Those of you who know Mitch, know that he is crazy bargain guy. One of the biggest bonding moments that Mitch and my mom had was over their mutual enthusiasm for garage sales and a wonderful garage-sale-ing Saturday that we all had together. Mitch is the guy who buys his cereal based on what is on sale (he claims he doesn't have any preference among cereals, but come on - we all know that honeynut cheerios is better than regular cheerios).
Craig's list has given new meaning to Mitch's bargain hunting. It allows him to combine a multiplicity of his talents, hobbies, and personality quirks. Craig's List combines: computer research (M loves it), bargain hunting (again, loves it), infinite e-mail exchanges containing multiple inquiries (at least tolerates it), item research (loves it), the consideration of multiple options (loves it), recycling (loves it), and avoiding the need to contribute to manufacturing of new goods. Combine this with the actual obtaining of an item once a deal has been struck, and you pretty much have Mitch's ideal transaction. My ideal transaction, on the other hand, involves knowing what I want already, finding it on the internet, ordering it, and waiting for it to arrive. No need to interact with anyone, no need to comparison shop, no need to spend more than a minimum amount of time on the whole process.
Anyway, Mitch has pretty much become a Craig's list FIEND. I swear, not a single weekend has gone by in the past 2 months (maybe even three) that either Mitch, or the whole family, hasn't gone on a Craig's list quest. Here for your amusement are just a few snippets:
- there was the time we spent half a day in Simi Valley helping a single mom move in order to purchase her daughter's old loft bed for Lucy (Christy's review: hell on earth. Mitch's review: delightful adventure getting to know new people).
- how about the 2 hour adventure trying to get on to Port Hueneme naval base so we could buy a crib for Lucy from a nice woman, her navy man, and their 11 month old son who was now too big for the crib (Josie is also 11 months, but is petite). (Christy's review: mildly annoying. Mitch's review: fabulous bargain!!).
- then there was the time Mitch drove to Thousand Oaks for a double whammy: a baby bouncer for $20 from one woman and his dream Gibson guitar from some out of work, recovering drug addict drummer.
This weekend we had a Craig's list first, we are actually trying to sell our old 11-foot yellow couch via Craig's list. We'll see if anyone buys it. We've had two people interested but no takers so far.
At this very moment (9 PM on Sunday), Mitch is in Oxnard trying to buy an old liquor cabinet to convert into his music cabinet. Maybe some day Mitch will regale everyone with his litany of Craig's list adventures and give you all the finer points of why Craig's list is one of the best things on the internet. Me, I pretty much only looked at Craig's list to try and find the perfect dog. And now that I am out of the dog business, I don't anticipate much Craig's list reading for me.
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