Out with the old sofa...

This is obviously not a picture of my apartment.  It looks too clean and barren.  But it represents how I feel, now that the sofa that I've owned for 25 years is out of the apartment.

But first....

Last night was another (almost) sleepless night, where I couldn't fall asleep to save my life.  Something was preventing me from relaxing enough to drift off to sleep.  And if I had a container of zzzQuil, I would have mega-dosed on it just to fall out.  So I knew that I was going back to bed once the junk haulers left and try to nap a little bit.

I don't know if any of my readers have had the need to use Junk King's removal service.  This is a franchised operation similar to 1-800-GOT-JUNK, where one identifies the junk to be removed, and shortly thereafter, it's gone.  The regional franchisee for the operation runs a side business in selling second hand goods and estate sales - Revivals.  It's a nice synergy (I hate that word, as it is overused to justify many corporate mergers) of two complementary businesses.

This morning, 3 men came to remove my sofa - at exactly 10 am (as scheduled).  I knew that getting the sofa out of the apartment would take a lot of effort, but I wasn't letting the cat out of the bag.  By the time they figured out how to get the sofa out, they had to remove the sofa's stump legs with a pry-bar and sledge hammer, then removing the entryway door to get the sofa out.  (It wasn't this hard to get the sofa into my place 25 years ago, as I only remember having to remove the door.  But I digress.)  Once they got the sofa out the door, they were gone in 5 minutes.  I paid the bill, thanked the 3 men, and then went back to my bed for a nap.

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Waking up at 2 pm, I knew that this would not be a day spent in Marian mode.  I had a co-op board meeting scheduled for 6 pm, and needed to present as Mario for that.  So, I reluctantly got dressed as Mario and took care of some chores before the board meeting.

The board meeting went quickly, and I was able to go out afterward to pick up some outlet extenders at Lowe's  One problem, these aren't the type one permantly attaches to the wall outlet.  So I will have to get different ones tomorrow.

I dilly dallied, and it saved me money!

 

RQS and I have visited the furniture store several times, and we've seen them selling the above sofa in the store for $2,699.  If I had bought it then, I'd  have had a net cost of roughly $3,500 after furniture delivery (and removal) charges, furniture protection add-on, and taxes.  Today, I saw the following information on the store's website for the sofa:

The $780 savings by buying now also result in an approximate $60 savings in sales taxes.  It's probably best that I drop the hammer on this sofa now than later.  However, this will likely force me to be in Mario mode one day this weekend - and I hate doing so.  But to save this kind of money, why not?  However, I now have to arrange the removal of my old sofa and the delivery of my new sofa within a 2 week period.  AARGH!  I hate deadlines, but it is something I have to deal with if I want to be sure that I can get this deal.

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Dilly-Dallying doesn't always save me money, but that's OK.  I've been seeing a car in my price range at a dealership 2 hours away from me.  It's almost too good to be true.  Will I jump on making a deal?  No.  I may visit and ask about the car.  But if they aren't interested in selling the car at the advertised price (without excessive markup), then the car will go to someone else.

TCL says that I am a little too frugal.  But I am careful, as I can't afford to waste funds I can't make up by earning a salary anymore.  So, it will be a hard decision for me when I finally drop the hammer and buy a new car.  At least, I'll have the money in my bank until I'm ready to spend it....

How can I get rid of bulky items?

 

After a decade of forced retirement, I've decided to replace much of the furniture in my apartment.  For example, my sofa is worn out and will be replaced soon.  I have three chests in the bedroom that I plan to replace with two new ones sometime in the next couple of years, and I will likely replace the entertainment center, coffee table and end tables in the living room as well. 

But to do this, I must figure out how to get rid of the bulky furniture.  I have several options for getting rid of the sofa, and none of them are that great, as they will cost me money.  The coffee and end tables can be taken apart for disposal.  Even the chests in the bedroom can be slid down the stairs and "walked" to the dumpster area for bulk pick up.  But the entertainment center poses a problem.  It weighs 450 pounds when empty. and it took 3 people to get it into my apartment.  I will need help getting it out of the apartment, and will likely need to pay a good price to remove it.

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With the above being said, there is another headache I have to deal with - annoying salespeople.  For the most part, I've found people working at furniture stores as of late to be too close to used car salesmen for comfort. All of them tend to hover around, not giving the customer enough breathing room to examine the merchandise in peace.  If you give them ANY information, they will being up the various financing terms, as well as how good their delivery process is.  But, not all of them know their product well, as was the case of one sales person we met about a month ago.  

On a hot day in July, we decided to cross the river and look at some furniture.  Entering the store, we met a fellow from the Indian subcontinent who proceeded to follow us around the store, wherever we wanted to browse.  Shortly after we mentioned what we were looking for, but after a few minutes of browsing, he tried to find an opening to sell us a mattress.  (I need a new one too, but I'm planning on going to Saatva for one designed for fat people like me. But I digress.)  When we sat on an expensive leather covered sofa, he extolled the virtues of the sofa and its construction, not knowing that we knew of another sofa made by the same people with the same frame.  He stated that this was the only one of its kind, not knowing that we knew otherwise.  He was very insistent in trying to make a sale that day, but I brushed him off.  But this wasn't the end of him.

About a week later, I got a call from the salesman.  He sounded upset that I didn't call him back to finalize a sale.  Luckily, the answering machine took the call.  In a later conversation with RQS, I stated why he wasn't going to get the sale.  First, all my credit cards are in Mario's name and I met this man in Marian mode.  But, more important, was the fact that he didn't know his merchandise well enough. We had met a second salesman, this time with me in Mario mode, and he knew his stuff.  This is the person who will get the sale when I'm ready to drop the hammer.  Again, I digress.  This morning, the first salesman woke us up, hoping that we'd answer the land line to set a date for another appointment to close the deal.  Obviously, this won't happen anytime soon....

- - - - - -

The question remains...

How will I end up getting rid of the old sofa?

Rambling on a little....

 

When I have no urgent commitments for the day, I tend to do nothing.  Today, I did it well.  My energy levels usually don't start rising until the afternoon.  And then, it's often too late to do much of anything. This was my day today. With that being said, I still got around to doing a little reading - something I don't make enough time to do. 

One of the things I usually put off doing is laundry.  Most of us tend to put this task off until we have enough whites or colors to fill a basket, and do the laundry one load at a time.  Living in an apartment, I have to do the laundry within a certain time period during the day, and it's not convenient for me. So, it's a task I put off until I have no choice but to take care of it.  And that will be the first thing I do tomorrow.

Like many procrastinators, I tend to put off certain tasks that I hate doing.  In my case, it's dealing with people.  I have to figure out how to get rid of a sofa, and feel much more comfortable communicating with emails, than to pick up a phone and talk with a human.  (Could it be a fear of having "no" told to me?  Or, is it a simple case of ambivalence?  Who knows?)  I did make a call to the Salvation Army to see if they could accept a donation of my sofa, and if they could pick it up.  Unfortunately, their phone system has people call a central number, which then gets forwarded to a regional site - and that site was busy.  No provision was made to take a message.  Then, I sent an email to a local outlet of Habitat for Humanity to ask the same question .  And this time, I got a response - the person I need to reach won't be back until after the holiday.  Until I know how and when my sofa will leave this apartment, I can't buy its' replacement.  AARGH!!!!

Given everything, I shouldn't be in a rush to spend money.  I have bills coming in, and I shouldn't touch my 401k unless I need to do so.  At least, I have this option, where many people my age don't have my resources.  Right now, I have 4 known big ticket expenses to plan for:

1. New Car
2. New Sofa
3. New Mattress
4. Norway Cruise
   

Of these, I only plan to finance the car with a bank loan - everything else will be paid for out of current income or savings.  But, I won't get financing from a dealer.  Most can't be trusted as far as one can spit.  If I see anything questionable on the deal, I will walk away - as I did last year when a dealer in Goshen, NY decided to hide a bogus $900 charge in the contract. 

You'll notice that I've said nothing about my partner or being transgender.  As I've noted elsewhere, this blog chronicles my life. Being trans or having a partner are only parts of my life.  But I do take interest in current events involving the transgender community, such as Canada's recent advisory to those in the LGBTIQ community in regard to visiting the USA.  It's sad to know that our Northern Neighbor would protect my rights more than my country would protect mine....

I had less than no energy for most of the day - a short post

 

I have mentioned my problems getting up in the morning, but today was a doozy!  I ended up staying in bed well past 11:00 am, and still had no energy to get up when I awoke.  It wasn't until 1:00 pm when my body started to have any energy, and I knew that I had to get moving, or I wouldn't have anything to eat before our scheduled co-op board meeting.

With all of the above being said, I still had a productive day.  We had a successful co-op board meeting, and we were able to choose a vendor for some important work we need to have done for us.

- - - - - -

I'm grateful to be able to talk with the people on the co-op board, as they gave me a couple of good ideas on what I can do with my old sofa just before I buy its replacement.  The only problem is that I have to work to figure out how I will dispose of the sofa - and that will take time.