Funny Fridays...
We'll try to keep the funnies related to thrifting, but I make NO guarantees. I do promise, however, not to embarrass anyone other than ourselves!
Last week, maybe the week before, Amanda found two twin bed frames at a thrift store - sturdy, metal frames. They cost her a little more than she would've liked to spend, but she has two little boys who are ready to graduate out of their toddler beds... She put them aside until she could find inexpensive beds. (We plan to re-decorate their bedroom at Christmas, so she was in no hurry, really.)
Earlier this week, she found two twin beds, for FREE, listed on a local Facebook yard sale group. She chatted with the extremely nice lady, looked at pictures of the beds, which looked to be in excellent condition, and decided to go for it. We drove the 25 miles, one way, to pick up these beautiful beds, met with E, and proceeded to load the box springs & mattresses into my Explorer. Wouldn't you know it, the frames (standard, metal ones, with no head/footboards) wouldn't fit. No problem, we moved them out of E's spare room into the carport, and made arrangements to return for the frames after unloading the mattresses at home.
After leaving, with my car full of mattresses, I thought out loud that we "should've" taken the frames first, dropped them off at a nearby thrift store (remember, we don't NEED the frames, because of the frames she bought before...), then we wouldn't have had to drive ALL THE WAY home & back. Oh well, we're loaded & on the road, let's just do it. So, the mattresses are Serta Perfect Sleepers, pillow top - they are in excellent condition & we're very happy with them as we drop them off at home. We returned for the frames & dropped them at one of our favorite local thrift stores on the way home. I mean, after all, there's no GOOD reason to haul them home & store them until we decide they're in the way, THEN donate them. I tell you, we felt efficient!
The kids are totally jazzed at this point because they're getting their new big, big, big boy beds. We cleared out the toddler beds, brought in the beautiful, sturdy, metal frames, and put one together. (During this time, the 2 year old decides to try to climb on the end of the frame, falls & bashes his face on one of the supports, poor baby...he's our little daredevil). While Amanda tends to the little one, the 4 year old helps me bring the box spring & mattress to the room...The look on his face when we discovered that the box spring WAS TOO BIG FOR THE FRAME was pitiful. He asked me, "Auntie, why doesn't it fit?" OHHHHH, that is an excellent question! Auntie whips out her fabric measuring tape & measures the frame...75", standard twin length, hmmm. Next, we measure the box spring. Yep, it's 80", twin extra long!! GRRR.
OK, it's not the end of the world, but we have NO frames for these beautiful mattresses & no mattresses for the frames we want to use. We put the toddler beds back together & decide to deal with it later, because it's just annoying at this point. Then, I realize we've given these "twin" frames to a thrift store who will try to sell them as standard "twin" frames. I called them up & explained the frames were extra long, and that they should make sure to label them as such, and I apologized for the confusion. We laughed a bit, at my expense, then the very nice lady from the store offered the frames back to us - they hadn't even moved them from the receiving bay because we'd only left them an hour before. I was NOT going to ask to have them back, BUT since she offered, I very graciously accepted & made a third trip to town that day...(we promised to donate other things in return for un-donating the frames!)
The FREE mattresses (and correctly sized frames) still only cost us about $20 in gasoline, which is an amazing deal. If you include lessons learned from this situation, the deal is even better!
Lesson learned: ALWAYS verify that a bed is the "standard measurement" for the size advertised. IF the seller/donor isn't certain, ALWAYS take your own measuring tape -- and USE it!
(We're not sure what we're going to do with the frames Amanda purchased earlier, but we're holding out for a good deal on some standard twin sized mattresses! After they're located, she'll give the twin, extra long beds & frames to someone who needs them!)
Happy thrifting ~ find the funny in life! Always remember to be willing to laugh at yourself AND learn from your mistakes!
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