… fer Pete’s sake.\u00a0\u00a0 Cool and damp in Houston today.\u00a0\u00a0 Some places got rain last night.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t think we will\/did.\u00a0 Thursday was hot and oppressively humid, and today will likely be similar.<\/p>\n
I did home stuff in the morning, but did pickups in the afternoon.\u00a0 Did a grand circle around Houston in fact, starting out heading north on the Beltway, swinging east, then south and finally closing the circle by coming back up through downtown and heading west.\u00a0 Ok, not quite a circle.\u00a0 Lots of driving.<\/p>\n
While I was doing pickups I hit one thrift store (the Deseret Industries mentioned a day ago) where I got a pair of tactical shorts and a DVD of Disney’s Swiss Family Robinson.\u00a0 I love the book and loved the movie.\u00a0 I hope it holds up to my adult eye.\u00a0 I always swing through the store if I’m in that part of town.<\/p>\n
And after my last pick up (by Hobby Airport) I swung by the Habitat for Humanity reStore (which I try to do when I’m in that <\/em> part of town).\u00a0 Turns out they had a bunch of doors that will be\u00a0 a very nice upgrade to the BOL.\u00a0 New interior doors were on the list, just not very high.\u00a0 New door knobs were going on the old doors as they got primed and painted (got a bag of knobs at the goodwill).\u00a0\u00a0 It’s amazing the change in appearance that getting rid of the flat builder grade (cheap) doors and gold doorknobs makes.\u00a0 Upgrading doors and door hardware is straightforward and can be done over time and on a budget.\u00a0\u00a0 It’s great bang for buck,\u00a0 for updating an older property, especially if the original doors were cheap and nothing special.\u00a0 Buying them new would have been over $800, with another $300 for knobs.\u00a0\u00a0 Got lucky the reStore had some cheap.\u00a0 This particular reStore almost always has doors.\u00a0 I’ve bought a bunch there.<\/p>\n Secondary market, meatspace.\u00a0\u00a0 If I needed the doors right away, there are other places I’d have looked besides the big box stores.\u00a0\u00a0 There are places that just sell doors, and sell manufacture overstock, closeouts, blems, etc.\u00a0 There are architectural salvage stores (where I went to replace a door and some windows on my rent house, which was built in the ’20s or 30’s.)\u00a0 There are other places to look as well.\u00a0\u00a0 KNOWING those places, that they even exist, is part of what I’ve been encouraging people to do.\u00a0 Start participating in the secondary economy now, while it is voluntary.\u00a0\u00a0 Swapmeets, bodegas, discount stores, farmer’s markets, yard sales, thrifts, estate and garage sales, and person to person selling are bound to increase as traditional sellers have supply issues or staffing issues, or just can’t pay the bills and close their doors.<\/p>\n Get some practice buying in places that mostly take cash, that don’t have a constant inventory, that might have\u00a0 ‘irregular’ supply chains… (not stolen, I’m not advocating that), but if things go all splodey in the economy, informal economies grow.\u00a0 The line between ‘informal’, ‘grey market’, and ‘black market’ might blur and knowing what is ‘normal’ and what is not can help you avoid any issues.\u00a0 Or seek them out if it comes to that.<\/p>\n Business always finds a way to get done.\u00a0\u00a0 Become familiar with some of the alternative ways…<\/p>\n And the cash you save will help you stack things higher!<\/p>\n nick<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" … fer Pete’s sake.\u00a0\u00a0 Cool and damp in Houston today.\u00a0\u00a0 Some places got rain last night.\u00a0\u00a0 I don’t think we will\/did.\u00a0 Thursday was hot and oppressively humid, and today will likely be similar.<\/p>\n I did home stuff in the morning, but did pickups in the afternoon.\u00a0 Did a grand circle around Houston in fact, starting out heading north on the Beltway, swinging east, then south and finally closing the circle by coming back up through downtown and heading west.\u00a0<\/p>\n