So, we moved. We are currently living in my family’s cabin as we build our “forever home.” The conditions are even more cramped than in our previous home, so our three older boys are sharing one room.
Our solution to save space was to purchase a bunk bed with a trundle.
Ryan thought it would be a great idea to buy one for a steal off craigslist. I thought it would be better to buy one new.
*I have to add a disclaimer here. I am not anti-gently used items. In fact, I would describe my style as thrift store chic.
Okay, back to the story. In the end I left the decision to Ryan. He said he would handle it and immediately hit the internet. He found a solid-wood bunk bed for $100. He told the lady he would take it and then showed me the only picture offered by the seller.
Me: We can’t buy that. It doesn’t have a rail. The kids are just toddlers.
Ryan: Let me message her and see if she has it…She does!
Me: Where even is this?
Ryan: Oh, only an hour away. But you can find something else to do when you’re in town picking it up.
So, I humored him. I met the lady in the Target parking lot, handed her the cash, and she loaded the bed up for me.
I thought, oh how nice, this lady is so sweet moving the stuff into my vehicle as I hold my baby. Then I got the thing home and I realized she was merely moving it for me so I wouldn’t see what a piece of garbage it was.
I got all the pieces inside the cabin and fist noticed the rail was completely unusable. Annoyed, I decided we could figure something out and went on with arranging the pieces to put together…until I realized the lady didn’t give me hardware for the darn thing.
While inspecting the bed to see what hardware we would need to finish the project, I noticed runs of hardened wood glue. Oh great. The thing has already fallen apart once.
Then, I noticed a sticker with the words “I hate you” written in child-like scrawl.
I took that as a bad omen and abandoned the task. Ryan saw his “steal” and agreed it was a lemon and, in the end, we both got what we wanted — me, a new, fully-functional bed for my children, him, a craigslist bargain.
Unfortunately his “bargain” now sits in our storage shed.
I have to say, this wasn’t our first experience with Ryan and craigslist.This all happened after a previous episode of us driving two hours to pick up a Total Fitness gym-system-thing.
We pulled up to the woman’s half-dilapidated trailer and I knew things were not going to end well.
Ryan handed her TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS, loaded it up, and we were off.
Sadly, his Total Fitness ended up being a Total Piece of Junk. Unwilling to admit this at the time, he told me he didn’t want to use his new equipment because he felt like it was giving him “carpal tunnel.” The thing sat in our basement for three years before magically disappearing one day,
The moral to this story is never, ever let your husband buy things off craigslist.
What garbage has your man bought second hand or online?
Leave a comment
Photo credit: Thinkstock, iStock
