Bartering And Horse Trading (Part Duh)

[agnut]

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