My pal, Craig

I've been acquainted with Craig for quite sometime now.  Sometimes, Craig is good to me, and sometimes Craig is bad to me.  The Craig I'm sometimes OBSESSED with is the same Craig I wish I could just shake my finger at.  Yes, oh yes, I'm talking about the infamous...

Craigslist.

If I had known about Craigslist when I got married over 6 years ago, I wouldn't have blown a good portion of our wedding money on all new furniture.  Granted, over time, I think I've learned how to make Craigslist work to my advantage, what to avoid, what to look out for, etc., to create a pretty snazzy living space.  Simple rules like:

1 - given the outbreaks of bed bugs in the Islands, and my absolute PARANOID tendencies to do whatever necessary to avoid them AT.ALL.COSTS, I do not buy upholstered items, linens, plush stuff, anything fabric from Clist.  Chairs? No.  Couches?  Nuh-uh.  Beds?  H-E-double-hockey-sticks NO!  I did buy a pretty rad counter-high dining set with leather chairs off Clist, but not until I carefully inspected the chairs for signs of the little buggers, and then cleaned inside every possible crevice and doused the entire set in Sol-U-Mel when I got home.

2 - If I can buy it new in the store for cheaper, I'm sure not going to buy it used from Clist for MORE.  (kind of a given, but still very much worth mentioning considering how crazy some of these prices are for used items)

3 - Think about the cost (time and money) to move/transport the items when you are considering buying.  Sometimes, it's totally worth it to drive 30 miles to get that ONE OF A KIND SEASHELL LAMP WITH THE MACROME SHADE, but sometimes, it's not.  If I see something I really want, but I know that it's going to be terribly difficult to get to it, i.e., if it's in the middle of downtown, in a city where traffic should be a PUNISHMENT for the harshest of offenders, and I live in the suburbs? Yea, I'll pass. 

These are just a few of my things I consider when browing the List.  I've found some really GRRRREAT things on the List and know that your neck of the woods probably has some fantastic treasures looking for their next home.  I bring this up because my next few posts will feature items I found on the List and how I've used them, re-finished them, re-purposed them in my house.  In Hawaii, the cost of living is incredibly high, as I'm sure some of you may have read on one of the many Yahoo! Finance reports that they do on the "top 10 most expensive places to live," and I am one of many people that do what we can to make it work.  Come back to soon to see how good the List has been to me and how you can make it work for you, too. 

xoxo, V.