Freebie mania

What is it about the human mind (or is it only women?) that works overtime once it hears the words: Freebie, Discount, Sale, Clearance?

I for one, perk up. "Ah! To think that those retailers have been upping the prices in the blink of an eye, and trying to hoodwink us into buysing overpriced crap. And now, we get them at a discount? So, even the discount must be more profitable than the actual cost of them making the item. Wow, how overpriced are things anyways?"

I LOVE freebies and half-priced stuff. I think they're cool. And though I'm a Monica-style freak about my living spaces, a freebie sure sounds lovely. UNTIL... until I get the Craigslist experience that is. The second hand couches, which have been through who-knows-what. The end tables that have been glued together by the previous owners only to fall apart once you put them in your living room. The itching and scratching that starts once you pull the slipcovers off (they were hideous to being with!). The musty smell that shows through only after one month of your owning that "insanely comfortable overstuffed" chair thats a "must-have".

The people who do put up these CL posts know how to use their words for sure. And when you turn up at their doorstep, you see the "bright retro yellow must-have couch" is a sagging, ink-stained, heavy-as-hell couch from the 70s. And that "beautiful shabby-chic wicker accent chair" is nothing but shabby, forget the chic.

I've learnt my lesson. I'm getting rid of those two couches I got this time when I moved, and driving to IKEA and buying that damned futon. Or ordering something online, if thats what it comes to. I am DONE with the freebie-phase. I'm going to channel all my OCD energies into being repulsed by those couches, and marching over to buy a new, un-used, no-pet-hairs, not-on-display piece of furniture. Thats that.