"She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness". (Proverbs 31: 27).
We were so happy today! Little Bear and I made a great frugal find!
We've been having lots of problems with our TV recently. It's a very old television, given to us by a member of the family when they replaced it with a new one. We were very grateful for it, and were happy to hang on to it until it came to the end of its useful life - and unfortunately, despite a temporary reprieve thanks to the interventions of Papa Bear and an engineer, that now has happened - and a new TV must be got.
Well, we've been able to purchase a new television set, which is being delivered to our home next week - but we didn't have a stand to put it on. The old TV has an integral stand, and when Papa Bear took a look at it last weekend, he said that there was no way it could be separated without damaging the stand so that it could not be used. Also, since TVs have changed quite a bit since this one was new, the stand it is on would not be large enough for our new television anyway. We had a look at stands on the internet to see where we could get a good price for one, and they seemed so expensive. So then we looked for second-hand ones - and they were nearly as bad! We decided not to buy one but to wait and see if we could find one in a thrift store. In the meantime, the new TV would have to stand on the floor.
This morning, Little Bear and I went downstairs to retrieve our dustbins, which get emptied on Fridays and are always left scattered about for the tenants of our block of apartments to take back from the roadside. So we went down to the yard where the bin sheds are, and what did we see, dumped at the edge of the yard?
A TV STAND!
It was in perfect condition, too! Just a little bit dusty from having been stood outside - but it couldn't have been there long, as we didn't see it there even only yesterday! We were so excited and happy! We carried it carefully upstairs back to our flat (we were quite sure it was most definitely dumped - there were bags of rubbish, empty cardboard boxes, and all kinds of other stuff, mostly junk, also there). It was very heavy, so we had to go slowly and carefully, but we managed to get it there in one piece. Once indoors, we cleaned it down thoroughly, using disinfectant first and then polish. It came up great! It is black and grey, with a glass door and two shelves inside it, and it is shaped to fit into the corner of the room - just exactly what we were looking for! It is on casters too, so easy to move into place. We were so delighted - I couldn't wait for Papa Bear to get home so he could see it. And when he did, he was delighted too! He coudn't believe that just when we needed that exact thing, it would appear in our yard - for absoutely nothing! He said he thought Little Bear and I were very thrifty to have thought to resuce it from the dumped items in the yard and bring it upstairs! Cubby was excited too - he says Little Bear and I have been "freecycling" - and so we have! I can thoroughly recommend it!
It's the very best way to be frugal - and it just shows, that if we are patient and prepared to wait, then God does indeed supply all our needs. I wonder what He will send to us next!
"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus". (Philippians 4: 19).
