We did several things this weekend. I visited an auction Saturday, though Bubblingbrooks, my dw, rathered I stay home and finish up a goat fence. We also had very little money to spend, so she was very concerned I'd spend too much (I tend to do that at auctions.) Well, I was good, and only bought a few items. A set of tire chains, electric heater, and miscellaneous nuts and bolts for $25. Retail on the heater and chains is about $90, and I needed both. The other things in the box add a little more value to it. I spent $10 on a tool belt full of tools, and some more miscellaneous nuts and bolts. I was pleasantly surprised to find 3 finger planers in the box, too. The tool belt would have cost me nearly $100 at Lowe's. The best buy, though, cost a bit more. I will need a new set of summer tires for the truck next year, and my studded tires will be worn out by the end of winter. There were 3 full sets of tires at the auction in the correct size for my truck; one was brand new, tires only. The other two were used, on chrome alloy rims; one set studded M/S all terrain, and the other a Costco set of summer tires. The new set sold first, and went for $350; I thought this was high for auction prices, and was very concerned about whether I could get either of the other sets. That was still a great price, as in the store that set runs about $600.
The auctioneer looked at the remaining stack of tires, and said, "I hate selling tires. Its such a pain! Put them all together, we'll sell as one lot." Inwardly I groaned, because there were 10 tires total and 2 extra aircraft or trailer rims. Uggh! What would this do to the price? Even if they sold at $150 a set, that would be $300, and I wanted to stay below $200. Bidding was brisk, starting low at $50, with what looked like a pretty serious re-saler bidding to $175 against me. I bid $200, and he and the other 3 guys bidding dropped out! So I paid $200 for 2 complete sets of tires and rims for my truck, with only 2 extra tires and 2 extra rims that I need to find homes for. The Studded Tires would cost about $175 per tire new, plus $40 to mount the set. The summer set is about $125 per tire, plus $40 to mount. I will call the rims $200, as I was planning to buy steel rims at a junkyard for $25 apiece. This comes out to $1200 for tires, $280 for rims and mounting= $1480. So I saved $1280 on tires, $160 on the tool belt and tire chains, and spent a total of $255. I may be able to sell some of the miscellaneous and the extra tires and rims and recoup most of that, too!
Today was my wife's day. She found an exer saucer on FreeCycle, and a billy goat on Craigslist! Both were free, and we picked them both up, along with hay, on our drive back from church. We saved $20 on gas, $200 to buy a goat or $150 for stud fees, and about $25 on the exer-saucer. She did very well!
Maybe best of all, the goat fence got finished tonight, in about 15 minutes, so my little joyride to the auction didn't cost too much, and I was able to finish the honey-do!
