My Craiglist deals and trip to Ikea!

I haven’t blogged in over a week! I have so much I WANT to blog about but haven’t been able to. The CFS is kicking my butt lately and I haven’t felt well enough to do much of anything. Yesterday, I was feeling a little better and forced myself to go to Seattle so I could pick up some things I bought for the scrap room off of Craigslist.com and of course, go to IKEA! lol

Today, I’m on the couch and cannot MOVE! Ikea is just too big and too much for my body, when I over do something, I pay for it later. This really bums me out because I found out about a bunch of thrift stores in the Seattle area and wanted to go to them ALL and take my son shopping for some clothes (debatable about WHERE, but that’s another subject altogether!). I was hoping to do everything in one trip but ended up not leaving Ikea until 9pm!

Surprise $Money$, Shopping in Seattle, My Great Deals from Craigslist and what I’ve learned About Ikea

I got an unexpected check this month (Thank you God/Universe!) and since I had some extra money, I spent my time on the couch searching for deals for my scrap room and storage, etc. I’m happy to report that I got some great deals!

First, I bought two Alex Drawer Units from a sweet lady on Craigslist for $30.00 each. They are an older version that Ikea doesn’t sell anymore but in my opinion they are even better than the newer ones! They have so many storage options and even though they are the “dreaded” WHITE (lol), they will fit under my countertop! (Which as you will remember was installed too low). New Alex drawer units are $118.00 each here in Seattle. (I think you can click on the images to see them bigger)

She also had some Fira boxes that she had already painted and sold me four of them for $30.00! The top and bottom boxes have 9 drawers and the two middle boxes have 5 drawers. They are $14.99 each new (I think they are 19.99 here) and I don’t have to put them together! (Although it’s never been hard for me it’s less work!)

I am not sure if I’m going to repaint them or not, I like the black and white ones but the other ones don’t match my “decor” (which doesn’t yet exist except in my mind lol) so I may end up redecorating some of them but they are in great shape and are so sturdy!

My last Craigslist deal was from a young college aged student who sold me a Helmer Silver Drawer Unit on casters for $15.00! It is like brand new and I don’t have to put it together! They cost $49.99 at our Ikea but are $39.99 online.

Look what I bought at Ikea!

Rajtan Spice Jars (lots of them!) for organizing my embellishments

Fredrik Drafting Table (makes a good laptop desk when you are sitting on a couch (LOL)

Expedit ( 4 x 2) in black/brown

Rill casters (set of four) to put on the bottom of my new Expedit

A box of cinnamon rolls (LOL)

Summera Computer Holder (I hope it works with my “countertop” desk!)

Doggie Tail Wall Hook for my dog. They have this in many colors!

Grundtal Wall Rack Dish Drainer – Normally $24.99, it was on clearance for just $5.99 – it is so cool for small kitchens! There is no link or picture of this on the Ikea website but you can read more about it here. You can hang it directly on the wall and not onto a rail. It folds up and down which is great for us!

Dimpa Red Bag – this is awesome and so cheap! It’s great for the ..stores that are no longer offering plastic bags (becoming more and more frequent where I live; especially our local library). My cute little niece, Dakota is playing spokesmodel in the picture! She’s so cute!

An “unnamed” magazine holder (I took the sticker off and this, too is not listed on the website.) It’s silver and made out of metal. Again, my niece “modeling” the magazine holder!

A vase and two pretty daisy flowers 🙂

Two sets of Lattsam Nursing & Change Table Baskets– (they come in a set of three). If you are wondering why I bought these when my kids are almost 12 and 16 1/2, it is because they hang on the wall and I’m going to hang them on my bathroom wall so that the kids won’t forget where the garbage can is when it’s time to throw something away or empty it! Also, inside each can are two other baskets. As you can see in the picture below, another small one hooks to a wall (I can think of at least 20 things to do with these!) and another shallower one that fits inside both of the others. I’m sure I can find something to put in them! LOL

Dignitet Curtain Wire & Two packages of Dignitet curtain rings with clips

Two sets of Deka curtain wire with clips included (cheaper version of the Dignitet curtain wire.

The rest of the stuff is just misc. boring parts for other Ikea products I have either bought previously or picked up at thrift stores. (I have a lot of second-hand Ikea stuff!)

Did I mention that I got $50.00 off my purchase at Ikea? There is a coupon promotion going on right now where you send a text message to Ikea (Seattle) and they send you back a code. When you get to Ikea, you scan the code from your phone to a kiosk and choose a coupon and print it out. How awesome is that?

What I learned about Ikea in Seattle/Renton

I realized that some of the prices in the Seattle/Renton Ikea are different than the Ikea website (for example: the 4×2 Expedit is 89.99 online but costs 99.99 here). When I asked the saleslady about this she informed me that the Seattle and Atlanta Ikea stores are “different” (I’m not sure what that means but I’ll find out).

Also, while returning two shelves and a shoe rack that didn’t fit from my last trip, I was “discussing” with the customer service lady (some might say whining lol) how I wished I could order online, she told me that the Seattle/Renton Ikea offers phone orders and delivery on ALL of their products! AND the delivery is much cheaper than Ikea’s regular shipping fees. They charge actual postage (ground or UPS0 plus a $7.00 order fee.

That is a great news! Currently, if you want to order from Ikea’s website, you can only order certain products (usually big or expensive items) and the shipping charges are so high that they can exceed the price of your products! For those who live too far from Ikea to make the drive, the only choice is to buy used online or to buy on ebay for a sickening price.

Ikea on eBay

As I mentioned, when you buy an Ikea product on ebay, you are most likely getting ripped off. For example: I looked for Ikea Rajtan Spice Jars which sell at Ikea for $2.99 for a pack of four. The price on eBay was $5.99 plus $8.95 for shipping! So to order from them, you’d pay $14.94 compared to $2.99 at an Ikea store! How outrageous is that???!!!? Try it yourself; click here to see the search results on ebay for “Ikea Rajtan Spice Jars”. ‘Nuff said!
My trip from Bremerton to Renton

If I drive (which I physically cannot do because I can’t stay awake when driving), I have to take into account the fact that even though any map search online will tell you that Seattle is only about 12 miles from me, that’s not entirely true. If I were to swim straight over to Seattle (Which I can see from here), it is probably about 12 miles to Ikea. If I drive, you can see from the map below, I have to drive around the water which according to Mapquest is 66.58 miles and takes 1 hour 19 minutes to drive (one way).

If I take the ferry it’s much easier on both me and my vehicle but it’s not cheap. I get a discount because of my disability parking permit so I paid $8.95 from Bremerton to Seattle. My son was in the car with me but he was free from Bremerton to Seattle. On the way home however, he wasn’t so I had to pay another $8.95 for me and $5.40 for him (he’s 16 so he’s discounted too). So the ferry fees for us (discounted) were $23.30. To access the Washington State ferry schedule and fares click here.

Other than getting lost several times, listening to my teenage son complain the entire time and leave me alone in Ikea while he SLEPT on the couches in front of the As-Is section (that I asked him to monitor and call me when something new was brought in LOL) and not being able to buy everything I wanted, it was a good trip and I’m pleased with what I bought.

It’s time for me to stop blogging and catch up on email and my favorite blogs updates! I’ll keep you up to date on the progress of my scrap room with pictures so come back soon! Thanks for visiting! If you leave me a message with your blog, I’d love to read it! I love reading everyone else’s blogs.