Mark Another Off the List!

One thing you don’t see too often on a driveway is a Cuisinart food processor. Or at least not in my price range. I still feel very happy every time I use mine, which I bought about 7 or 8 years ago (pre-blog!) for eight bucks. Brand new, still in its unopened box. The lady selling it told me she never cooks, that it had been a gift. And now she was getting married and was sure someone would give her another for a wedding present, even though she still didn’t cook and had no plans to begin. So she was happy to have it gone, and I was happy to get it.

A couple of years later I found a set of seven disks and a rack for another three bucks. And since we do cook, these puppies have gotten a workout over the years. So much so that the bowl that came with the processor wore out and had to be replaced. Cost over $30 just for that one piece…as you can imagine, I was appalled! So I added “Cuisinart for parts” to my search list. I’ve been searching diligently for probably three years now, but the only ones I saw were always held in too-high esteem by their owners. I know it would drive me nuts to pay three or four times as much for something to part out as I did for the original new-in-box machine.

I have certain standards to uphold, after all.

And then on Friday morning, there it was. A friendly little sale not far from home, but with nothing of interest. I moved along the tables of mugs and glassware and stuffed toys and a couple of DVDs of depressing movies all the way to where a little old lady was examining stuff at the back. I’ll never know what she was looking at, because she was standing near a box that held a food processor. I recognized a Cuisinart lid and bowl immediately. And I saw the green sticky dot with $5 written on it. A quick examination showed that everything seemed to be there, so I picked up the box and turned to the ladies having the sale.

“Any chance you’d take three for this if I give it a good home?” I asked, and as most people do, she laughed. “Sure. If you promise to love it!” I promised, and pointed out I was already hugging the box.

Three bucks changed hands and off I went, elated at the prospect of marking another item off my watch list, and amazed once again at the usefulness of offering to give something – anything! – a good home. This one phrase is probably the single most important tool in my bargaining arsenal. I’m sure it has saved me hundreds of dollars over the years. Try it and you’ll see – and I want a full report on your success!

Didn’t have time to do any garaging on Saturday. But I still ended up with some thrifty spending. We had a meeting in Eugene in the morning. Then we went to a lady’s house on the south side of town where she is simplifying her landscaping and dividing and selling a bunch of perennials. I found her via Craigslist, and we emailed back and forth during the week. Since we are relandscaping the entire yard, we need quite a few plants to get things rolling. We left her house with a huge clump of crocosmias,

clumps of shasta daisies and rudbeckias,

two or three kinds of coreopsis, some heucheras and more,

all for $45.

Naturally, I promised we’d give her plants a very good home!

One last reminder to vote for our Edward so he can be the Face on the Dog Treats at our local pet store. Voting ends this Tuesday night. Last time I looked he was number three, which is okay because they’ll use the top three vote getters. Huge thanks to all of you who have voted for him already. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed your lovely comments too. I’m pretty sure he’s the only dog up there who is getting votes from all over the U.S. and even from other countries. But don’t worry, it hasn’t gone to his head. He’s still the same humble guy he’s always been, ready to give a friendly wag to anyone and everyone. And of course to relieve them of any treats they might have on them!