New addition

...DJ Roomba!

Matt's contribution to nesting around our house consists of him having purchased a Roomba Pet Series 562 from a woman on Craigslist (who also happens to be very pregnant and believes the Roomba is going to be too loud for her incoming baby....except it's way, way less noisy than our Dyson, so whatevs people. Her decision to sell it second hand saved us over $200 off the full purchase price.). We are currently testing it out. It is working its magic on our main level (living room, kitchen and dining room). Like everything we bring into our house, it is already nicely covered in dog hair.

The dogs do not know how to respond to it. Hopefully chasing it around will keep them occupied enough to ignore our daughter when and if she ever arrives on this planet.

And when we have a party, we can assure you DJ Roomba will play a major role in the festivities.

DJ ROOMBA - watch more funny videos     

Computer recycling: goodbye, old friend

With very little clutter in our house, this weekend Matt and I engaged in a partial attempt to rid our house of a few lingering items. This included recycling my Dell Inspiron 2500 that my parents bought me in 2001 as I entered my third year of college.

It has been out of commission for several years, particularly after it stopped connecting to the internet. Sitting in the back of our office closet, when I got it out this weekend I was reminded of 1) its incredible weight and 2) the fact that it is not a widescreen laptop. Being several years removed from this device reminded me of what a dinosaur it is and confirmed my feeling that this computer would not be of much use to anyone.

So, I Googled "computer recycling Fairfax" and the first site was the right site. I came across this Electric Sunday event that I discovered around 9 a.m. Sunday. The best news: Electric Sunday, while not every Sunday, was happening yesterday just an hour after I heard about it. This, my friend, is the organization gods smiling down upon me.

We drove up to the I-66 Transfer Station (near the intersection of 29 and the Fairfax County Parkway, if you're trying to place it). The workers won't even allow you to get out of your car for "safety reasons," which is fine by me. I handed them my laptop and power cord and bid them farewell.

I still had my laptop case, designed for older, bulkier computers, so I posted it for free on Craigslist yesterday at 12:30 p.m. I give you this time because, by 1 p.m., I had received 10 emails from people who wanted the item. The first person to respond sent his girlfriend driving toward my house before I could blink. It was unprecedented insanity, but I am happy to have given away something that someone can (apparently) actually use.

(On a side note, I also gave away a Belkin iPod FM transmitter -- dozens of responses to that one -- and I sold those two floating shelves for $15 total. From posting to pick up, all three items were gone within four hours. Craigslist victory!)

Now I've freed up some space in a closet, helped someone out, and I can sleep at night knowing that my laptop is (hopefully) not going to wind up in a landfill in Asia, leaking chemicals into the water supply.

Swapping floating shelves

Earlier this winter, during the Blizzard of 2010, I wrote about replacing an old, dilapidated bookshelf in the dining room with a nicer-looking espresso-finish bookshelf from Target.

I still had these floating shelves from our home's previous owners installed above the bookshelf. They clearly do not match.

So, a couple weeks ago it was time to find some replacements. I decided to make the purchase at this time because a Target Sunday circular lured me in with its promise of $8 floating shelves. Eight dollars -- sign me up! Of course, in the store, the $8 special shelves were clearly sub-par and particularly small for what I needed.

I went with these two 35" long x 8" wide by 2" high shelves in espresso finish. I paid $25 each at Target. These shelves are much deeper than our previous shelves, that are only 3.5" wide. This gives me greater options for decorating the shelves.

Right now, though, I've left the original items on the shelves, for lack of both time and money at this moment, especially after booking our huge European vacation. Even though we've been saving money for the trip for a couple years, it is still a lot of money to fork over at once, you know? Perhaps I will fill these shelves with treasures from our travels! At least for now all the furniture in our dining room (dining table and chairs, wine rack, bookshelf and floating shelves) are all the same espresso finish.

Top shelf

Bottom shelf

Side view

Before

and after...a little better, now that everything matches!

Now, if only someone would buy the old shelves I put on Craigslist. They are in perfect condition, no scratches or any other problems, and they are actually better quality than the ones I bought at Target (they are much heavier), so I listed them for $10 each. I got a few hits, but so far no one has come out to get them. Such is the way with Craigslist, I suppose. I did manage to sell our old hose reel cart that we no longer need, and a nice man who found us through Craigslist came by with $10 to pick that up, so that's a score of 1-1 right now.

Want to buy these? I've got two of them! (36" long, 3.5" wide, 2.25" high)

Vacuum repair and faith in humanity

About two weeks after I raved about all our great finds on Craigslist, including our Dyson vacuum cleaner, it stopped working, right as Matt was tidying up before his book club meeting at our house. (Yes, both Matt and I participate in book clubs...separate book clubs....separate all-female book clubs, with Matt being the exceptional male member.)

The Dyson was making a horrible noise and generally not doing its one job as a vacuum cleaner. It sucked, or rather, it stopped sucking.

Matt got on the phone with Dyson, grabbed some tools and dismantled the vacuum, while the person at Dyson walked him through the repair process. Mid-call Matt asked me to come downstairs to see if my tiny hands could get to some tiny vacuum-cleaner parts. I failed, and we scratched our heads as we felt like we could not follow simple directions, and the guy on the phone kept saying, "All you have to do is...it should be right in front of you." We should just return all our college degrees.

So Matt called back and got a different Dyson whiz. This is always a good rule to follow when dealing with any form of customer service in which you are not getting your way. And, true to form, by dealing with another person we got another set of answers. Turns out our Dyson model (DC-17 Allergen originally purchased in May 2008) had been recalled because of a problem with the belt, the same problem we were having, and the reason why we were unable to do the repair ourselves (this also made us feel less dumb).

The reason we didn't know about the recall? We weren't contacted because we aren't the vacuum cleaner's original owners. Enter problem number 2.

The lady on the phone told us we could take the vacuum to a repair shop and have it fixed free of charge because it's under the five-year warranty. But the warranty is nontransferable and she said they wouldn't take it. She said, "You could see if the original owner is willing to get it repaired." Then she probably chuckled to herself, "Good luck with that." This did not stop us.

Matt archives everything he gets in Gmail. He archived his emails with the guy who sold us our Dyson on Craigslist, lovely Howard. So Matt calls Howard. Shockingly, Howard returns Matt's voicemail. Then even more shockingly, lovely Howard is nice enough to agree to call Dyson himself, complain of the problem, and put the gears in motion for the repair.

Yesterday while Matt was out running errands he picked up our Dyson from the repair shop, and I am pleased to report the vacuum cleaner is functioning even better than it did before. Now, intense vacuuming is about to commence.

Lovely Howard, you are a rare gem of Craigslist. May you be blessed with many perfectly functioning appliances for the rest of your life.

If that doesn't restore your faith in humanity, I don't know what will.

Tip 15: Craigslist

It's a snow day, and the perfect time for a team blog! Matt will be cowriting with me today because in our house he is really the king of Craigslist. Often I will say I'd like to buy something, and then Matt looks on Craiglist, and by that afternoon, we are the proud owners of a new...well, more on what we've found later. How does Craigslist relate to organization? Because...

Tip 15: Craigslist will help you find what you're looking for if you're willing to give it time.

Craigslist is a great place to:

1. Save money.

2. Save resources by repurchasing gently used items.

3. Get rid of items you no longer need.


Craigslist is not a great place to:

1. Save time. It requires patience to go through all those posts until you find exactly what you're looking for,  just like any type of consignment shopping. And, while I personally don't care about the way to Web site is set up, here's an interesting article from Wired titled Why Craigslist is Such a Mess.

2. Avoid annoying people. Yes, there are people there out to scam you, so you have to stay vigilant. Only accept cash when selling an item, and be ready to pay in cash for anything you plan to purchase. Meet people whenever possible in neutral, public locations (we've made many a Craigslist transaction across the street from our house in the Wegmans parking lot). Also, people will send you an e-mail saying they're interested in the item, but then they won't follow up with you, or they might say they're going to come by to pick something up, and they'll never show up. When we sell items, we sell to the first person who will pick it up.


Here's what we've found for free on Craigslist:

1.This Pottery Barn sofa

2. and this matching loveseat. All the pillows were separate purchases from World Market and Pier 1 Imports. This sofa-loveseat combo freebie also came with a TV, but now that we have two plasma TVs, the free guy is sitting in Matt's parents' basement.

3. These JBL surround sound speakers (five speakers plus a subwoofer). The funny story behind this freebie is that the person who posted it on Craigslist wrote that his wife was going to divorce him if he didn't get these speakers out their basement that day. We were happy to save a marriage.

4. This mattress, box spring and bed frame. The quilt is from Bed Bath and Beyond. Disclaimer: I know people, myself included, can be weirded out by someone else's mattress, but this one came from a mansion in McLean, Va., so I didn't find it questionable (and, if you're not willing to sleep in a bed others have slept in, you probably shouldn't stay in a hotel).

5. My roommate Christine (best find ever!)

Here are things we bought in great condition and at significantly reduced prices on Craigslist:

(Note: We've been buying items from Craigslist since 2003, so all prices listed here reflect the retail price at the time of purchase and the actual amount we paid at the time.)


1. This Dyson vacuum cleaner. Retail price: $500. Our price: $200. Its original owner had it for less than six months, and he still had the original receipt to prove it. Apparently he is obsessed with vacuum cleaners and upgrades at least once a year. And I thought I was a neat freak!

2. This Canon PowerShot camera. Retail price: $250 (at the time of purchase). Our price: $150. Actually, this is the second one of these that we've gotten. The first one fell through a hole in Matt's pocket, never to be seen again.

3. This IKEA TV stand. Retail price: ~$70. Our price: $30. IKEA no longer appears to sell this item. DIY (do-it-yourself) idea: I was getting annoyed with seeing our collection of DVDs, our DVR and our wireless router through the windows in this TV stand, so I taped two pieces of parchment paper inside the windows...and presto! No more clutter.

Below, detail work.

And, below, a view of the parchment paper from the inside, plus Doc, who insisted on getting in the photo shoot.

4. Mario Kart for Wii, plus one car wheel, in its original packaging. Retail price: $50. Our price: $40. Apparently a father bought this for his daughter, and she decided after playing it once that she did not like it.

 
5. This Weber gas grill. Retail price: $700 (in 2005). Our price: $100.

 6. This Samsung black laser printer, plus a full toner cartridge and packet of paper. Retail price for printer: $60 (approximately, via amazon). Retail price for toner: $25. Our price for all three items: $30

7. Apple Airport Express Retail price: $100. Our price: $20.

8. An Apple Powerbook. Retail price: $2000 (in 2003). Our price: $1400 (in 2003). It has since been resold on Craigslist.

Here are things we have successfully sold on Craiglist:
1. Several cell phones, most recently our old Samsung phones for $50 each.
2. The Apple Powerbook, that was barely functioning, that someone still wanted for $50.
3. A couple digital cameras (we had decided to upgrade...twice).
4. Old stereo speakers.
5. A film SLR camera for $100 (to help fund the purchase of a new Canon Digital Rebel Xti).
6. Lots of books, which we gave away for free.

Craigslist fail:
Craigslist doesn't always work out. We tried selling our Hoover Windtunnel vacuum cleaner that was just a couple years old, but no one bit. So, we donated it to Matt's parents. Also, despite constant Craigslist posts (among countless other methods of searching) we never found that lost dog Shelby. So as to not end on a sad note, nine months after Shelby's disappearance be adopted adorable, loving Doc.

Next up...why you should get a Droid.