You Get What You Pay For

     I am a strong believer that you get what you pay for. If someone gushes over a package of deluxe premium cookies that they got at the Dollar Store, I have serious concerns about those cookies and where they have been. I know that if I got to a really price-lowered-almost-to-the ground clearance rack, I find pretty much the reason why it is on clearance. It's crap. "As is" is another thing that sets my suspicious mind to wondering. "As is what?"

     It doesn't mean I don't buy things on sale. I just wonder if someone wiped something on the sale item before lowering the price, or if it was returned having been worn by someone with a particularly pernicious viral illness that seeps into clothing and lingers on clearance racks. Plus for some reason when I get home, every time I look at the item, I think, "Oh, it was on clearance." Somehow it does not look as good then. Usually my really good clearance buys then go on FreeCycle and I pass them on to someone who doesn't know its Clearance Record.

     Which leads me to another topic. Freecycling. I have always been a big fan of giving stuff away. My husband and friends tend to think I am ruthless. At age 60, if it is not going to be going into the casket with me, I'm pitching it. I have gotten rid of lots of stuff. Unfortunately my husband is collecting more as I make room in the house. Unfortunately, not all my stuff is Chez Magnifique! so even FreeCycle won't take it. One example would be the sofa that we advertised this week. This sofa did not belong to me, it belonged to my son. So right there I am absolved of all responsibility.

     I think he got it used to begin with. A "pleather" sofa, creamy color and nice and soft. It had a couple issues. The "pleather" had some pretty nasty scratches in it probably from his cat taking bites of it now and then and had a strong smell of pee thanks to feline indiscretions. George and I loaded it onto the truck and brought it home, determined to put it out for bulk pick up. We set it out last night in hopes that one of the bulk pickup junkies would whiz by in his truck, jam on the brakes and go "Wow! Just what I needed." He would load it into his truck and that would be the end of the sofa.

     Of course once he got home he would be able to smell the pee, indeedy he would, and have one of several choices. 1. Put it out for bulk pick up. 2. Bring it back and put it where he found it, with a nasty note. 3. Bring it back and hurl it at our house. 4. After hurling it at our house, he would pee on something of ours.

     This scenario so worried me that I parked myself outside this morning, feeding peanuts to the blue jays to keep an eye on the pee sofa. A man did come by with a car full of crap and gave it the once over, slowed down even, but kept going. Then the trash men came. I wanted to make sure they took it. I went over and said "Good morning!" and "Thank you so much." I did not have a tip to give them, other than peanuts, but that would have been a nice touch.

     Hopefully, they won't bring it back because of no tip.