This weekend I found several new deals that again illustrated my philosophy for finding great deals on used stuff. I suppose it is the Law of Attraction in thrifty action (that has a ring to it, doesn’t it?).

It’s fall, so I’ve inventoried my stash of clothes for Little Cheap. She didn’t need much: A winter coat, snow pants, a soccer uniform and some boots for her riding class. I’ve been hunting the boots on eBay. We bought new shin guards before realizing that our local kids’ consignment store had them, but we did find used cleats.

Then on Saturday, we dropped into a Savers in Boulder. I’ll admit I had the boots in mind because Boulder County is horsier than Denver. But shiver me timbers, there they were – kids’ paddock boots, Little Cheap’s size, $5.99. Sweet! And snow pants, too, for $3. And a nice start on her size 7/8 clothing stash for next year. All because I’d been attracting it. Maybe. Now to attract a lime-green parka in size 6x/7 …

In related news, this summer I developed a new hobby that’s old-fashioned and completely eco-friendly: spinning wool. My mother-in-law bought me a hand spindle at the Renaissance Festival, and I was off.

Call me crazy, but I’ve got two-and-a-half fleeces (that’s the sheared sheep wool to you non-wooliphiliacs) in my laundry room, stinking of lanolin and ready to wash.

The next step was to move up to a spinning wheel. Faster, more exciting, and as easy or easier on my carpal-tunnel prone computer hands. All summer, I’ve been checking eBay, checking Craigslist, looking at retail sites, reading blogs galore.

I decided part of my windfall money would go to this cause. My excuse is that my birthday is next week, and it’s a bit of a landmark. I’ll be 35, the age at which it seems we reach really, truly, no-give-backs adulthood.

On Saturday, I went to a great store in Boulder where I tried several types of spinning wheels – a Lendrum, an Ashford and a Schacht.

Oh, boy. Champagne taste kicks in. The Schacht costs twice as much as the others, and I fell in love. This is how spinners describe their wheels, you see: A love affair. It is like that. I’d been leaning toward a more traditional look, but once I saw this one, it was the equivalent of a real-life love affair. “What do you mean, I said I only liked blonds? Well, I must have been crazy!”

I didn’t buy it on Saturday. The shop owner told me they’re having a birthday sale on Sept. 22 with 15 percent off all in-stock wheels. For a major purchase like this, that’s a lot. So I figured I could wait.

Then something told me on Saturday night to do one more search on Craigslist. I’d already looked a dozen times, with no perfect offers. But there it was: A woman in Boulder was selling her Schacht wheel for 40 percent of a new wheel’s retail price (less than the others I tried!) and throwing in more than $100 of extras for free.

It was meant to be. The timing worked out on Sunday. I had just enough cash in the house (by raiding all my various budget-categorized envelopes and including funds from selling a piece of furniture last week) to make the purchase. I raced up to Boulder and brought home my wheel.

Best of all, for this blog’s purposes? I’ll never need another wheel — this is known as the Cadillac of spinning wheels. It was made in Boulder and has traveled only 40 miles from its birthplace. And I even got to recycle an old wheel rather than buying a new one.

The moral of this story is that with persistence, you can find great deals on even difficult items. When it’s meant to be. Or by attracting them.

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Comments ( 9 )

Was surfing and came across your site. While I’m not a shopper and really have no reason to be here, I found your site interesting. The spinning wheel is, well, handsome! It is comforting to know there are people in the world who can make things without the use of electricity. With all the company mergers happening these days producing less and less competition, at some point we consumers may have to go on strike.

David Oliver added these pithy words on Aug 29 07 at 5:38 pm

That’s fantastic! Make sure you record your successes here as I’d love to try spinning out one day. My boss’ mother has an antique wheel that I wanted but, alas, he won’t part with it. haha

Congrats on the great deal and I’m looking forward to seeing more fun stuff!

Kate added these pithy words on Aug 30 07 at 2:30 pm

I stumble onto your site. Only yesterday I got my job contract renewed and I attribute that to my consistent practise of law of attraction, just like what you said about Law of Attraction in thrifty action.

Am very glad to have gotten a revised salary through consistent practise of LOA. Visualise the outcome…thats what i did…

Glad there are people like you who believed in this wonderful law…

Melvin Tan added these pithy words on Aug 31 07 at 3:07 am

Well, you never know — although I was thinking I needed more tables for our yard sale tomorrow, and what do you know — someone was giving away a folding table for free down the street this morning. There we go again.

cheaplikeme added these pithy words on Aug 31 07 at 10:49 am

How’s the wheel doing with the carpal tunnel? I got a wheel 3 weeks ago, and for the first time in my life I’m having RSI and carpal tunnel symptoms. I did spin on a drop spindle for about 6 months before.

Mackenzie added these pithy words on Jan 12 12 at 9:47 pm

Ouch! I do OK with RSI on the wheel. I’m actually worse with a drop spindle — all that pinching messes with my forearm/wrist. Good luck.

cheaplikeme added these pithy words on Jan 13 12 at 10:16 am

How do you draft without pinching?

Mackenzie added these pithy words on Jan 14 12 at 3:49 pm

Well, you do still have to pinch — I suspect for me, it’s that with the wheel, both my wrists can be flat/open, but with the drop spindle, the pinching hand has to be bent and it’s a lot more pressure on me. Maybe I just have a bad technique.

cheaplikeme added these pithy words on Jan 16 12 at 4:37 pm

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