Good deals you found

[NW-Bound]

This little board known as the "Blue Pill" has a wonderful 32-bit microcontroller (STM32F103C8T6) with plenty of on-chip memory and peripheral I/O and interfaces.

A lot of sophistication compared to what I used when was still working 5 years ago, and it has a steeper learning curve. More astounding is that it costs only $1.60 in single qty. including shipping.

 

[Scrapr]

Walking he dogs at the new housing development next door I picked up a half dozen cans & bottles for deposit. 10 cents cash or 12 cents ea if you Plus Up and use your bottle money at the grocery

I have to go back over tomorrow for the other half of the development. I may branch out to other projects. A franchising opportunity?

 

[Cayman]

2 quality, heavy wire brushed oak nightstands delivered for $307 (total for both of 'em!) Regularly $930 each, plus tax and delivery. Restoration Hardware Outlet.

 

[HadEnuff]

yesterday, during my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, while driving out of Hilo, a fellow on the side of the road was selling nice freshly caught Ahi Tuna for $20, for a 3 lb bag. It was/is delicious.

 

[Cayman]

yesterday, during my trip to the Big Island of Hawaii, while driving out of Hilo, a fellow on the side of the road was selling nice freshly caught Ahi Tuna for $20, for a 3 lb bag. It was/is delicious.

Nice catch HadEnuff. Sounds delish.

 

[gayl]

Queen of cheap here:

Cruise in 3 weeks. Wine on board is $7.50 a glass. Was in Safeway and someone mixed up the $3 multipacks. Got Pinto Grecio, Merlot, Chablis, and Sauvignon Blanc. That + the freebie that Elite get will hold me for the 8 day cruise. $3 beats $30

Bought a blanket throw at Kmart for $1.99 at their Black Friday sale. Had DDIL make me a cape out of it similar to the one being sold at Talbots. $1.99 beats close to $100? I can't sew worth beans but she can

Winter scarves are about $2. After all its only 1/3 yard of 58" wide flannel with straight sides

 

[travelover]

Our new home has a Goodwill Outlet store a few miles away and I stopped by yesterday. The closest thing to it I have ever seen are the garbage dumps in third world countries where pickers eagerly await each new dump truck and fight over what is disgorged. At the outlet store, they have bins about 6 feet by 3 feet arranged in rows and donations are just piled in them. Pickers go through and pull stuff out and pay for it by the pound.

Periodically, a new row of a dozen bins are set up and the crowd gathers. Once the last bin is in place, they get the signal and dive in. Once this frenzy is satiated, others move in and look for goodies. The stuff is dirty and the experienced wear gloves.

I found a 200 foot electrician's tape in like new condition. I paid $15 for it and found they sell for $125 new. I'll sell it on eBay or Craigslist.

And people ask what do retirees do all day.

 

[powerplay]

Our new home has a Goodwill Outlet store a few miles away and I stopped by yesterday. The closest thing to it I have ever seen are the garbage dumps in third world countries where pickers eagerly await each new dump truck and fight over what is disgorged. At the outlet store, they have bins about 6 feet by 3 feet arranged in rows and donations are just piled in them. Pickers go through and pull stuff out and pay for it by the pound.

Periodically, a new row of a dozen bins are set up and the crowd gathers. Once the last bin is in place, they get the signal and dive in. Once this frenzy is satiated, others move in and look for goodies. The stuff is dirty and the experienced wear gloves.

I found a 200 foot electrician's tape in like new condition. I paid $15 for it and found they sell for $125 new. I'll sell it on eBay or Craigslist.

And people ask what do retirees do all day.

A number of years ago I used to shop at one in my area. The pickers all used the shopping carts which they would fill and cover with something and park it off to the side. If anyone else would dare touch their cart a fight would erupt. I agree about the gloves since everything was DIRTY. Books were one thing I would look through and they didn't seem to be of interest to the pickers. I also got a couple pieces of wood furniture for very cheap. Haven't gone there in years.

 

[joeea]

I found a 200 foot electrician's tape in like new condition. I paid $15 for it and found they sell for $125 new. I'll sell it on eBay or Craigslist.

When my son was in college in the next state over, he and his buddies went to a local Goodwill shop looking for T-shirts.

He ended up paying $0.25 for a "classic" Boston Celtics t-shirt. I'm pretty sure I owned a t-shirt just like it when I was in my 20s. It could possibly have been the same shirt.

 

[travelover]

...........I found a 200 foot electrician's tape in like new condition. I paid $15 for it and found they sell for $125 new. I'll sell it on eBay or Craigslist............

Just as a [-]brag[/-] follow up - I sold it on Craigslist for $55 today, so $40 beer money for my scrounging efforts.

 

[Cayman]

Just as a [-]brag[/-] follow up - I sold it on Craigslist for $55 today, so $40 beer money for my scrounging efforts.

Bravo!

 

[travelover]

Was at Habitat ReStore today and scored a new-in-box GFCI breaker for two bucks that sells for $50. As it happens, I just replaced my breaker box and I can use it for my garage circuit instead of separate GFCI outlets.

 

[CaptTom]

Interesting. I found the ReStore full of broken and incomplete junk, priced close to what I would pay in Home Depot for brand-new stuff. I never went back. Maybe I should.

There's a small chain of thrift shops near us called "Leeward Landing." I went in once, and it looked about like all the other thrift shops run by various charities in the area. But for some reason, their parking lot is always full of new, shiny, top-end vehicles, many from out of state. About 50% of the time when I pass by, I have to wait behind a car turning left into their lot, or one coming out. None of the other thrift shops in the area are busy like this. And the vehicles in the lot are usually a bit rustier. I don't get it.

Anyway, I'm at a point in my life where I'm trying to get rid of "stuff," not acquire more.

 

[travelover]

Interesting. I found the ReStore full of broken and incomplete junk, priced close to what I would pay in Home Depot for brand-new stuff. I never went back. Maybe I should.
.....

It all depends. Some Restores are more reasonably priced than others. Staff changes and the prices seem to be whimsical depending on who is doing the pricing that day. Some items are overpriced and as in the case in my post above, ridiculously under priced. For me, it is a once a week outing to check out what is new and scout for bargains. Given that we moved cross country and bought a new house on acreage, there are lots of small items we need and I've saved a lot by picking up bargains as I find them. I wouldn't recommend shopping there just to stuff your attic.

 

[deserat]

I had to buy some clothing for my mother as she had moved into an assisted group home for her last days in hospice. I went to a local clothing reseller here as her tastes in clothing were a bit more outdated. I was able to find some shirts and nice hoodie tops in exactly the right styles, colors and sizes for her and walked out only $23 lighter. I then found some capri pants at Walmart for $3 each (bought myself 2 pair along with 2 pair for her). Goodwill ended up being the most expensive - I bought some socks there for her.

I was pleasantly surprised at the great quality and when I was buying the clothes saw that they did a good job of culling out the crap from the donations they received. I have bought a few things in stores like that, but will definitely be going back as I wear out what I have.

 

[NW-Bound]

... I then found some capri pants at Walmart for $3 each (bought myself 2 pair along with 2 pair for her)...

Reminds me that in our recent trip to Costco, my wife got some capri pants for $4. She has been losing even more weight, and needs new ones.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

With $19min/free shipping + free returns, Radioshack.com clearance bin.
Use radio15 coupon code for additional 15% off. I topped off my parts inventory with a nice collection of switches and other small parts. More convenient than piecing out through ebay.
Note - parts clearance is separate from general clearance.

 

[NW-Bound]

Bought an additional 2kW worth of solar panels, even though I have not yet installed the 2.5kW of panels I bought a few months ago.

Such good deal, I could not resist. Less than $0.45/W, and these are nice 20% efficiency panels too. And I just picked them up at a local warehouse, so there's no shipping charge.

Wish I have a 1-acre lot in town so I can cover it with these cheap panels. Solar power galore. Still looking for good deals on lithium batteries, but have not seen anything remotely resembling $100/kWh that the industry has promised for a while now.

 

[Tom52]

We bought a new Silverado 4x4 pick up truck in June, nice!y equipped but did not have optional running boards. Dealer wanted $750 installed but turned it down. Within a week of purchasing the truck there was a Craigslist ad for a guy who buys new take off wheels, tires,running boards etc. from New car dealers. I bought a brand new set of OEM running boards for $229 and installed them myself.

One the same vehicle the free 3 month siriusXM subscription ran out a couple of weeks ago. We have received several mailings offering deals to re-subscribe but the deals are not that great. I got a phone solicitation today from SiriusXM and told them their offers were not good enough. After some discussion they finally agreed to $4.99 per month for 12 months for the same service provided in the original 3 month free subscription. With taxes and fees it is just under $6.00/month.

 

[Arizona1]

The suitcase my mother gave my wife about 10 years ago is a good brand and a good size but worn out. We travel a lot so took the suitcase to 3 stores including an outlet store finding the best price at $557.00. On the third time of looking at a local thrift store I found the same one for $12 minus 30% off for senior. On the way to the register I found a dollar bill on the floor.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Most of my bargains these days involve consumables or experiences. I went to an outlet store yesterday for groceries on senior morning and stocked up on the best bargains for an extra 10% discount, which came to $70 in total savings off supermarket prices. We saw a play at night with free library passes otherwise it would have cost $106 for the tickets. On the weekend I had seat filler type tickets for a wine tasting and foodie event in Napa that would have cost $90 but I paid $12. I bought two 12 month winery passports with some deal stacking for around $40, regularly $120. The passports should pay for themselves after just one or two visits.

 

[ponyboy]

Bought 3 pairs (6 total) of vintage olympic weight plates for $125...flipped them for $1500. Sadly I sold them for less than I should have...but I cant complain. I purchased around $500 worth of weight equipment that day. I kept the rest and still made a nice profit.

 

[jimnjana]

A few years ago a container ship off Florida coast had a few containers open and go overboard on bad weather. I ended up with about 100 12 oz packages of coffee, picked up on our beach. Several people I saw had partial pallets of the stuff on wheel barrows. I drank free coffee for over a year and gave a bunch away. Hard to say what best yard sale but here are a few that come to mind 1) complete Syracuse Apple blossom pattern China serving for 12. - $100 - sold 3 pieces on eBay and recouped our cost 2) mink shrug - $50 apprised $500 3) born leather men's sandal like new $1. We furnished three homes with yard sale finds so the list of great deals is pretty long. As I type this I'm sitting in a leather sectional sofa with 2 electric recliners purchased earlier this year for $600, while wearing a sea turtle t-shirt and white shorts purchased at yard sales for 4 bucks total with tags still on.

 

[kitesurfer2]

This guy needed $2000 for his bike, "this weekend only"....a long story. I trailered it home from DC area to Fla. The bike had 1900 miles . I rode it for 3 years and sold it for $4700, with 35k miles on it.

 

[NW-Bound]

Some people find unbelievable deals, like my brother-in-law and his wife who like to go to garage sales. They once found real gold jewelry sold for the price of costume jewelry.

We do not actively look, so only scored minor bargains. Like a week ago, at a discount grocery store we saw them liquidating 40-lb boxes of onions for $4. That's $0.10/lb. Here, the usual sale price is $1 for 3 lbs.

I told my wife we had to pass it up, as we would not know what to do with 40 lbs of onion. My frugal wife said that we could get it and give some away to our children or my sisters-in-law who all live nearby.

Myself, I am going to make onion soup to eat daily for lunch for some time to come. It's OK as I like onion soup anyway.