When youâre a Mommy, you learn to save money. And when youâre a Homeschool Mommy, you really, really learn to save money.
I have saving pennies down to an art form (though that makes me sound like I have oodles of it in my bank account, and I donât want to mislead you: thereâs nothing in there but spider webs, crickets, tumbleweeds, and $11).
One handy dandy cheapskate tip that I like to use is a little known secret called craigslist. Oh, youâve heard of it? Well, I bet you havenât risked your life and limb for it like I have âŚ
The Craigslist Dresser
One of my best finds on craigslist was a beautiful, all wood, scalloped dresser. I nearly died in several heart stopping moments as I traveled to pick it up. Alone. Not recommended, but sometimes a good deal erases my brain cells.
The dresser was lovely and worth it. But some dingbat had painted it a not-so-lovely shade of diarrhea brown. No problem, says I, we’ll buy the cheapest white paint on the market and that’ll be that.
Well, I thought I bought the “paint and primer in one” deal, but I did not, and the diarrhea turned the weirdest shade of pepto bismol pink. Hmm.
A second coat did not solve this predicament. I was in a pickle.
Also, I was out of paint.
Anyway, at this point I was really getting annoyed with myself and had to go buy primer. Then I had to go buy more paint. Then I was really high on fumes and started painting unicorns and sunbeams everywhere.
How THIS Cheapskate Homeschool Mommy DIY’s A $15 Craigslist Dresser
So when you’re a cheapskate homeschool mommy like me, this is how you buy a used dresser to save bunches of dough:
1. Â Risk your life and almost become a skin sweater for craigslist sellers in remote locations. Spend $15.
2.  Paint with cheapest paint possible. I bought a small can because I actually had two dressers to paint: $10.  The other one had to be painted because it was owned by smokers.  Smokers who evidently crawled inside their dresser to do their smoking.
3. Â Go back to Lowes.
4. Â Buy primer. $5.
5. Â Whine a little.
6. Â Start to enjoy the fumes. Hum a little Doors.
7. Â Go back to Lowes. $10 more.
8. Â Finish with spray paint.
Bask in the glory that is your $15 $50 dresser.  Easy as pie! Except I may or may not have killed a couple brain cells.
Pretty sure I wasn’t using them anyway, so no loss.
PIN IT
