Buy used, or at least consider it

A few days ago, I blogged about when to spend money and ways to cut down on your bills. Today, I'd like to talk about another way to save money, buying used.

We bought our house about 6 months ago, right at the end of grass growing season. The last time I cut the grass was when I was cleaning up the yard at our rental for the last time. We moved from a lot that was about 1/4 acre, to one that is 3/4 acres. I ama bit of a fatbody, and mowing the smaller lot was a pain in the ass with a pushmower. I also grew up mowing a full acre lot with an electric mower when I was lucky. When I was unlucky, my mom decided that the grass looked better when it was cut with a motorless push mower. Luckily since this technique was last used in full force around the turn of the 1900's people had figured out the tricky concept of gear ratio's, but I was still stuck cutting a full acre minus ~800 sq.ft. with a 16" pushmower. Not Fun. Do not do this to your kids!

But now I am in the market for a riding mower. We've gone to Home Depot and Lowes an I have sat on the mowers like a kid on the dinosaur in front of the grocery store, but the cheapest that they have is still almost $1000. So I have turned to craigslist. I was talking with my boss, who is in his mid to late fourties about this, and he had no clue what craigslist was. This blew me away. I am in a tehnical field, and he is a technical guy, and even has the broadband. How could he have not heard about america's pawnshop.

I became obsessed with it when I was trying to buy an electric guitar after playing my acoustic for a few years. So many pretty pictures, so little time. And now, I stand to get a mower, albeit slightly used, and a little smaller than what the big stores sell because my yard is pretty flat, for about $200, which is about the cost of a self propelled mower, which is my other option as the old one just won't cut it any more. Ha. And it'll even be a john deere most likely so it is a good company with a good product that should last me many years.

So if you have decided that you have to go buy some new piece of machinery, don't be turned off becuase it is used. There are a lot of people out there who take very good care of their items, and who simply don't need them anymore, of have stepped up the ladder a little bit.