A good find for the BSs

[mccoysnina]

My son is an assistant scout master for a local scout troop.  They are a very active and growing troop.  At leat once a month they go camping.  To keep costs down they are alwasy on the look out for used equipment.  They have a scout closet where the boys can buy used donated uniforms and personal gear with Scout Bucks earned for helping with scout activities and  fund raisers.  In addition they have communal gear like tents they keep for use by all the scouts. Since the troop is growning so fast they are always on the lookout for tents and other equipement.
Yesterday a local yard sale ad offered a tent for sale. 
DS and I went to take a look at it.  It was an Eddie Bauer tent, large enough to sleep, well they said seven, I thought more like 5 or 6.  (Can you see why I don't camp much?) Anyway it was marked $60, and we offered $40.  The lady countered with $50, which prolly wasn't a bad price.  But I only had $45 with me, DS had about another $5  but wisely kept his mouth shut.  I pulled out the $45 and told the lady it was all I had on me, would she take it?  it was rainy and getting late in the day so she thought a sec and said OK.  It had been set up in the yard so DS packed it up and we took it home.  Retail price at the Target web site was close to $200.  Not a bad deal we got.  The carry bag is about shot but I found a piece of ripstop nylon in the remnant bin at the fabric store so got it for a song.  Not bad for the week-end deals.
I find lots of stuff at yard sales and thrift shops for the Scout closet.  The leaders won't let the boys do certain things w/o the right euqipment.  I have found mess kits, canteens, uniforms and other things in my grubbing around at yard sales and thrifts, usually priced for pennies.  Last year the troop went on a canoing trip to the boundary waters between Minn/Canada.  The boys had to have shirts that were polyproplene or other water repellent mterialsso they wouldn't get cold if their clothes got wet.  They can be pricey at outdoor/sporting goods stores. Since I had the whole winter to look for them however I found shirts for everyone for less than about $2 each.  After the trip, back to the scout closet they went.  Now they are being used again, this timefor kayaking lessons.  My kayaking find is a whole other story though.
Long live thrift shops!
Jeannie

[Big Daddy Audio]

It's one of the twelve points of the Scout Law:

A Scout is Thrifty

See you next time
bye for now

This is my 500th post

[mccoysnina]

It's one of the twelve points of the Scout Law:

A Scout is Thrifty

See you next time
bye for now

This is my 500th post

  You're right. I had forgotten that part of the Scout pledge!
And congratulations on all your posts.
Jeannie

[SeSo_Says_So]

Jeannie, I think you have amazing thrift skills. The troop is lucky to have you. Congrats on doing good for the kids and for the world.

[mccoysnina]

Jeannie, I think you have amazing thrift skills. The troop is lucky to have you. Congrats on doing good for the kids and for the world.

Gee, thanks.  I have been doing it long enough, guessed I have learned a few things.
Jeannie

[dukek9]

I want to hear the kayaking find story!

Good find on the tent. Yeah, they always have campers and tents rated for people packed in like sardines i think! But realy nice tent. 

And how fun to do all this thrifting and then see your bargains go to such good use!

Dee

[mccoysnina]

We have 3 kayaks and a canoe on our back porch and I found or bought all of them.  And I can't even swim!
The first one we bought for DS seven or eight years ago as a Christmas present.  His Scout troop had a group that went kayaking regularly but had no extras for those who didn't have one.  So I convinced DH that we should get him one for Christmas.  WE called his Scout master, who is a certified kayaking instructor, who told us that an Old Town Otter would be the best for a beginner in our area.  So we bought one, not an especially great deal except that finding a kayak in this area in winter at that time was a feat in itself.  DS loved it and they went kayaking New Year's Day.  Yeah, I know they are nuts but it is their macho tradition.
So DS gets good at using his kayak.  Jump to about 3 years ago.
One Saturday I was left the house early go to a classs and run errands.  I had only gone a block or so when I saw a moving sale sign on a front yard.  Parked in the  middle of the yard was a kayak and all the gear.
I thought DS might like some of the gear.  But I had no cell  phone with me, no pay phones anywhere, and no place where I will be to ask to use a phone for a couple of hours.  Knowing how quickly things can go at yard sales, I did the only thing possible.  I turned around and headed home.  I ran into the house and asked where DS was.  He was still in bed so I ran up the stairs callling for him.  He yelled he was awake.  I told him there wasa kayak and gear for sale at a yard sale.  He yelled he was up and where.  I told him and ran back out so I wouldn' t be late for my class.  Came back home several hours laer to find a kayak in the drive.  DS was on the phone to his scout master friend telling him about it.  It seems it was a high tech, turbo charged, very expensive model for white water use.  About as far from his baby steps model as a Ferrari is from an Escort. He had bought the whole package for $250, bargained down from the $300 asking price.  It seems that the seller had just gotten married and he and new spouse were moving and she didn't especially like him kayaking.  So DS got everything for less than the price of the accessories alone.  He looked it up on the web and that model was nearly $1000 just for the boat.
Then DH starts going along since there is now a free kayak and he loves it.  But can't alwaysgo if the Otter had been promised to someone else or if DD wants to go too.  So I start looking for a new kayak.  On Thanksgiving Day '06 I see where Dick's Sporting Goods has a kayak package for sale.  The boat and all the gear for just under $250.  I went out the day after TDay and they still had a couple left when we got there.  As I walked in they gave me one of those shopper cards.  On the table just inside the door was flyer with a coupon for 20% off any purchase of $250 or more if you had one of the cards.  I got the invoice for the kayak and passed the winter gear section.  They had the heavy winter socks the guys like for camping, buy two get one free.  I picked up three pair, and the $18 they cost put me over  $250.  So I got over $50 off the total price, plus free socks plus a $20 gift card.  I had to leave the kayak for a day or so til DS and I could come back with his truck to get it. As we were picking it up he saw they had the kind of paddles the guys really wanted, regularly about $80, on sale for about $50.  So I got both guys the super duper paddles for a little more than one would have cost.  A few  weeks later I got another gift card from Dicks for having enough points on my shoppers charge.  Again, not thrifting, but a good deal.  DH loved his kayak, and says it is way easier on his back than any other he had used.  One friend of his tried it and liked it so much he went and bought the same one.  DH didn't get to use his kayak New Year's Day though.
Two days after Christmas he fell while skiing and broke his leg.  DS asked if he could use it for someone but I said the owner really should get to use it first.  If you are counting, that is three kayaks we now own.
Last fall, on my birthday on the way to my MILs house for dinner, we passed a house that had a canoe in the front yard.  DS and DD were busy fighting and DH driving so they didn't see it.  I said oh, they have a canoe in their yard.  Too late, we had passed the house.  On the way home I point it out and realized there is a For Sale sign on it.  DH and DS both yell "There is?"  so we stop and write down the phone number. They bought it together so now we have 3 kayaks and a canoe on the back porch.  When the Scouts  have the annual family boating trip, half the boats seem to belong to us.  They have a trailer one of the Scout masters, an engineer, built to carry about 8 boats.  Last trip, they managed to get nearly 20 on it. 
DD also has a funny story.  She is an experienced kayaker, canoer and rafter, but works in a fabric store.  Last summer two guys came in and she overheard them talking about kayaks.  One of them wanted to buy a kayak but didn't know which one would be a good one.  So DD starts telling him about the various models we have and how the Old Town Otter was a good beginner's model.  Apparently their jaws about hit the floor, here was this little girl in a fabric shop telling them all about kayaks. But hey, I have found four and bought two and so I guess it runs in the family.
That is my kayaking finds story.
Jeannie

[dukek9]

Wow, those are really good finds! 

Yes, i can imagine just finding a kayak in the winter would be a feat!

When reading your moving sale story I was thinking that it would make a great movie!  All that action and a great bargain to boot!

I am also very impressed with your Dick's buy.  Wow, that's the way to do it.

We have a lake with an outlet river running from it through the city. Well, of course the lake is busy during the summer as is the end of lake by outlet. But if you go down that outlet, there is woods and swamp and not much civilization at all (considering you are right in the midst of it!) So it's really lovely and relaxing.

We, alas, don't have a kayak but the local outfitter has a group row on Wednesday nights. They bring their kayaks (and canoes) to the boatlanding which is so nice.  No having to get the kayaks on and off vehicles or having to go to the outfitter. And then you can go upstream at your own pace and then have a lovely float back downstream at the end. And you can see deer and occasionally a fox, racoons and woodchucks as well as other wildlife and enjoy the serenity of an area that not too many people see.

Anyway, I am in awe of your finds!

Dee

[mccoysnina]

Lots of people into kayaking now so there are 2 or 3 kayak stores around that weren't here when we bought our first one for DS.  A kid who just moved in down the street was loading a kayak on top  of his car so maybe another member of the kayka club. 
DS passed on this tip.  When he buys a new paddle he always spray  paints it bright yellow or orange.  He said when you are out on the water and you lose hold of your paddle, if it is black or some other dark color, it is impossible to see in the water.  Bright colors can ve seen.  Can't tell you how many paddles he has found over the years.  With good ones going $80 a pop, a can of spray paint is cheap insurance.  And every guy in the group has a different color of nail polish to mark their gear.  DS has a bright yellow, DH had green.  All they do is pain ta line or circle of polish around their paddles, water bottles etc and they can tell at a glance who it belongs too.  They tend to stock up around Halloween when they can get "manly" colors.  No antique rose for them!
Jeannie

[dukek9]

Hehehe.  Tell those guys they should mark their items with hot pink to make them easily recognizable. Or one could use pink, other purple, the barbie effect and everyoe would know the barbie colors were your husbands and your sons/   Just kidding.  Actually getting the colors at Halloween is a really good idea!

Oh gosh I remember as a kid going to camp and those darn canoes which were easy to tip and hard to turn and so on.  Kayaks are just soooo much better.

Dee