Going where I’ve never been

Craigslist has been good to me. Pretty much every appliance, piece of furniture, house and job that I’ve had since leaving Florida was obtained on this site. I’ve learned the tricks, I know that, at least in Austin, competition is fierce and it pays to be quick (doesn’t hurt to be unemployed with plenty of time for scouring the ads). Anything can be bought, anything can be sold, anyone can be hired and there is never a lack of free entertainment among the ‘best of’ lists and the personals ads.

In addition to the $700+ that I made in four days by selling odds and ends prior to Asia, here are a few of the most recent reasons as to why I love craigslist:

•  Our house. It’s perfect, it has some of the lowest rent in the area, it was obtained completely via internet and I’m pretty sure that I only nabbed it because I had all day to sit and refresh the ‘rentals’ section all day. Austin has a cutthroat market…
• Pub table and four chairs, like new: $70 ($150 value)
• Gravity bicycle rack: $20 ($150 value)
• Microwave cart: $30 ($70 value)
• Specialized Rockhopper mountainbike: $250 ($700+ value)

• My scooter. Sold for $950 in one hour (value? less than that)
• Cellphone: sold for $90 after I got my complimentary upgrade

• Design gig: $250 for a few hours of work with the promise of future projects
• Church-decorating gig: over $15/hr to assist a great woman with Easter decorations. I learned flower-arranging and obtained another design job from her, while Gabe may be doing some carpentry work for her as well.

There is something for everyone, someone for everything and bargaining is the rule - it’s a huge help with Asian market-withdrawal!