We love getting a deal

Yesterday was a good day for getting a bargain, and we do love getting a bargain!

We hardly ever buy something brand new, with the number one reason being the 13% added tax that we have have to pay on everything here in Ontario. And if we do buy something brand new, it has to be a great deal, like the camera we bought in November. And even then, we bought it in the U.S.!

We have a little car that currently has snow tires on. Last years summer tires were done, so they were disposed of when we put the snow tires on in November. So we needed new summer tires for this spring, and I also wanted to try and get some used wheel rims so that I could do the changeover myself, rather than having to pay a tire shop twice a year to switch the rubber around. So I found a deal online for some almost new BF Goodrich tires already on rims that are from a car the same as ours, for $250 cash! The only problem was that it was a 240 km (150 mile) drive each way to go get them. So I made a deal with the girl (sight unseen) for $200, and we went and picked them up yesterday. We got there and had a look at what we were buying...the tires are as new. She said she used them for a couple of months. So I was very happy with that, but one wheel rim had a bit of a curb dent on one edge, and it may not balance properly, so she said I could take everything for $175...still a great deal for 4 tires on rims! Buying brand new would have cost at least $600. ***Update...I used a big sledge hammer, and that one slightly bent rim is now perfect!***

Our other purchase yesterday was another solar panel for Sherman. I had mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I wouldn't mind picking up another solar panel sometime before we head to Mexico this winter, but only if it was a deal. Well, I was surfing the net on Saturday, and happened across a brand new 80 watt panel exactly the same as the other two that we already have. It was up for auction on eBay. I've never used eBay before, so I did the research to figure out how to bid, and learned everything involved. Long story short, I won the auction yesterday, with a bid of $163 US. Then, I have to pay shipping costs of $40 on top of that, plus the Canadian exchange rate. But even so, I ended up paying a total of $219 CAN ($203 US) for this panel. For some reason, solar panels are very expensive in Canada. I could not find this panel for under $500 CAN, and even in the US, the best I could find it for was $399. So I'm very happy with this deal, and I'm going to have it shipped to a UPS store along our route south in early March so I don't have to pay international shipping rate to Canada.