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Home > Slowing economy helped me this weekend

Slowing economy helped me this weekend

April 7th, 2008 at 10:05 pm

Not that I am wishing for or happy about a slow economy, but sometimes good things can come from the strangest places. And for me, it was almost like a Christmas present last Friday.

This actually starts a decade ago when I bought my home. I got a good price for a 1960 home that needed some repairs and upgrades. I figured I could do it as time permitted. Anyway, the house came with what turned out to something I never got rid of. A dead natural gas fueled air conditioner. I didn't know if it worked when I bought the house, and it turned out it didn't. I disconnected the gas and electricity to it, but it was sooooo heavy, there was no way I could remove it. So it stayed there and rusted. I tried to dismantle it, and was partly successful, but the main unit was still too heavy. I figured I would need to pay someone $100 or more to get it out of there, but I just didn't get to it.

Fast forward to Friday, and I get a knock at the door after work. The man tells me he saw the rusting unit out back and asked if he could remove it. I asked what he charging for it, and he told me no charge - he was taking it for scrap metal. He and his crew of two helpers did house repairs (roofs, siding, etc...) and now that work was hard to come by, they were on the lookout for anyone with scrap metal that they could remove and salvage for scrap metal recycling.

I'm standing there thinking "ok keep a straight face, don't look too happy". "Umm, sure, that would be fine." Boy were they shocked when they tried to move it. I had to wonder if they were ever going to get it out, but I was determined they would get that outta there! So I pulled out from the garage a heavy duty dolly, and they used that to get it to their flat bed they were towing about. They were nice, and tried to be ok moving it, but they made a bit of a mess out back. I'm not complaining, it was well worth the trade, and it certainly can be cleaned up.

And here I thought those strangers knocking on my door were always a nuisance. Not so! (I still can't believe its gone.)

Posted in Frugality | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Slowing economy helped me this weekend”

  1. mackybethsmommy Says:
    April 7th, 2008 at 10:59 pm 1207609145
    1207609145

    I had some guys like that come to my house last summer because there was a broken washer in my backyard. I got so excited I gave them any metal junk that I had been trying to get hubby to haul off. Including an old satellite dish (one of those huge ugly black ones) that was left by the previous owner. I told them to come back every summer because I will probably have more junk to haul off as we work on remodeling.

  2. dmontngrey Says:
    April 8th, 2008 at 12:11 am 1207613465
    1207613465

    Yup, more and more people are turning to that these days. Just found out our new neighbor has a body shop nearby. No one is spending on their cars, so he's grabbing up scrap metal to help pay bills. We saw he had a beater truck full of "junk" and assumed that's what was going on. Just interesting to talk to him about it. Gotta do what you gotta do!

  3. creditcardfree Says:
    April 8th, 2008 at 12:25 am 1207614339
    1207614339

    That's great news! Amazing how problems can be solved with time and patience.

  4. Carolina Bound Says:
    April 8th, 2008 at 02:20 pm 1207664452
    1207664452

    What a load off! In more ways than one!

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