I hate to admit it but I'm almost as bad as the Island King is
about picking up junk off the side of the road. I'm a little more
discriminating than he is but people throw away some perfectly good
stuff and I have no problem stopping to grab something if I see a
potential use for it.
There are two things that I don't ever stop for and those would be
couches and mattresses. There is just something gross about grabbing
either of those items off the side of the road.
But...
I was standing behind a furniture store the other day and I saw a
guy throw a mattress out the back door onto a small pile of broken
furniture.
We need a mattress for our shed Tiny House and I decided to walk
over and ask him why he was throwing this one away.
He said he had a customer who wanted a bigger bed so when the
store delivered a king sized one to his house they hauled off the old
one. Then he tells me that he sold this mattress to the guy about 6
months ago and that there's nothing wrong with it but they don't sell
used beds so he had to throw it out.
Then he asked if I wanted it.
Hmmm. I'd planned on ordering a “bed bug cover” to put on
whatever bed we took to camp so that I didn't have to worry about
spiders or bugs invading while I was gone and I realized I could put
a cover over this mattress and it wouldn't be like sleeping on a used
bed at all.
I told him that I did want it and he offered to carry it up the
hill to my truck for me. He jokingly said it would cost me $5 and
even if he wasn't joking I was getting a free bed and I wouldn't have
to carry it so five bucks sounded good to me.
He carried it up to my truck and when I went to get my wallet he
told me he was just kidding about the money. I told him I didn't care
– it was worth it for me not to have to carry it myself so I wanted
to give him something.
I only had $4 so I gave him that and a cold beer – which made
him very happy on a hot Friday afternoon.
And there it is.
Our new bed for Tower Camp and it only cost me four bucks and a
beer.
Now I just need the building finished so I have somewhere to put
it. Labels: Staying