When I was newly married and lived in Portland, money was tight. We were remodeling the kitchen on the pay as you go plan. We had two little girls that deserved a full time mom. They got the best one anyone could ask for.
With only one income, we needed to make the money stretch. I was pretty good at buying vehicles that needed repair and fixing them up. Some of these I kept to drive myself, but, mostly resold them for extra money.
I did the same thing with boats. My first boat was a square ended, wooden canoe. I bought it for fifteen dollars. I spent very little on caulking and sandpaper before I painted it a forest green. The paint was given to me and I sold it for forty dollars.
Another money stretching measure was not spending money on entertainment. I am not saying that we were not entertained, exactly. All I am saying is that we did not call what we did for entertainment, "entertainment". Are you confused yet? I'll try to explain.
My accomplice in this was always my brother-in-law, Dick. We were regulars at the Killingsworth Auction. We rarely spent much money. Like I said, we did not have much money. I think at that time, Dick was driving his Volkswagen Van, pulling a trailer, picking up discarded glass and taking it to recycling centers.
So, we would get there and sit high in the bleachers. We usually smuggled something in to snack on and drink. You know, bread and water! Okay, it wasn't quite that bad. Yes, it was actually soda crackers and diluted Kool-Aid. Sorry.
The expensive stuff sold first. You know, like dining room tables made from real fake oak. Or, Bedroom sets. You had to have a math degree to figure out how to bid on stuff like this. You see, the auctioneer would always count up the number of pieces in the set. Say there were six side chairs, two captain chairs and one table. The auctioneer would say "we're sellin' this by the piece and nine times the money". Every so often, someone would get confused with this and not want the set when they understood the total cost. The auctioneer would have to offer it up for auction again. We would look around at other knowledgeable attendees and shake our head in mock disbelief. Now, that is entertainment.
Well the best was yet to come. When the crowd started to thin out, the prices the auctioneer would get for expensive items started to drop. No problem for him. He would always have a big bunch of boxes of junk stored out of sight in the back room. The helpers would start dragging these boxes out front and lining them up on the front of the stage. That would be our signal to move to the front row. Dick and I would put away our contraband and perch as close to these boxes as we could.
Now the auctioneer would say he had to move this stuff and for everyone to be quick with their bids. Dick and I would nudge each other to let the other know about something we saw in a particular box. As they would hurry through these boxes, they would sometimes fail to show all the contents from the bottom of a box. If it was something valuable, we would likely know and the ones in the back would not know. This was the time to pounce.
Say, we believed the drill in the bottom of the box was worth five bucks and the contents that they held up for viewing was worth another three, one of us would open the box bidding at fifty cents. We always felt that set the tone for what others would bid. We believed that they expected us to know the value since we could see it very well. In that case the box would likely sell for a couple bucks. Other times, when we did not want something, we would start the bidding closer to the real value. On these, we would stop bidding after it was opened, so as not to get stuck with something we had paid full price for.
Some times we could come up with a box of stuff valued at ten times the price we paid. Rarely did we end up with a box worth less than we paid.
When ever my dear friend, Dick, the Red Lion Man, and I reminisce, we often talk fondly of those Killingsworth Auction evenings. Ahh the memories. Right, Dick?
Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'
With only one income, we needed to make the money stretch. I was pretty good at buying vehicles that needed repair and fixing them up. Some of these I kept to drive myself, but, mostly resold them for extra money.
I did the same thing with boats. My first boat was a square ended, wooden canoe. I bought it for fifteen dollars. I spent very little on caulking and sandpaper before I painted it a forest green. The paint was given to me and I sold it for forty dollars.
Another money stretching measure was not spending money on entertainment. I am not saying that we were not entertained, exactly. All I am saying is that we did not call what we did for entertainment, "entertainment". Are you confused yet? I'll try to explain.
My accomplice in this was always my brother-in-law, Dick. We were regulars at the Killingsworth Auction. We rarely spent much money. Like I said, we did not have much money. I think at that time, Dick was driving his Volkswagen Van, pulling a trailer, picking up discarded glass and taking it to recycling centers.
So, we would get there and sit high in the bleachers. We usually smuggled something in to snack on and drink. You know, bread and water! Okay, it wasn't quite that bad. Yes, it was actually soda crackers and diluted Kool-Aid. Sorry.
The expensive stuff sold first. You know, like dining room tables made from real fake oak. Or, Bedroom sets. You had to have a math degree to figure out how to bid on stuff like this. You see, the auctioneer would always count up the number of pieces in the set. Say there were six side chairs, two captain chairs and one table. The auctioneer would say "we're sellin' this by the piece and nine times the money". Every so often, someone would get confused with this and not want the set when they understood the total cost. The auctioneer would have to offer it up for auction again. We would look around at other knowledgeable attendees and shake our head in mock disbelief. Now, that is entertainment.
Well the best was yet to come. When the crowd started to thin out, the prices the auctioneer would get for expensive items started to drop. No problem for him. He would always have a big bunch of boxes of junk stored out of sight in the back room. The helpers would start dragging these boxes out front and lining them up on the front of the stage. That would be our signal to move to the front row. Dick and I would put away our contraband and perch as close to these boxes as we could.
Now the auctioneer would say he had to move this stuff and for everyone to be quick with their bids. Dick and I would nudge each other to let the other know about something we saw in a particular box. As they would hurry through these boxes, they would sometimes fail to show all the contents from the bottom of a box. If it was something valuable, we would likely know and the ones in the back would not know. This was the time to pounce.
Say, we believed the drill in the bottom of the box was worth five bucks and the contents that they held up for viewing was worth another three, one of us would open the box bidding at fifty cents. We always felt that set the tone for what others would bid. We believed that they expected us to know the value since we could see it very well. In that case the box would likely sell for a couple bucks. Other times, when we did not want something, we would start the bidding closer to the real value. On these, we would stop bidding after it was opened, so as not to get stuck with something we had paid full price for.
Some times we could come up with a box of stuff valued at ten times the price we paid. Rarely did we end up with a box worth less than we paid.
When ever my dear friend, Dick, the Red Lion Man, and I reminisce, we often talk fondly of those Killingsworth Auction evenings. Ahh the memories. Right, Dick?
Kayak Bandit '(*!*)'
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