The Post In Which I Get A New Couch (and possibly a hernia) For Less Than $40!

So we’ve needed a new couch down here in our family room pretty much since we moved in.  We foolishly thought that it would just mostly be Mark & I down here since the girls have run of the entire upstairs, including the big living room.  We were wrong.  While Hal ventures down on occasion to make sure we’re all still here, Mad has spread out, as kids are wont to do, and now spends equal time between her room, the living room upstairs and down here in the little family room.

The only seating down here had been a tiny little love seat I bought for Mark when we were first dating.  I think I paid $25 for it, it was half off at Aunt Nellie’s Attic in Holden and a little rocker/recliner that he had before we met.  It quickly became apparent to us that 3 people on a love seat wasn’t going to work.  (No one wants to sit across the room in the little chair, I guess)  We’ve looked off and on for something else, but never in earnest.  The need to find something became a little more obvious over Christmas when we had Mark’s parents (love you guys!) here.  We have plenty of seating and a huge couch upstairs, but really no room for all of us to spread out down here.  So I started looking.

Obviously,  I’m not going to pay retail.  I don’t do retail.   Between Mark & I we belong to 20 or 30 different buy and sell groups on Facebook.  Occasionally we’d see something that didn’t look like it needed to be doused in gasoline and lit on fire interesting, but not often.  I had originally wanted a sectional, but they’re pretty thin on the ground unless you pay retail, which wasn’t going to happen.

Fast forward a couple of weeks to today.  I’m getting my Goodwill on in Brewer..by far my favorite Goodwill.  Much smaller, but I love the people that work there and I find The.  Best.  Stuff.  It’s like magic.  I almost always, without fail, find the specific item I’m looking for when I go in.   Need a pair of kids size 12 black leggings?  Got ’em.  Need a set of red and white nautical print curtains for the kitchen?  Of course they’re there.  It kind of freaks Maddy out how I always seem to find what we’re looking for when we go in.   The shopping force is strong in this one.  Anyhoo, I go in, walk straight to the back and there were two couches on the floor.  One circa 1979, gold floral print with a lot of wood trim.  Gold floral…did I mention that?  The other was…normal.  Dark green, microfiber, not a mark or speck on it.  Big, 3 seater, clean.  And oh, you KNOW I did the clean check.  Took the cushions off, flipped the couch up on it’s back (I am freakishly strong) to inspect the bottom and springs.  Nothing.  No pet hair, no smoke smell, not a single kid stain.

Price?  $49.99.  Hm.  Way, way below anything else we had looked at.  I had to think on it.  So I shopped some more.  I went back and looked at it a few times.  It was big.  Maybe too big.  But Mark is a big guy and I’m not exactly petite.  While sitting smooshed up to him on a love seat every night is nice and all,  we’re constantly bumping into each other trying to cross legs, reach for lap tops, make room for Mad.  Maybe we needed big.  I asked to speak to the manager.

Me:  Hi, would you be willing to knock anything off the sage green sofa?

Him:  Why, what’s wrong with it?

Me:  Not a thing, I want it.

Him:  Let me go look at it.  (Nothing ventured, nothing gained, kids)

Him:  How about $39?

Me: Sold! (Don’t forget to use your Goodwill card, 10% off every visit!)

Now this is all great and good, but I drive a little Volvo sedan.  The cushions would fit in my car, but not much else.  However,  The World’s Sweetest Sweetheart happens to be a partner at Evergreen Home & Hearth (Two locations to serve you, Brewer and Ellsworth, woot woot!) which is directly across the street from Goodwill in Brewer.  And they have trucks.  Lots of trucks.  I ran out to the car to call him.  Turns out his personal truck is over there (I had been looking at it all morning and didn’t realize it was ours).  So I run over, switch my car for his truck, run back across to Goodwill where the awesome staff were kind enough to load it into the truck for me and I took it home!

Behold, the less than $40 couch!

Mark told me to leave it in the garage and he would bring it in when he got home, but there was no way that was going to happen.  I took the cushions outside, beat the living bejesus out of them, vacuumed every nook and cranny and used an entire can of Lysol on it, (I did a spot test first, just to be safe..although I wouldn’t care if it did stain.  I’d rather have stains than germs)  then dragged all 6 plus feet of it into the house.  Did I mention the freakishly strong part?  (I’ll bet I’m some kind of superhero.  Super shopping powers, freakishly strong..I’ll have to ask my parents if anyone fell into a vat of toxic waste or anything when my mother was pregnant with me, that would explain a lot.)

Allyson Sorenson

About Allyson Sorenson

Bangor mom. BDN blogger. Volvo lover. Coffee drinker.