems. Wow ! Another connection. He said that the Solendra system generated twice the electricity at 130% of the cost of other systems. Also that the Solendra system was designed to last for 30 years against 20 years design for the other systems. I will have to check into this.
For a guy who wrote a short post, you sure said a lot. Thanks again.
Agnut
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hi govcheetos. I have finally come to the conclusion that life will never smooth out for me. Everywhere I look, there are projects to finish and people to deal with. And looking back over my life, it has mostly been extremely busy in comparison with others around me. That’s how I roll. But time is catching up with me; I’ll be 66 next week and am feeling my age. After loading a chest freezer I got at an estate sale, I slipped and fell off of the tailgate and clobbered my right leg. It is still a bit swollen and sore but getting better.Quote:
Originally Posted by govcheetos
The lesson here is to pace yourself when working hard. And have your wits about you at all times. I just wasn’t thinking of where I was and preoccupied with other deals still to be finalized.
Glad to hear that you and your wife are both avid garage salers. Nothing like having a partner to share your joys with. I would greatly appreciate your posting of your deals made.
And yes, the playing field has changed in the last year or so. In the past I have written about the descending hordes of 50 buyers at a garage sale. And they arrive in late cars and well dressed. Didn’t used to be this way. Also, I recommend arriving ½ hour earlier than the opening time and patiently waiting for the seller to give the okay. This has become VERY important because most sellers are not professionals and will often let you in early. Of course, this is where you get the first grab at all the goodies.
I believe that there will be a lot of sellers this year what with the economy being so bad. All of the new money the govt created out of thin air went to the bankers, Wall street and govt spending. The only “trickle down” was on our heads and I don’t mean water. So money never got to us little guys. I would advise to keep a considerable amount of cash in case a flood of deals suddenly appear. I collect $1, $5 and $10 bills for sales. This is to back up larger sums for the really big deals. There have even been times where I traded rolled coins (bricks of nickels especially) with my son for dollar bills. Later I traded back for the coins since I believe, as Ponce does, that coins may well become much more valuable in the future.
I buy things I may need as well as some things I want as well as spare backups for things I use. At the same time I’m looking for anything that is a steal and I may be able to sell later for more. A few days ago I went to an estate sale; when I drove up the seller said that everything had been sold. Undeterred, I saw several items still out there for sale. I got a large plastic bin with about 20 gardening tools and an electric drill for a package price of $3. There were 4 large Pioneer speakers in excellent condition I got for $1 each. I don’t need them but they were so cheap that I couldn’t resist. Some young person will probably want them for their house or garage. Even if I sell them for only $20, that will be a 5x profit. Not much cash but I believe that a future garage sale I hold should have a wide variety of items. After buying and not selling for the past 6 years, I have a humongous pile of items that I can sell.
Something that Ponce always tells me is that I should hold onto everything because it will be gold in the future. His experience with Cuba and how everything is scarce is where he is coming from. Perhaps after we no longer are importing goods from around the world we will be in the same predicament as Cuba. The times they are a changin’. Gotta go with the flow.
So your $3 to $4 Budweiser and gasoline rule of thumb sounds, well….sound. The little items may not seem like much but a pile of them can also add up to a pile of money. And in this economy, the little items should sell easily. Remember, you don’t make the money selling the item; you make the money buying the item. Because no matter how hard you try, you won’t make a profit if you paid too much.
The technique I use is to gather up in a pile all of the items I want and ask the seller to give me a package price for everything. This is a bit aggressive even though it may not sound like it is. I have served my offer and expectation to the seller and it is now in his/her court. This way, they have to add up (as you say) and usually offer a healthy discount. So rather than asking the price for a pile of items, ask for a “package price”. This has almost always worked for me.
I drive to sales in an old 1990 Dodge pickup truck, unwashed. And I wear an old pair of pants and a worn out jacket. Appearances are important. Sometimes I ask the seller if they have plenty of $1 bills because I have a wad of them. This softens them up as well as relieves them; a personal touch. Doesn’t cost anything and shows you are considerate of their situation.
Glad to see you here posting; this website is made of many special people who are most willing to share their wisdom and advice. We are like a family; even better in some ways.
Best wishes,
Agnut
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Didn't go to any sales today due to crappy weather for the weekend plus only one being advertized. The one advertised was somewhat far and didn't list anything I would be interested in. I always check craigslist the night before for advertised sales and compile a list in the order I want to go to them. The list obviously goes by start time, most at 8 am but some at 7 am. I also compile the list according to listed items that interest me. If one ad lists "lots of tools" i'm going to that one over one that lists mostly bookshelves, tv's, and baby clothes. I also go by what area of town they are in. Some areas have been built more recently and these people generally have accumulated less good stuff. If there is an estate sale in the older neighborhoods it is usually a gold mine of old stuff that was quality built a few to several decades ago. This is just what im interested in though. For example, I don't have kids, but if I did it would be great shopping for them at garage sales. Especially baby clothes and toys. Most of this stuff was bought for the kid by the moms friends at a baby shower and a lot of it still has the tags on it. No way would I pay retail for anything baby or kid related. I tell some of my friends with young children and they kind of turn up their nose at the idea. Oh well. If I'm at a sale and they don't have anything I'm interested in I always ask if they have any tools or "guy stuff". Sometimes this works to bring out something. I always keep in mind of other sales going on too. Don't waste your time chit chatting too much if there is nothing you want because somewhere at the next sale someone is buying the deal of the century.
Just to give some non garage salers an idea of whats out there I'll post up some of my more memorable recent finds:
5 hp push lawnmower--$5. Lady said it didn't run and she didn't know why. I took it home and put gas in it, runs like a brand new one!
Silver bracelet made by Tiffany Co.--25 cents! Was in with a bunch of junk costume jewelery.
(4) 1 gallon jugs of Mercury Quicksilver tcw-3 outboard oil--$2 each. This stuff retails for $20 plus and doesn't go bad.
14 foot utility/landscape trailer with wood deck, steel mesh loading ramp and 15 inch good year tires and rims includes a spare tire too--$300 This trailer would retail for $1500-$1700 and sell used for $800-$1200. Trailer wasn't even for sale, I got it because I asked about it and they said to make them an offer. Probably could have gotten it for a little less, but I'm careful not to embarrass myself or insult someone with crazy low ball offers.
(2) plastic gun cases--$1 each One holds two rifles and one holds only one.
Echo 305 chainsaw--$15 runs like a champ when you put gas in it! I had to put a new chain on it which costs more than I paid for the saw.
Deep well Husky brand socket set--$1 Was missing 1 socket.
Garden tractor with 25 hp Kohler Command engine and Hydrostatic transmission--$100. Had to put a $15 walmart battery in it and replace the seat with a $10 one out of the junk pile at the lawn mower store. If you look in the Northern Tools catalog just the engine new costs over $1800! This tractor is great around the yard and I've pulled trailers weighing a tad over 5000lbs with it.
Not every deal is as good as these, but i rarely buy anything for more than 20-30 percent of value, if not pennies on the dollar.
That's all for now good luck out there!
Not too many sales today due to cold weather. This time of year is usually slow anyway and will pick up with springtime approaching. Did find a couple deals though.
Got a pair of Motorola FR50 2 way radios--$5. Had to put some AA batteries in them. These are selling retail on the internet for up to $189.00! Used ones are going for $20-$40. These things have a 2 mile range and 14 channels.
Worked out a deal for a FREE load of scrap mahogony lumber for helping a friend move a large mechanics tool chest. I don't know anything about the price other than its expensive, but already have it going to a friend of two mutual friends who uses it on boats and high end street rods. It's good to "pay it forward" once in a while. He's driving 50+ miles to come pick it up and is tickled to death to be getting it for free, and I feel it will all come back to me eventually anyhow.
Did see a guy trying to sell circulated Morgans for $45! Spot price for silver today is $28.68 which would make Morgans worth about $22 and change. I hope he gets his price, just won't be from me!
That's all for now.
Good luck everyone!
Hi again govcheetos. Great post. Thanks.
After reading your post I had to laugh; it was the first time I had felt admiration bordering on envy. Now I know how some of my readers may feel at times from all of the deals I write about. Of course, the beauty of writing on the internet is that showing off with a big ego is obvious and misplaced. Often I am surprised at the deals I get and have to pinch myself. Why isn’t everyone doing this ? Well, I realize that I am merely ahead of the masses by many years. Bartering and horse trading became my way of life many years ago and I am so immersed in it that I have to sometimes catch myself when talking with others. My motivation is not bragging but rather trying to encourage others to see the light and take control of their financial lives. Besides, it is more exciting than most anything else I can imagine. Money saved is money earned.
Your qualifying and organizing the garage sales beforehand is what separates the looky loos from the pros.
Last Thursday I went to a moving sale that had many hundreds of items. Problem was that the sellers had priced most everything way too high. I did manage to get a 9’ breakdown fishing rod with a Penn reel for $20. Just what I’d been looking for. Also got a propane heater with a large full propane bottle for $35.
This morning I’m going to a moving sale that has a few items I am looking for if the price is right. It starts at 9:00 but I will be there at 8:30. I was 15 minutes early at the Thursday moving sale but the sellers had opened earlier and there were buyers walking out with items as I was going in. Not cool but we have to accept that this happens, especially in this economy. There were about 15 cars there when I arrived. Gotta change with the times.
In the past it had been sufficient to show up 15 minutes early and stand behind the ropes looking at what would be offered, licking our chops in anticipation. Nowadays we must be creative and possibly arrive as much as an hour early. In the past I have arrived early and offered to help in setting out their items and this has paid off well. Just a thought.
Someone told me that they buy an old power mower and cut the front metal out between the wheels and use it for clearing brush. Sounds potentially dangerous but I may try it.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Get ready for the months ahead as the weather changes; I expect more garage, moving and estate sales than ever. Don’t be in a hurry but calmly make a pile of items you want before anyone else has the chance. Unless the prices are outrageous, items are selling quickly. And even big ticket items if they are a steal. Many people still have money but are more discriminating than in the past. Tight money means tight buyers. A fool and his money have been parted long ago.
Agnut-
...that is fantastic.Quote:
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Went to pick up my free wood and it turns out it's African Sapele not mahogony. Still an awesome deal considering all I had to do is help a friend move a HEAVY tool chest. Plus as we were loading it he found another pile of smaller scraps under some junk in his garage. All together it fills an 8 ft pick up bed by about 1/3. The deals I listed above are recent deals over the last 6-8 months, definantly not all in one day of shopping. It still amazes me how so many people will pay full retail price for something just to sell it for literally pennies on the dollar to total strangers. Its borderline sinful the disrespect some of these people have for quality tools and equipment they either paid full price for with their money or their fathers or grandfathers bought and used and cared for properly. Agnut I agree about your statement about talking to others about your deals. Some smile and shake their head in amazement, others think you're outright BS-ing them.
Things work in a cycle and sometimes I think I'm so far behind the times that I'm actually ahead of the times. which reminds me of a bumper sticker I saw a while ago that said simply:
"The last human being on Earth will be a hunter gatherer."
Keep up the bragging.... I mean good posts. I love reading about the deals. I agree- Ag... sometimes you have to fight to keep the smile off your face when dealing with sellers. There have been times where I had to fight from rolling into a full-blown guffaw laughter. Wearing old beat up clothes also makes you look regular and not a good candidate to fight over price.
We have not gotten into yard sale season yet in CT.... but I am ready to hit the road looking. Another month or so for the snow and cool weather to clear.
Alternate sources of electric power is my hot target now. Looking for anything that may come in handy. A full solar system the way I would like it is still a bit outside my price range. I may have to figure a way to do it incrementally.
BTW- any electric motors you see are loaded with copper. Even if you cannot use the motor, think of the copper weight. I have been figuring $3/pound for copper as a break even and if I can get it 50% or cheaper, that is a good deal.
In this strange year ahead, may God bless you all in your journeys and good hunting!
Went to about 10 sales today, but didn't come home with much. Did buy a set of magnetic tow lights for when you're towing a vehicle for 10 bucks. They were new in the box and the original price was $29.95 + tax.
http://image.usedvictoria.com/photos...178726_614.jpg
Ran into a friend who asked if $30 was a good price for silver dollars. Told him he could do better.
Traded a 48 inch Craftsman riding mower with a 18 hp briggs commercial v-twin engine for two Stihl chainsaws. One is a 250 and the other is a 024 wood boss. One of them is missing the carb, can't remember which. I didn't need the riding mower and don't really need the chainsaws, but they take up less space and I feel are easier to sell/trade down the road.
The 14 ft trailer I mentioned earlier I'm letting a friend borrow to help move. This is the 3rd person I've helped with it. Saves them the money from having to rent a Uhaul, and I dont have to help them with one of my trucks! Even let them borrow a hand truck i got at a sale for 10 bucks. The first guy I let borrow it put new wheel bearings and buddy bearings in it for me letting him borrow it. That saved me the money for the parts plus I didn't have to get all greasy changing out the bearings!
Hope ya'll find some deals out there!
You know, one man's garbage is another man's treasure. My barn fills up with stuff that I bring home, from jobs, the side of the road, yard sales, etc. I have to clean it out occasionally of the stuff that really isn't that usefull to me. The hell of it is, I usually end up needing the stuff I get rid of. I will put stuff out by the road if I feel it is not worth the effort of selling it.
I set a wood furnace that I didn't want any more, out by the road and was planning on selling it. Well, some locals came by that same night before I had the chance to put a for sale sign on it and it disappeared. My mistake. Funny story: A friend of mine tells me he knows how to get rid of old tires without any effort. He puts them out by the main road and puts a for sale sign on them and they always end up dissapearing over night.
I have a huge steel vice, a large shop model that is so heavy I could hardly carry it. $5 at a yard sale. Scrap value would be higher by far. I tear out gym floors and save the wood and usually can get some money for it and maybe a price for installing it into the bargain. Sometimes I cut the maple out in large sections, about 4' x 8' and if it is a floating floor it has 1" of plywood beneath the maple. So it is 1 3/4" thick. This stuff makes the most awesome shop work tables. Very solid. I am very much into wood stoves and have purchased many at yard sales and second hand through the paper over the years. You can still pick up these models called Volcanos sometimes. They were made in Michigan and are fantastic woodstoves. I heated my home with a Volcano for many years. $100
Old windows and doors can be found all the time for free. They make excellent shed parts. The stuff that gets thrown out in this country must amaze people who come here from India or Pakistan. Just the wood laying around for the taking must be something they are not used to. This is a rich country still. I've seen articles and pictures of how it is in India, women gathering sticks all day on a mountain side and strapping them to their backs just so they can have a cook fire. Must suck. We are lucky to live in this land of plenty, even though the bankers have us all enslaved.
I wish I was good at barter. I have never practiced it and don't know how usefull it would be to me. It seems like you need a lot of luck to find the right person with the right item at the right time. I would particularly like to barter my wood flooring or carpenter skills to get my home insulated and the electric service updated.
I am wanting to down size, because I am getting older... I need to be able to drive my tractor around to keep the brush / weeds down, when I get a list I am going to put it up here first , so much crap....I really just want to have the Mexicans load it up and take it to the dump, a tractor, a log splitter , various tools. Just stuff !!!!
But see I don't want anyone up here so I have to haul it out.
Quote:
Originally Posted by zap
Zap you really should post up what you have here for people who would appreciate some of the stuff you probably have. I have a high reverence for stuff like tools that usually never go bad if cared for properly. Anything you would be willing to sell would benefit you with additional funds for an unused/unwanted item plus save the purchaser from buying something more expensive that is probably made from chinese parts these days. I think about when I get older I'm gonna give certain things to close family and friends ahead of time to ease the burden on my wife, plus to make sure it goes to someone I want it to without them having to deal with all the crap that goes with dividing up an estate.
Hi Spectrism, good idea on the electric motors/copper. I thought about either melting down the copper in a commercial crucible and pouring off the copper as long as the steel parts have a higher melting temperature. Another idea would be an unwinding machine to unwind the copper wiring. But what do I know; I’m just a picker. There should be some way to make a fortune there. Also there are starters, generators and alternators from old cars; not to mention all the copper wiring in wrecks.
Saturday before last I went to a moving sale that I had been anticipating from the ad in the local newspaper. It started at 9:00 but I was there at 8:25 and the first to arrive. The next door neighbor was there with his wife just socializing. I sized them up and saw that they didn’t have much interest in the items. He did buy a pick for $8, the newer type with the yellow fiberglass handle; I had paid $2 for an identical pick and have 4 of them at home. So no great loss.
What I was specifically looking for was the surround sound amplifier he had advertised. Turns out it was a Yamaha model HTR 5460 surround sound 5 channel receiver. That’s all the ad said; nothing about the speakers or if there were any for sale at all. Turned out that the 5 speakers were all Cerwin Vega brand; a LS 6C, two LS 5, and two LS 12. I got them home and looked them up on eBay The speakers were offered used for $690 plus some shipping.
The Yamaha receiver I couldn’t find a used price but new it is anywhere from $675 to $850. Also came with Monster wiring for everything.
Not too shabby for a total price of $125. If I had to buy it on eBay, the price would have been about $1,000 with shipping. I have been wanting a surround sound system for the big screen in the den and here it practically fell into my lap.
Also got a new car cover for $3.
As I left I had to turn around and went up a side street where there was a gooseneck flatbed trailer loaded with used bricks. My sister had been looking for them for a patio she wanted to build. I told her about them and she went over and checked them out. She may not do anything but this was on her wish list. Later I was at the thrift store where I drop off fruits and vegetables and they had just gotten in a nice queen box spring and mattress set. My sister also had this on her wish list so I called her and she hustled down there and got them for $25. My point is that I am not just buying for myself but also am being eyes and ears for family and friends. This can be a tremendous advantage in relationships. It can be like being Santa Clause sometimes.
Best wishes,
Agnut
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hi govcheetos. Prices are going up at the various sales. But not all of them. I guess the motivation of the seller as well as their lack of knowledge are wild cards. In other words, ya never know.
Your trade for the 2 Stihl chain saws sounds like you made out. I have 3 Stihl chain saws, a Stihl hedge trimmer and a commercial Stihl weed trimmer. The best as far as I am concerned. I might suggest that you talk to your local Stihl dealer about the price for a new carburetor and if it is upgraded from the original one. My weed trimmer wouldn’t stay running so I rebuilt the carb and it wasn‘t much better. A friend who ran the local Stihl dealership got a new carb for me which was the upgraded type and it has worked perfectly since.
My trailer is out on loan to my nephew right now. So I know what you are talking about. Lots of furniture to move PLUS three cement deer, two of which weigh about 400 pounds apiece ! I’m hoping to not get too involved with their moving. My back will pay deerly.
Last week I got a Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner; I have wanted one because I have heard of its superior performance and I have never seen one and was curious about how it was constructed. Just the frustrated mechanical engineer tendency in me. I got it for $45. I knew that it was expensive new but $500 with tax ? Sometimes even a cursory knowledge can yield a good score. I didn’t know much about the Dyson Ball but was a winner anyway. Part gut instinct too. I couldn’t wait to get it home and try it out. I cleaned it up and proceeded to vacuum the carpets which had been serviced by a newer Hoover vacuum. The Dyson Ball practically sucked the padding from beneath the carpet!
Although today is Saturday I’m not going out garage sailing. Why ? First, there is nothing advertised and second because I was at two estate sales yesterday. The first was the largest I have ever attended. I know the lady who was presiding over the sale and have been to a couple of her previous estate sales. The first one I filled a truck and trailer load twice with bargains. Remember the 160 towels and washcloths I got for a total of $5 a couple of years ago ? Yep, that was her sale. It helps to remember past deals and where and from whom you got them. By the way, the sale started at 9:00 but I arrived at 7:30. I was there to help while looking over the items. I was asked to drive this riding mower around to the front of the house. As I did, the huge crowd of buyers parted like Moses and the Red sea. HaHa I knew many of them and they looked surprised to see me helping out.
My overview here was to see what would happen if I showed up very early and helped. It was just for an experiment. This technique may help sometimes. I could have bought many things but only hand picked out a few. A Super Scrabble game, a couple of sets of Dominoes and some cooking gear. I did pick up a Milwaukee cut saw in the metal case. As I was carrying it around, a man said that that was what he was looking for. I said, “You want it ?” and passed it to him. I already have two cut saws. Perhaps a mistake because I could have sold it for a healthy profit later but sometimes it pays to be generous and the look of surprise on his face was payment enough.
Now the second estate sale wasn’t the madhouse like the first. I picked up a Dremel drill set for $15, lots and lots of Tupperware for 50 cents to a dollar, a set of German steel drill bits for $3, four baking pans for a quarter apiece, a box of used and new drill bits for a dollar, two sawhorse sets for $4, a large pipe wrench and crescent wrench for $2 each (both American made; important ), a car battery cart for $3 and a couple of heavy duty extension cords for a dollar each. Not a big haul but some things I can use as well as sell or trade in the future.
And while I am on the subject of the future, I would like to share with you that I have been buying items in my area for several years and have noticed that the prices of things I had bought long ago are increasing lately. Ponce and I talked about this just this morning. It is important that we all realize that “the future ain’t what it used to be” , as Yogi Berra was known to have said. The future that Ponce predicts is going to be like what happened in Cuba; everything will be needed and valuable. Good as gold.
With that said, I further expect items of quality we acquire now will be powerful trading material in the future. Gold and silver bullion have their place as foundational wealth. However, a wide variety of items will also greatly increase their own value and utility in the future.
For example, yesterday I got a call from a man who delivers 4 gallon plastic and 5 gallon metal containers with lids that were used for bulk food basics from a bakery. I pay him 50 cents each. He delivered 65 plastic and 15 metal ones. I stacked them in shelves high in my barn. I have hundreds now and have a standing order with him for more. Now he gets them for free. So why don’t I just cut him out of the picture and get them myself ? In the first place, he passes by the bakery in his travels. This bakery is 25 miles away and I would have to drive there myself and spend the time, fuel and wear and tear on my truck. He delivers these containers and unloads them. Most important, it is out of respect for this nice man that I want to continue dealing with him. He found the deal in the first place and offered it to me. It is bad business to not share with others; everybody involved needs to get a share of the benefits. I know that he has recently bought a house and is not making a lot of money so I look out for him. If a deal that comes my way that I think he can benefit from I will tell him of it. Not all deals involve dollars; some involve banking on good relationships.
I just got a call from the thrift store and they said that they had just gotten in two large chest freezers, one for $25 and another for $15. I called where the container guy worked but he was off so I told another guy there of the good deal and he said that he would call a friend who needed a freezer. Sometimes we will never know how these things turn out but must be content with having done our part.
There are givers, sharers and takers in this world. Know who you are dealing with as well as yourself.
Long ago I learned that the more I give away, the more that comes back to me.
So what am I doing in acquiring all of these plastic and metal containers ? If it takes a cup of petroleum to make just one flimsy plastic grocery bag, how much petroleum does it take to make one of my 4 gallon plastic containers with lids ? I have checked on the plastic containers new price and they cost about $7 with lids.
And the metal containers ? Rat proof food containers as well as anything that you don’t want rats chewing on. They will chew on anything except steel; perhaps its to sharpen their teeth. Or perhaps they see how we are running this world and they are nervous wrecks.
Supposing the dollar takes a 50% haircut (or is that scalping); what would be the new price for these plastic containers ? Since they are made from petroleum, the new price may double. And having bought them for 50 cents each begins to look a bit more appetizing.
Other items for future trading materials may include nails, pipe fittings, lumber, clothing and many other items needed in the future which may become too high priced or even unavailable.
Warren Buffett once said “It is only when the tide goes out that you discover who is not wearing swimsuits“.
We all need to ask ourselves if we will be adequately covered when the tide goes out. Will gold and silver be enough without trading material ? This is why I am diversified.
Oh, here is something that I have been thinking about for a long time. Socks, lots of socks. New ones, of course. In the past I have bought socks at Wal-Mart for less than a dollar per pair. They are imported of course (we don’t make much here any more but babies and bullets and I’m not sure for how long the latter). Socks are the one thing that wear out on a regular basis. Good for trading material, in my opinion. You never see used socks at a garage or estate sale do you ? And who would want them anyway ? At least buy enough socks for yourself for as long as you expect to need socks. Because we don’t know how long until the much anticipated collapse occurs. Or how many years it may last.
Best wishes,
Agnut
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to leave the world a little better; whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is the meaning of success. "
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Hi woodman. Sounds like you are doing some great deals already.
I don’t understand your saying “I wish I was good at barter. I have never practiced it and don't know how useful it would be to me. It seems like you need a lot of luck to find the right person with the right item at the right time. I would particularly like to barter my wood flooring or carpenter skills to get my home insulated and the electric service updated. “
In my way of understanding, bartering can be either trading one item for another or it could be trading an item for dollars and then trading those dollars for something you want. The former type occurs much less often than the latter. Why ? Because the dollar is being used as the intermediary between what you have and what you want and therefore requires little time or negotiating skills. However, when (not if) the dollar goes bye-bye, the old time direct bartering will take center stage if there is not a reliable replacement for the dollar. Why are the central banks buying up all the gold they can ? Because they know that the replacement currency must be backed with something of enduring recognizable intrinsic value in order to be considered a reliable replacement. And gold, silver and copper have fulfilled that task for thousands of years. Without individual physical ownership of gold, we will be vulnerable to yet another currency collapse because the so called new paper gold certificate would have no real intrinsic value. Only physical gold or silver in the hands of the people is money; all other is illusion. [ rant off ]
In current parlance you are bartering and have been bartering with dollars as the intermediary. It is the hope that mankind would return to honest money that motivates many, many financial writers. And looking at the overview of what China and Russia are doing with regard to their gold buying, we may see the return of honest money in our lifetimes. But just a hope that I don’t expect to come true. Mankind has too many dishonest and greedy individuals in financial power to let that happen without a fight to the death, aka war.
So real bartering, or trading for another item, will remain a small part of our dealings. I suppose that if we were transported back to the 1700s or 1800s we would be doing much more of this type of bartering. In the last depression I read many times of people trading their skills or items directly for another (a goat for 12 chickens or a chair for two hours of labor). Life moved much slower in those days; needs were met on a glacial pace in comparison to the instant gratification pace of what we do today. Along the way we lost something of our humanity in interpersonal dealings.
My advice would be to seek a bartering group and offer your services. I don’t know myself but this may be your cup of tea.
Have you considered taking old hardwoods from furniture and flooring and doors and running them through a plane in order to expose the new surfaces ? Perhaps you could sell it to hobbyists and cabinetmakers. I have a wood plane I bought a couple of years ago for that express purpose. It has always seemed like a good possibility to try. I know that good aged hardwoods are getting more expensive and furniture made from reclaimed (recycled) old wood may be a new specialty for the future.
Best wishes and I hope this helps,
Agnut
The filthiest four letter word in the English language is debt.
Hi Agnut. Yes, I should have specified that I am a no good with direct barter, having never practiced such. Trading labor/skills I think would be fairly straight forward. As far as older wood items go, it is hard to find wood of the quality that our ancestors had to work with. I was able to purchase some large timbers from a local fellow for $10 apiece. They are from a centuries old pickle or wine vat, not sure which anymore, and are about 6" x16", some about 14' long. Cypress. The annullar rings are amazing because they are so close together. In some spots so close that they are hard to count with the naked eye, even on a polished piece. I am ashamed to say that I used one as a ridge board on an addition to my home. The wood is too fine for such a purpose and pine would have served. I was impoverished (both time and money) at the time though. The guy who sold them to me had used many as deck boards on a back deck he built.
I found a huge burl on an oak tree and cut it out. It is almost too heavy to lift. I've been thinking about taking it to a craft/art festival downstate and seeing if one of the artisans would be interested. I am too busy to use it. Plus no shop as yet. I work out of my old hay barn and that is getting to be a drag.
I really like the saying you have "The filthiest four letter word in the English language is debt." I will add it to my quotes file. Is it from you?
Hi woodman. You are way ahead of me in knowing the various types of hardwoods. If I had your knowledge I would begin to check out the market potential for this “recycled lumber”. You never know what you may discover if you look deeper. In the next town there is a specialist who restores a certain type of Italian coffee roaster. He makes a good living and seems to have plenty of cash to buy any deals he finds. You got me thinking about fixing up my wood plane but I am so busy that I may not get to it for a long time.
Yes, that quote is mine. I made it up to convey the extreme disgust I have for debt as well as the extreme dangers of debt. And look at where the world is now with the end game of too much debt to continue paying even the interest on the said debt; this end game results in another ugly word, “austerity”, which may sound rather innocent but the implementation of austerity means societal misery spanning decades.
Debt is a hole dug of future earnings which become almost impossible to refill throughout the same future‘s progress through time. It is like digging one’s own financial grave. Debt is giving to lenders ones future freedom. Debt is a lifestyle without style.
Penny pinching, frugal, cheap, tightwad and other words whose negative connotations have misdirected most of the populace.
There is a time for everyone to sit down and think of what they are doing with their finances and dreams. And that time has always been yesterday. For what we realize and redirect now will have great implications for the future that lies ahead. Robert Frost wrote a poem that has always stuck with me :
The Road Not Taken
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim
Because it was grassy and wanted wear,
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I marked the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I,
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
Why pay interest ? Why ? Is it an out of control ego that drives one ? Is it envy for others who appear to have things we want now but do not have the savings to buy cash on the barrel head ? Or is it rationalization that everyone else is also borrowing and it must be the way to go ? If everybody was jumping in the fire why don’t you ?
Has fluoride in the drinking water dulled everyone’s senses ? Have we become a people like in the movie “Idiocracy” ? No, not necessarily; personal financial management comes from what we have learned from our parents and peer group. My parents were frugal and bought everything with cash except their houses. And why did they have to borrow in order to buy a house ? Because the system was in place before they were adults. A house cost far beyond what a working man could save in decades. However, in the distant past, it was considered a disgrace to have a mortgage on one’s house. Back then, a working man could clear the land and build his home from surrounding trees. First log cabins and later sawmilled lumber. Later came electricity and all of the so called modern conveniences. See the transition and resulting stranglehold the lenders attained through the decades ? So modernization has its prices to pay. There is no free ride.
Best wishes,
Agnut
My other quotes :
Nature : The first tell a vision
Children were what parents watched before there was television
The unbridled lust for money and power is an as yet unrecognized form of mental illness.
Hi Zap. I can sure relate with your getting older; I have to think long and hard before taking on any more projects.
It is enough to be buying at garage and estate sales. And the season is just getting started.
I am not ready to hold a sale myself and don’t want to have loads of buyers showing up with parking problems and a long single lane road into my property. The last time I wanted to get rid of items I took them over to my sister’s house when she was holding a sale. Maybe you have a friend or family who could help you in this way.
Best wishes,
Agnut
I agree about the projects Agnut, I'm still fairly young, but have started to realize I can't fix up and keep every good deal I run across. My yard sometimes starts to look like the Beverly Hillbillies meets Sanford and Son.
Something I have a real soft spot for is old boats. I keep a look out for old derelict ones in peoples yards and on craigslist. I almost always get them for free. Keep in mind these are not seaworthy, but a project that may need a new transom or deck, almost always an engine, and the trailer almost always has flat and dry rotted tires. I have a stack of decent trailer wheels and tires to get them home on, though I have been known to drag them home on flats before for short distances.:cool: (Just so ya'll know the top recommended speed for flat trailer tires is 29 mph, over that they tend to disinigrate:o:o:o). When I get them home I shovel out the years of leaves and debris and strip them of any decent parts for sale on craigslist or to put in my stock pile of parts for use or trade for later. Depending on the condition of the trailer I may switch trailers to sell it with a cheaper trailer and keep the good one or sell it individually. Parts i strip are props, helms, engine controls, engines, stainless hardware and fittings etc. Again these get sold on craigslist. The old boat gets a good scrub and a bleach bath and parked in the yard for sale. I can usually get 200-300 for a boat and cheap trailer and usually get just about the same for a decent trailer by itself. Unless its a really desirable hull, its really hard to sell a boat without a trailer due to most people not having a spare trailer available, so I'm always on the lookout for cheap trailers to get rid of an old hull with. If I advertise on craigslist I can usually get rid of one in 24-48 hours, just parked in the yard may take a week. I don't have anything invested except some time to clean them up and to talk to tire kicker shoppers in the yard. I've run across some real deals. One old boat had a 15 hp Mariner engine laying in it the guy said was frozen up. Turns out in was just shifted in gear and had great compression. I let a friend of mine rebuild the carb and traded it to a neighbor for an old 21' Donzi with and aluminum trailer. My neighbor had been trying to sell the Donzi for years and it was in really bad shape, decks and stringers rotted out almost completely, missing the engine, had an old obsolete cobra outdrive on it ( Cobras aren't very desirable, but if you have one this was a gold mine of spareparts). It had Donzi written on the side so I knew someone would jump on it. Sold it to another boat trader guy like me off craigslist for 400 and kept the trailer. Used the 400 to fix up the trailer to be road worthy and use it if I ever need to drag an old hull out of the weeds that doesn't have a trailer with it. Most boats are a collossal waste of money in financial terms, but you can come out ahead at the bottom of the barrel with the ones I'm dealing with.
Garage sailing this week didn't yield any huge deals, but I still did pretty good price wise.
Here's what I came home with....
Pair of heavy duty 50 ft extension cords: $2 each
Cement rooster yard statue and cement donkey pulling a cart: $2 for all! This kind of stuff is getting pretty expensive due to china buying up cement. Not really a great SHTF item but I think they look cool.
2 Commercial grade lawn sprinklers: $1 each
Which reminds me, I put in a shallow well to water the lawn and garden. The pump I'm using is a 1 hp flo-tech model I got from a friend just for cutting his grass. This pump sells at walmart for $263!!!
Hope ya'll find some deals this weekend!
Did alright today at the sales, in fact, pretty good.
Picked up two desktop scanners,
First one is a Realistic pro-2006 400 channel model
Here's a link to some reviews on it (notice msrp :) )
http://www.eham.net/reviews/detail/861
Second one is a Radio Shack Pro 2035 1000 channel model.
Here's a youtube link I found for it:
http://youtu.be/IdS03gFkWP0
Both seem to me to be very similar with the Pro-2035 being an updated version of the highly regarded Pro-2006 model.
My price? Try $15 FOR BOTH! Not each, BOTH!
Next sale Had a bunch of stuff, Picked up two 5.70-8 trailer tires with galvinized rims and a 1500 lbs trailer tongue jack $10 for all. The tires are in great shape, no dry rot at all and don't seem like they've even been used. Usually these sell for 60-70 a piece or so and the jack goes for an easy $40-50 new. Went back and bought a galvinized boat trailer winch post and trailer leaf spring for $5 for both.
I'd say I did alright.
Hope ya'll find some quality goods for pennies on the dollar. Good Luck!
Hi govcheetos. You sure are active in bartering and horse trading. Those are some killer deals. I haven’t even gone out to any sales because there are so few lately but the most important reason is that I have so much to clear away on the property. Pruning the orchard, moving cars and previous deals have me tied up for now. But if a juicy sale appears I won’t be able to resist. Mae West once said that she could resist most anything but temptation.
In the process of organizing I have been uncovering boxes of items I bought long ago. Although it feels a bit like Christmas morning I have to face reality and get things put away and labeled where they are for future reference. I have over 100 boxes that Dole bananas came in and use them to store a lot of the items I have acquired. With a label on one end I can quickly find what I am looking for. Another way of using free things that are just laying around. You know, there is an overabundance of material just laying around here in America that we can get for simply asking and hauling it away. A friend told me about a pile of used bricks that were free. She loaded them up and took them over to another place that needed them and sold them for over a thousand dollars. We are limited by our imagination. More apropos is that we limit ourselves by our NOT using our imaginations.
By your posts I can see that you are using your imagination and surrounding resources. Many years ago I paid a retired Harvard business professor for some of his thoughts. What stuck with me was that he said to not think of dealing in your town or your county or state or country but to think worldwide and work backwards from there. And you know what ? I did that some years later and made a fortune in international deals.
Another lesson I never forgot was that a German parts dealer told me that is the same work to do a $100 deal as it is to do a $10,000 deal. I found this to be largely true. So some of you who are reading this may want to think of larger deals if you feel that you can handle it.
Hey, I’m just an old kid who started out with nothing and built from there. I had nowhere to go but up. I am fond of that saying “I’ve done so much with so little for so long that now I can do anything with nothing.” Just a way of laughing at myself in looking back through the decades and where I have traveled.
I wish I had your skills at boat deals. There’s lots of them in my local area. Your Donzi boat reminds me of the first time I went water skiing on the intercostals waterways in Miami. Must have been over 40 years ago and I hadn’t thought of it until just now. A couple of wild party hearty guys invited me and we went under bridges where I thought I would have to duck. But that was several decades ago. Good times. Oh, well, water under the bridge.
The more we get out there and do things the more our brains connect to the real world. And the more we can grow as sentient beings. Bartering and horse trading is one of the best ways to meet people; they are being themselves and watching them as they go through a sale tells a lot about them. Many times I will volunteer a comment about something they are looking at and will strike up a conversation. I know several people through this method. And who knows, you may find a lifetime friend or even a soul mate.
A couple of friends came by earlier today and invited my son and I to go fishing. I had met them through my dropping off veggies and now they are becoming closer to us. She is a gourmet chef and he is an independent buyer and seller of high end items. They are planning a garage sale this weekend and will call me when ready. Lots of old tools and a pair of Altec Lansing speakers for $50 which I told him I was interested in. I’ll let you know what happens.
Another couple I met at a garage sale and now they drop by often. Speaking of drop, I fell off the tailgate of my truck and he caught my head before it hit the concrete floor. My right knee to ankle was black and blue but has since recovered. You might say that we now have a bond of some sort. Also very interesting folks and good hearted.
Well, that’s enough for one post.
Best wishes,
Agnut
P.S. Thanks to GS-US website I have two close friends. One is Ponce and Randymatt I met years ago at the old GIM website. Ya never know…until ya try.
Went to several sales today. Bought a few things, but passed on a lot of stuff due to already having several of some items. Hopefully someone else who is in the know and can use them will snatch them up. Picked up a wire fence stretcher for $5. I know a few people with farms that could probably use it more than me, so it might be a Christmas gift. Got two 20lbs propane gas cylinders for $1 each. When buying these make sure they have the new style valve if that's the one you need. The places that trade them out for full ones a lot of times won't exchange the old style valves. If you are into coupons, my wife prints them off the computer and gets me $3 off an exchange at our grocery store. Also picked up a pair of the smaller coleman stove type cylinders for $1. If you need a coleman camp stove don't buy a new one, these can be had at a sale for $3-$5 usually. I had 5 or 6 at one point but scaled back to the two nicest ones and gave the others to friends.
Speaking of Christmas, My family started a new tradition last year with a thing called Second Hand Christmas. The idea is everything you get for someone must be from garage sales, Goodwill/Salvation Army, re-gifted items you no longer need, but someone else does, or my personal favorite: Found on the side of the road! This last year was a great start and everyone enjoyed it. You keep an eye out year long for possible items that remind you of different family members. Everyone saves a bundle vs buying some new made in china crap, and everyone avoids the Christmas rush with all the commercial materialism. I bet I didn't spend more than $50 for my entire family last year and everyone had a blast. Everyone seemed more into finding out what everyone else received and hearing the story about where it came from too. If you do receive something you're not really crazy about it's no big deal and you don't have to return it and nobody is really offended. So far my sister has told she has two things for me already, "Found on the side of the road". I can't wait.
Hope ya'll find some deals!
Hi govcheetos, some good buys there and also some good down to earth advice. I have about 10 propane cylinders picked up through garage sales. Also have four or five Coleman camp stoves, some of which I had bought new for Y2K (remember that fiasco ?). When we had a local power outage I was able to loan an elderly neighbor a Coleman stove, a propane heater and a Coleman lantern. They were all spares and I was the only one in the neighborhood with a generator for saving our freezer contents. The outage lasted for almost a week.
I recently learned a new angle for acquiring items. I need well over 400 “T” posts for fencing off our acreage and I have been looking for them for a long time. A friend who also has acreage and cattle has a lot of these T posts stacked around. I asked him where he got his and he told me that looking in the local paper or Craigslist could yield some results but the best way he found was to keep an eye for what he needed as he drove around. He would stop at various farms and ranches that either had material laying around OR if the place looked neglected like the owner had no need for the fencing material.
What struck me was that he said that looking in the papers or internet was nowhere as good as directly dealing with neighbors and the surrounding community. He said that the fence posts he had bought for 25 to 50 cents each; this is much better than the $1 apiece I had been buying them. By the way, new T posts are about $5 to $6. So spending $2,000 to $2,400 on T posts is out of the question. It doesn’t matter whether someone is rich or not but whether these posts can be found for under a dollar. In fact, every purchase can be thought of like this. Sometimes I feel that people think I have a lot of money but since I buy most everything for 5 to 10 cents on the dollar, I have 10 to 20 times the items had I been foolish to have bought them new. Not to denigrate the masses of new buyers because without their buying I wouldn’t have the opportunities to buy their used items. For a song, of course.
The other day a previous neighbor called me and asked if I or someone I knew would be interested in 5 sliding windows with frames, storm windows and screens. At first I didn’t know what to do with them; if I had a place to store them for a long while. I later called him back and will be picking them up in a few days. I may want them for a greenhouse I have been accumulating material for. So some items can be for free. Ya never know.
I had a conversation with Ponce this morning and he advised me to sell what art and non necessities as soon as feasible. I agree that art and other dust collectors will probably be hard if not impossible to get rid of in the future and the cash now could be thought of as working capital for more deals or items that I may need in the coming years. Say I found a spectacular piece of art for $100 and it was worth $300 or more. Will I at some future time regret not having sold it and bought something that I would absolutely need in the Brave New World ? Or would the pleasure of viewing it outweigh the lost opportunities ? I could rationalize and say to myself that I paid only $100 rather than thinking clearly regarding what I may have done with the $300 or more. Items that have sentimental value are another matter. They have to be weighed partially with the emotional attachment.
A member at Timebomb2000 stated that he was collecting all the shovels, rakes, axes, hoes and any other gardening tools that he could find. This may prove to be a very wise investment but only time will tell. Personally, I collect any tools or materials like drills, chain, saws, fencing, barb wire, plywood, 2x4s, nails and so on. The key is to find quality items; American or European manufactured in most cases.
Not much around here in garage or estate sales. I’m just organizing before the spring/summer/fall buying season. I may sell some bigger ticket items and have just purchased a Nikon digital camera for photographing for Ebay and Craigslist ads.
Gotta go now to pick up another truckload of free fruits and veggies.
Best wishes,
Agnut
No one has to change, but if they don't, they must be willing to accept that things will pass them by.
Nature - the first tell a vision
Thanks Agnut.... I will need to pick up more yard tools. I have a large collection of cast iron pans. They store easy and may be a good barter item.
I like how you buy things for a few pennies on the dollar. It makes great sense. It leverages your buying power.
I saw a video on YouTube about making a welder from your old microwave. I wish I had seen it before I threw out the remaining parts of my microwave. I did not know how to access the transformer or the ring magnets. Now I am on the look-out for throw-away microwaves. And I will buy up any welding rods I can find. Need some welding goggles too.
Hi Spectrism. Your comment about cast iron pans made me laugh. I thought I was the only one collecting cast iron; well, like a madman anyway. I have several cooking pans, a Dutch oven and a cast iron double burner for cooking over a wood fire. The cast iron pans that have the words Erie or Wagner on the underside are desirable. Oh, I also have an antique wood stove that has a water heater on the side. Lots of cast iron in that sucker. Is there no end to this insanity ? Maybe my subconscious is beckoning me back to the future. My grandparents’ future, that is. I can still see my grandma’s washing machine; it was gas run and kick started like an old Harley.
Your microwave welder sounds like an interesting idea. I wonder how many amps it can put out and how much the amperage is variable. The YouTube I have been interested in lately is about wood gasification and being able to run an electric generator with wood. Additionally, one could use the heat generated to warm a house in the winter.
I have been wondering this seemingly simple question : what is rich ?
Is rich having more money than we need ? And what is enough for our needs ? Ponce says that there is need and there is greed. How true.
Is rich having power over others ? And to what extent ? And why ? Is it to be a servant for the people or a slave master ? And where does this power come from ? And if misused, how can it be taken away ?
Is rich being free from restrictions and interference ? And from whose restrictions and interferences ?
Is rich living a life of security and without want ? How secure ? And for how long ? And what are the wants anyway ?
Is rich having a loving family with all its twists and turns and interactions ?
Is rich living a life in helping others in their own journey through life ? Is this help financial, emotional or spiritual ? Is this help motivated by collecting accolades to oneself or is it done out of sharing the overwhelming appreciation for the gift of living in such a world as we do ?
It seems that human nature yearns for more even though people have what many would consider more than enough. What is enough anyway ?
We as Americans are inundated with marketing ploys to create demand for a cornucopia of “things” that will somehow satisfy our ego. My son and I watch TV and sometimes laugh when we realize that we rarely buy anything advertised. I think that we are literally immune from their influence. Perhaps this is why we have absolutely no hesitation in buying used items rather than new items. In fact, it is this “gotta have new” belief that allows us to pick up bargains all over the place. I was not kidding in my last post that buying used items at 5 to 10 percent of the new price allows us to live far beyond others who “gotta have new”. Yesterday I got a pair of JBL LXE990 speakers for $50. They are listed new at $860 for a pair (plus tax and possibly shipping). That’s 5.8% of the new price. Or what we call almost a 20 bagger.
Growth in a human is being willing to consider old beliefs and determine if they are working in their life. We too often become like automatons following early programming. Breaking from these false beliefs can be a freeing experience which, if done, can lead to more freeing up other aspect of ones life. Much like a frozen river breaks free in the spring and begins to flow.
I have owned hundreds of cars and have never owned a new car. When I was young the cost of a new car was out of reach but when I was older and had the funds to buy a new car I realized that there was nothing positive about losing thousands of dollars the minute I drove a new car off the dealership lot. I guess that Madison Avenue’s powerful marketing had failed, at least in my life. And so my way of looking at buying items stood me in good stead through the decades as the economy went through good times and bad. The only two times I financed a vehicle was when I bought a 1987 Ford pickup truck because I didn’t have enough for the cash price. I tired of the monthly bills and paid it off 6 months later. The other vehicle was a Ferrari 246GTS where my love for mechanical excellence got the best of me. It had no radio; the sound of the engine was my symphony. It was a sheer joy to drive but I didn’t like all the attention it received so I would take it out into the winding country roads where there were few people and I could experience its performance. Later, a wrist pin bushing began making noise and although I was a mechanic I took it to the local Ferrari dealer where they took it apart and it sat for several months, all the while as I was making payments. I later found out that the dealer was trying the old squeeze play and waiting for me to sell them the Ferrari in a basket. For a low price of course. I heard that they even had a buyer waiting to buy the Ferrari from them as soon as I sold it to the dealer. I had to threaten them with news exposure to get them to release the car. I later sold the car apart for 50% more than they had offered me and washed my hands of owning a car that I could not own by cash on the barrelhead. An expensive lesson learned.
I hope this little story helps readers to fully consider what they are getting into when they buy anything. It could even be something as small as a box of nails or a toaster. My old boss used to say “Watch the pennies and the dollars will take care of themselves”. This is why I write this thread, to share my good fortune and understanding. I realize that I am not perfect by any means but even with the mistakes I have made and personal shortcomings, I am still successful beyond my dreams. This fact alone says to me that there is room for making mistakes on the way to sharpening ones skills at bartering and horse trading.
It has been said that we learn three ways. First by listening to others. Second by reading and studying. And third, that some have to pee on the electric barb wire fence to get the message. I have experienced all three ways and believe me, the third way is not anything but shocking and painful.
Well, the garage, moving and estate sales should be coming on strong as the weather warms up. This should be a most interesting year. Some more well off folks will be offering items that they need to sell in order to continue their lifestyles. I would be especially careful with high ticket items in this economy. Late model cars at below bluebook prices may seem a bargain now but what will they be in a year or two ? Expensive furniture is both large in size and cost. What will they be in a collapsed economy. Perhaps better to get items bought and sold quickly since we do not know just how soon the wheels may fall off the economy. I believe that any day the music can stop and if not careful, we can be left without a place to sit. What are you holding right now that you may regret still holding after a currency collapse or other catastrophe ? My art and a few mechanical machines are my focus to sell soon.
The world is going through a transition to a lower standard of living. Learning bartering and horse trading now will become a treasure. Here is a good article :
Changing Times
By Richard Russell
Dow Theory Letters
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/ru...ell041613.html
Best wishes,
Agnut
Agnut, Thank You for the truth and wisdom in your posts, especially the one above.
It's funny, while reading it I have several stories or personal experiences that can relate to many of your points. Like when you ask "What is Rich?". I actually prefer the term "Wealth" much more. I could have all the money and land in the world and wouldn't consider myself "Rich". It's funny riding in the truck with the wife while we're going garage sailing and saying "This next one should be good it's in the rich neighborhood." when in reality I'd put my own wealth up against many of the people we're buying from, although by looking at us you'd never know.
I like the point about watching the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves. This is very true, anything you can save a little on adds up to a much greater whole at the end of the month, year, decade, and especially lifetime. My grandfather passed away when I was 10, but I wish he and I could have known each other when I was more mature. My mom says she sees and hears a lot of him in me. He never owed anybody a dime. Worked hard and paid cash for everything including houses, never owned a credit card in his life, never drove a new car. I remember one Christmas when I was little I got my first wallet. He pulled me to the side in the other room after we were done opening presents and showed me how to keep the bills in order and properly faced and told me, "If you take care of your money, your money will take care of you." That has stuck with me ever since.
I've heard that Ferrari's spend more time in the shop than they do driving. They are beautiful cars though. I always compare women to cars. Ferrri's are red and racy and the only thing their really good for is going fast and showing off to other guys, kinda like some high maintainence women. I'd rather have a lower price woman and car that I can get more mileage, dependability, easy to work on, and one that might be able to help carry a load if I need her to. Speaking of new cars, you don't have to drive the car off the lot to depreciate it. The second it is titled it becomes a used car and worth less in the used market even if it's never been driven a foot. Some on here have some opinions on titles that I find very interesting. Something to study.
I book marked the link you shared, a lot of truth. The economy is kinda like an engine in many ways and both seem to run the best just before they lean out. The world is going through a change and it will be hard on many. Good or bad though I don't really mind because I feel confident in my abilities to weather the storms. I'm more worried about others who become jealous of my abilities and forethought or a regime who deems it to be "unfair".
Enough of all that feel good stuff though, here's some deals I ran across:
-Picked up a tupperware box full of screwdrivers, pliers, and a small crescent wrench for $4. Most are kinda cheap like stanley or popular mechanics brand, but one is an almost brand new craftsman. I have a ton of tools, but I will stash a few in more commonly needed locations instead of having to trek to the toolbox or truck to get one. Because they are kinda cheap and I have hardly anything in them If they get misplaced or a little rusty being out in a shed or something I won't feel so bad.
-Got another one pound coleman style propane cylinder for 25 cents. Can't go wrong there.
-Got yet another battery charger/starter for $5. This one goes up to 50 amps. I keep one in the garage, one in the shop, and now have one for just about all my vehicles!
-The wife picked up a pair of sterling silver earrings and a sterling silver necklace for 50 cents. These were from some "Rich" people LOL!
-I missed out by 30 minutes on a sweet deal on a 4' x5' utilility trailer with a spare for only $10! All I would have had to do is put on a new plywood deck, and I could use it to sell smaller items out in the yard and tow it back behind the gate at night with my garden tractor. You could even mount an engine stand to it to sell old outboards. Oh well, definantly pays to be early. Gave the guy my name and number in case the buyer didn't show to pick it up.
Hope everybody finds some deals!
Happiness isn't having what you want, but wanting what you have.